Identification of Factors Affecting Consumer Loyalty on the Dairy Market

The dairy market in Russia has stagnated over the past three years. In conditions of high competition and slowdown in the industry, companies need to competently establish a marketing strategy to attract and retain consumers. Thus, customer loyalty to the brand is becoming a particularly significant metric for marketers. In order to understand how to increase loyalty and strengthen their market position, it is important for companies to know what factors influence the formation of the metric under study, which is important in the case of strategic decisions and maintaining competitive positions in the industry. The presented work is aimed at researching factors influencing consumer loyalty in the dairy market. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify factors that affect consumer loyalty in the dairy market. To achieve this goal, several tasks were identified: 1. To study the theoretical foundations of the concept of "loyalty"; 2. Consider the factors affecting consumer loyalty, which highlight the authors of scientific literature; 3. Review approaches to measuring loyalty and learn methods of correlation between factors and loyalty; 4. To analyze the Russian dairy market; 5. Make correlation of factors by conducting in-depth interviews with experts in the dairy industry; draw up a questionnaire and conduct a survey among consumers; identify the influence of factors on loyalty; 6. Develop recommendations for companies in the industry. To achieve this goal, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. First, interviews were conducted with industry experts to adjust factors. Secondly, an online survey was conducted among consumers in the segment of modern dairy products. Finally, factorial and regression models were constructed. Based on the results of an empirical study, 7 factors of loyalty in the dairy market were identified, 4 of which turned out to be significant, among them quality, brand communication, price, and composition. Further, based on the analysis, recommendations were formed for market players. The main conclusion is that a competitive company in the market of milk and dairy products in the segment of modern categories is one that pays great attention to production, maintains an affordable price relative to competitors, and develops an effective communication strategy that resonates with customers.