Abstract:
Based on the significant role played by small grocery retail shops in social economic development, the increase in the renovation and building of new malls in South Africa in which big chain grocery shops are moving their branches, on one hand creates jobs, and the other hand, has created fierce competition among these big chain grocery stores and small grocery retail shops. As a result, many of these small grocery retail shops have closed within one year from the onset of the business. Observations show that small grocery retail shops lack effective marketing practices such as relationship marketing, which has the potential to enhance customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and ultimately, customer retention. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the relationship marketing practices used to enhance customer retention among small grocery retail shops in the Mangaung Area of Free State province, South Africa. Using descriptive correlational research design, a population of 250 small grocery retail shops provided the data for the research. Simple random sampling method was used to select a sample size of 152 small grocery retail shops. A structured questionnaire with items measured on a likert scale of (1) Strongly Disagree to (5) Strongly Agree, and some from (1) To a Very Small Extent to (5) To a Very Large Extent was used to collect the data from the respondents using the self-administered method. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics such as mean, mode, median, correlation and regression. A Pearson and Spearman test was done to determine the relationships. The result from this study shows that many of the small grocery retail shops do not practise relationship marketing in their business operation. The findings further revealed that some of them who practise it do not practise it as effectively as it ought to be, by adopting all the components indicated. The implication for the improvement of relationship marketing among small grocery retail shops was discussed.
