Customer Loyalty Buoyancy of an Enterprise

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Acknowledgement

I would like to express my thanks to my advisor, for his suggestions, comments, patience and understanding. Very special thanks to my parents, my father, my mother, my brother and my sister who were continuously supporting me throughout my life and leaving me free in all my decisions. I would also like to thank my colleagues for his technical support whenever I needed. I would like to thank to Department, all the university managers, teachers and students with whom I have worked.

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Abstract

Due to recent and rapid changes in the economic environment and impact of change in technology, there have been changes in consumer behaviour hence some retailers are closing down. Although there are a number of studies about customer loyalty a gap still exist due to these changes in consumer behaviour, hence my interest in the subject. However the purpose of this endeavour is to determine whether there is a significant relationship between customer loyalty and buoyancy of the enterprise under such economic conditions and technological changes in business activity of grocery department of Tesco, Sainsbury and ASDA. If so what factors loom large in determinants of customer loyalty?

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Problem Statement1

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW2

Loyalty Marketing2

Customer Loyalty of Three Major Grocery Retail Stores in UK4

Tesco4

Sainsbury5

ASDA6

Customer Relationship Marketing7

Determinants of Customer Loyalty9

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY11

Research Design13

Underlying assumption14

Data collection methods14

Analysis of Results15

Any difficulties and uncertainties15

Validity16

Reliability/Dependability17

Ethical Concerns18

Limitations and Suggestion for Future Research20

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION22

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION25

REFERENCES26

APPENDIX29

Chapter 1: Introduction

Customer loyalty may be thought as a sine qua non of buoyancy of enterprise. According to 80/20 rule, 80 percent of sales revenue drives from 20 percent of the enterprise s customers among whom are a disproportionate number may be considered loyal customers. Given the inextricable linkage between customer loyalty and viability of enterprise, the question that arises is what effects customer loyalty especially during such a harsh economic environment and technological changes?

These changes have had an impact on consumer behaviour and possible on store preferences. In the UK there has been an influx of online shoppers. According to Dick and Basu (1994), customer loyalty is considered to be both attitudinal and behavioural dimensions. Therefore, a change in consumer's attitudes and behaviour due to the technological and economical environment should have an effect on customer loyalty. However, a few studies have been conducted after these rapid changes hence the importance of my research.

In previous studies a wide range of factors has been proffered as determinants of customer loyalty including unit price of a product and or service, image of an enterprise, convenience etc.

Problem Statement

In order to develop the best possible answer for this study, the following ...