Relationship marketing shifts the focus of marketing discipline from short-term transactions to long-term relationships with customers. Customer loyalty is important strategic objective for all managers. Loyal customers build businesses by buying more, paying premium prices and act as advocates of their products/services resulting in increased number of customers for the firm. It is argued that customer acquisition is costlier than customer retention. Customer defections adversely affect bottom lines and market share. The concept of customer loyalty presents a paradox. There are three different ways to measure loyalty: behavioural loyalty expressed in terms of repeat patronage behaviour; attitudinal loyalty manifested as emotional and psychological attachment towards brand and composite measure of loyalty, which combines both behavioural and attitudinal dimensions. The present study explores the concept of customer loyalty and its dimensions.
Global Journal of Business Management Vol. 1 No. 1, June 2007