Customers' zone of tolerance for retail stores

The present study describes the zone of tolerance for customers' service expectations and determines their satisfaction level for retail stores. It attempts to diagnose the service quality level of customers' in retail store setting. A conceptual model RETZOT is presented in this study, and the results demonstrate that evaluation of services can be scaled according to different types of expectations-'desired' and 'adequate'aEuro"and that customers use these two types of expectations as a comparison standard in evaluating retail store services. The findings reveal that customers have a narrow zone of tolerance with regards to the services provided by retail stores.