According and Engel (2005), that store image
Accordingto Joly (2007), the impression when see, hear or feel something may be image.
Image is built from two perspectives: the visual representations includingpaintings, engravings, drawings; and the immaterial representation includingvisions, imagination, fantasies, mental representation. These 2 perspectivealways goes together, one from the mind and one from virtual objects.(Santaella, Noth, 2008).Theterm was defined in a different manner by Blackwell, Miniard and Engel (2005),that store image is the perception that customers have on the store, that’swhat causes consumers make decisions.
And therefore, manipulating and measuringthe store image is very essential.Practically,with the difference in the characteristics of customers excluded, the mainfactor that have impact on the choice of the retail store are: store image,retail brands and its advertising. Among all of those attributes, store imageis considered to be the most important according to Hawkins, Motherstaugh andBest (2007).Asreported by Levy and Weitz (2000), when the store image is distinct and clear,it sustains the customer loyalty. Since the loyalty with the store is anon-biased behavioral response as cited by Bloemer; Ruyter (1998) and it is afunction of psychological processes that create the brand commitment, it ismore than just repurchasing at the store, something more related to preferenceand dedication.Andwhat Garton (1995) suggests is that to sustain the customer loyalty, there mustbe a similarity between the image customers have of the stores and the store’simage.
It is also the reason why Levy and Weitz (2000) recommend that theretailers should know what their customers want in order to give a related andconsistent store image.One research was conducted by Bloemer and Ruyter (1998) to study thelink between customer loyalty, satisfaction and store image. They finally cameto a conclusion that loyal customers are more satisfied with the store and havegood image of the store than normal customers; they also indicated that factorssuch as emotions, values, etc. makes the store image, and the store image
