Other customers in the retail environment and their impact on the customer’s evaluations of the retailer

This study shows that other customers who are strangers, and who are present within the same retail environment as a focal customer, have an impact on the focal customer’s overall evaluation of the retailer. Three specific factors related to other customers were shown to influence the overall evaluation, in terms of the attitude towards the retailer: (1) the number of other customers, (2) the visible consumption and purchasing activities of other customers, and (3) brief interactions with other customers. In addition, given a view that one particular retail visit is a time–space constrained segment of activity, which is related to other segments of activity, and to overall goals beyond one particular retail visit per se, the results indicate that the three specific other-customer-factors had an impact also on the end-state satisfaction with respect to the end for which retail visits served as a means.