The Extent to Which Shopper Attitudes Mediate the Relationship between Retail Marketing Practices and Shopper Behaviour in Top-Tier Supermarkets in Nairobi
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47604/ejbsm.3983Keywords:
Retail Marketing Practices, Transaction Marketing, Relationship Marketing, Shopper Attitudes, Shopper BehaviorAbstract
Purpose: Retail differentiation hinges on effectively aligning a company's internal resources with the evolving psychology of shoppers. The ultimate aim for retailers is to accelerate sales. This involves utilizing retail marketing practices that optimize marketing efforts. The supermarket industry in Kenya faces significant rivalry from a vast number of formal and informal competitors. Supermarkets often fail to achieve sales goals because of a concentration on proprietary marketing that overlooks what shoppers feel, think and how they are likely to act. These challenges have prompted a conceptual shift exploring different pathways to minimizing the gap between attitudes, motivations, and behavior of shoppers. The specific purpose of the research is to investigate the extent to which shopper attitudes mediate the relationship between retail marketing practices, specifically transaction and relationship marketing and shopper behavior.
Methodology: A supermarket intercept using descriptive cross-sectional research is employed. Data were collected using the 5-point Likert scale from a sample of 372 randomly selected respondent were examined using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques with the aid of PROCESS macro (model 4)
Findings: The findings indicate that retail marketing orientations comprising transactional and relational approaches exhibit a significant relationship with shopper behavior. The findings reveal that Shopper Attitude partially mediates the impact of both marketing approaches. The study indicates that both approaches operate primarily through direct pathways; transaction marketing exerts a marginally higher direct and indirect mechanism, hence a higher total effect. Conclusively, tangible operational execution is the primary engine that drives consumer behavior far more effectively than abstract psychological states; however, it is intertwined with the necessity of fostering a positive psychological attitude among consumers as a secondary boost.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The findings support various theories including marketing exchange and consumer behavior, showing that retail marketing practices strongly influence shopper behavior through attitudes. Future research should adopt a longitudinal approach with a bidimensional view of attitudes. Moreover, while this study primarily focused on a general orientation towards supermarkets, it acknowledges that other factors within these environments also shape shopper behavior beyond mere attitudes. The implications of these findings are crucial for the retail sector and manufacturers. To maximise market share, a retail strategy must establish operational environments that foster long-term loyalty during the entire shopper decision process. By deliberately structuring marketing channels to complement these cognitive frames, supermarkets can transform psychological mindsets into predictable, highly profitable repeat purchasing behaviors.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Sheila W. Kimani, Winnie Gacugu Njeru, Mary Wanjiru Kinoti, Dr. Raymond Maingi Musyoka
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