I den konkurrensutsatta bankmarknaden har det blivit viktigare att utveckla kundrelationerna då det är ett bra sätt att differentiera sig från varandra. Avsikten med studien är att förklara och analysera vilken inverkan demografiska faktorer har på lojalitet. I teorin har det framförts en presentation på relationsmarknadsföring och dennes betydelse i dagens samhälle. Efteråt har vi utifrån tidigare forskning beskrivit oberoende variabler som kundnöjdhet, förtroende, kommunikation, engagemang, kompetens och beroende variabeln kundlojalitet. Därefter har en presentation av demografiska faktorerna kön, ålder, inkomst och kultur framförts. Dessa faktorer har varit basen för utveckling av vår undersökningsmodell. Utifrån teorin har vi uppmärksammat att tidigare forskare har kommit fram till att kommunikation är en viktig variabel för både förtroendet och lojaliteten. Även nöjdheten och engagemang har i deras undersökningar ett signifikant samband med lojaliteten. Studien har använt sig av deduktiv ansats och utifrån en positivistisk synvinkel. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av en kvantitativ undersökning genom enkätfrågor. Dessa frågor har baserats på tidigare forskning och tilldelats 130 studenter på Malmö högskola vid två olika tillfällen. Analysen har framförts genom statistiska tester i SPSS. Inledningsvis analyserades vilken tillförlitlighet studien har och det visade sig att alla faktorer förutom kompetensen hade hög reliabilitet. Därefter kan vi genom korrelationstestet se att förtroende, nöjdhet, engagemang, kommunikation har en positiv korrelation till kundlojalitet. Studiens sista test var regressionsanalys som prövade vilka faktorer som har ett signifikant samband med kundlojaliteten. Det visade sig att alla faktorer förutom kompetens hade ett signifikant samband med kundlojalitet. Faktorerna slogs samman till en gemensam variabel; kundlojalitet. Detta gjordes i syfte att jämföra hur demografiska faktorer påverkar kundlojaliteten hos studenter. Det resultera i att endast kön var den faktor som hade en signifikant skillnad vilket innebär att den påverkar kundlojalitet. Kultur, ålder och inkomst hade ingen signifikant skillnad. Vi kunde även utläsa att skillnaderna i medelvärde var för små mellan de olika grupperna mot variabeln kundlojalitet / In the highly competitive banking market, it has become more important to develop customer relationships where it is a good way to differentiate themselves from each other. The purpose of the study is to explain and analyze the impact demographic factors have on loyalty. In theory there has been a presentation on relationship marketing and its importance in today's society. Afterwards we have based on previous research described independent variables as customer satisfaction, trust, communication, commitment, competence and dependent variable customer loyalty. Since then, a presentation of demographic factors gender, age, income, and culture have been made. These factors have been the basis for the development of our research model. In theory, we have drawn attention to the fact that previous researchers have come to the conclusion that communication is an important variable for both trust and loyalty. Also satisfaction and commitment in their studies have a significant relationship with the loyalty. The study has used the deductive approach and based on a positive point of view. The study has been carried out with the help of a quantitative study by survey. These questions have been based on previous research and assigned to 130 students at the Malmo University at two different times. The analysis has been made by means of statistical tests in SPSS. Initially the study has analyzed the reliability and it appeared that all of the factors except competence had high reliability. Then we can see that by correlation test trust, satisfaction, commitment, communication has a positive correlation to customer loyalty. The last test was regression analysis which tested the factors which have a significant relationship with customer loyalty. It was found that all the factors except competence had a significant relationship with customer loyalty. Factors were combined into a single variable; customer loyalty. This was done in order to compare how demographic factors affect customer loyalty among students. The result was that gender was the only factor that had a significant difference which means that it affects customer loyalty. Culture, age and income had no significant difference. because difference in average was too low to detect an impact on customer loyalty. We could also show that the differences in the mean were small between the different groups with the variable customer loyalty.

Bakgrund: Internet har skapat nya och billigare sätt för konsumenter att genomföra köp samt att söka efter information. Konsumenter är därför svårare att behålla i det nya affärsklimatet. E-lojalitet beskrivs som den viktigaste faktorn för e-handlare då det skapar lönsamhet och hög avsikt för upprepat köp. E-handlare behöver därför bygga relationer till sina konsumenter med hjälp av olika strategier för att skapa e-lojalitet. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att utforska hur konsumenter påverkas av företags strategier för att försöka skapa e-lojalitet. Metod: Kvalitativt utforskande tvärsnittsstudie med fokusgrupper. Slutsats: E-handlare kan påverka konsumenter genom olika strategier. Strategierna kan användas i syfte att påverka konsumenterna till skapande av e-lojalitet. På grund av förutsättningarna på internet är e-lojalitet skört och kan lätt brytas om inte e-handlaren levererar efter konsumentens förväntningar. / Background: The Internet has created new and and affordable way for consumers to make purchases and searching for information. Consumers are therefore more difficult to retain in the new business environment. E-loyalty is described as the most important factor for e-retailers in the creation of profitability and high intention to repeat purchase. E-retailers therefore need to build relationships with their consumers using a variety of strategies for creating e-loyalty. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how consumers are affected by company strategies trying to create e-loyalty. Method: Qualitative, exploring cross-sectional study with focusgroups. Conclusion: E-retailers can influence consumers through various strategies. These strategies can be used in order to influence consumers in the creation of e-loyalty. Because of the conditions on the Internet e- loyalty is brittle and therefore easily broken if not the e-retailer delivers up to the consumer's expectations.

Nya banker etablerar sig kontinuerligt i Sverige. Det är därför av stort intresse för etablerade banker att ha nöjda och lojala kunder för att klara av marknadens hårda konkurrens. Uppsatsen riktar sig mot banksektorn och undersöker bankkundernas åsikter kring vad kundnöjdhet är och vad de efterfrågar från bankerna för att vara nöjda och lojala. Genom en fokusgrupp har denna studie undersökt hur lokala bankkunder upplever bankerna utifrån ett kundnöjdhets- och lojalitetsperspektiv. Fokusgruppen bestod av sju deltagare som fick svara på frågor i en diskussionsform. Data från fokusgruppen ställs mot vald teori och sammanställs i en analys. Resultatet av uppsatsarbetet visar att kundnöjdhet hos bankkunder inte är resultatet av hur väl företag lyckas överträffa kundens förväntningar. Istället skapas nöjdhet genom kundes erfarenheter, upplevelser och känslor till banken. För att nå högre kundnöjdhet behöver bankerna skapa ett positivt rykte. För kunderna är det viktigt att de har en relation med banken byggd på personlig kontakt. Relationen mellan bank och kund är svårtolkad men uppvisar tecken på att vara ömsesidig. Bankerna väljer att skära ner antalet kontor i landet och minska kontanthanteringen men lyssnar samtidigt på kunden och ersätter dessa tjänster med IT-lösningar. Utvecklingen mot internettjänster, färre kontor och mindre kontanthantering verkar inte ha påverkat kundernas upplevelse negativt vilket tyder på att det finns en form av blixtlåsrelation mellan kund och bank där båda anpassar sig efter varandras behov. Fokusgruppen lyfter fram att en stor del av lojaliteten till banken grundar sig i svårigheten att byta bank utan att mötas av höga transaktionskostnader. Det tyder på att relationen inte är fullt positiv och det finns en form av ofrivillig beteendelojalitet bland kunderna gentemot bankerna. En lojal kund är nödvändigtvis inte en nöjd kund och vice versa. Kunder har blivit passiva angående sin ekonomi och föredrar att lägga över ansvaret till banker. Vidare lägger bankkunder lägre vikt vid produkter och förmåner och bankernas förmånsprogram ser därför ut att ha liten betydelse för kunden. En övergång mot att bygga känslomässig lojalitet och skapa personliga relationer till kund ger bankerna högre grad av kundnöjdhet och fyller kundens behov för att förbli lojal samtidigt  som banken skapar en grund för att generera positiv Mun till mun (eng. Word of mouth). / Banks are opening new offices in Sweden and therefore there's an increased need of satisfied and loyal customers to survive in a highly competitive market. The paper targets the banking sector and examines customers’ opinions about what customer satisfaction is and what they demand from banks to be satisfied and stay loyal. Customer satisfaction of bank customers are not the result of how well the company manages to exceed customer expectations. Instead it is created based on how each customer perceives their entire experience and feelings towards the bank. To achieve high customer satisfaction the banks need to generate Word of mouth and a positive reputation. Customers want a personal relationship towards their banks based on personal contact. There is a form of involuntary behavior-based loyalty among bank customer. Customers get stuck in habits and routines which makes it even harder to switch bank when they are tied up in loans and in investments. Customers have become passive about their finances and rather push the responsibility over to the banks. A move towards building emotional loyalty and create personal relationships with customers would give banks greater customer satisfaction and fulfill their customers’ needs to remain loyal.

Customer retention, loyalty and satisfaction are extremely important elements in any company’s strategy, especially in the highly competitive South African banking industry. Understanding the various factors that could influence these constructs is therefore critical to organizational success. Several studies showed the impact of these measures on profitability and shareholder value, but there has been little effort to access the factors that might lead to higher levels of retention, loyalty and satisfaction, especially in the banking industry. This paper examines the antecedents of customer retention, satisfaction and loyalty. These possible factors include: perceived value, perceived corporate image, perceived competitive advantage, perceived switching barriers, communication, knowledgeable employees, empowerment, personalisation, ethical behaviour, fees, relationship marketing, service quality (core and relational) as well as enabling service features. The results indicated that customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, switching barriers and communication had a significant impact on customer retention; customer loyalty, perceived value, perceived corporate image, retention, empowerment and relationship marketing had a significant impact on customer satisfaction; and customer satisfaction, switching barriers, perceived value, customer retention, fees, competitive advantage and relationship marketing had a significant impact on customer loyalty. It is evident that there is a close relation between satisfaction, retention and loyalty as all three influence each other in some way or another. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The postmodern ultra-competitive global marketplace makes it difficult for companies to hold on to customers. This is especially true for industries that are driven by commodity products, and the South African fertilizer industry is not excluded from this statement. It is therefore important that companies not only operate to create loyal customers, but also increase and maintain a high level of engagement with their customers. This study measures customer engagement for a South African fertilizer company. In doing so, the study makes use, firstly, of a proposed customer engagement model, secondly, a customer engagement questionnaire and, thirdly, factor analysis as a statistical tool to identify the underlying construct embedded within the data. The results show that only five factors Trust, Involvement, Integrity, Repurchase and Loyalty are antecedents for customer engagement. These factors explain 76% of the variance. Furthermore, it is important to note that all the antecedents were regarded as important by the respondents, and all but one exceed the required 75% level of excellence. The data were tested for reliability and showed excellent reliability in excess of 0.90, as measured by Cronbach alpha. The main finding of the study is that a new model for customer engagement in the fertilizer industry is proposed. This model can be used by future researchers in the fertilizer industry, as well as other agriculture related industries. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The study was conducted to measure brand loyalty of customers in a business-to-business environment, in this case the South African paint manufacturing industry. A brand loyalty conceptual framework developed for the Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry by Moolla (2010) was used to test if it also applies in a business-to-business setting. The framework was adapted to suit the above industry and used to measure brand loyalty levels of South African paint manufacturers. From the results it can be concluded that the model can be applied with some adaptations. Factor analysis was utilised to validate the influences. Factor analysis results were viewed with caution as sample adequacy was found to be marginal in some cases, possibly due to a small data set. Although two of the influences could not be validated, they were still found to be important. All the influences are found to be reliable as evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha. The measured brand loyalty values show that customers in the South African paint industry are quite loyal, with some influences scoring very high. Culture in particular was found to be not very important. This is likely due to the fact that individual culture instead of company culture was measured. More work is required to adapt the questionnaire to measure company culture when assessing brand loyalty in a business-to business setting. Clear brand loyalty differences were identified along with age, company size and the position the respondent holds with the company. Owners/directors, procurement personnel, technical personnel and general managers view different brand loyalty influences as important. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Customer retention, loyalty and satisfaction are extremely important elements in any company’s strategy, especially in the highly competitive South African banking industry. Understanding the various factors that could influence these constructs is therefore critical to organizational success. Several studies showed the impact of these measures on profitability and shareholder value, but there has been little effort to access the factors that might lead to higher levels of retention, loyalty and satisfaction, especially in the banking industry. This paper examines the antecedents of customer retention, satisfaction and loyalty. These possible factors include: perceived value, perceived corporate image, perceived competitive advantage, perceived switching barriers, communication, knowledgeable employees, empowerment, personalisation, ethical behaviour, fees, relationship marketing, service quality (core and relational) as well as enabling service features. The results indicated that customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, switching barriers and communication had a significant impact on customer retention; customer loyalty, perceived value, perceived corporate image, retention, empowerment and relationship marketing had a significant impact on customer satisfaction; and customer satisfaction, switching barriers, perceived value, customer retention, fees, competitive advantage and relationship marketing had a significant impact on customer loyalty. It is evident that there is a close relation between satisfaction, retention and loyalty as all three influence each other in some way or another. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The postmodern ultra-competitive global marketplace makes it difficult for companies to hold on to customers. This is especially true for industries that are driven by commodity products, and the South African fertilizer industry is not excluded from this statement. It is therefore important that companies not only operate to create loyal customers, but also increase and maintain a high level of engagement with their customers. This study measures customer engagement for a South African fertilizer company. In doing so, the study makes use, firstly, of a proposed customer engagement model, secondly, a customer engagement questionnaire and, thirdly, factor analysis as a statistical tool to identify the underlying construct embedded within the data. The results show that only five factors Trust, Involvement, Integrity, Repurchase and Loyalty are antecedents for customer engagement. These factors explain 76% of the variance. Furthermore, it is important to note that all the antecedents were regarded as important by the respondents, and all but one exceed the required 75% level of excellence. The data were tested for reliability and showed excellent reliability in excess of 0.90, as measured by Cronbach alpha. The main finding of the study is that a new model for customer engagement in the fertilizer industry is proposed. This model can be used by future researchers in the fertilizer industry, as well as other agriculture related industries. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess whether the extent to which consumers’ brand attitudes change when the consumers are exposed to negative publicity of the brand, and when exposed to a company’s response to negative publicity, differ depending on the consumers’ degree of brand loyalty and depending on how positive the consumers’ initial brand attitudes are. Design/methodology/approach: The study had a deductive research approach with a single cross-sectional descriptive and exploratory design. Archival analysis was used to collect relevant theories and to conduct the preparatory data collection through data mining, both in which secondary data was gathered. Survey was used when collecting qualitative primary data in the preparatory data collection through focus groups, and when collecting primary data in the main data collection through a questionnaire. The main data was further analyzed through a one-way ANOVA within a non-parametric Levene’s test. Findings: The extent to which consumers’ brand attitudes changed when consumers were exposed to negative publicity of the brand differed depending on if the consumers’ initial brand attitudes were positive or negative. Consumers with negative brand attitudes had a smaller attitude change compared to consumers with positive brand attitudes, opposed to what was assumed in the current study. The extent to which consumers’ brand attitudes changed when consumers were exposed to negative publicity of the brand did not statistically differ depending on the consumers’ degree of brand loyalty. Neither did the extent to which consumers’ brand attitudes changed when the consumers were exposed to a company’s response to negative publicity differ depending on how positive the consumers’ brand attitudes were, nor on the consumers’ degree of loyalty toward the brand. Research limitations/suggestions for future research: The information concerning the negative event and the company’s response strategy was very concentrated in the questionnaire. In real life, consumers would have had different perceptions of both the event and the response since some parts require consumers to actively search for information. Hence, suggestion for future research is to measure the attitude changes where the consumers have gained information in a natural course. Implications: The new perspective brought forth through the study could be useful for brand managers to bear in mind when setting up strategies on how to manage a negative publicity situation such as the Apple/Foxconn case.

Darbe teoriniu lygmeniu išanalizuoti ir apibendrinti sprendimai, ugdantys vartotojų lojalumą, parengtas vartotojų lojalumo ugdymo struktūrinis modelis ir jis empiriškai patikrintas „Zara“ prekės ženklo pavyzdžiu. Pirmoje darbo dalyje atskleista vartotojų lojalumo konceptualioji esmė, išanalizuoti ir apibendrinti sprendimai, ugdantys vartotojų lojalumą bei pagrįstos vartotojų demografinių charakteristikų ir lojalumo sąsajos. Antroje darbo dalyje atlikta vartotojų lojalumo ugdymo teorinių modelių analizė. Remiantis teorinių tyrimų rezultatais, parengtas vartotojų lojalumo ugdymo struktūrinis modelis. Parengta vartotojų lojalumo ugdymo tyrimo metodika. Trečioje darbo dalyje atliktas vartotojų lojalumo ugdymo empirinis tyrimas ir apibendrinti jo rezultatai. Remiantis tyrimo rezultatais, empiriškai patikrintas vartotojų lojalumo ugdymo struktūrinis modelis. / The results of the theoretic and empiric research showed that brand and relationship marketing develops satisfaction and satisfaction creates consumer loyalty. The final work for Master consists of three parts. The first part reveals the conceptual nature of consumer loyalty. Also it consists of analyze and summary of consumer loyalty development decisions. The second part presents and analyzes the theoretical model of consumer loyalty development decisions. And based on results of the theoretical research the structured model of consumer loyalty development is presented. The third part consists analysis of results of empirical study and validation of theoretical model of consumer loyalty development decisions.