The Mechanism Of Fresh Produce Retailers’ Customer Loyalty

Rural revitalization requires the boost of agricultural industry.Due to the impact of COVID-19,the situation of fresh agricultural products sales is difficult from time to time,which is more severe in some areas.The establishment of a stable sales channel to make up the short board of the circulation of the fresh products,to ensure that the farmers’ production and continuous increase of production is a strong guarantee for the rejuvenation of the country.A stable distribution channel for agricultural products needs a thriving grocery retail sector.With the upgrading of consumption and the innovation of digital technology,the existing competition pattern has been broken.Fresh produces retailers have updated their business formats in order to adapt to the changing environment,but they have fallen into fierce competition and high cost due to strategic convergence.Therefore,it is an urgent problem for fresh produces retailers to avoid competition and win the loyalty of consumers.However,the low involvement of fresh products brings challenges to retailers’ customer loyalty strategy.In different phases of the development of the relationship between fresh produce retailers and customers,the mechanisms affecting customer loyalty may be different,and ignoring such differences will lead to the lack of targeted strategies,which resulting in a waste of resources.Existing literatures on customer loyalty pay limited attention to the research under the background of low involvement products,and few literatures focus on the change of the influence mechanism on fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty in different stages of the retail-customer relationship.Based on this,this paper focus on the fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty.(1)Analyze the influence of three mechanisms,cognition,emotion and inertia,on the customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers.(2)integrate the three mechanisms that affect fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty in one model,and analyze the interrelation among the three mechanisms;(3)Further analyze the transformation of strength among the three mechanisms during the development of relationship phases.The conclusion will enrich the customer loyalty theory of retailers under the background of low involvement,and provide directional reference for fresh produce retailers to develop targeted customer retention strategies and form differentiated retail formats.This paper analyzes the influence of a single mechanism on fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty of in the perspectives of cognition,emotion and inertia,and integrates the three mechanisms into one model to analyze the influence of their joint effects.At the same time,the relative importance of the three mechanisms in different development stages of the relationship with customers were compared.To be specific,firstly,based on attitude theory and social exchange theory,a theoretical model of cognitive mechanism affecting customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers was proposed.Secondly,based on self-identity theory,attachment theory and brand attachment conceptual model,a theoretical model of emotional mechanism affecting customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers was proposed.Then,based on attention resource theory,transaction cost theory and operant conditioning theory,a theoretical model of inertia mechanism affecting customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers was proposed.Then,based on attention resource theory and S-O-R model,The current paper proposes an integration model of three mechanisms affecting customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers,and compares the relative importance of three mechanisms from different relationship development stages.In this paper,the fresh produce consumers from Beijing,Shanghai,Guangzhou,xi ’an and Chengdu were surveyed by questionnaire,and Smart-PLS software were used to test the above model.Finally,the current study compared the effect of single mechanism on customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers and the effect of three mechanisms in the integrated model on customer loyalty,and forms the research conclusion of the whole paper.In general,it is found that cognition,emotion and inertia all have significant effects on customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers,but their effects are different at the four relationship development phases.In the exploration relationship phase,the cognitive mechanism plays a more realistic and significant role on the customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers,that influence is reflected in the role of the store image,because purchase inertia and relationship quality(satisfaction and trust)have not yet been formed at this phase.Among the dimensions of store image,commodity image and convenience image directly affect customer loyalty.Service image tends to affect customer loyalty via the mediating effect of satisfaction,while store atmosphere tends to affect customer loyalty via the mediating effect of customer trust.In the expansion relationship period,with the accumulation of interaction between consumers and fresh produce retailers,the influence of cognition(store image)on customer loyalty tend to become weaken,and purchase inertia and relationship quality starts to form,and become the main factors affecting customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers.Further investigation found that customer satisfaction and switching cost are the most important factors influencing purchase inertia,and store satisfaction is the most important factor.Moreover,it is found that relationship quality is affected by store image.In the stability relationship phase,customers satisfaction and trust(These two constructs are the main elements of relationship quality)have been formed,and their purchases behavior are mainly influenced by purchase inertia.Because of the continuous consumption in the same retailer,the law of diminishing marginal utility makes consumers "aesthetic fatigue".In this phase of relationship,they again show their focus on cognitive mechanisms,such as starting to reexamine the store image.Therefore,in the stability relationship phase,store image,relationship and purchase inertia all significantly affect the customer loyalty of the fresh produce retailers,but the effect of the store image is relatively low.Interestingly,the current research found that shop-customer affection only significantly impacts the loyalty of fresh produce retailers when the cognitive mechanism and the inertia mechanism are weak(such as the fact that competitors implement similar strategies on these two mechanisms).The study also found that the lifestyle congruence between fresh produce retailers and customers significantly affected the customer loyalty,which provided a new way for fresh retailers to retain customers.Specifically,the main conclusions are as follows:(1)The cognitive mechanism significantly affects fresh produce retailers’ customer loyaltyCognitive mechanism investigated the impact of fresh store image and relationship quality on customer loyalty.Results show that most dimensions of store image(price image,service image,store atmosphere)cannot directly affect fresh produce retailer’s customer loyalty,but can only exert indirect influence through the complete mediating effect of relationship quality.Only products image and convenience image can directly and significantly affect the customer loyalty of fresh retailers,among which products image plays a more significant role.The store image dimensions,which have indirect influence on customer loyalty,has different role on different constructs of relationship quality.Among them,the service image is more focused on influencing customer loyalty through customer satisfaction,while the store atmosphere is more focused on influencing customer loyalty through customer trust.In addition,this study also confirmed that the significant and important impact of relationship quality on customer loyalty in the fresh produce retailing context.Among the core constructs of relationship quality,customer satisfaction influences customer loyalty through the intermediary function of customer trust.(2)The affective mechanism significantly affects fresh produce retailers’ customer loyaltyAffective mechanism investigated how store-self congruity,lifestyle congruity and storecustomer affection influence fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty.The study found that Store-customer affection and lifestyle congruity have significant positive effects on fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty;Among the dimension of store-self congruity betwteen fresh produce retailers and customers,ideal self-congruity significantly negative affects customer loyalty,social self-congruity significantly positive influence on customer loyalty,other dimensions does not significantly affect customer loyalty;The hypothesis that store-self congruity and lifestyle congruity affect store-customer sentiment has not been confirmed.(3)Inertia mechanism significantly affects the fresh produce retailers’ customer loyaltyThe inertia mechanism investigated whether buying inertia significantly affects the customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers,and explored the antecedents of buying inertia.The results show that both purchase inertia and store satisfaction have significant influence on customer loyalty,but purchase inertia has stronger influence.As antecedents of purchase inertia,both the significance of store satisfaction and switching cost passed the verification,but the effect of shop satisfaction on purchase inertia is more significant.In addition,store satisfaction affects store loyalty via the partial mediating effect of buying inertia,while switching cost affects store loyalty via the full mediating effect of buying inertia.The moderating effect analysis shows that the higher the income level of customers,the stronger the influence of switching cost on their purchase inertia.(4)The three customer loyalty mechanisms affect each other,and their relative importance varies in different relationship development phases.The results of the integrated model show that the cognitive mechanism and inertial mechanism have significant positive effects on the customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers.The influence of buying inertia mediating cognitive mechanism on customer loyalty;The influence of emotional mechanism on customer loyalty is not significant.Based on the comparison of the three stages of relationship development,it is found that the cognitive mechanism and the inertial mechanism have significant positive effects on the customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers at all stages.Emotional mechanisms,by contrast,are tiny;Buying inertia plays an important role in the formation of customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers.The factors influencing buying inertia are different in different stages of relationship development.In the exploratory period of relationship,it is dominated by store image,while in the expansion period and stable period of relationship,it is dominated by relationship quality.The influence of relationship quality on customer loyalty during relationship expansion and stability is significantly greater than that during relationship exploration.(5)Explaining fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty in a single mechanism perspective would exaggerate its effect.When only investigate the effect of emotional mechanism on fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty,"store-customer" emotion has a significant important effect on customer loyalty,when with a total of studying the effect of cognition,emotion,and inertia,"store-customer" emotional no significant impact on customer loyalty has become,it shows that the analysis of the mechanism of single exaggerated "store-customer" the role of emotion on fresh produce retailer customer loyalty.Based on the above research conclusions,the following management implications are drawn for fresh produce retailers.(1)Targeted to build the image of retail stores,and committed to improving the quality of relations with customers.Fresh produces retailers should pay special attention to the upgrading of the store’s commodity image and convenience image.Cultivating customer loyalty needs to establish customer trust and customer satisfaction with particular emphasis.When cultivating customer satisfaction,we should pay attention to the service image and commodity image of the store,while the establishment of customer trust should focus on the establishment of the store atmosphere.(2)Win loyalty by establishing emotional connection with customers and catering to customers’ lifestyle.The fresh produces retailer can form the emotional connection with the customers by delivering the image of warmth and companionship,bringing forth new ideas,creating occasional surprises to influence customers’ enthusiasm,and delivering and fulfilling the promise.In addition,catering to a customer’s lifestyle can be an effective strategy to win loyalty.(3)Win satisfaction and avoid switching in order to cultivate customers’ purchase habits.Fresh produces retailers need to be proactive in developing buying habits.Particular attention should be paid to the role of store satisfaction and switching costs in fostering purchase inertia.The formation of customer satisfaction can be achieved through the building of store image,and the formation of switching cost can be achieved through membership card and other ways.(4)Adopt differentiated customer loyalty strategies in different relationship development phases.In the relationship exploration phase,emphasis should be placed on the building of store image,while in the relationship expansion phase and stable phase,emphasis should be placed on improving the quality of the relationship between store and customers.Develop the purchase habit also need to pay attention to the different stages of the relationship.Store image should be emphasized to attract customers at the initial stage of relationship,while in the expansion and stable phase,customers should be assured by winning customer satisfaction and trust,so as to make their purchase behavior follow their habits naturally.Through verification the influence on of cognition,emotion,inertia on fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty,comparing their relative importance,and further explore the relative influence of these three different mechanism on fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty in different stages of the relationship between customers and retailers,this research enrich the existing literature of customer loyalty in the following three aspects:(1)The current research explores the customer loyalty of fresh retailers and expands the theoretical boundary of customer loyaltyResearches on customer loyalty mainly focuses on products with high degree of involvement,and it is believed that products with high degree of involvement are more likely to form customer loyalty.Some empirical studies have found that customers are less likely to form loyalty when buying products with low degree of involvement.Due to the lack of empirical data evidence on customer loyalty of low-involvement product retailers,especially fresh product retailers,the explanatory ability of customer loyalty theory in the field of lowinvolvement product(such as fresh product)is challenged.This study verifies the effects of these mechanisms on customer loyalty of fresh produces retailers from the perspectives of cognition,emotion and inertia respectively,and provides empirical data for the applicability of customer loyalty theories in the field of low-involvement product retailing,thus expanding the boundaries of these theories.(2)Integrated three loyalty mechanisms,which are cognition,emotion and inertia,in one model,which overcomes the limitation of researches on customer loyalty by single mechanism.Existing researches mainly investigated customer loyalty from one aspect of these three mechanisms.However,the explanatory power of customer loyalty from a single perspective is limited,and a conclusion deviating from the facts may be drawn because the influence of other mechanisms is ignored.This paper focuses on the characteristics of fresh produce retailing and integrated the above three mechanisms into one model to discuss the effect of their combined effects on the fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty.Then on the base of these,this paper compares the differences effects between the single mechanism and the three mechanisms acting together on fresh produce retailers’ customer loyalty.The integrated study can give a more comprehensive explanation to the customer loyalty of fresh produce retailers.(3)This paper breaking through the static research on customer loyalty by investigating the dynamic changes of the dominant mechanism of customer loyalty in different relationship development stages.Static customer loyalty research is easy to ignore changes in the impact of mechanism on customer loyalty in different relationship development phases.Existing studies ignored the mechanism differences at the development stage because longitudinal data were difficult to obtain.From the perspective of relationship development stage,this study adopt the method of quasi-vertical analysis to explore the change of the influence of three major mechanisms,namely cognition,emotion and inertia,on customer loyalty along with the evolution of the relationship between fresh produce retailers and customers.The static customer loyalty research is advanced to the quasi-dynamic customer loyalty research.