Factors Influencing Supermarket Store Loyalty in Brazil and their Implications to Loyalty Programs

Store loyalty is subjective in nature, since it means an evaluative judgment. The literature highlights the existence of a relationship between perceived value and customer attitude, considering this variable as an important determinant of customer loyalty. This paper analyzes the relationship between a store loyalty program in the supermarket industry and the program’s perceived value, program card loyalty and store perceived value. As many companies have been spending a great deal of money to maintain their loyalty programs, it seems relevant to measure the effectiveness of this kind of program. A Linear Regression Analysis methodology with 200 randomly assigned qualified customers, may provide limited support for the theory. Results may change if the sample size is increased, new locations are added to the study or if the effectiveness of loyalty programs is analyzed in a different context such as in the airlines industry. The findings enhance the understanding of the interrelationship among the constructs which are incorporated in the hypothetical model. The new findings in the current study are relevant to the advancement of loyalty theory in customer retention strategy.