مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد وفاداری برند بین صاحبان خودرو نروژ (الزویر)

In the competitive world of consumer durables, brand-loyal customers are vital for the profitability and survival of firms. Branding products and attracting loyal customers are important components of many businesses competitive strategies. The marketing cost to attract a new customer has been found to be about six times higher than retaining an existing one (Mellens et al., 1996). Loyal customers are also more willing to pay higher prices and are less price-sensitive compared to other customers (Krishnamurthi and Raj, 1991). Moreover, loyal customers can increase the quality as well as productivity of retailer service departments as they offer information about customers’ needs and preferences. The automotive retail market is one of the most mature and developed markets that exist. There are a number of different car makes and models that are growing increasingly similar, which boosts competition between automobile manufacturers and makes brand loyalty an important competitive factor (see e.g., Söderlund, 2004). By the end of 2014, there was a rolling stock of approximately 2.5 million cars owned by 1.9 million private households in Norway (Statistics Norway, 2015). A total of 430,000 second-hand cars are sold annually in the Norwegian market. Approximately 81% of the consumers who bought a car between 1985 and 2013 had already owned a car according to our data set. The experience that car owners have with the different brands is vital for the future sale of these makes (Devaraj et al., 2001). Our data thus indicates that brand loyalty is important in the Norwegian market for both new and used cars.