The Relationship between Loyalty Program, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty in Retail Industry: A Case Study

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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (201) 000 000 Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia ICIMTR 201 International Conference on Innovation, Management and Technology Research, Malaysia, 5 6 June, 201 The Relationship between Loyalty Program, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty in Retail Industry: A Case Study Ibhrahim Zakaria, Abdul Kadir Othman, Baharom Ab. Rahman, Noor Azlina Mohamed Yunus, Mohd Redhuan Dzulkipli, Mohd Akmal Faiz Osman. Center for Applied Management Studies, Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia Faculty of Information Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia Abstract Most businesses such as retail business implemented loyalty program to increase their customer s satisfaction and deter their customer from defecting to their competitors. However, the success of this program is not substantiated. The problem appears that supermarket chain loyalty programs are not successfully creating All suffer from being too much alike and most loyalty programs feature membership card in the markets. These loyalty mechanisms are not creating ultimate loyalty to one supermarket because customers belong to more than one supermarket loyalty program in order to get special price and promotions. Thus, this study is intended to investigate the relationships among loyalty program, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in retail industry. The findings indicate that there are positive and significant relationships among loyalty program, customer satisfaction and customer The findings confirm that Shopping Partners Program, Gift Redemptions, Insurance Coverage, and Special Price significantly influence customer satisfaction and Shopping Partners Program, Member s Day, Rebate Gift Voucher and Special Price significantly influence customer However, Rebate Gift Vouchers, Member s Day and Magazine do not significantly influence customer s satisfaction and Gift Redemption, Insurance Coverage, and Magazine do not significantly influence customer The implications of the findings are discussed. 201 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Malaysia Keywords: loyalty program; customer satisfaction; satisfied; dissatisfied; delightful; customer loyalty; loyal; frequent buyer; 1. Introduction Loyalty programs are frequently referred to as points or rewards programs. They are offered by airlines, grocery stores, gas stations, hotels, car rental agencies, restaurants, coffee shops, book stores and so on (Baran, Galka & Strunk, 2008). The success of the program lies in providing customers with specific rewards. The intention is to reward loyal, frequent buyers more often. The distinction is made between good and bad customers with the aid of behavior registration (Peelen, 2005). As articulated by Reichheld and Saaser (1990) and Reichheld and Teal (1996), loyal customers enable firms to generate more profit over time because of various reasons; increased purchases, reduced operating costs and increased profit margin. As competition intensified during the current economic crisis, many firms are developing or improving their loyalty programs to deter customers from defecting to their competitors (Ho, Huang, Huang, Lee, Rosten & Thang, 2009). 2. Literature Review 2.1 Customer Satisfaction Satisfaction is a person s feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing his or her perception and expectation (Kotler, 2000). Buttle (2006) agreed that satisfaction is a pleasurable fulfillment response while dissatisfaction is unpleasurable fulfillment response. In addition, Wiele Boselie and Hesselink (2002) stated that satisfaction is a positive and affective behavior portrayed by a party resulting from the appraisal of all aspects of other parties working relationship. Meanwhile, in business dimension, as the organization maintains a positive relationship with its customers, several desirable outcomes are likely to happen (Kotler, 2000). 2.2 Customer Loyalty Customer s loyalty is a customer s attachment to a brand, store, manufacturer, service provider or other entities based on 1 Ibhrahim Zakaria. Tel.:09-976 2470. E-mail address: ibhrah299@kelantan.uitm.edu.my

2 favorable attitudes and behavioral responses such as repeat purchase (Baran, Galka & Strunk, 2008). Customer loyalty is very essential to the organization in order to retain its current customers. It is because customer s loyalty can serve several benefits to the organization. Loyal customers are less pricesensitive, reduce marketing expenditures for attracting new customers and improved organizational profitability (Rowley, 2005). Besides that, Raman (1999) and Bowen and Chen (2001) stated that, loyal customers serve as a fantastic marketing force by providing recommendations and spreading positive word of mouth. Moreover, loyal customers cost less to serve, in part because they know the products and require less information (Bowen & Chen, 2001). 2. Loyalty Program Loyalty programs are designed to improve customer s satisfaction and commitment (Broekhuizen & Peelen, 1997). The effectiveness and the relevancy of loyalty program are measured through the achievement of certain levels of customer s satisfaction threshold (Keh & Lee, 2006). Loyalty programs give away benefits or the perceived value to the members as a token of appreciation for their loyalty to the organization. In addition, Bolton, Kannan, and Bramlett (2000) stated that when customers involve in the loyalty programs, the perceived benefits they receive will lead to their For that reason, the benefits of customer loyalty program can be divided into two; hard and soft benefits. The hard benefits are the monetary benefits in the forms of rebates, special discounts and coupons meanwhile the soft benefits are the non-monetary benefits (Mulhern & Duffy, 2004). 2.4 Conceptual Framework The independent variables for this study are the different types of loyalty programs. Meanwhile, the dependent variable in this study is the variable that reflects the outcome of a research study which is customer There are seven (7) elements served as independent variables under the JCARD loyalty programs which consist of Shopping Partners Program, Gift Redemption, Insurance Coverage, Member s Days, Magazine, Rebate Gift Vouchers and Special Price. Those elements are used to assist the study in investigating the relationship between loyalty programs implemented by JUSCO AEON AU2, Taman Setiawangsa and its customer satisfaction and customer Independent Variables Shopping Partner Gift Redemption Insurance Coverage Member s Day Magazine Rebate Gift Vouchers Special Price Dependent Variables Customer Customer Loyalty 2.5 Hypotheses Based on the review of the related literature, the following research hypotheses are developed: H 1 Loyalty programs significantly influence customer H 1a Shopping partners program significantly influences customer H 1b Gift redemption significantly influences customer H 1c Insurance coverage significantly influences customer H 1d Member s day significantly influences customer H 1e Magazine significantly influences customer H 1f Rebate gift vouchers significantly influence customer H 1g Special price significantly influences customer H 2 Loyalty programs significantly influence customer H 2a Shopping partners program significantly influences customer H 2b Gift redemption significantly influences customer H 2c Insurance coverage significantly influences customer H 2d Member s day significantly influences customer H 2e Magazine significantly influences customer H 2f Rebate gift vouchers significantly influence customer H 2g Special price significantly influences customer 2. Methodology This is a correlational study which answers questions about the relationship among variables or events (Salkind, 2006). The study is meant to investigate the relationships among loyalty programs, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty at JUSCO AEON AU2, Taman Setiawangsa, Kuala Lumpur. The respondents for this study refer to the individual JCARD members that are currently using the JCARD loyalty program. Samples for the study were derived using purposive sampling technique. 4. Findings 4.1 Demographic Profile of Respondents Most of the respondents were female which represent 205 or 58.6% of the respondents. Most of the respondents or 146 (41.7%) aged between 21 0 years old with Malays as the majority of the respondents, representing 222 respondents or 6.4%. The respondents were mostly married with 205 respondents or 58.6. The monthly salary of most respondents was between RM001 RM5000 or 8.6%. Majority of the respondents or 147 (42%) spent an average of RM101 RM00 per visit. Most of the respondents (167 or 47.7%) shopped at JUSCO AEON 1 2 times in a month. A total of 151 respondents or 4.1% had become JCARD members within 1 2 years. Fig. 1: A Conceptual Framework depicting the Relationships between Loyalty Programs, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty.

Table 1: Cronbach s Alpha Scores for the Loyalty Program, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty. (n = 50) Section Scale Cronbach s Alpha B Loyalty Program Shopping Partner.87 Program.80 Gift Redemption.82 Insurance Coverage.86 Member s Day.724 Magazine.911 Rebate Gift Voucher.885 Special Price C Customer Satisfaction.94 8 D Customer Loyalty.977 8 N of Items Table 1 shows the reliability statistics for the each loyalty program, customer satisfaction and customer For each of the loyalty program, the reliability statistics score were closer to 1. Shopping Partner Program indicates score of.87, Gift Redemption (.80), Insurance Coverage (.82), Member s Day (.86), Magazine (.724), Rebate Gift Voucher (.911) and Special Price (.855). Meanwhile, for Customer Satisfaction, the reliability statistics score show the value of.94 and as for Customer Loyalty, the reliability statistics score show the value of.977. According to Sekaran and Bougie (2010) the closer the result to 1, the more reliable would be the test. Reliability values less than.60 are considered as poor, those around.70 are acceptable and those over.80 are good. Therefore, it can be concluded that the questionnaire accurately measures what it is supposed to measure. 4.2 Correlation Analysis The findings indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between loyalty programs and customer satisfaction (p <.01). The findings are also similar to those conducted by Gomez, Arranz and Cillan (2006) in which they found that participants who involve in loyalty programs poses more positive attitude, greater satisfaction, trust and commitment towards the retailers as compared to non-participants. Meanwhile, the findings also indicated that there is a positive and significant relationship between loyalty programs and customer loyalty (p <.01). The findings are also similar as to those conducted by Turner and Wilson (2006) whereby they found that the customers are more loyal to Tesco because of the Tesco s loyalty scheme whereby the result showed that 70 per cent of Clubcard owners strongly agreed or agreed that the Clubcard influences the frequency of visit to Tesco. Further analysis was carried out to investigate the influence of each loyalty program on customer loyalty at JUSCO AEON AU2, Taman Setiawangsa, Kuala Lumpur. Table 2: The Relationship between Loyalty Program, Customer s Satisfaction and Customer s Loyalty. Variables Mean SD 1 2 4 5 6 7 Shopping partner program.5648.98027 Gift redemption 4.19.65249.428 ** Insurance coverage.1552 1.0242.557 **.449 ** Members day 4.1010.69241.459 **.504 **.425 ** Magazine.4848.85251.424 **.20 **.591 **.48 ** Rebate gift vouchers 4.1667.69645.256 **.516 **.86 **.629 **.20 ** Special price 4.1286.76014.88 **.490 **.5 **.488 **.275 **.456 ** Customer Satisfaction Customer Loyalty.800.75211.599 **.597 **.612 **.577 **.455 **.51 **.674 ** 4.0171.79106.556 **.506 **.470 **.586 **.64 **.525 **.6 ** Notes: ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Table : The Influence of Each Element of JCARD Loyalty Programs on Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty (n=50). Variables Standardized Coefficient (Beta) For Customer s Standardized Coefficient (Beta) For Customer s Loyalty Satisfaction Shopping.210**.265** partner program Gift redemption.1**.08 Insurance.224**.070 coverage Member s day.058.159** Magazine.027 -.025 Rebate gift.112**.162** vouchers Special price.62**.42** R Square.692.585 Adjusted R.686.577 Square F Value 109.747.585 Significant F.000 68.885 Value Durbin-Watson 1.555.000 4. Hypotheses Testing and Discussion H 1a: Shopping partner program significantly influences customer Table shows that, shopping partner program significantly influences customer satisfaction in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.210, p <.01. Therefore, hypothesis H 1a which hypothesizes that shopping partners program significantly influences customer satisfaction is accepted. The finding is similar to the study conducted by Sharp and Sharp (1997) in which they found that multiple participant programs attracted the customer to gain more rewards from a number of participating stores without being loyal to any particular store. Yi and Jeon (200) supported the claim that the value derived from loyalty program positively influences H 1b: Gift redemption significantly influences customer Table presents that gift redemption significantly influences customer satisfaction in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.1, p <.01). Therefore, hypothesis H 1b which hypothesizes

4 that gift redemptions significantly influence customer satisfaction is accepted. The finding is similar to the study conducted by Smith and Sparks (2009) where they established that when customers redeem their points, their gratification and satisfaction started to develop. H 1c: Insurance coverage significantly influences customer In reference to Table, it is found that insurance coverage significantly influences customer satisfaction in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.224, p <.01). Therefore, the hypothesis H 1c which hypothesizes that insurance coverage significantly influences customer satisfaction is accepted. The finding is consistent with the study conducted by Dowling and Uncles (1997), Liebermann (1999), and Smith and Sparks (2009) in which they discovered that the magnitude of monetary compensation provided in the loyalty program brings significant impact on customer H 1d: Member s day significantly influences customer In line with the findings presented in Table, it is found that member s day does not significantly influence customer satisfaction JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.058, p >.01). Therefore, hypothesis H 1d which hypothesizes that the member s day significantly influences customer satisfaction is rejected. The finding contradicts with the study conducted by Nor Asiah, Che Aniza, Rosidah and Muhammad Azrin (2010) in which they found that the combination of hard and soft benefits such as sales invitations and special conveniences (newsletter, magazine) is the optimal way to improve retail s card revenue. The reason is that the JCARD member s day is held on the first week (on Friday) every month to all the JCARD members in selected JUSCO AEON stores in Malaysia. Most of the customers especially those who are working would not be able to enjoy the shopping privileges given by JUSCO AEON during that day. As a result, member s day does not significantly influence customer H 1e: Magazine significantly influences customer From Table, it is found that Magazine does not significantly influence customer satisfaction in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.027, p >.01). Therefore, hypothesis H 1e which hypothesizes that Magazine significantly influences customer satisfaction is rejected. This finding is in conflict with the study conducted by Nor Asiah, Che Aniza, Rosidah and Muhammad Azrin (2010) in which they established that the combination of hard and soft benefits such as sales invitations and special conveniences (newsletter, magazine) is the optimal way to improve retail s card revenue. The most plausible explanation is that the magazine is not delivered directly to its members mailbox to relay the latest information about JUSCO AEON promotion, creative lifestyle and home ideas which are offered at all JUSCO AEON stores in Malaysia. Instead, the magazine is placed and only available on the rack at customer service counter in each JUSCO AEON stores and customers need to go to their nearest JUSCO AEON store to collect the magazine. Consequently, Magazine does not significantly influence customer H 1f: Rebate gift vouchers significantly influence customer Table presents that rebate gifts vouchers do not significantly influence customer satisfaction in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.112, p >.01). Therefore, hypothesis H 1f which proposed that rebate gift vouchers significantly influence customer satisfaction is rejected. The finding opposes the study conducted by Dowling and Uncles (1997), Liebermann (1999), and Smith and Sparks (2009) in which they discovered that monetary incentives given in loyalty program such as rebates and bonuses have significant impact on future It is because the points required to redeem rebate gift vouchers are too large compared to the amount of money the customer needs to spend. For example, for every RM1.00 spent, 1 point will be debited to the member s card. However, to exchange for RM10.00 shopping vouchers, the JCARD s members have to redeem 1500 points (JUSCO AEON, 2011) which are too big compared to their debited points. As a result, rebate gift vouchers do not significantly influence customer H 1g: Special price significantly influences customer In relation to Table, it is found that special price significantly influences customer satisfaction in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.62, p <.01). Therefore, hypothesis H 1g which assumes that special price significantly influences customer satisfaction is accepted. The finding is consistent with the study conducted by Dowling and Uncles (1997), Liebermann (1999), and Smith and Sparks (2009) in which they found that price discounts given in loyalty program have significant impact on future H 2a: Shopping partner program significantly influences customer Table shows that shopping partners program significantly influences customer loyalty in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.265, p <.01). Therefore, the H 1a hypothesis which hypothesized that shopping partners program significantly influences customer loyalty is accepted. However, the finding is contradicted with the study conducted in Australian Fly Buys programs by Sharp and Sharp (1997) where the researchers stated that multiple participant programs in loyalty program prevent the program to achieving excess H 2b: Gift redemption significantly influences customer Table presents that gift redemption does not significantly influence customer loyalty in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.08, p >.01). Therefore, the H 1b hypothesis which hypothesized that gift redemption significantly influences customer loyalty is rejected. However, the finding is contradicted with study conducted by Smith and Sparks (2009) where they stated that customer s gratification and satisfaction are derived from point s redemptions, their loyalty soon to be enhanced. The reason is that other retailers such as TESCO and Carrefour are also offering the most similar gift redemption benefits to its members and they required less accumulated points for gift redemption in order to retain the same customers as JUSCO AEON. Therefore, as stated by Brumley (2002) customer belongs to several loyalty programs in order to fully

5 utilize the perks and other privileges provided by all the retailers in the market. As a result, gift redemption does not significantly influence customer H 2c: Insurance coverage significantly influences customer In reference to Table, it is found that insurance coverage does not significantly influences customer loyalty in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.070, p >.01). Therefore, the H 1c hypothesis which hypothesized that insurance coverage significantly influences customer loyalty is rejected. However, the finding is contradicted with the study conducted by Dowling and Uncles, (1997); Liebermann, (1999); and Smith and Sparks, (2009) where they stated that magnitude of monetary compensation given in the loyalty program has significant impact on future The reason is that most of the JCARD s members are not only loyal to one retailer, but they are also loyal to others. As a result, insurance coverage does not significantly influence customer H 2d: Member s day significantly influences customer In line with the findings presented in Table, it is found that member s day significantly influences customer loyalty in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.159, p <.01). Therefore, the H 1d hypothesis which hypothesized that the member s day significantly influences customer satisfaction is accepted. The finding is similar to the study conducted by Nor Asiah, Che Aniza, Rosidah and Muhammad Azrin (2010) in which they stated that the combination of hard and soft benefits such as sales invitations and special conveniences (newsletter, magazine) is the optimal way to reduce customer attrition. H 2e: Magazine significantly influences customer From Table, it is found that PEARL Magazine does not significantly influences customer loyalty in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β = -.025, p >.01). Therefore, the H 1e hypothesis which hypothesized that Magazine significantly influences customer satisfaction is rejected. However, the finding is contradicted with the study conducted by Nor Asiah, Che Aniza, Rosidah and Muhammad Azrin (2010) where they stated that the combination of hard and soft benefits such as sales invitations and special conveniences (newsletter, magazine) is the optimal way to reduce customer attrition. The reason is that the magazine is not delivered directly to its members mailbox to relay the latest information about JUSCO AEON promotion, creative lifestyle and home ideas which are offered at all JUSCO AEON stores in Malaysia. Instead, the magazine is placed and only available on the rack at customer service counter in each JUSCO AEON stores and customers need to go to their nearest JUSCO AEON store to collect the magazine. Consequently, Magazine does not significantly influence customer H 2f: Rebate gift vouchers significantly influence customer Table presents that rebate gift vouchers significantly influences customer loyalty in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.162, p <.01). Therefore, the H 1f hypothesis which hypothesized that rebate gift vouchers significantly influences customer satisfaction is accepted. The finding is similar with the study conducted by Dowling and Uncles (1997); Liebermann (1999) and Smith and Sharp (2009) in which they stated that monetary incentives such as rebates and bonuses given in loyalty program have significant impact on future H 2g: Special price significantly influences customer In relation to Table, it is found that special price significantly influences customer satisfaction in JUSCO AEON AU2, Setiawangsa, (β =.42, p <.01). Therefore, the H 2g hypothesis which hypothesized that special price significantly influences customer satisfaction is accepted. The finding is similar with the study conducted by Dowling and Uncles (1997); Liebermann (1999) and Smith and Sharp (2009) in which they stated that price discounts given in loyalty program have significant impact on future 5. Conclusion As a conclusion, there is a positive and significant relationship between loyalty program and customer satisfaction at JUSCO AEON AU2 Taman Setiawangsa, Kuala Lumpur. The findings confirm that Shopping Partners Programme, Gift Redemptions, Insurance Coverage, and Special Price significantly influence customer However, the findings also confirm that Rebate Gift Vouchers, Member s Day and Magazine did not significantly influence customer satisfaction towards the JCARD loyalty program. Meanwhile, as for customer loyalty, there is a positive and significant relationship between loyalty program and customer loyalty at JUSCO AEON AU2 Taman Setiawangsa, Kuala Lumpur. Shopping Partners Program, Member s Day, Rebate Gift Voucher and Special Price significantly influence customer However, the findings also confirm that Gift Redemption, Insurance Coverage, and Magazine do not significantly influence customer loyalty towards the JCARD loyalty program. 5.1 Managerial Implication In order to reap the fullest benefits of the loyalty programs implemented by the retailer, a number of improvements are needed. First, as mentioned earlier, JCARD s members are not only loyal to JUSCO AEON; they are also loyal to other retailers. Therefore, loyalty program created should contain special rewards for truly loyal customers. It is because when the customer s perceptions exceeded their expectations, they will generally be satisfied (Kotler & Armstrong, 1991) and when they are satisfied, they will continue to repurchase (Buttle, 2006). Last but not least, JUSCO AEON should continuously ask the customer to play. Play in this context is to be continuously involved in the JUSCO AEON loyalty program. JUSCO AEON will have to creatively add relevant and attainable features in their JCARD loyalty program in order to retain their customer in the long run. It is because, when the customer makes a decision to play when they perceived that the rewards are attainable and relevant (Johnson, 1999). Acknowledgement First and foremost, we would like to give thanks to Allah SWT

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