مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد محرک وفاداری برند در صنعت فروش زنجیره ای قهوه – الزویر 2018

Coffee shops have definitely never been out-of-style. In fact, the business is increasingly gaining favor from geographically diverse groups of consumers. The 9.1% global sales growth between 2014 and 2015 has evidently proven the rapid expansion of this sector in the international market (Rompaey, 2016). In the U.S., there are a total of 131,000 coffee outlets currently in operation aiming to reach a receipt of $85 billion by the year 2025 (Coffee Talk, 2016). Likewise, coffee shop sales in the U.K. have made an impressive hike of 28% from 2010 to 2015 and are expected to achieve another 26% growth in the next five years (Mintel, 2016). Not only does the industry immensely flourish in Western countries, the cradle of coffee-drinking lifestyles, but also actively reaches out to different unexploited, yet highly lucrative nations within the Asia-Pacific area, such as Korea and Japan (Friend, 2016). The diversity of players in the coffee chain sector has thus become accumulatively deepened. Starbucks and McCafe are globally operating 22,557 outlets and 5044 outlets, respectively, and thus are the biggest and most intimidating brands. Nevertheless, a huge number of other chains such as Costa Coffee (3036 outlets), Doutor Coffee (1108 outlets), Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (925 outlets) and Caffe Nero (683 outlets) are putting their best effort to gain international recognition over these giant corporations (Rompaey, 2016). Due to the intense competition among international coffee players, brand loyalty has become a strategically critical factor in order for each and every coffee organization to sustainably thrive in today’s marketplace. This is because loyal customers are willing to purchase frequently, try other products and services (facilitate cross-buying intentions), bring in new customers as well as create a positive public image for the firm (Tu et al., 2012). It is discovered that a 5% increase of customer retention subsequently results in an astounding 25–75% profit enhancement (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990) and keeping a customer loyal surprisingly costs a company five times lesser than attracting new potential ones (Wills, 2009). According to Kotler and Keller (2009), customer loyalty is the fundamental key ingredient in the recipe of making a truly strong brand. Therefore, many organizations are enormously yearning for a “systematic and well-assisted development of loyalty behaviors among their customers” (Alok and Srivastava, 2013, p.140). However, coffee shops are currently facing the issue of gaining loyal customers. In a national study, it is found that more than 50% of Starbucks’ customers often purchase at its competitors including Dunkin Donuts and McDonald’s, who are also known as ‘roamers’. Dunkin Donuts and McDonald’s were also found to maintain a relatively high percentage of roamers of 53% and 38% respectively (Business Wire, 2011). The high proportion of roamers has apparently illustrated the lack of loyal customers within the coffee chain sector. Evidently, the fragmentation within the retail space offering consumers with too many choices has made consumers become less loyal to brands than ever before (Russo, 2014). Consequently, there is a pressing need for a more comprehensive investigation into brand loyalty’s precursors in the context of coffee shop chain industry.