Knowledge management & loyalty programs: a customer perception analysis, the Greek retail market

Abstract

The Food Retail sector in Greece is currently facing a number of challenges. From an economic point of view, the austerity programs imposed in Greece since 2010 resulted in losses of retail sales, alongside with bankruptcies and mergers of retail chains. At the same time, technological development creates an environment for innovation in terms of operations and marketing and offers new opportunities to retailers. Additionally, consumers become more involved and active in the purchasing processes. However, Greek consumers are also experiencing a dramatic decline in their disposable income. The study examines the perception of Greek consumers of several marketing efforts based on Information & Communication Technology Systems (ICT) introduced by a Greek food retailer in Northern Greece. More specifically, it investigates the relationship between ICT related marketing efforts, such as loyalty programs, and analytics regarding food control systems and purchases and consumer characteristics such as gender, age, income, status and family size. The study reveals a number of relationships between marketing efforts and consumer characteristics/segments. However, since the relationships are found to be weak, marketing managers are advised to use advanced analytics systems, such as big data technologies, in order to enhance the efficiency of their marketing strategies and approaches. The weak relationships between the parameters examined indicate that marketing efforts have to focus in several consumer sub segments in order to achieve significant results. The study’s sample population is consumers of one of the top food retailers in Greece. The findings contribute to the literature on the use of ICT on marketing strategies and the use of big data. Furthermore, they have practical implications for marketers in the retail food sector, as they reveal the need for a more focused approach to different consumer groups, in order to increase the efficiency of marketing efforts and to achieve maximum results.