Abstract

Knowledge on furniture consumers’ retail patronage will promote and enhance efforts to increase sales at
furniture stores and could guide future research. This research therefore was proposed to develop a general
model of retail patronage and to empirically test the relationships proposed in the model in the context of
furniture market. The objectives of the study include 1) is to review existing retail patronage models and related
literature 2) to develop a general framework of retail patronage behavior and 3) to test the model in the furniture
store shopping patterns. Based on a review of the literature the study proposed to adapt Darden’s patronage
model of consumer behavior. 115 data were collected through survey questionnaires and the underlying
relationship among the variables that characterize consumers’ patronage behavior towards furniture was studied.
Statistically it was found that in terms of shopping orientation, the apathetic shopper and the personalizing
shopper was influenced by the lifestyle of the consumer and hence influenced the customer patronage. Store
image on the other hand was found to enhance the impact on consumer patronage of the furniture store and
moreover acted as both the predictor and the moderator.

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