Assessing the maximum level of customer satisfaction in grocery stores : A comparison between Spain and the USA

Purpose – This paper aims to establish the main factors that underlie store attributes, to examine which exert the greatest influences on the achievement of a maximum level of customer satisfaction. This study seeks to determine if there are significant differences not only in the factor compositions but also in their influence on customer satisfaction, depending on the country of residence of focal customers. Design/methodology/approach – The test of the proposed framework consists of analyses of two samples of customers that purchased in grocery stores in Spain and the USA. Following a factor analysis of the principal components, a binary logistic regression analysis tests the influence of the identified factors on customer satisfaction. Findings – This work contributes to extant literature by assessing differences in the main factors that contribute to satisfaction with food stores, depending on the location of the customer. Practical implications – This work is especially useful to grocery retailers that operate, or plan to operate, in different countries; it outlines key factors to consider to achieve upper‐bounded customer satisfaction scores. Originality/value – The proposed classification of attributes and factors, according to their importance for customers' evaluations in different countries, includes three main factors. The first‐order factor includes the most valued attributes by all customers, independent of the country of residence. The second‐order factors include attributes with lesser importance though still valued by customers; the importance depends on the country of residence. Finally, the third‐order factor attributes are valued relatively less.