Knowledge Management & Loyalty Programs: A Customer Perception Analysis, the Greek Retail Market
Abstract
The Food Retail sector in Greece is currently facing a number of challenges. From an economic point of view, the austerity programs imposed in Greece since 2010 resulted in losses of retail sales, alongside with bankruptcies and mergers of retail chains. At the same time, technological development creates an environment for innovation in terms of operations and marketing and offers new opportunities to retailers. Additionally, consumers become more involved and active in the purchasing processes. However, Greek consumers are also experiencing a dramatic decline in their disposable income. The study examines the perception of Greek consumers of several marketing efforts based on Information & Communication Technology Systems (ICT) introduced by a Greek food retailer in Northern Greece. More specifically, it investigates the relationship between ICT related marketing efforts, such as loyalty programs, and analytics regarding food control systems and purchases and consumer characteristics such as gender, age, income, status and family size. The study reveals a number of relationships between marketing efforts and consumer characteristics/segments. However, since the relationships are found to be weak, marketing managers are advised to use advanced analytics systems, such as big data technologies, in order to enhance the efficiency of their marketing strategies and approaches. The weak relationships between the parameters examined indicate that marketing efforts have to focus in several consumer sub segments in order to achieve significant results. The study’s sample population is consumers of one of the top food retailers in Greece. The findings contribute to the literature on the use of ICT on marketing strategies and the use of big data. Furthermore, they have practical implications for marketers in the retail food sector, as they reveal the need for a more focused approach to different consumer groups, in order to increase the efficiency of marketing efforts and to achieve maximum results.
Keywords: knowledge management, loyalty programs, ICT, segmentation
References
[1] Sarantopoulos, P., Kioses, L. and Doukidis, G., (2013) ‘IELKA’s White Paper Series: Productivity and Efficiency in Grocery Retail’. Available at: http://www.ielka.gr/wpcontent/uploads/2013/07/Retail-Productivity-and-Efficiency-White paper.pdf (Accessed: 5 June 2017)
[2] Bettini, O. and Dever, J., (2012) ‘Greek Retail Foods’, Available at: https://gain. fas.usda.gov/RecentGAINPublications/RetailFoods_Rome_Greece_6-13-2012.pdf (Accessed: 21 May 2017)
[3] Sheth J.N., Sisodia R.S., (1999), The Changing Face of Retailing, Mastering Marketing, Pearson Education, p. 205
[4] Polymeridou K., (2018), When Food Retail Stores and Consumers Communicate, Marketing Week, Issue 1535 (Greek)
[5] Ridge, M., Johnston, K. A. and O ’Donovan, B., (2015) ‘African Journal of Business Management -The use of big data analytics in the retail industries in South Africa’, 9(19), pp. 688–703. doi: 10.5897/AJBM2015.7827
[6] Marr, B., (2015) ‘Big Data: A Game Changer in the Retail Sector’, Forbes.com. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2015/11/10/big-data-agame changer-in-the-retail-sector
[7] Wedel M. and Kannan P.K., 2016, Marketing analytics for data-rich environments, pg.(1), viewed at 14th of June at: https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/files/Documents/ Departments/Marketing/wedel-kannan-jm-201 6-final.pdf
[8] Marr B., Op. Cit.
[9] Holmström F., (2017), Big Data and smart solutions for customer loyalty, viewed at 25th of March 2018 at: https://www.liveadmins.com/blog/big-data-and-smartsolutions for-customer-loyalty/, p.1.
[10] Baroudi R., (2014), Key performance indicators Winning tips and common challenges, Performance, Volume 6, Issue 2, May 2014
[11] Rothaermel F.T., (2008), Competitive Advantage in Technology Intensive Industries, Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth, Volume 18, 201–225, Elsevier Ltd.
[12] Hoffmann, N., Platen, A. and Witschaftsuniversitat Wien, (2013) Loyalty programs in retailing: a comparison of stand-alone and multi-partner programs Available at: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/ebookviewer/ ebook/bmxlYmtfXzcwNDc2OV9fQU41?sid=75197e73-cfb7-4430-aef4 7a44d62a592b@sessionmgr4008&vid=8&format=EB&rid=1 (Accessed: 5 June 2017)
[13] Petruscu M. and Lauer B., 2017, Qualitative marketing research: The state of journal publications, viewed at 14th of June at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/ viewcontent.cgi?article=2481&context=tqr
[14] Ghaleb Magatef Elham Fakhri Tomalieh, S., (2015) ‘The Impact of Customer Loyalty Programs on Customer Retention’, International Journal of Business and Social Science, 6(81). Available at: http://ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol_6_No_8_1_August_2015/8. pdf (Accessed: 5 June 2017)
[15] Nunes, J. C. and Drèze, X., (2006) ‘Is Betraying You’, Business, 84(4), pp. 124–131. Available at: http://i.bnet.com/pdf/174977- Your_Loyalty_Program_Is_Betraying_You.pdf
[16] Kahn, B.E., (1999), Brand Strategies and Consumer Behavior. In: Financial Times, ed. Mastering Marketing. Prentice Hall, pp.108-114. Kapferer, J.N., (1999). Making Brands Work Around the World. In: Financial Times, ed. Mastering Marketing. Pittman Publishing, pp. 23-28.
[17] Nunes, J. C. and Drèze, X., Op. Cit.
[18] Gaur A.S. and Gaur. S.A. (2009), Statistical Methods for Practice and Research, A Guide to Data Analysis using SPSS, Response / SAGE Publications, 2nd edition