Assessing customers’ perceived value of the online channel of multichannel retailers: A two country examination

Given the constant and often dramatic technological advancements that facilitate retailing, especially online channel adoption by industry and customers, research focusing on customers perceived value of the online channel of multi-channel retailer’s requires conceptual and empirical elaboration. This study advances understanding of customer perceived online channel value and how customer perceptions of value effect online channel satisfaction and online channel loyalty. Using data from a multi-country study, we provide a deeper understanding for multi-channel retailers of how to balance investments in various value drivers to enhance online channel satisfaction and customer loyalty.     

Enhancing value for Chinese shoppers: The contribution of store and customer characteristics

This study tested the relationships between store and customer characteristics with perceived value and customer loyalty in retailing in China. Survey data were collected from shoppers in department stores (n=200) and supermarkets (n=200) in the tier 2 coastal city of Tianjin. Data for each type of store were analysed separately using structural models. In supermarkets, value was predicted by quality and price, but for department stores, only the customer orientation of the store was significant, suggesting that customers seek different shopping experiences in each context. In each case, value mediated the links to loyalty and, for supermarkets, choice of merchandise and consumer time pressure demonstrated direct links to loyalty. The paper discusses the implications of the findings, and concludes with possible future research.     

Share of wallet in retailing: the effects of customer satisfaction, loyalty cards and shopper characteristics

In retailing, consumers typically patronize multiple outlets. Thus, an important issue is why consumers vary in how they divide their purchases across outlets and how outlets can get a greater share of consumer expenditures. Two potential avenues for increasing customer share are to raise customer satisfaction, and increase repeat purchase through loyalty cards. This study examines the effects of customer satisfaction and loyalty cards as well as consumer characteristics on customer share spent on the primary grocery store. The findings suggest that customer satisfaction has a positive, albeit modest, effect on share while consumer economic shopping orientation has a negative direct effect on share. The economic orientation of shoppers, their felt importance of a personal relationship with store personnel, and the level of their aggregate purchase volume moderate the effect of satisfaction on customer share. Finally, the results provide mixed support for the impact of loyalty cards on customer behavior.     

Customer Loyalty in Clusters: Perceived Value and Satisfaction as Antecedents

Purpose: This article studies, from the perspective of relationship marketing, the loyalty behavior of industrial customers in the context of an industrial cluster. Loyalty is a key variable for studying long-term relationships between firms.

Research implications: Recent advances in consumer and services marketing consider that perceived value and satisfaction are central to explaining customer loyalty. However, very few business-to-business (B2B) studies explain the antecedents of customer loyalty, where perceived value acquires a multidimensional perspective. This study adopts the relationship marketing approach, and loyalty behavior is analyzed in a specific setting: an industrial cluster. Furthermore, the effect of the number of suppliers is analyzed as a possible moderator in the relationships of the model.

Methodology approach: We have chosen the Spanish tile cluster to test a series of hypotheses. Questionnaires were elaborated from primary and secondary information and structural equation models (SEM) have been used for statistical treatment and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Findings: This study highlights the importance of the relationships among perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty and the importance of the different dimensions of perceived value.

Practical implications: The empirical study and the results provide important evidence for managers, specifically, the critical influence of the emotional and social perceived values by the customer on his or her level of satisfaction and on the achievement of final loyalty—the importance in the commercial training programs of this matters.

Originality, value, and contribution: This study highlights the importance of the most intangibles dimensions of value for the industrial cluster relations between companies.     

Perceived value and customer loyalty in financial services

Taking into account how expensive it is to maintain customer loyalty programmes, it is necessary to know which aspects of the firm’s service are the ones that really deliver value to the customer. The aim of this paper is to study the relationships between perceived value, satisfaction and consumer loyalty in the financial services market, in order to know which factors are the most important for gaining the customers’ loyalty. A personal survey was made of 200 customers of financial entities, and structural equations models were used to test the relationships posited.     

The effects of distributive,procedural, and interactional justice on customer retention: An empirical investigation in the mobile telecom industry in Tunisia

The framework offered in this study provides empirical evidence concerning the interaction between distributive, procedural and interactional perceived justice and loyalty program satisfaction on relational satisfaction in the mobile telecommunication context. Firms that rely on justice perception for strategy implementation are able to attain customer retention. This study suggests a theoretical model of customer retention that aims at investigating the role of satisfaction with loyalty program on relationship marketing. The structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothetical relationships. A self-administrated questionnaire was distributed to a total of a convenience sample of 520 customers of multiple mobile phone companies. The target population includes customers who have subscribed to a loyalty program. Results show that distributive justice moderates the relationship between satisfaction with the loyalty program and relational satisfaction. The results highlight the need to focus on distributive justice in order to nurture satisfaction and loyalty. Satisfaction with the loyalty program is a key predictor of a satisfactory relationship with the operator and customer retention.     

Relationships and impacts of service quality,perceived value,customer satisfaction,and image: an empirical study

In today's world of intense competition, satisfying customers is only the base line and may not be sufficient for survival. Management should focus on gaining customer loyalty by enhancing customer perceptions of service quality and increasing as perceived by the consumer value. Although previous studies have addressed the importance of service quality, satisfaction, perceived value, and image, the precise nature of the relationships that exist between these constructs and the understanding of their effect on customer behaviour still remains a key issue. This empirical study seeks to understand the relationships that exist between service quality and perceived value and how they impact customer satisfaction, corporate image, and behavioural intentions. The proposed model indicates that delivering high quality service and creating superior customer value can result in achieve high customer satisfaction, thus effecting the firm's corporate image, and ultimately leading to consumer retention.     

How store attributes impact shoppers’ loyalty: do different national cultures follow the same loyalty building process?

This paper takes a first step toward verifying the robustness of a comprehensive loyalty building model across different national cultures, according to Hofstede’s distinction between individualist and collectivist countries. To this end, we test a two-stage model. After collecting data from 12 countries with different cultural traits, we test the two models in two macro groups: individualist and collectivist countries. The study’s results show that the intensity of some core loyalty model paths – particularly the relationships between store loyalty and its main drivers (perceived value and customer satisfaction) – are contingent on the country’s culture. In particular, the impact of customer satisfaction on store loyalty intention is greater in collectivist countries than in individualist countries. By contrast, the impact of perceived value on store loyalty is greater in individualist than in collectivist countries. Moreover, the cultural dimension moderates the impact of the stores’ environment and promotions on satisfaction. By contrast, some other paths show robustness to national culture.     

The customer satisfaction–loyalty relation in an interactive e-service setting: The mediators

This study aims to examine the relation between customer satisfaction and loyalty through the introduction of commitment, trust, involvement and perceived value as mediators in the e-service context. An online consumer survey on selected web auction sites was used for the data collection. The findings suggest that customer satisfaction is an essential ingredient for service loyalty, but that mediators exist between satisfaction and loyalty. Commitment, trust and involvement are each proven to be partial mediators between satisfaction and loyalty, while perceived value is proven to be a complete mediator. The results have implications for the retention of satisfied customers in an interactive e-service setting.     

An integrative approach to relationship marketing,customer value,and customer outcomes in the retail banking industry: a customer-based perspective from Turkey

Given how important it is to provide superior value to customers and to maintain customer loyalty for a sustainable competitive advantage, the aim of this paper is to examine the relationships among relationship marketing components of – trust, competency, commitment, communication, and conflict handling, – relationship investment, relationship quality, perceived customer value, satisfaction and loyalty in an integrated framework in the Turkish retail banking industry. Unlike previous studies, this research extends the literature by analysing affective as well as cognitive dimensions in the same model with a holistic view by simultaneously examining the direct and indirect effects of the related concepts. The distinctive nature of this study is its evaluation of customer satisfaction and loyalty from the perspective of actual consumers. The research model was tested using data collected from 685 retail banking customers by applying structural equation modelling. The findings show that relationship marketing induces loyalty through relationship quality, customer value, and satisfaction, which are mainly provided by trust, communication, and relationship investment. Furthermore, relationship investment and relationship quality are the most important factors in the development of customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty. The emotional value dimension, which captures the affective aspects of perceived value, has the strongest effect on both satisfaction and loyalty.     

Customer perceived value,satisfaction, and loyalty: The role of switching costs

It is a marketplace reality that marketing managers sometimes inflict switching costs on their customers, to inhibit them from defecting to new suppliers. In a competitive setting, such as the Internet market, where competition may be only one click away, has the potential of switching costs as an exit barrier and a binding ingredient of customer loyalty become altered? To address that issue, this article examines the moderating effects of switching costs on customer loyalty through both satisfaction and perceived‐value measures. The results, evoked from a Web‐based survey of online service users, indicate that companies that strive for customer loyalty should focus primarily on satisfaction and perceived value. The moderating effects of switching costs on the association of customer loyalty and customer satisfaction and perceived value are significant only when the level of customer satisfaction or perceived value is above average. In light of the major findings, the article sets forth strategic implications for customer loyalty in the setting of electronic commerce. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The reward gap in hierarchical loyalty programmes: how to enhance bottom-tier customers’ loyalty without alienating top-tier customers

ABSTRACT

Reward gap is the difference in the number and nature of rewards allocated to specific customer groups (or tiers) in a hierarchical loyalty programme. Building on the social comparison, equity and attribution theories, and two experiments conducted in a retailing context, we investigate the effect of reward gap size and visibility on both bottom-tier (BT) and top-tier (TT) customers. Findings from Study 1 show that a large reward gap reduces loyalty to the programme in BT customers, while it enhances it in TT customers. These effects are mediated by perceived fairness and perceived control. Findings from Study 2 show that a non-visible large reward gap increases loyalty to the programme in BT customers without affecting it in TT customers. This effect is mediated only by perceived fairness. Altogether, the findings highlight the mechanisms that explain the effect of the reward gap on BT and TT customers’ loyalty to the programme.     

How quality, value, image, and satisfaction create loyalty at a Chinese telecom

This study proposes and tests an integrative model to examine the relations among service quality, value, image, satisfaction, and loyalty in China. Analysis of survey data from 118 customers of a Chinese mobile communications company reveals that service quality directly influences both perceived value and image perceptions, that value and image influence satisfaction, that corporate image influences value, and that both customer satisfaction and value are significant determinants of loyalty. Thus, value has both a direct and indirect (through satisfaction) impact on customer loyalty. Other variables mediate the impact of both service quality and corporate image on customer loyalty.     

Do Farmers' Market and Specialty Food Store Customers Differ in the Effects of Perceived Utilitarian and Hedonic Shopping Values?

This study explored differences in the effects of perceived utilitarian and hedonic shopping values on customer satisfaction for the two separate groups of the agricultural product marketing channel: farmers' markets and specialty food stores. Empirical data were collected from customers of agricultural product retailers located in Taiwan (N = 412). The results show that different agricultural product marketing channels provide different values to their customers. Farmers' market customers experience a greater hedonic value, and specialty food store customers experience a greater utilitarian value. In addition, the perceived utilitarian and hedonic shopping values of farmers' market customers are more highly positively associated with customer satisfaction than are those of specialty food store customers.     

The role of customer gratitude in making relationship marketing investments successful

This paper recognises that customer loyalty is important for many competitive organisations, and that retail firms make investments to build and maintain loyal relationships with their existing and potential customers (e.g. loyalty programs). However, there has been little focus on the mechanisms by which these relationship investments operate to achieve customer loyalty. This paper examines one mechanism, namely customer gratitude, which works to make a firm’s relationship marketing investment a success or a failure. Using data from 1600 undergraduate students, this study empirically confirms the mediating role of customer gratitude between the customers’ perceptions a firm’s relationship marketing investments and customers’ perceptions of the value of the relationship with the firm. Further, a significant moderating effect of perceived benevolence on the relationship between customers’ perceptions a firm’s relationship marketing investments and customer gratitude was identified. For theorists, this customer gratitude model offers a better psychological explanation of how relationship marketing investments operate to improve the value that customers place on their relationships with retailers. Our research suggests that managers should invest resources to stimulate customer gratitude in order to build strong customer–seller relationships.     

An empirical study of the relationship between shopping environment,customer perceived value,satisfaction, and loyalty in the UAE malls context

This study aims to investigate through structural equation modelling (SEM) the relationships between the shopping environment, customer perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in regard to malls in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The main results of this study show that the mall environment is an antecedent of the customer perceived value of malls (MALLVAL) and customer satisfaction. MALLVAL has a significant positive effect on both customer satisfaction and customer loyalty to malls. In addition, MALLVAL and customer satisfaction mediate the relationship between the mall environment and customer loyalty. Finally, customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between MALLVAL and customer loyalty to malls. Some theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.     

Building chain loyalty in grocery retailing by means of loyalty programs – A study of ‘the Norwegian case’

The aim of the paper is to analyze chain loyalty effects of customers' perceived value of loyalty programs in grocery retailing. It contributes to filling a gap in the literature, as there has been little earlier focus on the links between customers' perception of loyalty program value and satisfaction, image, and loyalty, at the chain level. One main finding is that customers’ perceived value of a loyalty program has significant direct and moderating effects on chain loyalty, and the moderation effects are chain dependent. Managers should thus consider satisfaction creation, image building, and loyalty program value creation as parallel processes.     

Role of customer orientation in an integrative model of brand loyalty in services

This study attempts to model the development of brand loyalty by examining the simultaneous effects of customer orientation, perceived quality, brand associations, and satisfaction on brand loyalty. Data are used from retail banking and discount store retailing services to examine the direct and indirect effects of customer perceptions of customer orientation and quality on brand loyalty. It was found that customer orientation has a direct effect on brand loyalty and indirect effects through customer satisfaction, perceived quality, and brand associations as mediators. Further, perceived quality has a direct effect on brand loyalty as well as an indirect effect with satisfaction as a mediator. The results suggest that effective management of brand loyalty would require tracking of customer perceptions of a firm's customer orientation, quality and brand, in addition to measuring customer satisfaction.     

关系营销范式下客户份额增加行为研究

关系营销范式日益得到理论界和实业界的认可,同时客户回报计划也已成为一种重要的关系营销手段,然而却没有太多研究着眼于在回报计划实施情形下客户是如何加深与企业关系的。文章将通过建立一个从客户观点出发的过程模型来研究在竞争环境下客户做出增加其客户份额决策时是如何将客户转移成本、服务体验及客户对回报计划的感知价值等因素考虑进决策过程的。结果显示客户份额增加是以客户转移成本为基础,并受到客户所经历的服务体验的调整,且在竞争环境下这种调整相对复杂,同时验证了回报计划对客户份额的增加有积极作用,是企业建立长期客户关系的有效手段。最后讨论了研究结论对企业营销实践的启示。