A Model to Increase Customer Loyalty by Using Bi-directional Semantic Interference: An Application to White Goods Industry

Abstract

Adding values on products, services, or systems by responding to customers’ needs quickly is a relevant issue for companies and requires them to be located competitively in their environment. In line with this issue, the demand chain approach enables companies to create user-centered designs. A demand chain is defined as a special customer-oriented supply chain network structure in the decision making process, that analyses customer demand and market conditions in order to reach an efficient distribution. The aim of this study is to examine the customer portfolio in white goods industry and find the preferences of current and potential customers in order to build and retain customer loyalty. The decision rules which help to increase the market share are obtained by using the Classification and Regression Trees (CART). After conducting a comprehensive literature survey on the demand chain approach and its applications, the required components for a network structure are determined by utilizing the bi-directional relationships between the customers and the manufacturers. Hence, eighty-five customer and twenty dealer surveys are carried out. The research methodology is then presented and the data collected from the surveys is analyzed statistically. The results of the study have prominent importance to overcome the uncertainty in demand chain and to determine which strategies should be adopted by the companies to have a loyal customer base.