1.
Gayatri Chopra
2.
Swati Sudan
Abstract
Starting 1991, India has experienced major structural and economic reforms
leading to a marked shift from protectionist policies to liberal ones. In the light
of a lot of changes, there is the growing tendency among retailers to recognise
the need to satisfy consumers and delight them to promote repurchase in this
highly competitive scenario. It is, thus, imperative for the retailers to understand
the drivers of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty as also to ascertain
whether customer satisfaction really impacts customer loyalty. The present
study, conducted on customers of Big Bazaar, an Indian Retail Chain, has
attempted to study this very critical link between Customer Satisfaction and
Customer Loyalty. It was hypothesized that Customer Satisfaction has no impact
on Customer Loyalty. Primary data was collected through a structured
questionnaire from participants from North West Delhi region. An analysis of
the data revealed that contrary to hypothesis, customer satisfaction does impact
customer loyalty (R2= 0.37). The results, however, reinforce the belief that all
satisfied customers are not loyal and there is many a slip between the cup and
the lip.
Keywords Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, Impact, Retail Chain, Big Bazaar