The purpose of this study is to analyze how customer oriented businesses can use loyalty programs to create loyalty and how loyalty can be increased. We have in this study chosen to refer loyalty program to the loyalty program that belong to the company Jula AB. Our study is written in a qualitative method. In our method, we chose to interview people in Jula organization to get a business perspective to our study. We have also chosen to assemble a focus group of Jula-club members to also get a customer perspective on the subject.

Since companies have realised the importance of customer loyalty and since the service sector has gained higher significance in recent years, we found it interesting to study what leads to customer loyalty in service companies. The theories we have chosen to consider are customer loyalty, service quality, service guarantees, affinity marketing, loyalty programmes and customer clubs, the customer in focus and other factors that influences customer loyalty. To find out how service companies are working with cus- tomer loyalty, we have conducted a case study within three service companies. Our findings are that customer loyalty has a significant importance for the companies we studied. Quality and personnel were the factors we found had the greatest impact in service companies concerning customer loyalty.

There is now a trend to move closer to the customer in the form of long-term and lastingrelationships. The market today is characterized by growing competition with new playersconstantly arising. In order to gain competitive advantage with the increasingly challengingmarket, companies require to place the customer in the centre. Being close to the customerand engage in successful efforts to create customer loyalty has become a critical successfactor in many businesses. Especially when the customers in today's market is becomingincreasingly unfaithful and continuously looking for new companies with new productofferings.Many companies have now also realized the importance of trying to retain existing customersas it is more profitable than constantly trying to acquire new ones.

Abstract ? ?Customer relationships ? A case study on Nyby Torshälla Riding Club?Date: December 20th 2011Level: Bachelor thesis, 15 ECTSInstitution: School of Sustainable development of society and technology, Mälardalen UniversityAuthors: Linn Ericsson, Elenor Flodin, Emma Jakobsson22nd June 1987 24th April 1987 24th May 1989Title: Customer relationships ? A case study about Nyby Torshälla Riding ClubTutor: Daniel TolstoyKeywords: Relationship marketing, customer relationships, customer loyalty.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how Nyby Torshälla Riding Club maintains their customer relationships. This is to get a deeper insight into how small service companies, in a business to consumer market on a local basis, strategically can work with their customer care.Method: The study was qualitative in its nature and was based on an inductive approach. The primary data has been collected through personal interviews and since the respondents were selected strategically, this means that a non-probability sampling was used. The secondary data that has been used for this thesis was based largely on literature, articles and the Nyby Torshälla Riding Club website.Conclusion: This study indicates how small size service companies can benefit from nurturing their customer relationships.

The research aims at revealing consumers? loyalty to a high involvement product category, connected to a loyalty membership club. Hence, the study aims at explaining similarities and differences between two markets, differently developed in terms of loyalty clubs. The study used IKEA, its loyalty club IKEA FAMILY and women as the company?s main target group, in a case format to study loyalty membership clubs.

Purpose: The study aims to, from a companys point of view, describe how strategic work with customer loyalty is done.Conclusion: Another possible way to try to create loyalty is to exceed the expectations whether the customer is a member of the loyalty program or not. A strong brand with a good reputation can also contribute to a stronger loyalty. Reward systems gradually reward the customers since they first need to collect points, or in this case miles, to be able to use them later on. The staff is often educated in service to be able to interact with the customer in a professional manner. One way to interact with the members of the loyalty program is through profiles on the internet.

ABSTRACT Author: Johan PetterssonTitle: Customer Loyalty in the Swedish men's elite football - a study with IF ElfsborgPurpose Increase understanding of how to increase customer loyalty when it comes to Swedish elite football. Method A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews for deeper access to the what the people I interviewed feel about the subject. The interviews are conducted with IF Elfsborgs club president Stefan Andreasson, Goran Lohne who works with media and events, and Eric Sjölin who are supportercontact. In addition to those I alsointerviewed the supporters club Guliganernas President Anders Hultin. Analysis and conclusion The first impression and attitude is very important when a person goes from a one-timebuyers into loyal customers. This is both the theories and the interviewees opinion. Through staff training and records of how the club would like the first impression and attitude to be the clubs can reach a good level of first impression. Suggestions for further researchTo carry out similar studies on additional clubs, other divisions and women's football and examine how a first impression and response should be.Keywords Consumer behavior, customer loyalty, sports, football and first impressions.

Over the last couple of years the airline business has gone through some turbulent changes, which has meant that customer loyalty has been affected. It?s no longer certain how or why customers are loyal to an airline, although the companies now use more and more complicated loyalty programs to keep their customers.The purpose of this essay has therefore been to examine what makes customers loyal to a service business, and what is the extent of their loyalty.To be able to answer these questions, a survey about costumers loyalty were accomplished. The results we received show that availability is the most significant issue for customers of SAS, and satisfaction is the minimum requirement for the customer. But to be able to attract loyal customers the airline has to offer them more..

For many companies, the Internet has revolutionized the relationship they have with their customers concerning costumer service. The use of Information Technology in regard to Internet as a media has provided companies with the opportunity to build customer databases in order to target their customers individually. The airline industry was one of the first pioneers to use the full potential of Internet to improve customer relations and its profits which we aim to investigate in greater detail in our thesis.Our thesis answers the question on how Scandinavian Airlines' (SAS) Eurobonus department uses their website to create valuable and profitable relationships with SAS loyalty club members through direct marketing. In order to answer our research question, three key informants have been interviewed - each representing different sub departments at Eurobonus; service and support, IT and marketing. Our results were that the Eurobonus department use direct marketing methods by sending customized e-mail offerings to target specific customer, using their customer databases.

The Swedish sports retail industry has experienced extensive growth during the last decade, and this has attracted new entrants to the market, both start-ups and international followers. This has inevitably put more pressure on incumbents, which are now confronted with major challenges as how to retain their customers and market shares. Customer loyalty has been proved to be an important factor for customer retention and proposed to constitute inertia of switching behavior. In light of this problematization, the purpose of this study is to describe the underlying factors of loyalty and whether purchase habits could further explain customer loyalty. The aim is also to understand the strategic implications of the factors involved.

For a company to survive it has to make a profit. To make a profit transactions are necessary and to achieve this a company can choose to focus on creating loyal customers. Loyal customers can contribute to secured revenues, increased market shares and reduced marketing costs. Research within customer loyalty has mainly focused on different types of loyalty and the impact it has on customers behavior. However, there is a lack of research concerning which factors that create loyal customers.

Purpose                           The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of how e-commerce companies use loyalty programs in order to retain their customers and to increase its consumption, and compare this with customer perceptions of loyalty and learn what makes them loyal. Theoretical framework      The theoretical framework starts with definitions of loyalty and customer loyalty. Further, it discusses what a loyalty program is, how rewards today and in the future affect the consumers, and other promotion offers that are commonly used. The theory also discusses how previous points work in e-commerce. Method                                                    To take advantage of the companies? point of view and at the same the customers? perspective, the survey is based on a combination of a qualitative and quantitative study. In the study, two companies in the fashion industry were interviewed and 391 respondents participated. Empirical study                 In the empirical study the interviews with the two e-commerce companies are first presented, which revolves around their use of loyalty program.

The purpose of this study is to provide a longitudinal examination, within grocery retailing, of four marketing tools and their impact on enhancing customer loyalty. The study examines whether the relationship between the four marketing tools and customer satisfaction has a positive effect on attitude and behavior loyalty. The findings from this study show that the marketing tools have not helped enhancing loyalty between 2004 and 2007. Between these years, service quality has the most affect on loyalty. Self-scanning as an effective marketing tool could be questioned, the relation in this study is not supported.

Our purpose is to display the meaning of fan clubs and further reveal the potential value of fans. This study has an abductive approach with a qualitative data collection, where empirical material has been collected through a micro netnographic study along with qualitative interviews. IKEA and IKEA Family have been applied together with virtual fan clubs to study the fan club phenomenon. The study is based on prior literature concerning loyalty, customer clubs and brand relations. This theoretical framework was chosen to fulfil the purpose of unveiling the meaning of fan clubs and the potential value of fans.

Several studies have examined the effects of perceived justice of preferential treatments to customers, but few have studied these effects when customers have different input. The purpose of the study is therefore to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the effects of preferential treatments to customers with varying input. More specifically, the study focuses on how perceived justice, customer satisfaction and loyalty are affected depending on the customer's input and received treatment. An experimental study with 263 respondents showed that the perceived justice and loyalty intentions among both the receiver and the non-receiver of the preferential treatment were of highest level when it was given to a customer with large input. Customer satisfaction however, was found to be of highest level when customers themselves received preferential treatment, regardless of the size of their input.