The housing deal is one of the biggest deals made in life where a lot of money and emotions are involved. It is about a special business in which the real estate agent has an important role. The real estate profession is a profession of trust that largely is about building customer relationships. The profession includes a lot of customer contact and customer interaction, hence the customer relationships are important. As the real estate profession differs from other sales professions and there are not many studies in the real estate brokerage industry, we feel that there is a knowledge gap to fill. As customer relationships are important for real estate agents, it is of interest to study what relationship building looks like in the industry. Based on general studies on relationship building, it appears that trust, customer loyalty and personal qualities are influencing factors. The purpose of the thesis is to increase understanding of what relationship building looks like in the real estate brokerage industry. Furthermore, we want to understand how real estate agents work to create customer loyalty. In addition, there has been a change in the gender distribution structure in the real estate brokerage industry in recent decades. In other sales industries where this change has also occurred, it has resulted in a transformation in relationship building. Due to this, a gender perspective on relationship building will also be considered. In the study, a qualitative method has been applied where the empirical material was collected via eight interviews with real estate agents in Karlstad. The respondents have answered open-ended questions about their relationship building and have described their experiences of the gender perspective in the real estate brokerage industry. The empirical material describes relationship styles, customer loyalty, character traits and gender perspectives in the industry. Furthermore, an analysis and discussion has been carried out where connections to theories of relationship building have been made. The study's conclusion shows that there are two relationship styles that dominate among real estate agents. Furthermore, trust and confidence prove to be essential for achieving customer loyalty, where knowledge, safety, clarity, and commitment have reappeared as value-creating factors. In addition to trust and confidence, communication was also a contributing factor to customer satisfaction and thus customer loyalty. Finally, the results indicate that gender has a certain impact as potential differences in relationship building have been discovered. / Bostadsaffären är en av de största affärerna som görs i livet där mycket pengar och känslor är inblandade. Det handlar om en speciell affär där fastighetsmäklaren har en viktig roll. Fastighetsmäklaryrket är ett förtroendeyrke som till stor del handlar om att bygga kundrelationer. Yrket innefattar mycket kundkontakt och kundinteraktion, därav är kundrelationerna av stor vikt. Då fastighetsmäklaryrket skiljer sig från andra säljyrken och det inte finns särskilt mycket studier i fastighetsmäklarbranschen, upplever vi att det finns en kunskapslucka att fylla. I och med att kundrelationer är betydelsefulla för fastighetsmäklare är det av intresse att studera hur relationsbyggandet ser ut i branschen. Utifrån generella studier om relationsbyggande framgår det att förtroende, kundlojalitet och personliga egenskaper är påverkande faktorer. Syftet med uppsatsen är att öka förståelsen för hur relationsbyggandet ser ut i fastighetsmäklarbranschen. Vidare vill vi förstå hur fastighetsmäklare arbetar för att skapa kundlojalitet. Fortsättningsvis har det skett en förändrad struktur i könsfördelningen inom fastighetsmäklarbranschen under de senaste decennierna. I andra säljbranscher där denna förändring även skett, har det resulterat i en omvandling i relationsbyggandet. Med anledning av detta kommer ett genusperspektiv på relationsbyggande även tas i beaktning. I studien har en kvalitativ metod tillämpats där det empiriska materialet samlats in via åtta intervjuer med fastighetsmäklare i Karlstad. Respondenterna har besvarat öppna frågor om deras relationsbyggandet samt har beskrivit deras upplevelser av genusperspektivet i fastighetsmäklarbranschen. Det empiriska materialet redogör för relationsstilar, kundlojalitet, karaktärsdrag och genusperspektiv inom branschen. Vidare har en analys och diskussion genomförts där kopplingar till teorier om relationsbyggande har gjorts. Studiens slutsats visar på att det finns två relationsstilar som dominerar bland fastighetsmäklare. Vidare visar resultatet att förtroende och tillit är väsentligt för att uppnå kundlojalitet, där kunskap, trygghet, tydlighet och engagemang återkommit som värdeskapande faktorer. Utöver förtroende och tillit var även kommunikation en bidragande faktor till kundnöjdhet och därmed kundlojalitet. Slutligen tyder resultatet på att könsroller har en viss påverkan då eventuella skillnader i relationsbyggande har upptäckts.

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This thesis investigates the role of return policies in fostering customer loyalty within the Scandinavian interior design e-commerce sector. An inductive approach, including focus group interviews and analysis of company return policies. The findings highlight the importance of transparent, accessible, and customer-friendly return policies in building trust and loyalty. Additionally, the study examines return policies' social, ethical, and sustainable implications, providing insights for retail managers on co-creating corporate social responsibility (CSR) and balancing with suppliers. The research concludes that profitability, transparency, inclusiveness, and sustainability are essential for long-term business success in e-commerce. The study also recommends future research directions, including incorporating expert interviews to explore these dynamics further.

Yes / Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a new conceptual model in an online service context. The model focuses on an important, yet often neglected customer-oriented construct, i.e., user “control”, which is embedded in consumer behaviour when accessing the internet. The study examines the relationship between control, online dependency, online encounter satisfaction and overall satisfaction. It explains the strategic implications surrounding customer control and online dependency as means for enhancing customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was developed drawing on a combination of existing and new measurement items for the constructs in question. The instrument was later pilot tested on two consecutive occasions ahead of the main survey. A random sample of Hong Kong banking consumers was approached and interviews were undertaken via telephone. The data were analysed via confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses relating to the model. Findings The findings reveal positive relationships between control and online dependency, and control and online encounter satisfaction. Meanwhile control, online dependency and online encounter satisfaction lead to overall satisfaction. Originality/value This study proposes a counterintuitive argument that while online service customers gain control of the online service process, they become more dependent on it, and their control and dependency also lead to their satisfaction, at both the online service encounter level and corporate level. Drawing on the pertinent literature, this is the first study to examine the importance of two information system constructs, i.e., control and online dependency, as predictors of consumer psychological fulfilment, i.e., satisfaction. The findings confirm that control as an initiator and driver of customer satisfaction in an online context, and online encounter satisfaction, further contributes to overall satisfaction at the corporate level.

No / The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of relationship quality (hereafter referred to as RQ) and its impact on customer loyalty within an emerging retail banking market through a dual-lens theory. The research informants were recruited from a city in South-eastern Nigeria. A quantitative data obtained through bank-intercept method and online survey from 332 customers of retail banking services formed the final database. The proposed model and by implication the research hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling procedure. he results show that customer orientation, expertise and information sharing are stimulus factors that directly influence the constructs of RQ (i.e. trust and satisfaction and indirectly influence customer loyalty through the constructs of RQ. The paper also demonstrates that the stimulus factors are direct predictors of consumers’ response. The proposed model explained 49 per cent of the total variance in customer loyalty. Customer orientation, expertise and information sharing are stimulus factors that improve RQ and customer loyalty. However, the explanatory power of the proposed model is modest. Future research should therefore integrate other determinants of RQ. The paper contributes to the growing body of stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) literature within the retail environment by exploring unique stimulus and organism variables from an emerging retail banking market perspective. Additionally, by showing that the stimulus factors are direct predictors of consumers’ response, the paper challenged the existing tenets of the S-O-R framework and deepened the current understanding of the model. The paper also contributes to the social exchange theory by demonstrating how the components of RQ mediate the antecedents and consequences of the construct.

This study examined the relationships between the six benefit types and customer loyalty through trust and satisfaction in integrated resorts. A self-administered survey was developed based on previous studies in customer loyalty and was distributed through e-Reward online survey panel. The findings showed that only financial gaming benefits, functional gaming benefits, and psychological non-gaming benefits had impacts on customer attitudinal loyalty and customer behavioral loyalty through trust and satisfaction in integrated resorts. Besides, functional gaming benefits had the most influence on customer loyalty through trust and satisfaction. This study extended existing literature in integrated resorts by showing that benefit types in a loyalty program can build customer attitudinal loyalty and customer behavioral loyalty in integrated resorts. This study also examined different types of benefits affect customer loyalty in different degrees. For operators of integrated resorts, understanding how different benefits of a loyalty program affect customer loyalty will allow them to modify their loyalty programs effectively to increase revenue and maintain customers.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / The aim of this study is to investigate service quality at retail banks, such as Standard Bank, ABSA Bank, First National Bank and Nedbank in Durban. The four objectives of this study are set as: Firstly, to identify the level of satisfaction with customer service received from different retail banks in Durban; Secondly, to identify customers’ expectations in terms of quality services provided by retail banks; Thirdly, to ascertain the perceptions of customers towards the service provided by retail banks in Durban; Fourthly, to measure the gaps between customer expectations and perceptions of service quality, using a modified version of the SERVQUAL model. The instrument used to assess the retail bank customer’s expectation and expectations of service quality, was the SERVQUAL questionnaire, measuring expectations and perceptions according to five quality dimensions. A total of 448 students were surveyed. Quota sampling was used in this study, in order to improve representativeness. Using quota sampling involves selecting the characteristics that are required in the sample and then sampling until enough representatives of each category are achieved. Although this is a form of non-probability sampling, a quota sample can provide a good approximation to a probability sample. It means that distributing questionnaires to a certain group would be stopped after the prescribed quota is reached. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Conclusions and recommendations were thereafter drawn from the literature and the findings of the study. The study shows that retail bank customer expectations of service quality exceeded their perceptions in the five service quality dimensions used in the SERVQUAL questionnaire. This study is also important because it will assist bank managers to convert negative perceptions to positive impressions. Consequently, customers will benefit from the improved, outstanding customer service.

In the business-to-business (B2B) financing industry, financiers offering financing to SMEs are finding it increasingly difficult to attract new customers and to retain existing customers. One way of attracting and retaining customers is by creating superior customer satisfaction, as it is believed that customer satisfaction leads to loyalty which ultimately results in customer retention. Customer satisfaction could also be an important indicator as to whether customers would want to build long-term relationships with financiers. With the current tendency towards the standardisation of financing products and services, building and maintaining relationships with customers is becoming increasingly important as a way to distinguish financiers from their competitors and, concurrently, to ensure survival. However, not all customers want to build long-term relationships with financiers. It is therefore important that financiers should identify those customers who have positive relationship intentions and focus their marketing efforts on these customers. The primary objective of this study was to develop a framework for relationship intention, satisfaction, loyalty and retention of SMEs in the business-to-business (B2B) financing environment. The descriptive research of this study is based on information gathered through quantitative, self-administered electronic surveys that were distributed among a South African financier’s (Business Partners Limited) customer database. In total, 120 SME respondents participated in the study, resulting in a final realisation rate of 12%. Results from this study indicate that the relationship intention measuring scale used in this study was valid and reliable in the B2B context within the financing environment. Results also show a significantly large positive relationship between respondents’ overall satisfaction and their loyalty towards Business Partners Limited (BPL), as well as a significantly large positive relationship between respondents’ loyalty and retention towards BPL. In addition, respondents with high relationship intentions showed higher overall satisfaction with loyalty and retention towards BPL than those respondents with moderate and low relationship intentions. Furthermore, the results indicated that respondents with moderate relationship intentions have higher overall satisfaction with BPL than those respondents with low relationship intentions. Respondents with moderate relationship intentions also displayed higher loyalty and retention towards BPL than those respondents with low relationship intentions. The results furthermore showed positive linear relationships between respondents’ relationship intentions and their overall satisfaction with BPL, between respondents’ relationship intentions and their loyalty towards BPL, as well as between respondents’ relationship intentions and their retention towards BPL. The results did not point to any clear parallels between respondents’ business size and their overall satisfaction, loyalty or retention. However, this study found positive relationships between respondents’ relationship intentions and their satisfaction, loyalty and retention. It is especially noteworthy that customers showing high relationship intentions overall, also showed a higher inclination to be satisfied, to be loyal and to become repeat customers (thus indicating retention). It is therefore recommended that financiers should rather use their customers’ relationship intentions and not their business size as focus, because strong positive relationships exist between respondents’ relationship intentions and their overall satisfaction, loyalty and retention. It is furthermore recommended that financiers should focus their marketing efforts and spending on customers with high relationship intentions as these customers tend to show higher satisfaction, loyalty and retention than those customers with moderate and low relationship intentions. Future research may consider using the relationship intentions measuring scale found to be valid and reliable in this study to other B2B contexts to determine the applicability thereof in other industries. Also, future research could consider testing the antecedents of relationship intentions, such as perceived brand equity, perceived organisation equity and perceived channel equity to determine the influence thereof on customers' relationship intentions. Finally, the study can be replicated under financiers’ B2C customers to determine whether relationship intentions are also applicable to these customers in the financing environment. / PhD (Marketing Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In the business-to-business (B2B) financing industry, financiers offering financing to SMEs are finding it increasingly difficult to attract new customers and to retain existing customers. One way of attracting and retaining customers is by creating superior customer satisfaction, as it is believed that customer satisfaction leads to loyalty which ultimately results in customer retention. Customer satisfaction could also be an important indicator as to whether customers would want to build long-term relationships with financiers. With the current tendency towards the standardisation of financing products and services, building and maintaining relationships with customers is becoming increasingly important as a way to distinguish financiers from their competitors and, concurrently, to ensure survival. However, not all customers want to build long-term relationships with financiers. It is therefore important that financiers should identify those customers who have positive relationship intentions and focus their marketing efforts on these customers. The primary objective of this study was to develop a framework for relationship intention, satisfaction, loyalty and retention of SMEs in the business-to-business (B2B) financing environment. The descriptive research of this study is based on information gathered through quantitative, self-administered electronic surveys that were distributed among a South African financier’s (Business Partners Limited) customer database. In total, 120 SME respondents participated in the study, resulting in a final realisation rate of 12%. Results from this study indicate that the relationship intention measuring scale used in this study was valid and reliable in the B2B context within the financing environment. Results also show a significantly large positive relationship between respondents’ overall satisfaction and their loyalty towards Business Partners Limited (BPL), as well as a significantly large positive relationship between respondents’ loyalty and retention towards BPL. In addition, respondents with high relationship intentions showed higher overall satisfaction with loyalty and retention towards BPL than those respondents with moderate and low relationship intentions. Furthermore, the results indicated that respondents with moderate relationship intentions have higher overall satisfaction with BPL than those respondents with low relationship intentions. Respondents with moderate relationship intentions also displayed higher loyalty and retention towards BPL than those respondents with low relationship intentions. The results furthermore showed positive linear relationships between respondents’ relationship intentions and their overall satisfaction with BPL, between respondents’ relationship intentions and their loyalty towards BPL, as well as between respondents’ relationship intentions and their retention towards BPL. The results did not point to any clear parallels between respondents’ business size and their overall satisfaction, loyalty or retention. However, this study found positive relationships between respondents’ relationship intentions and their satisfaction, loyalty and retention. It is especially noteworthy that customers showing high relationship intentions overall, also showed a higher inclination to be satisfied, to be loyal and to become repeat customers (thus indicating retention). It is therefore recommended that financiers should rather use their customers’ relationship intentions and not their business size as focus, because strong positive relationships exist between respondents’ relationship intentions and their overall satisfaction, loyalty and retention. It is furthermore recommended that financiers should focus their marketing efforts and spending on customers with high relationship intentions as these customers tend to show higher satisfaction, loyalty and retention than those customers with moderate and low relationship intentions. Future research may consider using the relationship intentions measuring scale found to be valid and reliable in this study to other B2B contexts to determine the applicability thereof in other industries. Also, future research could consider testing the antecedents of relationship intentions, such as perceived brand equity, perceived organisation equity and perceived channel equity to determine the influence thereof on customers' relationship intentions. Finally, the study can be replicated under financiers’ B2C customers to determine whether relationship intentions are also applicable to these customers in the financing environment. / PhD (Marketing Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Titel: Kundlojalitet inom e-handeln Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Filip Forslund & Mattias Wikström Handledare: Jens Eklinder Frick Datum: Januari 2016 Syfte: Syftet med studien är att belysa hur företag inom e-handeln arbetar med de attitydmässiga dimensionerna kognitiv, affektiv och konativ kundlojalitet. Metod: I studien användes en kvalitativ metod vilket ansågs lämpligt för att få en djupare förståelse kring syftet med arbetet. I studien genomfördes elva semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer som arbetar i ledande positioner med marknadsfrågor på e-handelsföretag för att förstå hur deras företag arbetar med kundlojalitet utifrån vår teoretiska referensram. Vi har haft en hermeneutisk utgångspunkt i arbetet för att förstå och tolka det insamlade materialet. I analysen använde vi våra teoretiska teman och analyserade dessa för att försöka hitta empiriska teman genom en kvalitativ dataanalys. Resultat & slutsats: Denna studie visar hur företag inom e-handeln arbetar med kognitiv, affektiv och konativ kundlojalitet. Utifrån de teoretiska teman vi tagit fram har vi fått en uppfattning om vilka faktorer som anses väsentliga i företagens dagliga arbete för att skapa kundlojalitet. Detta resulterade i ett flertal empiriska teman som visar vilka dessa faktorer är och hur de används. Förslag till vidare forskning: Eftersom detta är en studie utifrån ett företagsperspektiv kan vidare forskning vara att kontakta kunder till e-handelsföretag och undersöka de empiriska teman, som tagits fram i denna studie, i ett kundperspektiv och ta reda på om dessa teman är relevanta faktorer även ur det perspektivet. Detta är något som skulle kunna ge ehandelsföretagen mer input i deras arbete med att skapa lojala kunder. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studiens teoretiska bidrag är att den ger en ny förståelse för kognitiv, affektiv och konativ kundlojalitet utifrån tidigare forskning med fokus på e-handelsföretagens arbete med kundlojalitet. Det praktiska bidraget är de olika teman vi fann i både teorin och empirin som företagen kan ha användning av i sitt arbete med att skapa lojalitet hos sina kunder. Nyckelord: Kundlojalitet, kognitiv lojalitet, affektiv lojalitet, konativ lojalitet, e-handel / Title: Customer loyalty in e-commerce Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Authors: Filip Forslund & Mattias Wikström Supervisor: Jens Eklinder Frick Date: January 2016 Aim: The purpose of this study is to enlighten how companies in e-commerce works with the attitudinal dimensions cognitive, affective and conative customer loyalty. Method: The study used a qualitative approach, which was considered appropriate to get a deeper understanding about the purpose of the thesis. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with people working in executive positions with market issues in e-commerce companies to understand how their business works with customer loyalty based on our theoretical framework. We have had a hermeneutical approach in efforts to understand and make a deeper interpretation from the collected data. In the analysis, we used our theoretical themes and analyzed them to try to find empirical themes through a qualitative data analysis. Result & Conclusions: This study shows how companies in e-commerce works with cognitive, affective and conative customer loyalty. We have received an idea of the factors that are considered essential in the business daily work to create customer loyalty, based on the theoretical themes we have developed. This resulted in a number of empirical themes that shows which these factors are and how they are used. Suggestions for future research: Since this is a study from a business perspective, further research could be to contact customers to e-commerce companies and examine the empirical themes in a customer perspective and find out if these themes are relevant factors even from that perspective. This is something that would give companies in e-commerce more input in their efforts to create loyal customers. Contribution of the thesis: The theoretical contribution is that it provides a new understanding of cognitive, affective and conative customer loyalty based on previous research with a focus on e-commerce companies' work with customer loyalty. The practical contribution is the different themes we found in both theoretical and empirical data that companies could use in their work to create loyalty among their customers. Key words: Customer loyalty, Cognitive loyalty, Affective loyalty, Conative loyalty, Ecommerce