Loyalty to grocery stores in the Spanish market of the 1990s

Abstract

In this paper we examine the different characteristics that have been associated with store loyalty in the grocery sector and how these characteristics have changed over time. We also analyse whether the characteristics associated with the loyal consumer in Anglo-Saxon countries are relevant for the study of a buyer with a Latin character, such as the Spanish. Finally, we determine the extent to which the process of identification of the loyal buyer is improved if we discriminate between consumers in function of their involvement with the purchasing process and of their available time. The results indicate that customer involvement has a limited discriminatory power in the study of repetitive purchasing in the same store in the acquisition of the grocery products being analysed. However, the buyers’ available time is shown to be an aspect that should be taken into account when studying this phenomenon.