Müşteri Sadakati Oluşturmada Müşterinin AlgıladığıDeğer, Memnuniyet ve Rakip İşletmeye Geçme Maliyeti: Bir Spor Merkezinde İstatiksel Uygulama

Bu çalışmanın amacı, bir spor merkezinin iki şubesinde sunulan spor hizmetinden yararlanan 195 müşteriden sağlanan verileri kullanarak müşteri sadakatinin oluşturulmasında etkili olan değişkenleri belirlemek ve artan müşteri sadakatinin işletmeye sağladığıfaydalarıdeğerlendirmektir. Bu amaçla müşteri sadakatinin oluşturulmasında etkili olan değişkenlerin müşteri sadakati üzerinde yaptığıetki, çoklu regresyon modeli kurularak iki şube için ayrıayrıanaliz edilmiştir. Yapılan analizler sonucunda spor merkezinin her iki şubesinde de müşteri sadakatinin oluşturulmasında algılanan hizmet kalitesinin, müşteri memnuniyetinin ve rakip spor merkezlerine geçme maliyetinin etkili olduğu ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Müşteri sadakatinin oluşturulmasına bağlıolarak, müşterilerin aynıspor salonunu gelecekte de tercih etme kararında olduğu, çevrelerindeki kişilere spor salonunu olumlu yönde anlattığı, tavsiye ve teşvik ettiği anlaşılmaktadır.

Customer loyalty can be improved by businesses through efficient analysis and management of customer portfolios. The crucial factors in improving customer loyalty are perceived service quality, satisfaction, trust, price, cost of switching to competitor business and investment expertise. Especially in terms of service businesses with similar services, forming customer loyalty enables competition advantage, preserves cash flow and increase profitability. Value perceived by customer is based on the comparison of service quality perceived by customer with monetary value of the service perceived by customer. Service quality perceived by customer comes out of the comparison of the expectations of the customer about the service provided by the business with his/her actual perception. On the other hand, determination of the perceived monetary value of the service provided by the business at a reasonable level is effective on increasing the perceived value of the customer. Customer satisfaction is the perceptions of the customer occurring after experiencing a business and/or its products and/or services. Achieving customers’ satisfaction is the prerequisite for turning them into loyal customers for the business in the future. Improving customer satisfaction allows raising the business’s brand value and enables the business to follow competitive strategies as well as having a positive effect on the business’s market share and profitability. Cost of switching to a competitor business is shaped depending on the customer experience and his/her investments throughout his/her business process. Throughout the value exchange process with the business, the customer has the following investments: tangible, enlightenment, price-dependent and psychological. Switching of a customer to a competitor business might cause the following: a lot of procedural cost, risks arising from uncertainty in the quality of untested brands, not being able take advantage of the promotions provided by the business switched from and psychological cost of switching to another brand. If the cost of switching to a competitor business is high, the customer might perceive this new business negatively in many aspects. Especially because the similarity between services is a lot in service businesses, the customer can perceive transition to the competitor business more easily. Also, some or the reasons for switching to a competitor business in service sector are service deterioration, failures in service presentation, price, answering customer complaints, inconvenience, competitors, ethic problems and involuntary transitions. Long-term relations with customers upon trust might be a solution for avoiding these transitions. If the cost of switching to a competitor business is high, the customer will want to stay with the current business and by establishing customer loyalty; the customer will be less sensitive the disadvantages in the service quality and price of the business and might overlook certain flaws. Customer loyalty depends on the intention of a customer to continue buying a product from the business in the future despite situational conditions. The core of management of customer loyalty is directing the business resources according to customer variety. Not every customer has the same value. Therefore, strategies towards customers should differentiate. Customers with a higher value should be reinforced in their purchasing behaviours so that returns to the business can rise. On the other hand, customers with lower values lead to extra cost to the business and result in negative effects on profitability. If required, investments for these customers should be ceased or they should be managed through less costly operational processes so that more resources could be allotted for new customers, switching to a competitor business could be retarded and customer loyalty could be maintained. Being customer-oriented, relations upon long-term trust, customized products, barriers against switching to competitor business and bonus programs are crucial in forming customer loyalty. By turning satisfaction into loyalty, permanence and frequency of purchasing of the customer from the business, acceptance of highprice policies and gaining new customers through advice are possible. The aim of this study was to analyse the basic elements in forming customer loyalty in two different branches of sports centre belonging to Kütahya Municipality and thus to put forth their advantages in terms of customer attitudes and behaviours depending on customer loyalty. In this context, perceived value of the customer, customer satisfaction and cost of switching to competitor business were determined as basic elements in forming customer satisfaction and the effects of these variables on forming customer loyalty in the two branches of the sports centre were researched. The population of the study was 690 customers of the two branches of Kütahya Municipality Sports Centre registered for May and June. In terms of time and cost, sampling method was preferred and convenience sampling of non-probability sampling method was used. Since the population was 690, taking p=0.8 and q=0.2, the sampling was determined 165 customers. After using face to face questionnaire method for two months, data were obtained from total 195 questionnaire forms. The responses of the participants were analysed using SPSS 15.0 for Windows. The descriptive statistical findings about the demographical characteristics of the participants were assessed separately for the two branches. 55,8% of the participants in Atakent sports centre were male while 44,2% were female. Their age groups were as follows: the first group between 25 and 34 forming 38,3%, the second between 18 and 24 forming 32,5%, and the fourth between 35 and 44 forming 21,7% of the group. There was also those between 45 and 54 6,7% and those 55 and over 0,8% . Other demographic features of the participants are as follows: 54,2% were single while 45,8% were married; 60,8% were