Imam Suroso

The marketing strategy phenomenon improves significantly, narrowing from a general to a specific cultural ethnicity base and from variable to dimension analysis. This study examines the impact of culture, brand image and price on buying decisions. The study population comprised retail consumers in the sampled area of Situbondo, East Java, Indonesia. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to derive a sample of 112 respondents as a primary data source – descriptive statistics allows for the demographic characteristics of retail consumers in East Java, Indonesia. Surprisingly, the data showed that gender involvement in buyer decision-making was dominant. Most retail customers were identified as private-sector employees and indicated for higher income earners. Responses were then analyzed using multiple linear regressions to answer the research hypotheses. The results showed that Hofstede’s culture dimension and the brand image and price significantly affected consumer buying decisions at retail stores in East Java, Indonesia. Regarding the strength of Islamic culture in East Java, price was the primary consideration in buying decisions. Further research, preferably using ethnographic approaches with an emphasis on qualitative research, is needed to investigate the implications of these relationships.

Acknowledgment
We would like to thank the Research Centre (LP2M) of University of Jember, East Java, Indonesia, for their support and funding. We also want to thank Rusdiyanto, a Ph.D. student from the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia, for his helpful discussions and contributions.

The rapid retail development has led to increasingly fierce competition, and micro retail businesses need innovation to survive and thrive. Retail innovation is reflected in the quality of consumers’ behavior in making purchase decisions. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the role of retail behavior quality as an intervening variable on merchandise offer and store image on consumers’ loyalty in micro retail businesses. In this study, the confirmatory and explanatory methods were used, and it was conducted in Jember Regency, East Java, Indonesia with a sample size of 306 consumers of micro retail businesses. Moreover, the data were obtained through a questionnaire, and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling analysis was used to determine the direct and indirect effects. The results showed that merchandise offer had a positive and significant effect on consumers loyalty both directly and indirectly through retail behavior quality with total effect of 50.4%. Store image had no significant direct effect on consumers loyalty. However, it had a positive and significant direct effect on consumers through retail behavior quality with total effect of 22%. In this context, retail behavior quality played an important role in increasing consumers’ loyalty to micro retail businesses. These results contributed to improved retail quality behavior oriented towards transparency in quality of goods, employee attitudes, in-store environment, product arrangement, and established good relationships with consumers to maintain loyalty.

Acknowledgment
The authors are grateful to the Muhammadiyah University of Jember for funding thisresearch.