Customer Loyalty Initiative and Its Influence on Customer Satisfaction among Large Retail Supermarkets in Kenya

Abstract

With the entry of other international retailers, Kenyan large retail supermarkets face fierce business competition in the marketplace that has been never witnessed in recent times. Therefore, to maintain a competitive edge, stay in business and retain their customers, they need to adapt a customer-oriented philosophy that creates maximum customer value. It is worth noting that customer value formulate certain attitudes, which ultimately informs purchase decision. Customer satisfaction can only be realized if customers’ expectations are met and exceeded thus exhibiting high frequency customer patronage in preferred supermarkets. Thus large retail supermarkets through their customer loyalty initiative, have established amicable customer relationships, communicated easily using available technology, amicably solved customer issues, and rewarded repeat purchase through this kind of program. The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of customer loyalty initiative on customer satisfaction among large retail supermarkets in Kenya. Carried out in all large retail supermarkets in Kenya, a sample of 336 customers and 31 branch managers spread across the 8 regions were engaged using self-administered questionnaires for customers while interview schedules was undertaken for the supermarket branch managers. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for descriptive statistics; inferential statistics (Pearson moment correlation) and regression analysis was also done to establish the extent of relationship between the variables. It was established that customer loyalty initiative had a significant influence on customer satisfaction among large retail supermarkets in Kenya. The study thus recommends that the supermarkets management should scale up their promotional campaigns to ensure that all their customers be part of the program. This kind of initiative should  also include other features such as; access to all  banking services; prompt payment of goods, as well as access to credit facilities whenever they are in need among other services.

Keywords: Customer Loyalty Initiative; Customer Satisfaction; Large Retail Supermarkets