Consumer–retailer love and attachment: Antecedents and personality moderators

Because loyalty to services remains elusive and unpredictable, there is a need to study consumer relationships with firms apart from the established satisfaction–loyalty chain approach. To that end, the present paper investigates feelings of attachment and love through two empirical consumer studies of two different grocery retailer brands. The findings of the current study imply that retail store image, perceived transactional value, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations positively influence consumer–retailer love levels. Furthermore, we find that for consumers scoring low on the value of warm relationships with others and for consumers characterized by an avoidant attachment style, the effect of consumer–retailer love on re-patronage intentions is less salient. Interestingly, in the case of highly avoidant individuals, the effect of consumer–retailer love is negative. Managerial implications for building consumer-firm love in the context of grocery retail, as well as future research perspectives, are provided at the end of the paper.     

Linkages of retailer personality,perceived quality and purchase intention with retailer loyalty: A study of Indian non-food retailing

The present study was an effort to explore the direct and indirect (through retailer perceived quality and purchase intention) impacts of retailer personality on store loyalty. Questionnaire was used to collect data using systematic sampling from non-food retail store shoppers of age 18 years and above in Kolkata, a metropolitan city of India. Multivariate data analysis techniques like structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data. Results supported both the direct and indirect impacts of retailer personality on retailer equity. Interestingly, the extent of indirect impact of retailer personality on retailer loyalty is greater than direct impact. Arguably, this paper is the first to explore the linkages among retailer personality, perceived quality, purchase intention and store loyalty. Academic and managerial implications are further discussed.     

A study of the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility and price image on retailer personality and consumers' reactions (satisfaction,trust and loyalty to the retailer)

This study investigates the impact of a retailer's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy and its price image on retailer personality, along with the impact of these two variables on the consequences of retailer personality: consumers' satisfaction, trust and loyalty toward the retailer (measured by their attitude and future behavioral intentions). Data were collected on a convenience sample of 352 consumers of a French grocery retailer. Using Partial Least Squares analysis (PLS), we show that perceived Corporate Social Responsibility and price image have a significant positive/negative influence on retailer personality traits (“agreeableness” and “conscientiousness”/“disingenuousness”) and that Corporate Social Responsibility has also a significant positive influence on the “sophistication” personality trait. For the consequences examined (satisfaction, trust and loyalty to the retailer), we show that Corporate Social Responsibility, price image and retailer personality have a direct or indirect impact on these dependent variables.     

Consumer shopping value, satisfaction and loyalty in discount retailing

To date, few researchers have conducted comprehensive examinations of the relationships between consumer shopping value, satisfaction and loyalty in retailing. Further, the majority of extant research has been limited to upscale retail sectors where the role of the salesperson is crucial and long-term relationships are common. In order to extend the findings of previous research to additional retail sectors, the current study investigates the complex interrelationships between utilitarian and hedonic shopping value and important retail outcomes for discount retailers. Utilitarian and hedonic shopping value are found to influence key outcome variables including satisfaction, loyalty, word of mouth communication and share of purchases in the highly competitive discount retail sector.     

Consumer loyalty in sport spectatorship services: The relationships with consumer satisfaction and team identification

This research aimed to investigate the possible relationships between the concepts of consumer loyalty (attitudinal and behavioral), satisfaction, and team identification in the context of sport spectatorship. Specifically, several models were tested to investigate (1) the direct influence of team identification, consumer behavioral loyalty, and consumer satisfaction on consumer attitudinal loyalty, and (2) the mediating or moderating role of team identification in the relationship between consumer satisfaction, behavioral loyalty, and attitudinal loyalty. Results from a sample of 395 spectators of French ice hockey first division clubs revealed that consumer transaction–specific satisfaction was found to be the stronger predictor for consumer attitudinal loyalty alongside team identification and the average number of home games attended per year. A second indirect route is possible because team identification was also found to play a mediating role between consumer transaction–specific satisfaction, home and away games attended per year, and some dimensions of consumer attitudinal loyalty. Finally, team identification was also found to moderate the impact of consumer satisfaction and the number of away games attended on different facets of attitudinal loyalty. Marketing and theoretical implications are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Interfirm strategic integration in retailer buying groups: antecedents and consequences on the retailer's economic satisfaction

Abstract

Independent small retailers have shown a growing trend toward joining buying groups as a means to compete against large distribution chains. The retailer's strategic integration of the relationship with the buying group (RSI), i.e., the retailer's recognition of this relationship as a strategic asset, is the focal theoretical construct of this study. With a sample of retailers of home appliances that are integrated in a buying group, the empirical test of two alternative models about the antecedents and consequences of RSI has confirmed that the concept plays an important and significant mediational role in explaining the effects of environment and relational characteristics on the retailer's satisfaction with the buying group. The author discusses the theoretical implications of the results obtained and explores consequences for decision makers.     

Linkages of retailer awareness,retailer association,retailer perceived quality and retailer loyalty with purchase intention: A study of Indian food retail brands

The present study was an effort to explore the direct and indirect impacts (mediated through retailer loyalty) of retailer awareness, retailer association and retailer perceived quality on purchase intention. Seven hypotheses were developed with relevant literature support. The hypotheses were tested with primary data (n=355) collected through structured questionnaire using systematic sampling from food retail shoppers of age 18 years and above in Kolkata, a metropolitan city of India. Structural equation modeling statistical technique was used to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that retailer awareness, retailer association, retailer perceived quality and retailer loyalty have positive impacts on purchase intention. Results also found that the indirect impacts (mediated though retailer loyalty) of retailer awareness, retailer association and retailer perceived quality on purchase intention are stronger than the direct ones. Academic and managerial implications are further discussed.     

Consumer loyalty to family versus non-family business: The roles of store image,trust and satisfaction

This study sheds insight on how consumers perceive and relate to family and non-family grocery stores. Using a critical incident approach we show that—compared to non-family businesses—consumers evaluate family businesses better in terms of service, frontline employee benevolence, and problem-solving orientation, and worse in terms of selection and price/value. Results further indicate higher consumer trust in family business management policies and practices, frontline employee trust, and satisfaction but no differences in loyalty. Examining an integrative loyalty framework, the study finally shows differential effects in how image elements influence customer loyalty directly as well as indirectly through trust and satisfaction. Implications focus on advancing customer relationship management in retailing, and on successfully positioning family-owned and -operated businesses.     

Antecedents of retailer loyalty: Simultaneously investigating channel push and consumer pull effects

This study includes information technology (IT) related industries as the focus and aims to examine the antecedents of retailer loyalty toward brand owners by simultaneously investigating push and pull effects in the channel system. The study interviews 274 independent retailers who sell IT related products to end consumers. The results show that the retailer perceived value of selling the brand owner's products plays a pivotal role in promoting their loyalty toward the brand owners. Retailer loyalty toward brand owners comes directly from brand owners' push efforts, and indirectly from pull effects. Additionally, the specific asset invested by each party (brand owners, retailers, and customers) strengthens the relationship within each other in the channel system.     

Exploring the influence of three types of grocery retailer loyalty programs on customer affective loyalty

Loyalty programs have become a key tool in retailer marketing strategies. In order to manage client heterogeneity adequately, companies have implemented different types of programs: reward programs (RP), loyalty cards (LC) and VIP programs. This paper explores the effects of these three types of programs and provides a comparative analysis of the influence that these three types of programs have on the affective loyalty towards the retailer of customers participating in them. Results show that VIP programs are the most effective in achieving customer affective loyalty, whilst people taking part in reward programs and loyalty card schemes evidence no differences in their affective loyalty towards the store. It can thus be concluded that clients who are loyalty card holders do not value the intangible rewards (preferential treatment) they receive from the store.     

Customer retailer loyalty in the context of multiple channel strategies

With an increasingly competitive retail environment and decreasing customer switching costs, customer retailer loyalty is a critical goal for merchants of all types. We investigate customer retailer loyalty in the context of multiple channel retailing strategies. Results show that multiple channel retail strategies enhance the portfolio of service outputs provided to the customer, thus enhancing customer satisfaction and ultimately customer retailer loyalty. These results suggest that multiple channel retailing can be a useful strategy for building customer retailer loyalty.     

Designing successful temporary loyalty programs: An exploratory study on retailer and country differences

Retailers increasingly adopt temporary loyalty programs (TLPs), in which consumers have limited time, often less than half a year, to save stamps and redeem highly discounted rewards. These programs often run alongside the retailers’ permanent loyalty programs in an attempt to increase customer engagement. Despite the growing popularity of TLPs, the literature on the topic remains limited. We address this gap by looking at the redemption rate, the industry’s primary success indicator, of almost 900 TLPs across a broad set of grocery retailers in 45 countries. We study the effects of four key design characteristics (the duration of the program, the discount offered, the spending requirement before an award can be redeemed, and the reward depth) on the redemption rate, and explore how these effects vary across a broad range of retailer and country characteristics. In doing so, we control for both a retailer’s potential self-selection into running a TLP and the potential endogeneity of the subsequent design choices. We derive a set of actionable results on how to design successful TLPs and show that high redemption rates are not only beneficial for the program operator and reward manufacturer, but also translate into higher sales and profit for the retailer.     

Consequences of ambivalence on satisfaction and loyalty

The key objective of this study was to understand the consequences of subjective ambivalence on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and the satisfaction–loyalty relationship. The conceptual and theoretical discussions were derived largely from recent research in social psychology and integrated with marketing literature on satisfaction and loyalty. Given that product evaluations are typically positive and extreme, these findings indicate a negative relationship between ambivalence and satisfaction. Even though a great deal of the variance in ambivalence is shared with satisfaction, ambivalence did prove to have an independent and direct effect on loyalty. Ambivalent consumers are not only less loyal because they are less satisfied, but for other reasons, as well. Ambivalence was not found to moderate the satisfaction–loyalty relationship. The results of the study underscore the importance of taking ambivalence into consideration when measuring satisfaction and modeling satisfaction–loyalty relationships. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Consumer attitudes and loyalty towards private brands

Private or store brands improve the efficiency of consumer decision making by offering equivalent quality products at lower prices. The present study evaluated consumer attitudes towards private brands with the goal of understanding their appeal in order to enhance efforts to convince more consumers to buy them. We used three samples (ns = 279, 245 and 305) of US consumers to compare attitudes of buyers of private and national brands in three product categories: orange juice, cereal and bottled water. The results show that private label buyers (23% of orange juice, 6.5% of cereal and 14% of bottled water buyers) consider brands themselves to be less important and private brands to offer better performance than do national brand buyers. When asked about specific brands, national brand buyers tended to be price insensitive towards national brands, and private label buyers price insensitive towards store brands. In addition, the national brand buyers saw some of the national brands to be more relevant to their lifestyles and needs, but the private label buyers saw the private labels the same way. Being relevant to consumers' lives appears to influence brand selection. Besides touting lower prices, private brand promotions might stress the equivalent performance of private labels and create promotions showing how these brands can be relevant to consumers' lifestyles and needs.     

Adjusted expectations,satisfaction and loyalty development

The primary contribution of this article is an analysis of the influence of the use of individual's expectations about a service consumption on the behavior models, that examine the process according to which loyalty and satisfaction are generated. More specifically, the research examines the implications of considering adjusted expectations, namely those that tourists have after having visited a destination, rather than those expectations they may have prior to their visit. By developing structural equations, the research verifies that the use of adjusted expectations modifies the chain of causal relationships described in the cognitive–affective explanatory models for tourist satisfaction and loyalty.     

The relationship between satisfaction and loyalty: A mediator analysis

This study proposes a multiple mediation model to analyze the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. The study's contribution to the literature is to examine, empirically, the main antecedents and determinants of this endogenous variable in greater depth. Thus, the research fills a gap in the literature through its analysis of the mediating role of perceived switching costs and the perceived lack of attractiveness of alternative offerings. This study applies variance-based structural equation modeling via partial least squares to a sample of 785 customers from 74 insurance companies in the service sector. The results show that perceived switching costs – to a greater extent – and the perceived lack of attractiveness of alternative offerings – to a lesser extent – are significant mediators in the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty.     

Influence of hedonic and utilitarian motivations on retailer loyalty and purchase intention: a facebook perspective

Social networks are an innovative tool that people use to communicate with family, friends and, increasingly, businesses. To optimize social networks as a marketing strategy, apparel retailers must understand consumers׳ motivations to interact with retailers via social media. We argue consumers׳ motivations for shopping on Retail Facebook Pages (RFP) compared to traditional retail formats may differ. The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of utilitarian and hedonic motivations (i.e., time savings, information access, bargain perception, and experiential shopping) on purchase intention and loyalty among consumers that use RFP. Using SEM, we show that experiential shopping influences loyalty, but not purchase intention, that bargain perception influences neither purchase intention nor loyalty, that information access influences time savings and loyalty, and that loyalty impacts purchase intention.     

Assessing the relationship between loyalty program attributes, store satisfaction and store loyalty

After a decade of research there is still much to understand about the relationship between loyalty programs and whether they deliver on their promise of building customer loyalty towards a store and understanding the mediating role of store satisfaction. Our results suggest that loyalty program as a summary construct, explains a significant proportion of the variance in store satisfaction and store loyalty. However, disaggregation of the construct into hard versus soft attributes, promotes greater specificity, precision and accuracy in uncovering the differential impact on store satisfaction and store loyalty.     

Influence of personality traits on satisfaction,perception of relational benefits,and loyalty in a personal service context

The relationship between aspects of consumers’ personalities and their perception of relational benefits, satisfaction with, and active or passive loyalty toward the provision of a service (hair styling) are investigated by means of an empirical study of 800 Spanish consumers. The psychological traits examined are need for social affiliation, consumer relationship proneness and need for variety. Using partial least squares analysis (PLS), the results indicate that the perception of relational benefits leads to a higher satisfaction and passive loyalty. Need for social affiliation is a strong determinant of relational benefits, active loyalty and consumer relationship proneness. This latter trait influences the perception of relational benefits along with passive loyalty. Need for variety has a direct negative influence on consumer relationship proneness.     

Consumer satisfaction of retirees: products and services

This study was designed to assess the nature and extent of consumer satisfaction of retirees at two stages of retirement: Stage I, age 60–69; Stage age 70 and above. This cross-sectional mail survey study contained 196 retiree households selected at random, representing retirees who had been retired for at least 1 year and were 60 years of age or older. Results indicate that retirees are in fact a heterogeneous group of consumers who are generally self-reliant, with varying consumer problems and varying reasons for those problems. Results of this study, collectively, lend support to the notion that age alone is not an appropriate way of studying consumer concerns of retirees. Additionally, retirees' stage of retirement has no significant relationship to the person responsible for the weekly household shopping. Finally, reasons for consumer dissatisfaction are not related to the weekly household shopper.