Conceptual Models of Customer Value: Implications for Clothing Retailing

The concept of customer value has attracted a lot of interest among scholars, marketing researchers and many marketing practitioners over last two decades. A lot has been written in terms of customer value definition and quite a few research studies have been conducted in this area focusing on various aspects of the value construct. The concept of customer value is discussed in many streams of marketing literature including relationship marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) pricing, consumer behaviour, in total quality management as well as in strategy literature. It has become an important factor in attracting and retaining customers and a fundamental basis in competitive strategies. The paper discusses various conceptual models of customer value found in the literature. Based on the literature study, it presents findings of the research focused on the concept of customer value, its attributes in clothing retailing. For the purpose of the research, a framework presented by Simova (2007) was used. Customer value was defined and measured in terms of get (benefits) and give (sacrifice) components. The concept of customer value based on price and quality dimensions was broadened by adding another value dimensions composing customer values such as functional, social, and emotional aspects of value in relation to perceived sacrifices. The term „sacrifice“ was perceived in terms of both, monetary and non-monetary costs instead of price only. Multivariate data analysis, In particular, factor analysis was used to identify the main elements of customer value in clothing retailing. Five components with eigenvalues larger than one were extracted for benefit attributes of customer value (psychological aspects, physical appearance of merchandise, quality of merchandise and shopping, environment and communication, personnel) three components (price and discounts, shopping incentives, effort made when shopping) were extracted for sacrifice attributes of customer value.