Measuring brand loyalty of consumers towards chicken brands in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa

Abstract

Brand loyalty is regularly categorised as one of the most vital drivers for ensuring the long-term sustainability of any organisation. Advantages of having a brand loyal customer base include lower sensitivity to price increases, lower brand switching intentions, high level of customer word-of-mouth marketing exposure and increased consumer profitability. The main focus of this study is to measure the brand loyalty of the KwaZulu-Natal consumers towards their uncooked chicken brand of choice using a validated model and its measuring instrument. The model was developed to measure brand loyalty in the fast-moving consumer goods industry but also successfully applied in agriculture, financial services and other industries. The model measures twelve of the most important antecedents influencing brand loyalty, namely perceived value, brand relevance, brand trust, repeat purchase, switching cost, brand affect, brand commitment, involvement, brand performance, relationship proneness, customer satisfaction and culture. The empirical study was conducted amongst 112 consumers in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. A convenience sample was used to collect data through a product-specific adapted questionnaire designed to test how strongly each of the twelve antecedents relates to KwaZulu-Natal’s consumer loyalty towards its chicken brand. The sample showed the appropriate adequacy, had low sphericity and were proved to be reliable as measured by Cronbach Alpha coefficients. The empirical results confirm the importance of each brand loyalty antecedent in chicken brands. This study offers the most important brand loyalty antecedents as a managerial guideline to chicken brands for consideration to implement in their customer loyalty marketing strategies.