Mark Uncles

Customer loyalty and customer loyalty programs

Customer loyalty presents a paradox. Many see it as primarily an attitude‐based phenomenon that can be influenced significantly by customer relationship management initiatives such as the increasingly popular loyalty and affinity programs. However, empirical research shows that loyalty in competitive repeat‐purchase markets is shaped more by the passive acceptance of brands than by strongly‐held attitudes about them. From this perspective, the demand‐enhancing potential of loyalty programs is more limited than might be hoped. Reviews three different perspectives on loyalty, and relates these to a framework for understanding customer loyalty that encompasses customer brand commitment, customer brand acceptance and customer brand buying. Uses this framework to analyze the demand‐side potential of loyalty programs. Discusses where these programs might work and where they are unlikely to succeed on any large scale. Provides a checklist for marketers.

Sales promotion effectiveness: the impact of consumer differences at an ethnic‐group level

Purpose – Aims to examine the proposition that consumer sales promotions are more effective when they provide benefits that are congruent with those of the promoted product. This proposition is considered at the ethnic‐group level (i.e. do differences in cultural values at this level have an impact on sales promotion effectiveness?).Design/methodology/approach – A quasi‐experimental design is used to test a series of hypotheses based on a sample of Anglo‐Australians and Chinese‐Australians. The main experiment is informed by the results of two pretests.Findings – First, there are significant differences in consumer cultural values at an ethnic‐group level. Second, despite these differences, ethnicity does not have a significant impact on responses to sales promotions. Third, the expected congruency effects between products and promotion types are not found.Research limitations/implications – Some of the detailed results match those reported in previous studies, but there are important differences too.Prac...

A replication study of two brand-loyalty measures

Abstract In a systematic check across 34 US product categories, two standard measures of brand-loyalty are found to be closely predictable from the Dirichlet model of buyer behaviour in most cases. This means that market share is generally the dominant factor, but that there are also certain submarkets and isolated deviations. The general role of replication studies is also briefly considered.

The Buying of Own Labels

Do consumers buy own labels differently from the branded goods of manufacturers? Contrary to some of the beliefs currently held in the trade, own labels are found to be bought much like brands, and loyalty is only slightly above average. Usually, own labels are just one item in a repertoire: consumers will buy other brands, they will buy at other stores, and they will buy the own labels of other stores.

A taxonomy of differences between consumers for market segmentation

Abstract A new taxonomy of differences between consumers is presented. It is argued that there are at least five generic types of differences between consumers: preferences for product benefits, consumer interaction effects, choice barriers, bargaining power, and profitability. Recognition of these distinct types of consumer heterogeneity has implications for the identification of relevant segmentation variables, the methods used to form segments, and the appraisal and optimization of existing segmentations.

Consumer savvy: conceptualisation and measurement

The notion of savvy consumers increasingly appears in the e-marketing and e-management literatures, usually in discussions about the importance of consumer-centricity. A synthesis of the literature identifies six broad characteristics of these savvy consumers: they are enabled by competencies in relation to technological sophistication, interpersonal networking, online networking and marketing/advertising literacy, and they are empowered by consumer self-efficacy and by their expectations of firms. This understanding of consumers is formalised by developing a SAVVY scale. Standard scale development procedures are applied using a sample from an online panel of consumers. As part of the process of validating the new scale, comparisons are made with related, established scales – focusing on measures of consumer advantage (persuasion knowledge and market mavens) and consumer disadvantage (confusion arising from over-choice and vulnerability at the shopping interface). Our findings show the value of formal, empirically-grounded measures of consumer savvy, something that has been absent from many previous commentaries on the characteristics of savvy new consumers.

Brand preferences and brand choices among urban Chinese consumers: An investigation of country‐of‐origin effects

Purpose – Aims to review, update, and extend the understanding of country‐of‐origin (COO) effects in China. This involves examining the nature and extent of the COO effect amongst urban Chinese consumers and the impact of COO on actual purchase behaviour.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire is used to collect COO information from a sample of 432 Shanghai consumers and a consumer panel is used to track the purchase behaviour of the same consumers over 6 months.Findings – First, Chinese consumers generally say they prefer to buy local Chinese grocery brands. Second, Chinese consumers believe it is important to buy local brands for a range of Chinese‐style and Western‐style product categories. Third, however, the stated preference for Chinese brands was generally not reflected in actual purchase behaviour.Research limitations/implications – The results support the growing view that Chinese consumers are not necessarily attracted to foreign brands. However, the disparity between stated preferences an...

Grocery store patronage

Various aspects of how shoppers patronize grocery stores are regular and predictable, so much so that the pattern of buying at a particular store can be interpreted against known patterns at other stores, and against a very general model, the NBD-Dirichlet. For the grocery manager this means using scanner-panel records to assess patronage against a number of benchmark or norms. Both the substantive findings and the methodological considerations are discussed in the hope that this work will encourage further of the approach

The benefits of airline global alliances: an empirical assessment of the perceptions of business travelers

Many claims have been made concerning the benefits of airline global alliances, often from the viewpoint of airline operators. By contrast, the focus of this paper is an empirical study of the perceptions of consumers. Studied first are the perceptions that business travelers have of the benefits of global alliances. Results show that a sizeable minority are unsure of the benefits or hold at least some misconceptions. This varies depending on the nature of the benefit and the type of respondent. Results also suggest that no major differences are perceived in the benefits offered by competing global alliances. Second, the importance of global alliance benefits in determining airline choice by business travelers is considered. Relative to other benefits, alliance benefits are not seen as particularly important.

In praise of retrospective surveys

Some important issues in marketing require the use of retrospective surveys. But, despite the lack of suitable alternative methods, retrospective survey-based research tends to be given short shrift by journal editors and is treated harshly in review processes. The goal of this paper is to acknowledge justifiable criticisms, see to what extent these criticisms can be addressed or contained, and to foster an inclusive approach to the use of retrospective surveys – especially for the investigation of those important issues that cannot be studied systematically in any other way. Examples are drawn from word of mouth (WOM) research – an area where retrospective surveys have been an indispensible method for gaining knowledge.