Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine levels of shopper satisfaction with
sportswear stores in a particular township, as well as their loyalty to these stores,
and the attributes they consider when selecting which stores to shop at. A structured
questionnaire was used to collect data from 489 shoppers who patronise sportswear
stores at the malls located in the Soweto township in Gauteng, South Africa. The
findings show moderate levels of shopper satisfaction with stores. The results also
show that loyalty towards a particular store is strongly related to customer
satisfaction levels. The conduct of store staff, brand availability, price promotion and
store atmosphere were all found to be factors that shoppers consider when selecting
sportswear shops. No significant differences were found in levels of satisfaction,
store loyalty and the importance associated with store attributes by customers of
different gender, age and income group. The findings in the study are of practical
significance in that they can assist mall and store managers to develop effective
retail marketing strategies targeted at consumers in urbanised townships.