Customer satisfaction and loyalty: start with the product, culminate with the brand

Abstract

Purpose -Studies on customer satisfaction and loyalty have focused on brand rather than product. It is not that brand is not important, but the process of loving a brand starts with a product. Customers appreciate products by themselves, independent of the brand, as shown in their pursuit of satisfaction and development of loyalty. Such appreciation seems to be prominent regarding innovative products when compared to traditional products. This paper aims to investigate this issue and provide a product-brand typology. Design/methodology/approach -The paper takes the form of empirical research on a partial application of the typology. Findings -Results show that the relationship satisfaction-loyalty is significantly present when evaluating products alone albeit a weaker presence than when evaluating brand alone. Such unequal presence is corroborated in both traditional (bottled wine) and innovative (electronic) products even though it is much stronger in innovative products. The relationship satisfaction-loyalty is also present when evaluating product and brand combined, indicating that there is an intermediate position between product and brand. In contrast, the literature treats brand and product-brand as being in the same category thereby diminishing the importance of a useful difference between brand and product-brand. Practical implications -There are practical consequences of applying the typology and examining the findings. The relationship satisfaction-loyalty starts with the product, includes the product-brand, and culminates with the brand. This process is significantly more important regarding innovative products, such as electronics, as compared to traditional products such as wine. Originality/value -This study introduces a typology underscoring the pursuit of satisfaction and development of loyalty in three conditions of product presence versus brand presence, that is, product alone, brand alone, and product and brand combined.

Exploring the Relationships among Service Quality, Satisfaction, Trust and Store Loyalty among Retail Customers

“…This finding supports the previous research on the mediating role that satisfaction plays in the Service Quality -Trust relationship conducted by Fullerton and Taylor (2002);and Kantsperger and Kunz, (2010). H5: Satisfaction positively influences Loyalty (β 13 =0.66; p<0.001), complying with the results of many other studies (e.g., Allen, 2004;Walsh et al, 2008;Torres-Moraga et al, 2008). H6: Trust positively influences Loyalty (β 23 =0.29; p<0.005).…”

The perceived service quality, satisfaction and behavioural intent towards cellphone network service providers: A generational perspective

“…Wang and Lo (2002) add that service satisfaction drives favourable behavioural intentions and that behavioural intent is often seen as a predictor of future purchases (Torres-Moraga et al, 2008;Saeed et al, 2009;González et al, 2007). Schiffman et al (2008) explain that behavioural intent determines the 'likelihood that consumers will act in a certain way in the future".…”

“…Saha and Theingi (2009) elaborate on this definition by defining behavioural intent as the probability of customers performing a certain behavioural act such as spreading positive word-ofmouth about the service providers to others; repurchase intentions and loyalty towards the service provider. Service providers rely on customer repurchasing their service offerings in order to remain competitive over a long-term period of time (Torres-Moraga et al, 2008).…”

Impact of Professionalism and Accountability among Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) Staffs in Selangor, Malaysia

“…Furthermore, numerous past researches have also revealed the relationships between customer satisfactions and factors such as significant brand loyalty (e.g., Choudhury, 2013;Torres-Moraga, Vasquez-Parraga, Zamora-Gonzalez, 2008;Veloutsou, 2015), improved employees and organization's performances in terms of productivity (e.g., Lee, Lee, Kim, & Lee, 2007;Mihelis, Grigoroudis, Siskos, Politis, & Malandrakis, 2001), higher profits (e.g., Morris, 1991;O'Sullivan & McCallig, 2012;Rust, Danaher, & Varki , 2000), and so on. In addition to the impacts on the organization in general as mentioned above, customer satisfactions were also found to have significant impact on employees' job satisfaction and retention, which in turn will also increase customers' satisfaction (Graham & Smith, 2005;Helton, 2010;Hur, Moon, & Jung, 2015;Pantouvakis & Bouranta, 2013).…”