Abstract
Retailers often compete in the market by focusing on achieving customer satisfaction by providing good in-store shopping experiences. South African shoppers are however argued to be very brand conscious, and therefore, the relevance of a retail brand may in addition influence this experience and satisfaction relationship. This study seeks to uncover the relationship between customer experience and customer satisfaction and explores the moderating role of brand relevance on the relationship between customer experience and satisfaction. Using a quantitative approach, a total of 395 responses were collected from South African grocery retail shoppers. An SEM analysis is conducted with the variables “Sense”, “Think” and “Feel” as the predictors of customer experience, and their resulting influence on customer satisfaction tested. The variable “Think” was the only experience variable that had a significant influence on customers’ satisfaction levels, whilst “Brand relevance” demonstrated potential as a predictor of customer satisfaction, rather than a moderator between experience and satisfaction.