The Relationship Between Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty-evidence from the FMCG Market Sectors

In different markets customer loyalty varies significantly as the result of several factors’ impact (including customer satisfaction effect). In the study undertaken by Jones and Sasser the interrelation “satisfaction-loyalty” was mediated by the factor “competitive environment” in such a way that in the markets with intense level of competition the link «satisfaction loyalty» was characterized by the increasing returns on loyalty as opposed to the non-competitive markets where the situation of decreasing returns was observed. The research conducted by Jones and Sasser has a considerable gap: no efforts were made to elicit whether the interdependence “customer-loyalty” is different for the different sectors of the same market. In this paper, the problem considered was addressed by the aid of developing simple regression models (aggregate customer satisfaction measure as the regressor and customer loyalty as the dependent variable) on the basis of primary data collected as the result of conducting the opinion poll. For such sectors of Russian confectionery market as the “biscuits’’, “chewing gum/sugar candy’’, ‘’chocolate’’ the same interrelation of “customer-satisfaction” was revealed (decreasing returns on loyalty). In this study, a set of recommendations were formulated for the company “Mondelēz Rus”: the priority area for this company is the sector “chewing gum/sugar candy’’. Implications for future research are discussed.