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The Relationship Between Customer Loyalty and Purchase Incidence

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  • Philip Stern
  • Kathy Hammond

Abstract

Little is known about customer loyalty to brands over many dozens or even hundreds of purchases. In this paper we describe, and seek to explain, such patterns of loyalty in two very different markets: a consumer market (laundry detergents), and a more frequently used service (physicians' prescribing of anti-hypertension drugs). Purchase incidence heterogeneity -- a problem in most loyalty studies -- is addressed by measuring loyalty at different rates of category purchase (rather than over time). Using share-based measures we expect that loyalty will decline as purchase incidence increases, however we clarify the shape of that decline. We find that, as the number of purchases rises, loyalty initially falls steeply, but after around 15 purchases it starts to stabilize, and from 60 to 200 purchases there is very little change in observed measures of customer loyalty. A comparison of the findings with those expected from a stationary market model (the Dirichlet), suggests that the decline in loyalty seen as the number of purchases rises is largely a statistical artifact, dependent on the number of purchases used to calculate loyalty. However, we also find that the higher loyalty exhibited by heavier buyers at low purchase levels is not captured well by the model. The implication here is that, contrary to a central assumption of the Dirichlet model, brand choice is partially dependent on purchase weight.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Stern & Kathy Hammond, 2004. "The Relationship Between Customer Loyalty and Purchase Incidence," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 5-19, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:15:y:2004:i:1:p:5-19
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Trinh, Giang & Dawes, John, 2020. "A comparison of brand loyalty between on the go and take-home consumption purchases," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    2. Giang Tue Trinh & John Dawes & Byron Sharp, 2024. "Where is the brand growth potential? An examination of buyer groups," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 95-106, March.
    3. Gauthier Casteran & Polymeros Chrysochou & Lars Meyer-Waarden, 2019. "Brand loyalty evolution and the impact of category characteristics," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 57-73, March.
    4. Trinh, Giang, 2014. "Predicting variation in repertoire size with the NBD model," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 111-116.
    5. Jooa Baek & Jaeseok Lee, 2021. "A Conceptual Framework on Reconceptualizing Customer Share of Wallet (SOW): As a Perspective of Dynamic Process in the Hospitality Consumption Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-11, January.
    6. Otto, Philipp E. & Davies, Greg B. & Chater, Nick & Stott, Henry, 2009. "From spending to understanding: Analyzing customers by their spending behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 10-18.
    7. Riebe, Erica & Wright, Malcolm & Stern, Philip & Sharp, Byron, 2014. "How to grow a brand: Retain or acquire customers?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 990-997.
    8. Dawes, John & Meyer-Waarden, Lars & Driesener, Carl, 2015. "Has brand loyalty declined? A longitudinal analysis of repeat purchase behavior in the UK and the USA," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 425-432.
    9. Trinh, Giang & Lam, Desmond, 2016. "Understanding the attendance at cultural venues and events with stochastic preference models," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3538-3544.
    10. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2012-028 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Caracciolo, Francesco & D’Amico, Mario & Di Vita, Giuseppe & Pomarici, Eugenio & Dal Bianco, Andrea & Cembalo, Luigi, 2016. "Private vs. Collective Wine Reputation," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 19(3), pages 1-20, August.
    12. LIN Cheng-Ta Lin & CHUANG Shuang-Shii, 2018. "The Importance Of Brand Image On Consumer Purchase Attitude: A Case Study Of E-Commerce In Taiwan," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 13(3), pages 91-104, December.
    13. Silberhorn, Nadja & Hildebrandt, Lutz, 2012. "Does umbrella branding really work? Investigating cross-category brand loyalty," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2012-028, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    14. Dawes, John, 2014. "Cigarette brand loyalty and purchase patterns: An examination using US consumer panel data," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1933-1943.
    15. Silberhorn, Nadja & Hildebrandt, Lutz, 2009. "Is cross-category brand loyalty determined by risk aversion?," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2009-061, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.

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