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The purpose of this paper is to predict customers’ intentions to use self-checkouts based on the technology acceptance model (TAM).

The questionnaire consisted of constructs taken from the existing literature such as perceived ease of use (PEU), perceived usefulness (PU), behavioral intentions, technology anxiety (TA), perceived risk (PR), need for interaction (NI), and situational factors (SF). Before preparing the questionnaire, the focus group studies were organized to gain deeper insights regarding customers’ views about self-checkouts. Based on the results of the focus groups, some items in the constructs were adapted, and the questionnaire was generated. The field study was conducted via face-to-face survey with 500 customers chosen by stratified random sampling. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to validate the relationships hypothesized in the conceptual model among constructs.

Out of the 16 hypotheses, 10 were found to be significant. The hypotheses related to the effects of PR, PEU, PU, intentions, while the effects of NI on PU and intentions; the effects of SF on intentions were not accepted in the study. According to the findings, PEU, PU, and TA affected intentions whereas PR, NI, and SF did not.

There were some limitations related to demographics, attitudes, SF, and actual usage of self-checkouts.

To avoid queues, retailers should install a sufficient number of user-friendly and simple interfaced self-checkouts with well-trained employees to encourage usage and reduce the perceived risk and anxiety.

The main contribution of this study was that the effects of different constructs were measured on Turkish customers’ intentions to use self-checkouts, which could be used in formulating marketing strategies as well as considering future research directions. The paper also provided additional insights into the effects of SF, TA, NI, and PR, all of which were added to the TAM in this study.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse customer service effects in creating satisfaction and loyalty. The other antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty such as perceived value and service quality were not analysed in this research.

Exploratory factor analysis was used to classify customer service items. Confirmatory factor analysis was not applied because of there was not any significant theory based on the classification of shopping centre customer service (SCCS). The research model was developed to show the relationships and the effects of customer service which were tested through multiple regression analyses.

As a result of findings, customer service variables were classified into eight factors. Only four of them had effects on satisfaction and loyalty. The findings indicated that customer services had effects on customer satisfaction and loyalty. It was shown that “customer services about atmosphere (CSA)” affected both satisfaction and loyalty whereas “incentive customer services (ICS)”, “customer services in encounter stage (CSE)”, and “customer services about payment (CSP)” affected only loyalty.

The research model was about only shopping centres’ customer services; it could not reflect the customer services offered by the other retail formats since the survey was conducted in the limited area and with small sample. The research did not reflect the complete retailing landscape since the survey was applied to only brick and mortar shopping centre customers. The research model was developed according to the customer services offered by Turkish shopping centres and customers’ perceptions about satisfaction and loyalty were measured. The findings can be applicable each shopping centre that offers such customer services and has nearly the same concept. It is agreed that since this research has been conducted in Izmir it reflects the Turkish consumers’ cultural intentions.

Although the impact degrees are at low level, customer service is an important tool for creating customer satisfaction and loyalty. According to the SCCS model in this research; it is strongly recommended that CSA, ICS, CSE, and CSP should be improved by shopping centres in order to gain customer satisfaction and loyalty. The last result of the research was surprising because it was expected that all customer service factors in the SCCS model would affect satisfaction and loyalty significantly. Although there were not any direct effects of basic customer services, facilitative customer services, customer services about children, informative customer services on satisfaction and loyalty, shopping centre management should not ignore these types of services since they are really important in the literature. Since the retailer type is important when developing customer service, each retailer should define its own customer service level according to its retail mix strategy.

The research is the first paper that surveyed customer service effects in creating satisfaction and loyalty in Turkey through a conceptual model. The study has suggested a new model called SCCS model which classified customer service into eight factors and showed the relationships among customer service, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. The paper has developed the importance of customer service in the Turkish shopping centres.