BUS602: Marketing Management

This paper has presented new empirical data on the development of brand loyalty in FMCG markets from the consumers' perspective. In the context of the research findings, an interesting perspective on brand loyalty emerges. In exploring the reasons why loyalty develops in FMCG markets, it was determined that cognitive reasons are as important as emotional reasons for the development of that loyalty. Recent literature has focused on brand loyalty as a result of positive attitudes and has focused on the role of brands as relationship partners for consumers. Consequently, the cognitive reasons for loyalty have been largely ignored. Findings from this research indicate that future studies of brand loyalty should focus on both the cognitive and emotional reasons for loyalty, and move away from the either or approach that has dominated recent brand loyalty literature. In this context, the research findings also indicate that cognitive and emotional reasons for brand loyalty are interdependent and so naturally lend themselves to the study of brand loyalty where they are regarded as such. Consequently, the development of emotional loyalty to a brand that is founded on cognitive reasons should receive attention in future research studies.

Findings from this research indicate that it would be appropriate to explore the nature of brand loyalty in FMCG markets using bonding terminologies and theories. While the idea of describing brand loyalty in the context of bonds is not entirely new, it has thus far received little attention in the literature. It can be argued that describing the nature of brand loyalty using bonding terminology is appropriate as it facilitates the investigation of the attachments that customers have for brands. This research has determined that bonds are necessary if loyalty is to develop and that bonds are important in strengthening any loyalty that may already exist to a brand. In addition, the focus on bonds should enable marketers to develop appropriate marketing strategies that could be used to nurture these bonds and to reinforce the bonds that are present. In the context of the findings it can now be argued that strategies designed to encourage and maintain customer loyalty should be focused on nurturing the bond(s) that the consumer has with the brand.

The research findings also indicate that bonds can develop for both cognitive and emotional reasons. As indicated above, this research has discovered that loyalty studies in the future should focus on both the cognitive and emotional reasons for the development of brand loyalty. In this venture, the bonds that underpin loyalty of either a cognitive or emotional perspective are essential to explore.

As evidenced in this research, loyalty can and does exist in FMCG markets, and thus where marketers are interested in retaining a loyal group of customers, indications from this research are that strategies designed to build bonds, where appropriate, are apt in that endeavor. As identified, bonds underpin loyalty, therefore in the pursuit of loyalty it is logical to consider the type and nature of bonds that lead to that loyalty. This understanding can assist in the analysis of brand loyalty and in the explanations why brand loyalties develop.