EFFICIENCY OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY PROGRAMMES IN THE FOOD RETAIL INDUSTRY

Kovalev V. E.; Novikova K. S.; Antineskul E. A.

DOI: 10.29141/2658-5081-2022-23-4-6 EDN: WGAGTP JEL classification: M21, L81

Victor Ye. Kovalev Ural State University of Economics, Ekaterinburg, Russia

Kseniya V. Novikova Perm State University, Perm, Russia

Ekaterina A. Antineskul Perm State University, Perm, Russia

Efficiency of customer loyalty programmes in the food retail industry

Abstract. Increasing the efficiency of communications with customers maintains the economic development and growth in the services and food retail industry. One way to succeed in this objective is introducing digital technologies for interaction with clientele. The paper aims to assess the efficiency of the customer loyalty programmes in food retail that are based on digital technologies. Methodologically, the study relies on the system approach, the relationship marketing, and the organisational economics. The index method and comparative analysis are applied to examine the data on customer loyalty programmes of ten food retailers. Comparison of these data reveals the most prevalent tools for attracting customers and helps create a conceptual model of the CRM system that provides for a combination of these tools. Following these findings, the paper specifies the indicators for examining the efficiency of the customer loyalty programmes and develops recommendations on refining the operation of CRM systems by retailers. The research results may become a basis for creation, implementation, and assessment of loyalty programmes of retail chains, which are targeted at enhancing the quality of interaction with clientele.

Keywords: economic development; efficiency; retail; food retail; loyalty programme; CRM system.

For citation: Kovalev V. E., Novikova K. S., Antineskul E. A. (2022). Efficiency of customer loyalty programmes in the food retail industry. Journal of New Economy, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 121-136. DOI: 10.29141/2658-5081-2022-23-4-6. EDN: WGAGTP.

Article info: received July 21, 2022; received in revised form August 16, 2022; accepted September 2, 2022

В. E. Ковалев Уральский государственный экономический университет, г. Екатеринбург,

Российская Федерация

К. В. Новикова Пермский государственный национальный исследовательский университет, г Пермь, Российская Федерация Е. А. Антинескул Пермский государственный национальный исследовательский университет, г Пермь, Российская Федерация

Эффективность программ лояльности клиентов продовольственного ритейла

Аннотация. Повышение эффективности коммуникации с клиентами обеспечивает экономическое развитие и рост сектора розничной торговли. Применение цифровых технологий является одним из актуальных способов решения этой задачи. Статья посвящена оценке эффективности программ лояльности продовольственного ритейла, основанных на цифровых технологиях. Методология исследования базируется на системном подходе, концепции маркетинга взаимодействия (отношений) и экономике организации. Использовались индексный метод и сравнительный анализ. Информационную базу работы составили данные о программах лояльности десяти продовольственных ритейлеров. Сравнение этих данных позволило выявить наиболее популярные инструменты привлечения покупателей и создать концептуальную модель CRM-системы (Customer Relationship Management), предусматривающую сочетание этих инструментов. Определены показатели оценки эффективности программ лояльности и разработаны предложения по совершенствованию применения ритейлерами CRM-систем. Результаты исследования могут служить основой для создания, реализации и оценки программы лояльности торговых сетей, ориентированной на повышение качества взаимодействия с потребителем.

Ключевые слова: экономическое развитие; эффективность; розничная торговля; продовольственный ритейл; программа лояльности; CRM-система.

Для цитирования: Kovalev V. E., Novikova K. S., Antineskul E. A. (2022). Efficiency of customer loyalty programmes in the food retail industry. Journal of New Economy, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 121-136. DOI: 10.29141/2658-5081-2022-23-4-6. EDN: WGAGTP.

Информация о статье: поступила 21 июля 2022 г.; доработана 16 августа 2022 г.; одобрена 2 сентября 2022 г.

Introduction

Rising transaction costs in trade, especially in food trade, stimulate retailers' interest in using digital technologies that hold a potential to enhance retailers' competitiveness due to a customer-tailored approach. Customer loyalty programmes (LPs) account for the specifics of customer behaviour when creating a product mix and additional services. In addition, digital technologies used for customer relationship management (CRM systems) help reduce retail chains' expenses on retaining a market share. Therefore, customer loyalty programmes become a tool of economic development and growth in retail trade and services sector.

As competition tightens and consumer expectations about quality of service heighten, communication costs of retail chains go up as well. Introduction of CRM systems does not provide a cast-iron guarantee that efficiency of every contact with a customer will increase, and for this

reason they normally incorporate the tools most demanded by the clientele. For instance, federal food retailers retain their customers not only by price-related but also by beneficial service offerings. According to a 2018 survey by a research holding Romir1, well over 80 % of respondents have loyalty cards of food retail chains.

The aim of the research is to evaluate loyalty programmes in the food retail industry created with the assistance of digital technologies and targeted at increasing the economic efficiency of relationships with clientele. Correspondingly, the research pursues the following objectives:

• to review scientific literature assessing the efficiency of loyalty programmes in retail;

• to evaluate tools used in CRM systems of retail chains;

• to examine general implementation efficiency of loyalty programmes of food retailers;

• to determine indicators for assessing CRM systems in the retail industry.

Basics of efficiency of loyalty programmes in retail

Last three decades have seen multiple attempts to study the processes of development and introduction of loyalty programmes. The research of customer loyalty goes as far back as the 1920s [Copeland, 1923]. Early studies (before the end of the 1960s) treat it as behavioural specifics of consumers; later fundamental contributions went further and developed different definitions to the concept [Dick, Basu, 1994; Oliver, 1997], for instance, "a buyer's overall attachment or deep commitment to a product, service, brand, or organisation" [Lam et al., 2004, p. 294]. Customer loyalty is seen as "the biased (i.e. non-random) behavioural response (i.e. revisit), expressed over time by some decision-making unit with respect to one store out of a set of stores" [Bloemer, Ruyter, 1998, p. 500] and as customer's commitment to keep on patronising a certain chain of organisations during a long period of time [Lovelock, Wirtz, 2007]. Hence, we suggest understanding loyalty as customer decisions to regularly choose a certain retailer and to attract new customers to it.

Except for the definition of the term, scientists have proposed a three-dimensional concept of building relationships with a customer containing cognitive, affective and positive determinants. Identification of these determinants has been significantly criticised, because they did not allow distinguishing between 'true' and 'false' loyalty that describes the relationship with customers [Day, 1969]. The 'true' loyalty is a combination of favourable behaviour and attitude, whereas 'false' loyalty pertains to just favourable behaviour, such as repeated purchases, without favourable relationships [Dick, Basu, 1994]. Only in the first case there is a strong commitment to an organisation [Quach, Thaichon, Jebarajakirthy, 2016], and choosing it, as research shows, takes time [Bove, Johnson, 2009], whereas in the second case the commitment to a brand is absent.

Dick and Basu also developed a conceptual framework for customer loyalty, which incorporates four segments corresponding to the strength of customer loyalty: 1) loyalty (high relative attitude and high number of repeated purchases); 2) latent loyalty (high relative attitude and low repeat patronage); 3) spurious loyalty (low relative attitude and high repeat patronage); 4) no loyalty (low relative attitude and low repeat patronage) [Dick, Basu, 1994, p. 101]. Such conceptualisation was supported by other researchers [Jensen, 2011; Ngobo, 2017].

Among the factors contributing to the formation of different types of customer loyalty the most important ones for buyers in the food retail industry are value for money, tidiness and organisation, being well-stocked and having variety [Maggioni, 2016].

Based on the analysis of 131 publications, Chen, Mandler and Meyer-Waarden discuss a theoretical realm of LP research, reviewing the frameworks that are most frequently used to explain LP-related phenomena, namely social identity theory, social comparison theory, prospect

1 Card loyalty. Romir research holding. https://romir.ru/studies/kartochnayaloyalnost. (In Russ.)

theory, behavioural learning theory, social exchange theory, and equity theory. They arrive at the conclusion that existing studies mostly rely on status-based, inertia-based, or relationship-based mechanisms to theoretically explain LP-related effects, while multi-theoretical perspectives are rare. The scholars also highlight that LP research focuses strongly on a few key industries, such as retail, airlines, and hotels, but lacks insights into the design and outcomes of LPs in online and B2B contexts [Chen, Mandler, Meyer-Waarden, 2021].

Some studies emphasise that satisfaction creation, company image building, and loyalty programme value creation should be considered as parallel processes [Nesset et al., 2021]. On the contrary, other publications tend to unite these processes. For instance, in their study, Filipe, Marques and Salgueiro justified a strong direct relationship between the level of customer trust and loyalty using the case of grocery stores, as well as confirmed a far greater satisfaction among participants of retailers' LPs [Filipe, Marques, Salgueiro, 2017].

At present, loyalty programmes are targeted at retaining customers using different events and beneficial offerings made with the help of CRM systems. These technologies we treat as "a set of software products that maintain the collection, storage, and analysis of information about consumer behaviour, as well as communication with the client" [Antineskul, Spitsina, 2018, p. 28].

Nevolin and Petrichenko substantiated a possibility of switching from loyalty programmes to a CRM system of "dynamic motivation" based on digital technologies. The implementation of the system consists of the following steps: "1) a loyal customer makes a purchase using a card; 2) the purchase history is updated; 3) the frequency of purchasing a particular product, changes in the average bill size, the visiting frequency are analysed; 4) the purchase history is correlated with the current promotions; 5) the date of the next visit is predicted; 6) at the right moment, a tailored offering relevant to the client's requests is sent" [Nevolin, Petrichenko, 2020].

In addition to dynamic motivation, Berezka [2018] pointed to the following specifics of modern customer loyalty programmes in retail, which, according to the idea, indicate key difficulties in their development:

• using them as an additional service;

• long duration of application;

• composite, multi-attribute character;

• high variability and lack of a single, generally accepted and standardised design.

To find the ways to neutrilise the said difficulties, scientists research the reasons behind them. Shemonchuk and Makarova discovered a relationship between the advancement of digital technologies and transformation of consumer habits, which can potentially increase the competitiveness of retailers [Shemonchuk, Makarova, 2018]. Digital technologies create new methods of communication with the clientele and enable the collection of extensive data about it to design personalised offerings (incentives, bonuses, products, services, etc.) [Grewal et al., 2018; Tong, Luo, Xu, 2020]. Zakaria et al. [2014] exposed positive relationships among loyalty programme, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty and concluded that LPs' tools (shopping partners' programme, member's day, rebate gift voucher and special price) significantly influence customer loyalty [Zakaria et al., 2014].

Furthermore, the evolution of these tools is impacted by the specificities of consumer buying behaviour and current objectives of retailers. Harris and Goode [2004] argue that online retailers face greater difficulties in developing loyalty compared to offline retailers. Due to possibilities opened by the Internet, consumers can communicate with each other and distribute information more easily, compare retailers and look for alternative suppliers.

Since the success of LPs is not guaranteed [Keh, Lee, 2006; Meyer-Waarden, 2007; Meyer-Waarden, Benavent, 2009], and digital technologies develop rapidly, retailers encounter uncertainty of the results while developing, introducing and implementing these programmes. Hence,

difficulties linked with the maintenance of loyalty programmes efficiency are at the core of the research question.

Research methods

The research applies a system approach to determine the efficiency of LPs in the food retail industry.

Bombaij, Gelper and Dekimpe [2022] believe the redemption rate to be the primary success indicator of implementing LPs and use it to study the influence of four key characteristics of LPs' design (the duration of a programme, the discount size, the spending requirement before an award can be redeemed, and the reward depth) in a set of grocery retailers in 45 countries. Their findings demonstrate that LPs' success is directly dependent on LPs' design (including all these characteristics).

Russian practice evidences that introduction of LPs' can be efficient provided business processes are adjusted, for instance, personnel and its workload are redistributed due to the use of a CRM system. For example, application of a complex approach to the control of personnel activity in a department allowed cutting labour costs by 25 % [Gvozdev, Denisova, Malkova, 2021].

We suppose that achieving efficiency and using optimal tools of loyalty programmes studied in accordance with the concept of relationship marketing [Berry, 1983] and the theory of behavioural economics [Thaler, 2015] is the basis for the food retail development through the implementation of CRM systems.

The stages of our research included the analysis of LPs' tools of ten food retailers, assessment of CRM systems' efficiency of four leaders out of ten considered and final determination of indicators for assessing the use of digital technologies in building relationships with customers (Figure 1).

Analysis Assessment Identification

of LP tools of LP efficiency of LP efficiency indicators -© ©-©-►

Fig. 1. Stages of the CRM systems' efficiency research in the food retail industry Рис. 1. Этапы исследования эффективности CRM-систем продовольственного ритейла

At the final stage, we selected LP efficiency indicators, which are necessary for building a new CRM system.

Research results

Analysis of LP tools in the food retail industry. Today retail introduces digital technologies targeted at creation of value offerings for buyers. Modern loyalty programmes got over the phase of issuing plastic cards and simply awarding loyalty bonuses or giving discounts [Baranova et al., 2021]. They effectively take advantage of communication possibilities of the Internet allowing customer to compare LPs. As a result, multiple types of loyalty programmes emerge in the market. Naumova [2013] classifies them according to the following attributes:

• conditions for joining an LP (open, closed);

• types of target segments (intermediaries, end consumers);

• reward scheme ("moneybox", "stages", "club");

• status of a coalition loyalty programme partner (participant, third party).

The research of CRM systems of federal food retailers in the Russian Federation found a more than a twofold increase in the issue of loyalty cards for a five-year period (from 2014 to 2019), as well as the domination of sales with these cards (more than 50 %) [Minaeva, Zintsova,

2021]. The scholars believe that such dynamics is due to the introduction of digital technologies and coalition programmes, creation of a loyalty bonuses system.

Obviously, there are particularities of online trade. Meshechkina and Shilenko [2016] assessed LPs in online retail by the following types: bonus-based, multi-level, with access with VIP opportunities, general, partner, with game elements. As a result, they identified a necessity of creating unique and personalised offerings from retailers because of intense competition and diversity of loyalty programmes.

The 2019 Loyalty Barometer Report1 states that the LPs' tools most demanded by consumers in the food retail are discounts, special offers, samples, simplicity of rules of awarding loyalty bonuses, activity gifts, shopping technologies, RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) analysis, gamification, green and social marketing. Practical alternatives of their implementation and competitive advantages gained by retailers are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1. Loyalty programme tools of food retailers

Таблица 1. Инструменты программ лояльности продовольственных ритейлеров

Tools Uses Advantages

Discounts, special offers, samples Free goods and services, online draws, lotteries 75 % of respondents* prefer discounts and unique offerings. These tools are of interest to both 'old' and 'new' customers

Clear rules of receiving loyalty bonuses An easy-to-understand model for accumulating bonuses The buyer sees the results of participation in the programme and understands its effectiveness

Activity gifts Actions to receive a gift: registration in the loyalty programme, first purchase, purchase in the amount of 10,000 rubles, subscription to an e-mail newsletter, downloading a mobile application 61 % of respondents* have an increased level of loyalty due to their involvement while performing actions for getting a gift

Digital technologies for shopping Chatbot on a website of an online store, mobile loyalty card Digital services that make the buying process more convenient

RFM analysis Cohort analysis, especially for customer life cycle calculation Method of analysis, segmentation aimed at improving the efficiency of sales funnel management

Gamification Filling in a certain number of cells (chips, stickers) of the provided form, which allows a client to get a big discount or a free product (gift) Creates emotional involvement in the shopping process due to the possibility of obtaining additional benefits

Green marketing Use of ecological packaging, sorting and collection of garbage Profit goes to deal with environmental problems

Social marketing Collaboration or organisation of charitable foundations and food collection points Building an image of retailer's brand as a reliable and socially active

Source: own representation based on information from 2019 Loyalty Barometer Report. https:// www.shopolog.ru/metodichka/customer-retention/trendy-v-programmah-loyal-nosti-v-2019-godu/ (In Russ.); Russian retail and customer loyalty market in 2021-2022. https://retail-loyalty.org/articles/ rossiyskiy-rynok-reteyla-i-loyalnosti-klientov-v-2021-2022-godakh/. (In Russ.)

* According to 2019 Loyalty Barometer Report. https://www.shopolog.ru/metodichka/customer-retention/trendy-v-programmah-loyal-nosti-v-2019-godu/. (In Russ.)

1 2019 Loyalty Barometer Report. https://www.shopolog.ru/metodichka/customer-retention/trendy-v-program-mah-loyal-nosti-v-2019-godu/. (In Russ.)

Amid the discussed tools, the most attractive for loyal customers is the possibility to get an additional benefit from purchases in a particular retail chain. A popular one among consumers is an activity gift, which supposes that bonuses are awarded for activities in a form of, for instance, subscription to an e-mail newsletter or notifications, publications in social networks with retailer's hashtag, or purchase in a certain amount. However, Troebs, Wagner, Heidemann [2018] point to a transformation of consumer preferences compared to previously applied conditions of loyalty cards: customers display higher interest to 'surprises' from retail chains than to conditions of loyalty programmes.

The studies indicate that the simplest and the most easy-to-understand tool for clientele is gamification. A research on the use of games in loyalty programmes looked at how they impact on customer loyalty depending on a type of benefits in them (personalised or free identical for all customers). It was found that gamification increases loyalty and efficiency of customer relationship management more substantially compared to ordinary systems [Hwang, Choi, 2020].

Traditional methods of attracting customers, such as discounts, promotions, sales, allow them to receive temporary benefits, but do not stimulate the long-term loyalty to a retailer. To achieve this goal, it is recommended to form an emotional connection with the clientele. In this regard, non-standard tools and their combinations (discounts with surprises and gifts with exclusive privileges) are the most effective (Figure 2).

Surprise & delight Chance-to-win promotions Free services Samples

Discounts and personalised offerings

Free goods

Fig. 2. Rewards from retailers that are in demand among buyers1

Рис. 2. Вознаграждения от ритейлеров, востребованные покупателями

According to the research by Forrester2, emotional loyalty, helps generate 'true' customer loyalty to a retailer. Over 60 % of respondents believe gifts and surprises to be the main methods of building it. Every second customer prefers retailers who on a regular basis enrich the shopping experience by providing new beneficial offers about purchases using the loyalty cards. A third of clientele participate in LPs for "any, albeit symbolic, gratitude".

The use digital technologies in LPs allows increasing customers' interest. For instance, the Tesco retail chain, one of the leaders in global retail, has increased the number of popular discount coupons from 3 to 70 % thanks to the optimisation of the loyalty system using Big Data technology (involves automated distribution of special offers)3. The combination of weather data with customer purchase history, as well as predictive analytics, allowed the retailer to rid the product structure of illiquid assets.

1 2019 Loyalty Barometer Report. https://www.shopolog.ru/metodichka/customer-retention/trendy-v-program-mah-loyal-nosti-v-2019-godu/. (In Russ.)

2 Collins E., Lai A. (2019). The psychology of points. https://www.forrester.com/report/The+Psychology+Of+Points/-/E-RES139651.

3 Derevyankin A. (2018). Big Data in retail: Why they are useful and how to work with them. https://rb.ru/opinion/ bolshie-dannye-v-ritejle/. (In Russ.)

Based on the results of a comparative study of the loyalty programmes of ten food retailers in the Russian market, we have identified the most popular mechanisms for attracting customers (Table 2).

Table 2. Basic schemes of food retailers' loyalty programmes in Russia

Таблица 2. Базовые схемы программ лояльности продовольственных ритейлеров в России

Tool Specificities of tool's implementation Retailers using the tool

Discount For all customers "Magnit", "Pyaterochka", "Perekrestok", "VkusVill", "Azbuka Vkusa"

For participants of loyalty programmes "Lenta", "O'Key", "Globus", "Metro"

Partial discounts (discounts on certain items specified by a retailer or a supplier) "Viktoriya"

Bonuses Promotions "Lenta"

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Depending on % of purchases "Magnit", "Globus", "Pyaterochka", "Perekrestok", "Azbuka Vkusa"

Personalised offerings Depending on a retailers' objectives "Pyaterochka", "Perekrestok", "VkusVill"

In bills and in mobile applications "Magnit", "Lenta", "Metro", "Viktoriya"

Favourite products In the form of promotions "Lenta",

Increased bonuses per product category "Lenta", "Perekrestok",

Discounts on favourite products "VkusVill"

Most food retailers use personal and unique offerings, and the rarest of them is the offer for favorite products. LPs' participants are concerned about being significant for the company, as well as interested in joining a social group that corresponds to their status, interests, lifestyle, etc. through these programmes [Novikova, Oshchepkova, 2020].

We systematised the most recent changes in the food retailers' loyalty programmes and identified a number of tools that formed the conceptual model of a CRM system that allows conquering the interest of the target audience (Figure 3). These tools are recommended for use while designing an optimal customer loyalty programme.

Special prices only for participants of loyally programmes

Unique offerings: product recommendations Personalised offerings based on a purchase history

Bonuses for purchases Bonuses for reviews Bonuses for activities in social networks Increasing the amount of bonuses for a purchase

' Children's ' Healthy way of life ' Wine ■ Other

Fig. 3. Efficient combination of tools in the optimal loyalty programme:

A conceptual model

Рис. 3. Эффективное сочетание инструментов оптимальной программы лояльности: концептуальная модель

The distinguishing feature of implementation of the tools considered in Figure 3 is the maximum amount of rewards for purchases as well as personalisation of offers for customers. The technology of their implementation is based on exploiting the purchase history, which automatically generates the percent of discount (unique for a given customer) on a product (which is bought the most frequently by him/her) and the duration of promotions in the current bill. Modern loyalty programmes should be integrated with cash register software, a mobile application, an inventory system, an online store and a retailer's website, contractors through the use of digital technologies (SMS, e-mail, instant messengers, etc.). However, the loyalty programmes will not pay off unless the achievement of target indicators of their efficiency is regularly monitored.

Assessing and identifying efficiency indicators for loyalty programmes of food retailers. The information from the "Magnit", "X5 Retail Group", "Lenta", "VkusVill" retailers and the Retail Companies Association (ACORT) on the number of loyalty cards and their penetration rates in customer purchases confirms the efficiency of interaction with the clientele within loyalty programmes (Table 3).

Table 3. Analysis of the CRM systems' efficiency of food retailers - leaders in the popularity of loyalty cards

Таблица 3. Анализ эффективности CRM-систем продовольственных ритейлеров - лидеров по популярности

карт лояльности

Food retailer Number of registered loyalty cards, million pcs. Penetration rate, %

2019 2021 2021 to 2019, % 2021

Magnit 33.0 59.0 178.7 б5

Х5 Retail Group 37.5 47.4 12б.4 90

Lenta 15.8 19.0 120.2 9б

VkusVill 7.9 13.4 1б9.б 80

Source: own representation based on data from the "Magnit", "X5 Retail Group", "Lenta", "VkusVill" retailers and the Retail Companies Association (ACORT).

In 2021, the number of active users of the "Lenta" loyalty cards amounted to 19 million people (+20 % to 2020), around 96 % of sales were realised with the use of these cards. "X5 Retail Group" loyalty programme comes second by the efficiency of implementation. As of 2021, in the total population of X5 retail brands there were 47.4 million loyalty card holders with a traffic penetration of 90 %. In "VkusVill", the share of sales using these cards decreased from 90 to 80 %. "Magnit" food retailer, which launched a loyalty programme in 2019, has achieved a penetration rate of up to 65 % by 2021. These statistics illustrate a change in consumer priorities regarding loyalty programmes (depending on the tools offered). Accordingly, these changes require regular evaluation.

Based on the systematisation of the food retailers' best practices, we draw a conclusion that a loyalty programme will only be efficient if a number of indicators are assessed annually, namely:

• the share of a number and cost of bills for a loyalty card in the total volume;

• the number of purchases made with a customer's personal offerings;

• increase in the frequency of purchases by members of the loyalty programme;

• increase in the penetration of promoted goods in a bill;

• increase in the food retailer's share in the target market.

These indicators are in private access and are necessary for making quick management decisions on the use of the above-mentioned tools of loyalty programmes. Therefore, essentially, the effective CRM system should be focused on the regular assessment of consumer preferences, the number of items in the shopping cart, the amount and frequency of purchases.

Conclusion

High-quality communication with customers using accessible channels is a significant factor behind the economic development of the food retail industry. It was found that tuning the technologies of interaction performs a more influential role than, for in instance, the quality of delivery [Zheng et al., 2022], which is another key criterion for choosing a retailer.

The process of design of loyalty programmes is not limited by the existing digital technologies. Recent scientific research link further economic development of the retail industry with omnichannel marketing, which implies using several platforms for interacting with customers (social networks, mobile applications, blogs, etc.). Foreign researchers are already tackling the issue of how omnichannel retailing affects customer loyalty through customer engagement and relationship programme receptiveness [Gao, Huang, 2021]. Their findings confirm that providing a seamless, consistent and reassuring environment based on the integration and cooperation of the various channels can facilitate customer engagement and thereby gain customer loyalty. By being omnichannel the retailers can ensure that they meet consumer expectations [Slim et al., 2022].

We should highlight that our focus was not on the assessment of the perceived consumer value of retailers, which underlies the efficiency of their activities, because this subject has already been extensively studied [Curran, Graham, Temple, 2011; Hsu-Hsien, 2011; Pisareva, 2015; Sta-rostin, Chernova, 2017; Butkovskaya, Starostin, Chernova, 2017]. Having examined consumer behaviour, the scholars point to the relevance of personalised advertising messages and creation of an implementation algorithm of integrated platform within the CRM system.

Our research of loyalty programmes in the domestic retail market permitted us to compare their tools. Food retailers run modern CRM systems that create product offerings for different segments; enable personalisation and communication, etc. From our standpoint, a loyalty programme can become efficient not only if the tools are selected smartly, but also if there are possibilities for the programme to be scaled up. We suppose that smaller retailers (with less than 10 outlets) experience greater difficulties with returning on investments into CRM systems. Hence, this issue requires further investigation.

Our findings indicate that loyalty programmes of smaller retailers should be studied using the analysis of an average bill size for loyalty cards in the total volume of purchases as the major indicator for assessing the efficiency of these programmes. The need to account for this parameter testifies that CRM systems are in demand among retailers.

In addition, future research of loyalty programmes efficiency may be connected with analysing how omnichannel retailing and integration of CRM systems with production and logistics structures impact on it.

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Information about the authors

Victor Ye. Kovalev, Dr. Sc. (Econ.), Associate Prof., Prof. of Global Economy and Foreign Economic Activities Dept. Ural State University of Economics, Ekaterinburg, Russia. E-mail: kovalev@usue.ru Kseniya V. Novikova, Dr. Sc. (Econ.), Prof., Prof. of Management, Marketing and Commerce Dept. Perm State University, Perm, Russia. E-mail: ksenia--27@yandex.ru

Ekaterina A. Antineskul, Cand. Sc. (Econ.), Associate Prof., Associate Prof. of Management, Marketing and Commerce Dept. Perm State University, Perm, Russia. E-mail: antineskul-e-a@yandex.ru

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Источники

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Bombaij N. J. F., Gelper S., Dekimpe M. G. (2022). Designing successful temporary loyalty programs: An exploratory study on retailer and country differences. International Journal of Research in Marketing, vol. 39, issue 4, pp. 1275-1295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2022.04.005.

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Copeland M. T. (1923). Relation of consumers' buying habits to marketing methods. Harvard Business Review, vol. 1, issue 3, pр. 282-289.

Curran K., Graham S., Temple C. (2011). Advertising on Facebook. International Journal of E-Business Development (IJED), vol. 1, issue 1, pр. 26-33.

Day G. S. (1969). A two-dimensional concept of brand loyalty. Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 9, issue 3, pр. 29-35.

Dick A. S., Basu K. (1994). Customer loyalty: Toward an integrated conceptual framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 22, issue 2, pр. 99-113. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070394222001.

Filipe S., Marques S. H., Salgueiro M. F. (2017). Customers' relationship with their grocery store: Direct and moderating effects from store format and loyalty programs. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 37, pр. 78-88. DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.03.002.

Gao M., Huang L. (2021). Quality of channel integration and customer loyalty in omnichannel retailing: The mediating role of customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 63, 102688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102688.

Grewal D., Ahlbom C. P., Beitelspacher L., Noble S. M., Nordfalt J. (2018). In-store mobile phone use and customer shopping behavior: Evidence from the field. Journal of Marketing, vol. 82, issue 4, pр. 102-126. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.17.0277.

Harris L. C., Goode M. M. H. (2004). The four levels of loyalty and the pivotal role of trust: A study of online service dynamics. Journal of Retailing, vol. 80 issue 2, pр. 139-158. DOI: 10.1016/j. jretai.2004.04.002.