An investigation of the factors influencing customer loyalty in supermarkets in Kenya: a survey of selected Nakumatt branches in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Kenya's population is surging at an increasing rate creating demand for retail stores. There is also a sharp' increase in retail stores in Kenya to meet the increasing demand of consumer products. This trend has made the provision of quality service critical and is now a major strategy of the retailers marketing plan. The need to retain customers has made the stores- customer loyalty critical. The purpose of study is to analyse factors influencing customer loyalty in supermarkets in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The study population consisted of over 420;000 Nakumatt Holding limited shopper's whose patronage to the store is over a period of two years. The sampling process underwent two stages; during the first stage 5 branches in Nairobi (Embakasi, Kahawa Wedani, Westgate, Mega and Ngong Road) were selected based on judgmental sampling. The second stage used systematic random sampling whereby 384 shoppers emerging from the sampled branches were issued with a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were used to analyse quantitative data while content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and the data was presented inform of tables and figures for easy understanding and interpretation. The survey found out that customers of Nakurnatt are not very royal since they occasionally purchase goods from Nakurnatt as well as from other supermarkets. Most of the customers are not registered with the Nakurnatt smart card but they are happy that Nakumatt gives them value of their money. On the other hand the survey found that Nakumatt Supermarkets customer's services and brand utility have the highest influence to Nakumatt customers whereas brand image moderately determine choice of Nakumatt by its customers. Finally, it was found that available loyalty programs in Nakumatt do not create loyalty to Nakurnatt customers. The study recommended that the marketing and human resource managers of Nakumatt supermarket works hand in hand to improve the corporate image and find out the course of long lines in payment areas. Also the CEO of Nakumatt should find out how they can improve the physical distribution of Nakumatt branches in the country.