Elves at Sears

Which shoppers are the best targets for the Elf program- those with no loyalty, latent loyalty, inertia loyalty or brand-loyal customers? How might the program also benefit sales to other groups?

To begin with, it has to be pointed out that Sears did engage in the Elf initiative for two reasons. On the one hand, it wanted to acquire new customers and persuade competitors’ customers and on the other hand to build relationships with the existing customers in order to retain them.
Having this in mind, one could argue that all customers (loyal or not, new or existing) will benefit from the Elf program and that all shoppers represent a firmly good and promising target for such an initiative. With the Elf program, Sears will be in a position to both retain its existing customers and acquire new ones.
More specifically, the Elf program can help: * No-loyal customers to become more frequent buyers and start patronizing the company, * Spurious-loyal customers to form higher relative attitudes towards the company, * Latent-loyal customers to become more frequent buyers, and * Loyal customers to become delightful and start forming very strong relationships with the company/brand.
But, if one had to choose which shoppers would be the best target for Sears’ Elf initiative, those would be the spurious-loyal and the no-loyal ones (inertia). Spurious-loyal and no-loyal customers can get attached with the company through such a service; they can start developing relationships with Sears, which will progressively lead them to become more loyal customers for the company. Such a program can help those customers form an emotional bonding; experience trust towards Sears and that could lead to habitual relationships with the company. In addition to that, those customers will form higher relative attitudes, which are likely to end in a positive word of mouth.
As far as existing and loyal customers are concerned, the Elf program can be a positive surprise for