The roles of price perception and physical environment in determining customer loyalty: evidence from fast food restaurant of Malaysia

Over the last decade, fast food restaurant in Malaysia has witnessed immense growth and it is now catering to almost 100 million profits. In order to sustain customer loyalty, fast food restaurants are striving to achieve high customers’ satisfaction through improved of facilities and better price. This study investigated the impact of physical environment and price perception on customer’s loyalty in fast food restaurant of Malaysia. Selected sample sizes of 100 questionnaires were administered into second busier city in Malaysia, which is Penang and the respondents of this research were obtained from customers that frequently visit fast food restaurant in Penang, Malaysia. SPSS version 17 was used to analyse the obtained data. The results revealed that physical environment (t=3.105, p=0.003) and price perception (t= 4.353, p=0.000) has significant effect on customers’ loyalty (M=93.9640, SD=0.53058). Strategy planner or marketers can formulate a good strategy to compete with its competitors via the information that obtain and try to create loyalties among the consumer. So far there is no clear evidence about the factors influencing customer loyalty towards fast food restaurant in Penang, Malaysia. However, this paper stress on the factors that are important for building customer loyalty especially in Penang, Malaysia. Therefore, this paper is useful for those marketer, planners, and entrepreneur in formulating their business strategy as it stressed on the crucial factors of building customer loyalty in Malaysian food industry.