The consumer market is getting more competitive, and the fundamental question is; what should the companies do in order to gain new customers and sustain the existing ones? Primary attempt has been to offer price discounts and special deals to the customers. However, according to Peppers and Rogers (1997) this attempt is not working properly and the efforts should be reinforced into techniques to satisfy the customers’ needs. Many companies have tried to solve this by creating mass customized products, enhancing customer service, communication and by continuing product differentiation (Pitta, 1998). The most frequent technology that is being used is the customer loyalty programs, which is build on a traditional customer database (Pitta, 1998).
Purpose: This thesis evaluates through a case study of a retail company whether customer loyalty programs manage to create loyalty among their members. Appropriate features of loyalty will be examined with the intention to evaluate whether there exists other factors outside the loyalty programs that are also influencing the creation of loyalty…
Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem discussion
1.3 Purpose
1.4 Delimitation
1.5 Disposition
2 Frame of reference
2.1 Customer relationship management (CRM)
2.2 Customer loyalty programs
2.2.1 The objective of customer loyalty programs
2.2.2 Types of loyalty programs
2.3 Customer loyalty
2.3.1 Three drivers of retention
2.3.2 Relative attitude and behavior relationship
2.3.3 Conceptualization of customer loyalty
2.3.4 Conclusion of customer loyalty theories
2.4 Consequences of customer loyalty
2.5 Research questions
3 Method
3.1 Quantitative and qualitative methods
3.1.1 Choice of method
3.2 Case study
3.2.1 Choice of case study
3.3 Interviews
3.3.1 Choice of interview
3.4 Selection
3.5 Data interpretation and analysis
3.6 Quality of the qualitative research
4 Empirical findings – a Case study
4.1 Part 1 – the Company
4.1.1 Company overview
4.1.2 The aim of the loyalty program
4.1.3 The development of the program
4.1.4 The Content of the program
4.1.5 Loyalty in the context of Club INTERSPORT
4.2 Part 2 – the Customers
4.2.1 Customers’ perception on customer loyalty programs
4.2.2 Customers’ expectations of the customer loyalty program
4.2.3 Customers’ perception on loyalty
4.2.4 Creating loyalty through customer loyalty programs
4.2.5 Customers’ reflections on the benefits of loyal customers
5 Analysis
5.1 Customer loyalty programs
5.1.1 Enhancing the relationship
5.2 Customer loyalty
5.2.1 Attitudinal loyalty
5.2.2 Behavioral loyalty
5.2.3 Situational loyalty
5.3 Consequences of customer loyalty
6 Conclusion
6.1 Conclusion of the research questions and the purpose
7 Final Discussion
7.1 Limitation
7.2 Future studies
8 References
Author: Romppanen, Maiju,Kellgren, Cecilia,Moradi, Ladan
Source: Jönköping University
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