Loyalty Programs and their Perception by Customers and by The Operators of Retail e-Shops

The paper deals with building customer loyalty through loyalty programmes in online stores (e-shops) and makes a comparison with standard retail chains. The fi rst part is based on a survey of customer attitudes towards loyalty programmes in the online environment and a survey of customer attitudes towards loyalty programmes in retail chains. Research fi ndings for the two specifi c environments are compared with e-shop operators’ and owners’ viewpoint of loyalty programmes. Presented fi ndings indicate the direction in which the loyalty programmes should be built. A successful loyalty programme must be suffi ciently attractive for customers. The survey reveals that easily obtained benefi ts and remuneration thematically bound to the purchased item make customers more satisfi ed, which can be transformed into loyalty. Retailers do not necessarily have to insist on long- -term collection of points. Sophisticated types of fast-moving remuneration can bring the desired objectives as well.