Gender Differences in Customer Loyalty
Gender differences in customer loyalty
1 Introduction
The purchase of food covers a wide range of private consumption. In recent years there has been a trend of groceries and small shops that close their doors because of the ruinous competition from supermarkets. This evolution could largely affect our daily routine as there is… (human conversation).
The importance of this topic raises the following research question: Is female loyalty towards local merchants enough to enable them to compete with supermarkets?
During our research we have found some undeniable arguments which indicate gender differences in purchase loyalty. Women are generally believed to attach more importance to personal relationships than men. That is why they tend to show more commitment to the local shopkeeper, in contrast with men, who are more likely to prefer to the anonymity of impersonal superstores.
The first part of the paper handles loyalty and its different forms. Next men and women will be compared with regard to shopping motives and loyalty will be connected to gender. In addition, loyalty towards firms and individual service providers will be discussed. Finally we will conclude by answering the research question we set up.
2 Loyalty
Loyalty is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as “ feelings of support or duty towards someone or something”. It is a very wide concept which is linked to several domains. We will deal with brand loyalty in particular. Supermarkets make a great marketing effort to gain publicity and they want to give themselves a particular identity. In other words they want to profile themselves as a brand.
Academic research (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001) discussed the role of brand loyalty and distinguished two aspects of brand loyalty, namely purchase loyalty and attitudinal loyalty. Purchase loyalty refers to the willingness of the consumer to repurchase a particular brand. Attitudinal loyalty, however, has to do with the affective and cognitive aspects
1 Introduction
The purchase of food covers a wide range of private consumption. In recent years there has been a trend of groceries and small shops that close their doors because of the ruinous competition from supermarkets. This evolution could largely affect our daily routine as there is… (human conversation).
The importance of this topic raises the following research question: Is female loyalty towards local merchants enough to enable them to compete with supermarkets?
During our research we have found some undeniable arguments which indicate gender differences in purchase loyalty. Women are generally believed to attach more importance to personal relationships than men. That is why they tend to show more commitment to the local shopkeeper, in contrast with men, who are more likely to prefer to the anonymity of impersonal superstores.
The first part of the paper handles loyalty and its different forms. Next men and women will be compared with regard to shopping motives and loyalty will be connected to gender. In addition, loyalty towards firms and individual service providers will be discussed. Finally we will conclude by answering the research question we set up.
2 Loyalty
Loyalty is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as “ feelings of support or duty towards someone or something”. It is a very wide concept which is linked to several domains. We will deal with brand loyalty in particular. Supermarkets make a great marketing effort to gain publicity and they want to give themselves a particular identity. In other words they want to profile themselves as a brand.
Academic research (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001) discussed the role of brand loyalty and distinguished two aspects of brand loyalty, namely purchase loyalty and attitudinal loyalty. Purchase loyalty refers to the willingness of the consumer to repurchase a particular brand. Attitudinal loyalty, however, has to do with the affective and cognitive aspects
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