B.A.(Hons.) International Business Communication

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Independent Project

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Whether Store Brands can improve customer loyalty

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Tutor: Caroline Corney
Student Number: 709109


Student Number: 709109

Declaration

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I hereby declare that that this independent project is substantially my own work and that all relevant attributions have been made” with name and signature. !
Signed______________________ Date______________

Ge Yongliang

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Student Number: 709109

Acknowledgement

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I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my dissertation tutor, Caroline
Corney, who has instructed and guided me throughout this project. With his guidance and persistent help this dissertation would not have been possible.

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I take this opportunity to record my thanks to all professors from the University for their lectures and encouragements.

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I would like to thank my families, especially my parents who support me to complete my study in the UK. They always support me in all aspects and believe in me.

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In addition, I would like to thank my friends and classmates who give me ideas and suggestions to help me with this dissertation.

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Student Number: 709109

Abstract

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The purpose of this study is to investigate whether store brand can influence customer loyalty in supermarket in the UK. Specifically, it will focus on Tesco one of the biggest supermarkets in the UK and to investigate whether store brand can increase customer’ loyalty and how store branding affect customer loyalty, and to what extent. There are six sections in this study. The first section is introduction. It will introduce the background of store brand. The second part is literature review. It explains the relevant theories and concepts of store brands and customer loyalty. The methodology is provided in the third section. It shows what methods will be used in this study. This study use both literature review and questionnaire. The literature review in the study explores the factors contributing to customer loyalty and the questionnaire has been carried out to test the relationship between store branding and customer loyalty. Forty local residents are interviewed out of
Tesco store supermarket which near the commercial road. Results of the analysis show that store branding has a great impact on store image, brand awareness and customer satisfaction, which will increase customer loyalty. However, it just brings behavioral loyalty and attitudinal loyalty does not occur.

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Student Number: 709109

Table of Contents

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION………………………………………..………….…………1

1.1 Background…..…………………………………….……….…….….…………..…….…1

1.2 Rationale…………………………………………………………………………….……1
1.3 Aims and objectives………………………………….………………………….….……1
1.4 Structure of the research….…………………………………………………….………..2

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW..…………………………………….…..………….3

2.1 What are store brands…….…………………….……………………….….………….. 3

2.2 Development of store brands……………………………………………….……….….3

2.3 Element in store brands ……….……..…………………………………….………..….4
2.3.1 Price……………………….…………………………………………….…………..4
2.3.2 Quality…………………….……………………………………………….………..5
2.3.3 Brand image…………….……………………………………………….………….5

2.4 Definition of customer loyalty ..…….…………………………………….……..…….6
2.5 Advantages of customer loyalty …..………………….……………………….…….….6
2.6 Element in customer loyalty…………………..……..………………………….……..6
2.6.1 Satisfaction………………………………………..………………….……………..7
2.6.2 Brand equity……………………………………..…………………………………7

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY …………………………………….…………….……8

3.1 Data collection …..………………………………….………………….……….………8

3.2 Data collection process …………………………………………………………………8

3.3 Limitation……………………………………………………………….………………9

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Student Number: 709109
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS……………………………….………………..……..………….10

4.1 Respondents information………………………………………………………………10

4.2 Question results………………………………………………….……………………..11

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CHAPTER FIVE: