Domingos Fernandes Campos

Qualidade do serviço no comércio varejista de vestuário: lacunas percebidas pela clientela feminina

EnglishThe purpose of this paper is to compare expectations and perceptions of service in the clothing segment in three commercial centers – a district, a shopping center and a strip retail – in Natal, RN. Expectations and perceptions of received service were collected from 1,155 women in a set of 23 attributes. The model of quality gaps was used to assess the quality of service perceived in each area. In all retail centers there was predominance of negative gaps, indicating that customers perceive the service offered below their needs. The confrontation between the levels of importance and quality gaps allowed to identify the attributes that should be given a prominent attention from managers. The results suggest that commerce in the popular neighborhood tends to attract less demanding customers. At the same time, these customers perceive lower quality levels in the service received. portuguesNo presente estudo apresenta-se um comparativo de expectativas e percepcoes do servico no segmento do vestuario em tres centros comerciais – um comercio popular de bairro, um shopping center e uma rua de comercio tradicional de alto poder aquisitivo – na Cidade de Natal, RN. Foram coletadas expectativas e percepcoes do servico recebido de 1.155 mulheres sobre um conjunto de 23 atributos. O modelo das lacunas de qualidade foi utilizado para a avaliacao da qualidade do servico percebido em cada area. Em todos os centros comerciais houve predominância de lacunas negativas, indicando que as clientes percebem o servico oferecido aquem de suas necessidades. O confronto entre os niveis de importância e as lacunas de qualidade possibilitou apontar os atributos que deveriam receber uma atencao destacada dos gestores. Os resultados sugerem que o comercio no bairro popular tende a atrair clientes menos exigentes. Ao mesmo tempo, esses clientes percebem niveis mais baixos de qualidade no servico recebido.

Customer expectations about the service offered by fitness centres in Natal/RN: a study under the perspective of the analysis of clusters

The article evaluates the expectations of fitness centre customers in Natal/RN under the perspective of customer groups determined by sociodemographic and motivational factors (natural clusters) and also of groups established by a statistical analysis of clusters (statistical clusters). The study is based on the responses collected from 986 customers of fitness centres in the local market. The results revealed that the patterns of expectations between the natural clusters, taking category by category, were similar in terms of priorities, diverging, however, at the level of expectations. It was detected that the heterogeneity among statistical clusters was marked by different levels of expectations, and not by the aforementioned aspects.