Commodities and customer loyalty: squaring of the circle?

Abstract

The vagabonding buying behaviour observable in the commodity sectors has a negative impact on company profitability. Against this background, the present contribution examines whether customer loyalty is possible for commodities. Proceeding from the several levels of the buying process, generally valid approaches for creating customer loyalty are firstly identified. This is followed by an examination of the transferability of these approaches to commodities. The authors arrive at the conclusion that the identified loyalty factors are not applicable to commodities. Consequently, several suggestions are developed for the increase of customer loyalty in the commodity sectors, which leads to the idea of extended or branded commodities. The contribution closes with an outlook for the use of the results in international marketing.