Customer loyalty in Indian automobile industry

Abstract

The study is done to explain that satisfaction does not universally translate into loyalty and that satisfaction and loyalty are linked inextricably. The more common the item and the more degree to which replacements are exact duplicate of the original, the less likely the loyalty is to emerge. It is noted that the relative costs of customer retention is substantially less than those of acquisition. In automobiles, consumers connect not with products but with brands. Though brand associations are not in itself sufficient reasons to decide whether to buy a product or not, they influence the purchasing decisions of every customer. The project was aimed to address the following specific objectives: * To demonstrate the asymmetric relation between customer loyalty and satisfaction through different phases of loyalty and to understand the role of other non-satisfaction determinants of customer loyalty, and their interrelationships. * To explain the reasons that cause customers adhere to the same brand or switch when ascending from low price band to high price band when buying their second car. * To analyze the reasons because of which customers switch from one category to another.