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Response to research problematic






1. What type of strategies does IKEA follow in order to keep and refine consumer loyalty?

 

First in Sä llberg’s (2004) book, purchasing amount and purchasing frequency are viewed as customers’ loyalty and it has been proved to be correct in previous studies. Swedish case have shown that there are close relationship between purchasing amount/frequency and customer loyalty. To improve customer purchasing amount and frequency, advertisement on multiple channels are mentioned to be important. Moreover, service during the transaction also plays a significant role when improving customers’ purchasing amount and frequency. Besides that, customers’ attitude towards products cannot be ignored either. Companies should provide more chances to customers so that customers can try and better understand products and brands. As discussed in Torres-Moraga and his partners’ (Torres-Moraga et al., 2008) article, customers’ loyalty to products and brands should be separately researched. This point has been supported in the case of IKEA in Sweden. And based on the case, the research of loyalty to products can help to improve customers’ loyalty to brands. Besides that, In Ball and his partners’ (Ball. et. al., 2004) article, attitude loyalty is regarded as an important dimension of customer loyalty. In both cases, customers’ attitudes are proved as a factor that cannot be ignored by companies. To improve customers’ attitude loyalty, communication with customers is important for companies. Companies need to know how customers feel about the products and make customers feel more comfortable. Moreover, company need to pay attention on the quality of service. Sometimes proper reward is also helpful for companies to improve customers’ attitude loyalty. Finally, In Ndubisi’s (2007) article, four bases of customer loyalty are described. All the four bases have been proved to be important in the case of IKEA. According to the studies above, in the four bases, communication and conflict handling play the role of instruments and with them companies can get customers’ trust and commitment. Therefore, when considering how to improve customers’ trust and commitment, openly and timely communication and efficient conflict handling cannot be ignored. Besides that, some other factors that have impact on customer loyalty are studied in the case, for example, the service quality during the transaction and companies’ attitude towards conflicts.

 

2. IKEA has companies in many countries, including Sweden. Do they put into practice one strategy for all markets?

 

In Nykamp’s (2001) book, three cases are mentioned where companies should pay more attention to customers so that they can get more advantages. According to the studies above, the first case formulated by Nykamp is mentioned in the case, which is to defend against competitors. Furthermore, in the case of Sweden, getting ideas for designing from customers is another important reason for the companies to implement customer loyalty strategy. Besides the reason of implementing customer loyalty strategy, according to Curry (2000), customers classifying approach is also important, because it can better help companies visualize, analyze, and improve the behavior and profitability of customers. However, Curry’s (2000) theory is supported in the case of IKEA in Sweden. The membership system help IKEA in Sweden to classify customers and through it IKEA can provide more rewards to customers and better understand their customers.

 

According to Curry (2000), active customers hold most value for companies. It has been proved in the both cases that existing active customers are important for companies. For active customers, it is mentioned in the case that keeping communication channel available is a useful method to retain customer loyalty. However, the membership system of IKEA in Sweden makes the communication more efficient. And for the potential customers, it is mentioned in the case that advertisement is a useful method to attract new customers. However, IKEA in Sweden mentions that communication among customers is helpful to attract new customers. Finally, as discussed above, communication and conflict handling are two bases of customer loyalty.

 

3. Examining Swedish market, how does IKEA cope with challenges, arising while realization of consumer loyalty strategies?

First, according to Curry (2000), customers classifying approach can help companies visualize, analyze, and improve the behavior and profitability of customers and this has been supported by the case of Sweden. As shown in the previous study, without such an approach, a company cannot focus on a certain group of customers when implementing customer loyalty strategy and thus the efficiency of customer loyalty strategy cannot be high. To solve this problem, some programs have to be adopted as a membership system mentioned in the case of Sweden. Through these programs, customers’ information, preference can be recorded and form basis of companies’ customer loyalty strategy. Besides that, as mentioned in Torres-Moraga and his partners’ (Torres-Moraga et al., 2008) article, loyalty to brand and products should be researched separately and this has been proved to be helpful for companies in the case of Sweden. Therefore, Swedish companies should view brand and products as two stages when considering customer loyalty. This is the second problem that needs to pay attention on it. Especially for the companies that have a range of products, it is better to record customers’ attitudes towards each product. The analysis of this can help to understand customers’ preference and thus help to improve customers’ attitudes and loyalty to the brand.

 

Last but not least, Swedish customers play an important role when Swedish company promote to new customers. Existing customers’ word-of-mouth can have a significant effect on new customers’ attitudes towards thecompany. Therefore, company should communicate more with existing customers and make them stand on the side of company.


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