Abstract: Customer loyalty is a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repartronize a preferred product or service in the future, thereby causing repetitive same brand or same brand set purchasing despite situational influences and marketing efforts to cause switching behaviours. Loyal customers will not switch to another product even if convinced that other brands perform better. A firm enjoys high brand loyalty when a sizeable number of its customers won’t switch. Loyal customers pay back the company in the long term cash flows and in generating a stream of referrals. Customers can demonstrate their loyalty by choosing to stay with the provider, increase the number of their purchases or the frequency of their purchases. They can also be loyal by influencing the buying decisions of others. Loyal customers offer a competitive edge against competitors. Customer loyalty is ultimately the desired goal of all firms. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between the retailer brand equity and Customer loyalty in major supermarkets in Thika Town, Kiambu County. Specifically, the study sought to determine the extent to which brand trust influences customer loyalty; to determine the extent to which brand associations influences customer loyalty; to determine the extent to which brand perceived quality influences customer loyalty. This study used descriptive research design. This study was carried out in Thika Municipality Kiambu County. Thika Municipality covers Thika town. It is a highly populated, industrial and education center. The researcher chose the place because of the convenience of obtaining the data. The general population in this study was the supermarket employees. The target population were employees of three major supermarkets in Thika town. According to the management of these supermarkets, an average of 300 employees works there. Simple random sampling was used to select the respondents. A sample size of 100 customers which translated to 30% of 300 was considered adequate for the study. Questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. Data was analyzed using measures of central tendency and dispersion. Regression model was also used to analyze relationship between variables. The results indicated that Brand Associations, Perceived Quality, Brand Trust contributes to Customer Loyalty. Regression analysis showed that predictors Brand trust, brand perceived quality and brand associations explain 96.9% of customer loyalty. However, Brand Trust and Perceived Quality were the only statistically significant predictors of Customer Loyalty. Both contributed by a factor of 1.843 and 0.378 respectively. This contribution was statistically significant because the p value was <.05. This study concluded that brand trust is significant contributor to customer loyalty. This study concluded that perceived quality is a critical component in cultivating customer loyalty. This study concluded that brand associations are also important in cultivating customer loyalty. However, brand associations seemed to have little significance compared with the other two; brand trust and perceived quality. Brand association had a contribution of .507 but the contribution was not statistically significant because p value was> .05 this study recommends that supermarkets in Thika Town should work towards improving their brand trust.
The study also recommends that management of supermarkets in Thika Town should strive to ensure that customers get value for their money. The supermarkets in Thika Town should not prioritize brand associations over brand trust and perceived quality because the later two have more significance in contribution to customer loyalty than brand associations. Further research should be done on other factors which are not brand related that determine customer loyalty in the retail industry.
Title: RETAILER BRAND EQUITY AND CUSTOMER LOYALTY IN KENYA: A CASE STUDY OF MAJOR SUPERMARKETS IN THIKA TOWN
Author: Anastasia Kamau, Dr. Margaret A. Oloko
International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations
ISSN 2348-7585 (Online)
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