Article Review

Key Themes

The key themes of the research done by the authors is that the success of a retail establishment depends upon how realistically it sees itself and how careful it is in understanding its customers and their needs. While there have been previous studies, which have tried to determine the specific "image" that the retail must focus on, this research tries to identify how to evaluate, and how well an establishment satisfies the "images" that customers are looking for.

The construct of evaluating, comes in the form of finding the congruence/incongruence, meaning where both management and customers feel the same way about a variable relating to the establishment. Management and customers might both feel the same way about a certain variable such as "good value for price", where management feels it is a strong suit of establishment, and is one of the reasons why they come back, and the customers feel the same way too. Another possibility is when management and customers disagree on a certain variable, such as service levels, where management feels that it provide above adequate service, yet customers do not feel the same way.

As stated numerously throughout the report, when differences exist between management and customer image components, corrective actions should be taken to provide congruence of perceptions between these two groups. While the study gives an example of its research construct by using one of the largest retailer in the united states, the framework (the construct) exists that can be used by all retailers.

Managerial Implications

The managerial implications of this research is that it provides a framework for retailers to assess how their management is in sync/congruent with their customers. By being congruent with their customers, managers will be using the optimal resources in making sure that customers are happy with the retail establishment. The mangers will know what the retailer needs to work on, in order...