ASSESSMENT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AT FARM GATE MARKETS

This study is addressed to gain empirical evidence of attitudes, preferences and characteristics of consumers who attend farmers’ shops by monitoring their customer satisfaction. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research topic is to answer to the question whether the choice of this peculiar marketing channel by customers is motivated by an emotional impulse or is the signal of an enduring attitudinal change justified by the search of higher satisfaction about food and service quality perceived. The investigation is conducted in the Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region in the North East of Italy. A descriptive analysis about the customers’ profiles was obtained with the cluster analysis, and a structural equation model to investigate the relationship between perceived quality and customer satisfaction and loyalty was proposed and tested. Findings: Eight customers groups were sorted with size varying from 6 to 23 units showing different customer satisfaction. SERVQUAL approach allowed to investigate in deeper detail the impact of the two key factors of perceived quality on customer satisfaction and consequent loyalty as follows: perceived product quality and perceived service quality. Specifically, there was evidence of the effect of service quality perceptions on consumer loyalty and partial support for the effect of product quality after controlling for various demographic variables. Originality/value: Although in the literature it was examined the specific impact of product quality and service quality on consumers’ decisions, the findings of these studies suggested to evaluate simultaneously the effects of both these constructs since they seems to be interrelated. Most interesting in our findings was the strong impact of perceived service quality on the satisfaction and the consequent construct of customer loyalty.