- 25/11/2012
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Structure of dissertation
I. Introduction
The first chapter gives basic characteristics of the paper, that presents a research proposal of the effect of Tesco clubcard and analysis of the relationship between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Introduction chapter shows the reader the topic of the paper, tells about it’s aims and objectives, it’s rationale and relevance of the topic. Also it gives theoretical background about the customers loyalty, and history of Tesco stores and their loyalty programs. The last paragraph is limitations of the study, that shows some possible drawbacks of the further research.
II. Literature review
Literature review chapter is very important for every research and very useful and it provides extensive knowledge on research and the aim of this research is to clear the understanding with regards to concept of loyalty as well as the correlation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
III. Research methods
The chapter provides information about qualitative and quantitative research methods, their advantages and disadvantages. This chapter also gives a complete description of how the study was performed, and how research data was gathered.
IV. Data analysis
Chapter IV provides information about the gathering data process, sample characteristics, research findings and analysis of the data gathered. It has data analysis due to the research questions, and the summary of findings../
V. Conclusion
Chapter V provides conclusions of the theoretical background and literature review, as well as of research findings, outcomes and experiences .
VI. Recommendations and Further study
Chapter VI present practical suggestions for addressing the issues that have been raised in the research. These are suggestions of what should be done. Also the chapter gives some thought as what further could be studied in the area of research conducted; indicates why this is important and provides a rationale for why the additional research should be done.
References
II. Literature review
The literature review covers the topic of concept of loyalty, the relationship between concepts of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. It gives brief review of the relevant literature on the topic:
– Define the role the concept of consumer loyalty in the modern marketing;
– Refine the structure and nature of consumer loyalty, the types and rates, characterizing them;
– Compile and organize international experience increasing customer loyalty;
– Identify the factors selecting the type of loyalty, resulting in their specificity and variability in the formation of programs to enhance customer loyalty;
– Provide an analysis of existing research methods and measurement of customer loyalty,
There are many references, from which we can learn what satisfaction and loyalty is, the kinds of customer satisfaction and loyalty and their determinants, what are the links between satisfaction and loyalty, their financial results and influence on performance. Many researchers have described in detail the methods of consumer surveys, compilation and testing issues, the choice of scales and statistical processing of the data. These researchers were made by F. Rayhelda, R. Kaplan, D. Norton, J. Gitomer, D. Gremlera, S. Brown, J. Griffin, R. Rust, A. Zahorika, T. Vavra, R. Oliver and other scientists who have actually formed a new province in management, to explore the satisfaction and loyalty, and greatly influenced the distribution of software customer satisfaction and customer loyalty for companies worldwide.
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Defining customer loyalty
A key objective of the concept of marketing relationships is to achieve and strengthen customer loyalty. Researchers note that the presence of a large number of loyal to the organization and paying customers can give it a number of significant advantages both in the short-and long-term. Discussions on different customer loyalty aspects are broadly presented in the scientific literature.
In marketing literature there are two approaches to the definition of loyalty. The first is based on the consideration of loyalty as a certain type of consumer behavior, expressed in long-term collaboration with the company and the commission of repeat purchases. Despite the ease of evaluation of loyalty in this sense, this approach, however, has an obvious drawback: it considers only the results of the behavior (repeat purchases), but does not disclose the reasons for which the consumer makes a choice in favor of a particular service provider.
To overcome this shortcoming the authors have tried, introduces a different approach, according to which loyalty is considered as the preference of consumers, which is formed as a result of generalization of feelings, emotions, opinions about service (or provider).
This type of loyalty is sometimes viewed as more significant, as it is considered that it shows the future of consumer behavior rather than reflect his past experience. However, this approach, first, giving preference to subjective opinions, as determinants of loyalty, no proof of their influence and purchasing. Secondly, there are problems measuring this type of loyalty.
For example some speak about the hard-core loyalty that is a devotion to the enterprise, repeated purchase probability, staying with the current provider and recommendations for the enterprise to friends, colleagues, family members, etc. (Lee, Lee and Feick, 2001).
Traditionally, in the literature on relationship marketing (for example Peppers, D. and Rogers, 2004) , researchers divide customer loyalty into behavioral and attitudinal. Emotional loyalty is reflected in their level of awareness about the organization and what their needs they can meet by using its products or services, as well as the level of client satisfaction with the proposals of the company, their quality and service provided by the organization. In addition, an important component of perceived customer loyalty is the level of emotional perception of the company.
For example Lee, Lee and Feick (2001) distinguish customer’s responsibility and preferences to brand as the features of loyal attitude. (Lee, Lee and Feick, 2001).
What determines customer loyalty? In the practice of modern business under the loyalty is often understood as customer satisfaction, which is not quite true. Some scientists speak about customer satisfaction (for eample Butscher, Sparks, O’Collaghan, Naumann, Jackson, Rosenbaum, 2001; Hoisington, Naumann, 2003).
But it is necessary to point out that “satisfaction occurs when the buyer is satisfied and no regrets about spending money. But the client does not necessarily become loyal. Loyal customers – it is always a satisfied customer, but a satisfied customer is not always loyal. Although customer satisfaction – the first step towards winning their loyalty”. (Hoisington, Naumann, 2003).
A similar view has also T.Y. Gerpott, who believes that “the satisfaction of the service is not identical to loyalty”. Under the customer satisfaction should be understood as a set of ordered evaluations of individual characteristics of services (which may be positive and negative), and these estimates are flowing individually perceived and expected quality characteristics. A positive evaluation of services ( customer satisfaction) increases the force of intention to re-purchase, but does not define it completely, because it depends on techno-functional and economic bind the client to the enterprise, the overall attractiveness of services to competitors, the overall assessment of business.
The difference between satisfaction and loyalty provoked the opposite conclusions of several researchers. Some authors say, that “just satisfaction, not loyalty, can serve as an achievable goal for the company, and reiterates its opinion the presence of effective techniques for measuring customer satisfaction in contrast to the lack of ways to determine their loyalty.
Some scientists also point out that loyalty, not satisfaction, should be the real purpose of the company, because the fact of buyer satisfaction does not guarantee them to re-commit the transaction from the supplier that is the reason for the inability to use as a significant fact that customer satisfaction metrics.
Lee, Lee and Feick (2001) say that different levels of satisfaction leads to different levels of loyalty, rhat’s why customers can be classified into four groups due to the satisfaction and loyalty relation.
From the all said above two conclusions can be made:
– first, that complete customer satisfaction is more important factor in creating loyalty than just satisfaction;
– secondly, there is a need to monitor the status of the opposite of satisfaction – dissatisfaction.
Since the company should study the dynamics of satisfaction, the study of the latter should be held regularly, at least annually. In addition, to the loyalty assessment it is necessary to compare its behavioural and perceptual parameters. The values of the components of behavioural loyalty can be obtained from the database, in fact, for each consumer at any time. However, measuring the perceived loyalty of each customer, and regularly, is impossible. It is therefore advisable to assess and behavioural, and perceived loyalty.
Depending on the level of behavioural and emotional loyalty, scientists distinguish different types of loyalty:
Absolute loyalty – a situation in which high levels of behavioural loyalty are consistent with a high level of perceived loyalty – is most favourable for the organization. Consumers with absolute loyalty are the easiest to keep. Moreover, this may be sufficient to maintain existing quality standards.
Hidden loyalty means that a high level of perceived loyalty is not supported by consumer behaviour. That is, he distinguishes this company from the number of competitors, but gets its products are not as frequently or in such quantity as totally loyal consumers. The reasons are, first of all, external factors such as inadequate income. In this situation, organizations need to strengthen the position has been achieved through the development of behavioural loyalty. In this situation can be used, for example, price incentives.
False loyalty occurs when behavioural loyalty corresponds to the low level of perceived loyalty. This situation is alarming, because the consumer is not tied to the organization. His purchase may be a consequence of limited supply, and habits (the services the company has traditionally enjoyed by other members of the family), so once users find organizations that meet its increasingly, it will refuse service.
Finally, the lack of loyalty provides minimal opportunities for retention. Organizations must either abandon this part of consumers, but who are beneficial , or to take special measures to increase primarily perceived loyalty.
To achieve loyalty, ensured by the financial interest of consumers in cooperation with the organization and its positive emotional perception of the company, the developed loyalty program must contain both tangible and intangible benefits for consumers. For example, T.Y. Gerpott identifies the following components of the complex loyalty: those that increase the value (utility) services for certain groups of customers by providing them with economic benefits (loyalty, driven by cost) and those who, through formal and informal communication and interaction between the supplier and the consumer increases the intensity of contacts, increase confidence and stabilize the satisfaction (loyalty, driven by contacts).
Material factors provide customers tangible financial or other benefits, such as time savings, convenience, service, etc., and intangible promote the development of his or her sense of emotional satisfaction from interaction with the organization because of the quality of care and diligence.
Under the traditional material factors of loyalty the author understands the convenience provided by the consumer in terms of accessibility offered by the company products and services. Program factors include the whole range of opportunities aimed at providing financial incentives to the buyer. Procedural intangible factors relate to ease interaction with the organization for the client, and personal – with level of customer service in the company.
An alternative approach includes financial, functional and emotional factors, the totality of which provides customer loyalty. It is understood that the financial factors is a tool to influence behavioural loyalty, which includes all the company’s efforts aimed at providing tangible benefits to its customers. Functional indicators of importance in terms of both behavioral and perceived loyalty, cover aspects such as regulation of business processes, customer service and interaction with them, as well as accessibility to consumers the information they need and the ease of implementation of the transaction. Emotional factors, in turn, provide only the perceived loyalty of consumers by giving them special status, providing personalized service and other benefits to wearing non-financial nature.
In addition, the model of customer loyalty is different in almost every company, because each has an individual pattern of behavior with clients. These models are determined by five main factors:
1 – frequency of committed purchases (specialists consider this factor (making repeat purchases) as a key to the development of the company)
2 – emotional and financial significance of the purchase,
3 – the level of diversification of supply from competitors;
4 – frequency of use additional services (eg, service calls),
5 – simple change to a service company.
Knowing about these profiles, loyalty, company management can take a fresh look at the problem of attracting and retaining customers.
To create a balanced compensation program to maintain the level of customer loyalty, many companies are trying primarily to influence the rational assessment team as soon as it reaches 40% aqueous milestone in the overall mass of customers. The task force is most important for those companies that do not have a distinct branding of products, there are a large number of substitutes and competition is based mainly on the price factor.
As a result of marketing research can be distinguished so-called “functional benefits” (the quality of the product and its competitive advantage), “procedural benefits (ease of acquisition);” service benefit “(special service packages, discount programs, etc.).
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