Beauty Beyond Products: Exploring the Drivers of Customer Satisfaction in Malaysia’s Health and Beauty Retail Sector

Customer satisfaction in the retail industry results from complex interactions between service attributes, emotional responses, and perceived service quality. This study investigates the drivers of satisfaction in Malaysia’s health and beauty retail sector by examining the effects of staff behavior and service accessibility, alongside the mediating roles of customer emotional responses and perceived service quality. Using a quantitative descriptive design, 99 valid responses were collected through purposive sampling of Watsons Malaysia customers. Data were analyzed using multiple regression with SPSS to test nine hypotheses. The results reveal that staff behavior exerts a significant direct effect on customer satisfaction (β = 0.412, p < 0.001) and perceived service quality (β = 0.367, p < 0.01), while service accessibility influences satisfaction indirectly through perceived service quality (β = 0.298, p < 0.01) and customer emotional responses (β = 0.241, p < 0.05). Furthermore, customer emotional responses significantly enhance perceived service quality (β = 0.324, p < 0.01), which strongly predicts satisfaction (β = 0.455, p < 0.001). The model explains 67.8% of the variance in customer satisfaction (R² = 0.678). The study provides actionable insights for designing emotionally engaging and accessibility-focused retail strategies.