Relationship Marketing and Indian Shoppers

-- Surjit Kumar Kar and Swayamprava Nanda

Customer satisfaction and loyalty depend on the relationship marketing strategies of the marketer. This paper segregates the factors that affect Relationship Marketing (RM) across three stages: relationship building (expectation perspectives); relationship intensifying (exchange or transaction perspectives); and relationship solidifying (perception perspectives). Customers’ value for pre-purchase information, in-purchase service and post-purchase care are taken as antecedents to this. A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) using mall intercept method, done in one of the cities of Orissa, helped in identifying 40 factors. Under exploratory research design, factor analyses and testing of various hypotheses were done on shoppers’ beliefs. Three sets of factors were grouped under three stages of RM as stated above. A few important factors noticed in the context of RM in retail are basics, service augmentation, service differentiation, alert staff, error avoidance, freebies, convenience, sensory appeal, proximity, delightment, superior layout, price, core/tangible benefits and visual appeal. This paper explains relationship tenets based on basic transaction stages. The progressive effects of the stages are neither theoretically examined nor empirically established. The study aims at broadening the management implications for a conceptual framework in the context of RM in the organized retail business.

© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Customer Expectation Management in Convenience Stores Format in Organized Retail in India

-- Vijay R Kulkarni

In today’s competitive environment only the best survives. To survive and grow, the retailers need to strategize their operations to ensure customer delight, repeat purchases and increase in profitability. The key to achieve this objective is to give exemplary shopping experience and convert the customer from browser to a spender and to a big spender. It is an integrated approach wherein all the components of retail mix work in unison and deliver the ultimate experience to the customers. Customer Expectation Management (CEM) is a program to enable large and complex organizations to deliver a financially optimal customer experience, resulting in increased customer loyalty and hence superior growth and financial performance (Enzminger, 2005). This study focuses on the role of various factors (availability of various products, quality of the products, stores atmospherics, pricing, working hours, behavior of employees, etc.) to deliver superior customer experience and isolates the factors which the customers consider as important while shopping in a retail chain grocery store.

© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Can a Non-Salient Brand Perform Equal to a Salient Brand in Brand Placement Effectiveness?

-- K Ravi

The marketers worldwide will be keen to know the answer to the following question: In a country where superstar worship is in abundance and superstar endorsement of products in movies is expensive, are the superstars really delivering better than an actor in brand placement? This paper investigates whether there is any difference between the impact produced by a superstar and an actor on brand placement with respect to unaided and aided brand name recall and attitude of a salient and non-salient brand. In this study of experimental design, the stimuli are pre-identified movie clippings representing two brand placements, one with a superstar and the other with an actor. Questionnaire is used as a tool for data collection. This study finds that there is no difference between a superstar and an actor with respect to brand placement effectiveness. This paper also finds that even an actor associated with a non-salient or unknown brand may be as effective as a superstar associated with a salient brand. There seems to be more to brand placement than just superstar association and brand salience. This paper opens up areas for further research to examine the theoretical links, including the effect of elaboration theory, dual mode and brand identity theories which may throw light on what leads to brand placement effectiveness.

© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Consumer Attitude Towards Green Marketing in India

-- Sourabh Bhattacharya

Maintaining ecological balance is a major issue confronting the corporate world today. The damage done to the environment has already crossed the threshold and reached alarming limits. Non-replenishable natural resources are getting depleted at a rapid pace. Generation of waste, including biodegradable pollutants, is increasing enormously. All these negative developments have forced mankind to think more seriously about conserving the environment. Green marketing is one such initiative towards environment protection, which is gaining popularity. Many people believe that green marketing refers solely to the promotion or advertising of products with environment-friendly characteristics. Various terms such as recyclable, refillable, ozone-friendly are related to green marketing, however, green marketing is a much broader concept and it can be applied even to the services. Thus, green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities which include but are not limited to product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, etc. Different groups of consumers have different levels of environmental concerns and thus different attitudes towards green marketing. The objective of the present study is to identify the factors representing consumers’ attitude towards green marketing in India. The paper also focuses on the review of prior research works done in the area of green marketing and identifies attitudinal dimensions relevant to the Indian context.

© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Integrating Quality into Equilibre Health and Sports Center: A Case Study from Mauritius

-- H Kassean and O Bissoon

This paper discusses the central role of service quality in the context of health and fitness sector. This is achieved through an analysis and examination of the service encounters, drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction at Equilibre Health and Sports Center. Equilibre has forged a good reputation over the years through its personalized and tailor-made programs suitable to each member’s individual needs. The program established takes into consideration the health condition of the member, the evolution of his/her state and their lifestyle and recommendations of the medical practitioner. Applications of SERVQUAL model are discussed and the service at Equilibre is illustrated using a service blueprint. Further research involving quantitative data would be useful to establish the level of satisfaction of the members and measurement of actual benefit derived from such programs and activities in the process of adding value to sports and health centers in general and developing them further.

© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Book Review: Big Ideas for Small Businesses