Title: Airlines experiential marketing: gaining and retaining customers Research Question: How do airlines use the experiential marketing to gain and retain consumers? Supervisor: Venilton Reinert Course: Strategic Marketing with Independent Project Keywords: Airlines, experiential marketing, experience, loyalty, sense, emotions, feelings Purpose: The aim of this research is to understand how airlines’ users can be acquired and kept thanks to experiential marketing. This study allows analysing the news consumers’ expectations and how companies adapt their strategies to meet customers’ needs thanks to experiential marketing. All airlines mentioned in this study are European. Methodology: A qualitative research has been used for this paper. The authors of the thesis proceed choosing five European airlines: British Airways, Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Easy Jet and Scandinavian Airlines System. The case studies have been used to describe, thanks to a number of Internet tools, how companies use the experience and feelings in marketing to urge consumers to purchase and be loyal. Then, authors used Schmitt theory to collect data. Finally, a number of frameworks have been used to analyse data. Conclusion: Airlines want to carry the customer to think and act through the experience. A successful experiential marketing occurs when the customer behaves thanks to his emotions. So, airlines’ marketers create competition, challenge, and game to remind customers. The interaction with public and internet users is necessary used in each experiential marketing event by airlines to promote the event and permeated to the customer share its experience, meet people and identify him in a group. If customers experience unique and perfectly experiential event, they will remember the service, and consequently the brand in the long-term as remarkable. In this way, the brand gain or retain customers.

<p> </p><p>The ecological consumer has been a significant and central character in the development of green marketing. In an effort to enhance brand equity and increase consumers’ loyalty, companies are relying on environmental claims. From advances in processes, to product design and packaging materials that diminish waste, companies are more and more emphasizing on sustainability. The findings of previous research aiming to link purchasing and environmental concerns to socio-demographic factors have been generally inconclusive and inconsistent (Peattie, 2001). Therefore, the purpose of this study aims to identify if sustainable packaging can be used as a marketing tool to increase brand equity. In addition, the authors intended to identify who is consuming sustainable products and particularly sustainable packaging.</p><p>The review of previous research concerning this topic led us to express two hypotheses. First, women are more involved by the purchasing process than men. Second, sustainable consumption is seen as a time consuming activity, economically disadvantageous and stressful (Valor, 2008).</p><p>Through both a quantitative and a qualitative study we analyzed consumers’ behavior and attitude towards sustainable packaging and green consumption in general.</p><p>The findings of the study allowed us to conclude that the gap between consumers’ attitude and purchasing decision concerning ecological products in general is important. The main reasons are a lack of communication, promotion and availability regarding these products as well as the high-proposed price. Furthermore, the study confirmed that women are much more involved than men in the consumption decision making process in both “classic and green” purchasing.</p><p> </p>

Temos aktualumas: Darbuotojų lojalumo ir motyvacijos trūkumas yra viena didžiausių problemų su kuria susiduria organizacijos šiandien. Didžiausios Lietuvoje viešosios nuomonės ir rinkų tyrimų bendrovės „TNS Gallup“ duomenimis, Lietuvos darbuotojų lojalumas yra vienas iš žemiausių ne tik Baltijos šalyse, bet ir visoje Europoje: vos vienas iš devynių darbuotojų Lietuvoje jaučiasi motyvuotas darbe ir lojalus įmonei, kurioje dirba. Ypač sunku motyvuoti ir organizacijoje išlaikyti jaunimą, kai jų gyvenimo varomoji jėga yra nauji iššūkiai ir pokyčiai. Arba vyresnio amžiaus darbuotoją, kuris kritiškai žiūri į bet kokias naujoves ir sunkiai išgyvena, bet kokius pokyčius. Taigi, vienas svarbiausių šių dienų žmogiškųjų išteklių vadybos organizacijoje uždavinių - tokios motyvacijos sistemos sudarymas, kuri ne tik atitiktų skirtinguose karjeros etapuose esančių darbuotojų poreikius, bet ir skatintų jo lojalumą organizacijai. Darbo tikslas – įvertinti skirtinguose karjeros etapuose esančių darbuotojų motyvavimo ypatumus ir poveikį jų lojalumui. Siekiant iškelto tikslo yra nagrinėjami tokie uždaviniai: 1. Išskirti motyvavimo metodus ir priemones tinkančias motyvuoti darbuotojus įvairiuose jų karjeros etapuose. 2. Įvertinti motyvavimo metodų ir priemonių poveikį darbuotojų lojalumo organizacijai didinimui (užtikrinimui). 3. Sukurti skirtinguose karjeros etapuose esančių darbuotojų motyvacijos ir lojalumo tyrimo modelį. 4. Nustatyti veiksnius, įtakojančius darbuotojo motyvaciją esant... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The theme relevance and necessity of its decision: The shortness of employee loyalty and motivation is one of the biggest problems facing organizations today. According to the data of Lithuania largest public opinion and market research Company TNS Gallup, Lithuanian staff loyalty is one of the lowest in the Baltic countries but also across Europe: less than one out of nine workers feel motivated at work and loyal to the company, which they belong to. In particular, it is difficult to motivate and retain young people in an organization when their life is driven by new challenges and changes. Or, older workers, who take a critical view on any new developments and make it difficult to survive any change. Therefore, one of the most important tasks for human resource management in nowadays organization is to create such a motivation system which not only meets workers' needs in the different career stages, but also to promote its loyalty to the organization. The object of search work - employee motivation and loyalty in the different stages of carrier. The goals of the work: 1. Distinguish reasoning methods and tools suited to motivate employees in various stages of their careers. 2. To evaluate different motivating methods and their impact of increasing workers' loyalty to the organization. 3. Compose empirical research model of motivation and loyalty in the different stages of carrier. 4. Identify the factors influencing employee motivation at different career stages and to... [to full text]

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

Den svenska dagligvaruhandelns utveckling går mot fler etablerade stormarknader i utkanten av städer. Följderna blir att mindre butiker på landsbygden konkurreras ut och att kunder väljer handelsområden framför butiker i stadskärnor. Kundlojaliteten beräknas minska, när dagens kunder väljer att handla på ett flertal butiker istället för en specifik. Den omstrukturering som sker på marknaden problematiserar hur företag genom differentiering och marknadsföring bygger långsiktiga kundrelationer. Ett företags varumärke syftar till att skapa konkurrenskraft och differentieringsmöjligheter, därmed fanns ett intresse att inrikta studien mot butiksimage och kundlojalitet till en specifik butik. Med ovanstående resonemang som grund avser studien undersöka vilka butiksattribut som påverkar kunders lojalitet till en specifik butik inom den svenska dagligvaruhandeln. Undersökningen omfattar tre specifika Coop Forum butiker i Region Nord, i Umeå, Örnsköldsvik och Östersund. Då undersökningen syftar till att jämföra om valda butiker skiljer sig med avseende om påverkande butiksattribut och kundlojalitet. Tidigare forskning har identifierat ett samband mellan image, kundnöjdhet och lojalitet, dock är relationen mellan butiksimage, kundnöjdhet och lojalitet inom stormarknadsmiljöer ännu outforskad. Mer forskning krävs även angående varumärkets betydelse inom dagligvaruhandeln. Studiens byggstenar är definierade enligt butiksattribut, butiksimage, butikskundnöjdhet och butikslojalitet och ett eventuellt samband undersöks mellan dessa begrepp. Studiens praktiska syfte är att ge konkreta rekommendationer till Coop Nord angående vilka butiksattribut som är de bidragande till kunders lojalitet, för att vägleda Coop Nord i arbetet kring att skapa en starkare lojalitet hos dess befintliga kunder utifrån ett marknadsföringsperspektiv. För att besvara studiens forskningsfråga och syften har vi genomfört en enkätundersökning på vardera av de för studien utvalda Coop Forum butikerna. Den empiriska studien utfördes på Coops befintliga kunder, då vi ansåg att respondenterna krävde en förkunskap om butiken för att kunna yttra sig i frågor angående butikslojalitet. Vi delade ut 100 enkäter per butik, totalt 300 enkäter och erhöll 287 fullständiga svar. Resultatet från enkätfrågorna har sedan analyserats mot tidigare forskningsresultat, främst genom rangordning av olika alternativ inom ramen för studiens byggstenar. Vår studie visar att de påverkande butiksattributen för kunders val att handla kontinuerligt på Coop Forum differentierar mellan de tre för studien utvalda butikerna. I Umeå och Östersund var tillgänglighet det främst påverkande butiksattributet, medan medlemsförmåner var de främst påverkande för respondenterna i Örnsköldsvik. Coop Forums butik i Örnsköldsvik hade högst butiksimage och butikskundnöjdhet, medan butiken i Umeå hade högst kundlojalitet. Vår studie indikerar ett samband mellan butiksimage, butikskundnöjdhet och butikslojalitet vid en av de tre för studien utvalda Coop Forum butikerna.

Title: The Impact of Complaint Management on Customer Retention Level: Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration Authors: Hummam Wasfi, Olena Kostenko Supervisor: Ehsanul Huda ChowdhuryFiD Date: 2014 – June Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine or inspect the aftermath of effective complaint management structure in relevance to customer’s retention in banking industry. Design/methodology/approach: The framework is structured on the bases of determining the strength of the relationships between the following variables complaint management, customer’s satisfaction and loyalty. Whereas, quantitative data were gathered via questionnaire, and further analyzed using SPSS, particularly, employing the relationship measurement tools Correlation and Linear regression analysis to calculate the extent to which each variable affects the other. Findings: The aftermath of analysis led to fundamentally privileged outcome, whereas, subsequent to computing the extent to which complaint management influences customer retention, we were able to extract three formulas to determine the linear relationships between the variables that stimulate this calculation process. Suggestions for future research: To enhance the representation of sample, future studies should target more cities with variant circumstances, and apply this type of analysis to other industries Originality: This study contributes idiosyncratic evidence to companies on the systematic influence of complaint management on customer’s retention, furthermore, repercussions of these findings has led to analysis distinguishing the distinctive response of customers to complaint management in Sweden and Lebanon. Keywords: Complaint Management, Satisfaction, Loyalty, Retention, Banks, Sweden, Lebanon Originality: This study contributes idiosyncratic evidence to companies on the systematic influence of complaint management on customer’s retention, furthermore, repercussions of these findings has led to analysis distinguishing the distinctive response of customers to complaint management in Sweden and Lebanon.

A number of researcher and practitioners have identified a dramatic increase in competition and market transparency as the driving force behind the decline in customer loyalty in the financial services sector (e.g. Caruana, 2002). However, the costs for selling a product to a new customer are much higher than the costs for selling the same product to an existing customer, particularly when the customer is loyal to the company (Duffy, 2003). Due to these facts, strengthening customer relationships is necessary to achieve higher customer equity. Blodgett (2000) claims that the successful implementation of a customer equity strategy involves an organisation’s customer focus, operations, systems, and culture. Companies can offer value to customers through their services and products (added value and innovations), their personnel (service quality), and their processes (speed and quality). When the customer buys financial products and services, he creates customer equity for the company, which is in this thesis presented as company profit. Company profit is the sum of all customer profits and represents the value of each customer in the form of monetary aspects. This thesis aims at investigating if communication, price, process, product and human resource management influence company profit (customer equity) and, thus, whether they are drivers of customer equity (Chapters 5-10). In total, seven dimensions have been investigated. Recent customer equity models of value-based management are examined from the literature and based upon this, the construction of a new conceptual model for value building in competitive markets is proposed (Chapter 4). The framework identifies value propositions such as brand or product leadership, value sources for determining value creation strategies, and finally customer touch points for value delivery. Touch points are referred to as advertising, use of a logo, presence of sales persons, websites, branch outlets etc i.e. the human and physical interactions with customers over their relationship with an organisation. Together with products such touch points are designed to deliver value to customers with the objective of increasing customer equity.

The concept of ‘customer experience’ has evolved as an imperative area of study within the marketing discipline. Despite its importance and the positive attention this concept has received during the last few years, the explanation of customer experiences have remained vague and lack a thorough theoretical foundation. Furthermore, practitioners across many industries claim that there is a connection between customer experience and loyalty, yet there is a paucity of research to validate this theoretical assumption. This study aims to address this gap in the literature and to facilitate better understanding of the concept of 'customer experience' and its antecedents and focus on brand loyalty as consequence from the consumer perspective. Accordingly, a mixed-method research design was adopted that consisted of two phases. The first phase involved a netnography study to gain better understanding of the notion of customer experience and refine a conceptual framework that has been developed on the basis of the existing literature. In the second phase this framework was tested by means of a survey of British customers to examine their experience with resort-hotel brands in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the survey responses. The structural model showed a very good fit to the data and good convergent, nomological and discriminant validity and reliability stability. The findings of this study identified four aspects of customer experience in the resort-hotels in Egypt; i.e. educational, aesthetics, relational and novelty. Those aspects are congruent with prior work in the tourism literature. Additionally, the study found that customers rely on some service cues such as: price, core service and WOM to predict and assess their experiences. The findings also indicated that perceived service quality has a mediating role in the relationship between customer-contact employees and core service and customer experience. A key contribution of this research is offering a robust model that explains the nascent phenomenon of customer experience and demonstrating that experience has a definite positive impact on brand loyalty. The use of netnography to identify customer experience dimension is also considered as a methodological contribution in the area of marketing research. Moreover, the present study adds novel perspective to the growing body of brand literature (particularly service brand) and suggests directions for future research. Finally, the study provides managerial implications for service managers to identify the experiential needs of their customer and properly design the customer experience.

This research recommends a new approach to brand strategy for Korean professional football teams, focusing on the relationships between team brand identity as the basic element of sports team branding, team brand loyalty as the most desirable goal, and identification between fans and teams as the mediator between identity and loyalty. Nowadays, professional football teams are no longer merely sporting organisations, but organisational brands with multi-million pound revenues. It is vital for football teams to build a relevant brand strategy based on the relationship with their fans. Existing research on sports branding suggests that fans who are deeply identified with a specific team tend to possess extremely high loyalty, holding a particular team as central to their identity. Therefore, managing the relationships between team brand identity, fan-team identification, and team brand loyalty can be the most powerful brand strategy for football teams, particularly for Korean football teams that do not retain strong fan bases and yet desire to gain consumers who identify with them. Through two empirical studies and case study analysis this research investigated a construct of team brand identity in the professional football context. Consumers’ associations with football teams were examined and 13 elements of a team brand identity scale were developed. It was revealed that team brand identity is composed of four identity dimensions which are experience, visual, non-product, and product. Case studies, with a further literature review of team brand identity, clarified and confirmed the first study findings. The final empirical study tested and confirmed the correlated and serial relationships, and provided the basis for the new theoretical model on which to build the brand strategy.

E-CRM emerges from the Internet and web technology to facilitate the implementation of CRM; it focuses on Internet or web-based interaction between companies and their customers. In particular, E-CRM enables companies to provide appropriate services and products to satisfy the customers and enhance customer loyalty. Furthermore, E-CRM features are vital for managing customer relationships online. They are generally referred to as concrete website functionality or tools and they are required for customising, personalising and interacting with the customer. Without E-CRM features, CRM could not be realised on the Internet. In fact, in the literature, there appears to be an absence of theoretical models for E-CRM implementation in general, and E-CRM features in particular. Furthermore, there is a lack of studies focusing on identification of the importance and categorisation of E-CRM features within different stages of transaction cycle. Consequently, this dissertation attempts to fill the information gap based on empirical data derived from survey. The aim of this dissertation was to examine the relationship between E-CRM features and ELoyalty at the different stages of transaction cycle (pre-purchase, at-purchase, and postpurchase) on mobile phone companies websites in UK. The results from this study show that the use of E-CRM in building consumer relationships affects online consumer satisfaction and loyalty. The efficiency of E-CRM program determine the level of which online features, such as search capabilities, security/privacy, payment methods, and online customer support would be implemented on mobile companies’ websites. This research contributes to knowledge in several ways. Most importantly, it illustrates the roles of E-CRM features in enhancing online consumer loyalty at different stages of purchase cycle leading to long-term consumer relationships. In particular, this research highlights the critical features of E-CRM program, which mobile phone companies’ websites in UK should in vest in their consumer loyalty strategies.