Customer Loyalty Programs in the Russian Car Market

This graduation thesis is devoted to the study of customer loyalty programs of Russian car dealers. Loyalty programs of Russian car dealers are moderately underdeveloped in comparison with such programs of foreign car dealers. Moreover, factors influencing the loyalty of car owners have not been studied in Russia. The aim of this work is to identify the main factors that determine the level of loyalty of car buyers, and make recommendations to improve the current loyalty programs, taking into account the impact of these factors. In the first chapter the theoretical foundations of loyalty, loyalty programs and means of loyalty measurement are reviewed alongside with the studies, in which the factors influencing the loyalty of car owners were found. The main factors associated with loyalty programs and influencing the level of customer loyalty, turned out to be the quality of service when buying a car and the quality of after sales service. After that existing loyalty programs of car dealers of three brands in the US and Russia were examined, as well as the results of the American and Russian studies of loyalty of customers of these car brands. Thus, the BMW brand was chosen for our own research. In our research it was found that the quality of service when buying a car affects the loyalty level of BMW owners slightly stronger than quality of services. It was also found that customers are not satisfied with the cost of after sales service and discounts offered through loyalty programs. Recommendations for Russian official dealers of BMW were developed on the basis of the results of the research. These recommendations may also be applied to the dealers of other car brands.