The Role of Marketing Communication to Increase Brand Loyalty: Waitrose - Research Proposal Example

The role of marketing communication to increase brand loyalty: The case of Waitrose Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Research question 5 Research method 5 Gantt chart 6 Practical issues 7 Reference List 8 Introduction Marketing communication acts as an effective guide in the judgment and decision making process of consumers. The rationale behind effective marketing communication is to properly intervene between the providers and consumers and to influence customers to buy products of the company. Brand loyalty, on the other hand, can be defined as a biased, behavioural response of the decision making agents, when they are buying a particular brand. It is primarily a psychological process of understanding the consumer behaviour. The purpose of this research is to find out the impact of marketing communication on brand loyalty of customers. Previously, there have been quite a large number of studies that has focused on topics related to this. This study will be particularly interesting as this is a case specific study on Waitrose, the food retail division of Britain’s largest employee-owned retailer, the John Lewis Partnership supermarkets. This research intends to find out the impact of marketing communication on the loyalty of existing customers of the organization. This study can help the organization to bring necessary changes in the marketing communication techniques that are currently used by it and help to improve its brand equity. Literature Review Several studies have been conducted in the field of marketing communication to understand its impact on the brand equity and brand loyalty of customers. In the study conducted by Ramos and Franco (2005), they had studied the impact of marketing communication and price promotion on brand equity. The results from their study indicate a positive relationship between the marketing communication and brand equity and offer strong support for the measures of perceived quality and brand loyalty. In fact, it was observed that there are several precursors to brand equity, namely brand awareness, brand image and brand awareness (Ramos and Franco, 2005). Customer brand loyalty is a topic that has been widely researched by various scholars. The commonality of all these studies have indicated that all firms can improve their profit margins by creating a base of loyal customers, which also have the additional benefit of creating a word-of-mouth advertisement for firms, thereby indirectly improving the marketing communication. The proponents of this study includes scholars like, Liu(2007), Gustaffson, et al. (2005), Oliver (1999), Wood (2004), to name a few (Keller, 1993). The research conducted by MC Alexander, et al. (2002) had revealed that brand loyalty can be enhanced in relational marketing by brand communities. This is primarily because attitude towards a brand becomes integral in repurchase decisions on the relational exchange. Relationship marketing is that branch of marketing, which attempts to build a strong bond between customers and the organization (Remenyi, 2007). In the contemporary times, usage of internet has become an extremely important tool for marketing professionals in order to connect with customers. In this context, the importance of relationship marketing in communicating with customers becomes increasingly relevant for improving brand loyalty. There are several empirical studies that have been conducted to determine the relationship between marketing communication and brand loyalty of customers. In a study conducted by Time Inc. and Seagram, the effect of print advertising on brand loyalty was studied. The results from these studies had confirmed that the most significant changes in brand awareness and purchasing attitude was observed in the brands, that previously had lower awareness among the consumers. An improvement in marketing communication in these brands had an impact of raising the brand loyalty. Even the brands with higher brand awareness recorded an improvement in their sales, once the communication was enhanced. A more comprehensive study on advertising conducted by Lodish (1995) had found out that advertisement had the highest impact on sales through consumer awareness and it occurred only in those goods which were previously less known. The study conducted by Tellis (1988) and Raj (1982) had also confirmed that if a group of customers are more loyal to a brand, then the impact of improvement in the marketing communication, say advertising, on these customers will be the highest. The customers who are not loyal to this brand will not be affected much through this particular advertisement. In other words, advertising has lesser influence to attract new buyers from competitors. It has a greater significance in improving the preferences of existing loyal customers (Weitz and Wensley, 2002). The existing literature is based on either general cases or is case specific. Although there appears to be a positive relationship between the two parameters, but this research is related to the case study of Waitrose and will be particularly beneficial for the company in understanding the role and worth of marketing communication. This research will provide deeper insight to the marketing communication strategy of the organization and also, help the company to identify any changes for improvement of the same. Research question The research question reflects the objective of the task under study and a valid research question is one which is answerable (Andrews, 2003). There are three main hypotheses that the research aims to answer. Does marketing communication have any significant impact on brand loyalty of the customers of Waitrose? Which aspect of marketing communication has the highest impact on sales of the organization? What are the possible actions that can be taken by Waitrose to improve its marketing communication with customers? The three research questions are interrelated. The first one aims to answer to the basic question. This will help the researcher to understand whether there is a positive or negative correlation between the two variables, namely marketing communication and brand loyalty. As marketing communication refers to the promotional part of marketing activities, so it would be advantageous to be aware of the medium of promotion (print, audiovisual, internet, personal sales) with the highest ability to stimulate the behaviour of customers, thereby turning him or her into a loyal customer. The third answer will automatically follow from the second one, as the company will be able to recognize its weaknesses and improve on them. Research method This research will be an analytical research, which will depend on facts and the information that is already available and analyze them to obtain a critical understanding of the topic (Sage, n.d.). The research will be based on both qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative aspect is chosen as this will allow the researcher to have an engaged approach, instead of an abstract approach (Luton, 2010). The rationale behind incorporating the quantitative approach is that it is integral in understanding the answer to the first question. The researcher wishes to use a multiple linear regression model to determine the impact of the independent variable (marketing communication) on the dependent one (brand loyalty). There are two main reasons of using the quantitative approach: first, reliability on the statistical findings and second, it can be projected on the population (Nykiel, 2007). The sampling technique that has been chosen is systematic sampling. This method will be appropriate because in this method, the elements will be chosen in a systematic manner at certain intervals in the process of sampling (Walker, 1999). The sample will be chosen in a random manner, which eliminates possibility of biasness in the sampling technique. Every tenth person who walks into the store will be handed a questionnaire, which will contain relevant questions for the study. As the research intends to use a mixed method, it will, therefore, depend on both primary and secondary data. Primary data is the one that is collected by the researcher directly; and secondary data is the data that is collected by anyone else other than the researcher (Churchill and Iacobucci, 2009). Primary data will mainly be used for the qualitative part, where respondents will be questioned first hand by the researcher. For conducting the regression, data from the store will be obtained, which will contribute in the quantitative research. Gantt chart The Gantt chart will provide a chronological sequence of the tasks at hand of the researcher and the stipulated time to complete the same. The correct employment and utilization of time becomes a crucial factor for successful completion of the research. The activities are depicted in separate colours. Activity/ Time M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 Literature Review analysis       Construction of research instrument     Preparing the questionnaire     Piloting of research instrument     Sample selection     Collection of secondary data     Analysis of data     Preparing the final research instrument     Writing the thesis                     Practical issues Since part of the research is based on responses of the sample, there might be instances where the respondents do not give a proper answer or might not be willing to answer at all. These issues are unpredictable and can lead to biases in the results. The access of secondary data from the store is also conditional on the availability of such data and cooperation of the authority. The researcher has to be extra cautious in formulating the questionnaire as an irrelevant one can gather misleading answers from the respondents, which might adversely affect the outcome. The correct questions, on the other hand, will capture the exact purpose of the study and honest answers, on part of the respondents, will provide robustness to the results. Construction of ethical research questions in the research relationship and the use and analysis of data have been gaining important ethical considerations in the qualitative research. If a researcher is conducting qualitative research, then one of the primary concerns of the researcher must be to protect identity and integrity of the respondents taking part in the research. This includes measure to protect the participants’ privacy as well as keeping the answers confidential. This is to ensure that respondents are safeguarded from any type of influence or harm (Tedlie, 2009). An important ethical consideration in quantitative research is to maintain authenticity of the data and not manipulating it to suit the end results (Panter and Sterba, 2011). One of the biggest limitations of the research is that it cannot be generalized to a great extent. This is because the research particularly focuses on the case of Waitrose and impact of marketing communication of the company on brand loyalty. This may restrict the use of this research for generalized purposes. The preparation of the questionnaire is again the judgment of the researcher and this may limit use of the research results by other researchers. Reference List Andrews, R., 2003. Research questions. New York: Continuum. Churchill, G. A. and Iacobucci, D., 2009. Marketing Research: Methodological foundations. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Keller, K. J., 1993. Conceptualizing, measuring and managing customer based brand equity. Journal of Management, 57(1), pp 1-6. Luton, S. L., 2010. Qualitative research approaches for public administration. New York: M.E. Sharpe. Nykiel, R. A., 2007. Handbook of marketing research methodologies for hospitality and tourism. Florida: Psychology Press. Panter, A. T. and Sterba, S. K., 2011. Handbook of ethics in quantitative methodology. London: Taylor & Francis. Ramos, A. F. V. and Franco, M. J. S., 2005. The impact of marketing communication and price promotion on brand equity. Brand Management, 12(6), pp. 431-444. Remenyi, D. S. J., 2007. The proceedings of the 7th European conference on e-Government (ECEG 2007). London: Academic Conferences Limited. Sage, n.d. Research Methodology: An Introduction. [pdf] Sage Publications. Available at: [Accessed 6 February 2014]. Tedlie, C., 2009. Foundations of Mixed Methods Research: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Berlin: SAGE Publications Inc. Walker, J. T., 1999. Statistics in criminal justice: Analysis and interpretation. Maryland: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Weitz, B. A. and Wensley, R., 2002. Handbook of marketing. London: Sage. Read More