Assessing Loyalty Programs' Role in Customer Loyalty: A Sainsbury's Case Study

Module code and title:	BM634 Research Methods	Module leader:	Dr Blessing
Assignment No. and type:	CW1: Dissertation	Assessment weighting:	100%
Submission time and date:	Before 2 pm 03/06/2022	Target feedback time and date:	Three weeks from the deadline

Topic: “Assessing the role of loyalty programs as a determinant of customer loyalty level: A case study of Sainsbury’s”

Abstract

The study is based on the effectiveness and variants of consumer loyalty programs. Peer-reviewed journals have been analysed to conduct a literature review in order to support concept development. The notions of customer loyalty are considered to be promotional tools, which tend to encourage customers for availing them. In the retail sector of the UK, loyalty programs tend to contribute to a significant brand enhancement of companies and help them to retain and attract their potential target customer effectively. Consumers are found to join these schemes so as to earn discounts and points, which give them rewards in terms of their points.

The methodological choices of the research project have been justified in the particular section of methodologies to prove the impact and importance of several methods over the research outcome. It has been noticed that the study is deductive in terms of approach. It has followed the mixed method of data collection to collect both real life and concept-based data about customer loyalty programs, mainly considering the case study of Sainsbury's.

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction

Loyalty programs within the retail sector tend to play an important role in attracting and retaining customers largely. This is essentially designed to encourage the business propositions, which offers a reward for enhancing brand loyalty. This chapter emphasises the background of loyalty programs and their effectiveness in Sainsbury's. This will include understanding the extent to which the company's loyalty program is a key determinant of customer loyalty level.

1.2 Research background

The presence of a well-structured loyalty program tends to contribute to customer retention, which reduces turnover and is a key driver of business profit. One of the preliminary purposes of customer loyalty programs lies in the fact that it helps in increasing profits and improve the success of sales effectively. Retailers found to offer hassle-free and digitised loyalty programs and rewards create convenience to customers largely. This has helped them to play a crucial role in the loyalty scheme battle (retail-week, 2021). Headquartered in the heart of the United Kingdom in London, Sainsbury's is the second-largest supermarket chain in the country. Founded by John James Sainsbury in the year 1869, the retail company prioritises building up a strong brand foundation, for offering a consistent value.

Figure 1.1: Factors that influence loyalty scheme used in the UK

(Source: The wise marketer, 2020)

At present, the company has over 600 supermarkets and over 800 convenience stores. In terms of online presence, Sainsbury's ranks third most visited retail website in the UK. As of 2021, Sainsbury’s have over 189,000 employees working for them and believe that they are an integral part of their massive success (Sainsburys, 2022). Currently, Sainsbury's tend to hold over 16% of the market share in the supermarket sector and is operated by the CEO Simon Roberts who joined the company in the year 2020. As of 2021, the annual revenue growth of Sainsbury's accounted for 32.3 billion British pounds. It is recorded as the third-highest value that the company acquired within the nine-year period (Sainsburys, 2022).

Figure 1.2: Sainsbury’s company logo

(Source: Sainsburys, 2022)

In the year 2002, Sainsbury's became a part of the biggest loyalty programme in the UK. After this, the company launched the Nectar loyalty programme in the year 2018. Based on this programme, the consumers of the company can spend and collect points with the existing subsidiaries of Sainsbury's such as Argos. As of 2021, the company has over 18m active Nectar point collectors (Sainsburys, 2022). However, in 2022, Sainsbury's announced a great change in the Nectar Card Scheme, which is likely to affect shoppers to a great extent. This involved launching a new Nectar Donate option, which will help in creating good causes such as Alzheimer's Research UK (Pugh, 2022). The company states that each of the Nectar points that are being donated by the customers will be eventually converted into funding for the chosen organisations that will not require any additional fees. Sainsbury's has set the minimum donation value at 200 points, which is equivalent o £1 (Pugh, 2022).

1.3 Research problem/ Research rationale

Customer loyalty programs are considered to be a key driver of growth and profitability. If there is any pertinent issue in the loyalty program, it tends to lead to a lack of customer retention, which limits the supposed customer base of the companies largely (retail-week, 2021). It has also been found that existing retail companies in the UK are attempting to undergo significant changes to restore their customer base amidst the current pandemic. The presence of loyalty programs ensures that the members of this scheme are provided with every possible amenity. However, service failures are often found to be imminent, which affects customer trust in the companies.

After the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, the retail sector has affected its business operations largely (retail-week, 2021). Without a proper loyalty scheme, retail companies in the UK have struggled to gain profit and have often failed to retain customers. The current research study tends to shed light on the effectiveness of customer loyalty programs. This includes an integrated understanding of the extent to which such schemes tend to act as a potential determinant of customer loyalty level. This will also include an understanding of the extent to which certain changes in the loyalty programs of existing companies can affect customer retention positively.

1.4 Research aim and objectives

1.4.1 Research aim

The primary aim of this research is to assess the potential role of loyalty programmes as a key determinant of customer loyalty level.

1.4.2 Research objectives

• To understand the effectiveness of customer loyalty schemes in the retail sector of the UK

• To analyse the types and structures of applied loyalty programs and their effectiveness in boosting customer loyalty

• To evaluate the possible challenges in consumer behaviour and loyalty level as a result of the loyalty programs

• To recommend strategic directions for developing loyalty programs as per the consumer behavioural patterns

1.6 Research questions

1. How far is the customer loyalty program effective in the UK retail sector?

2. What are the types and structures of applied loyalty programs in boosting customer loyalty?

3. What are the possible challenges in consumer behaviour and loyalty level?

4. How can the UK retail sector develop its loyalty programs as per customer needs and requirements?

1.7 Significance of the study

The present research study assists in understanding the effectiveness of loyalty programs in Sainsbury's. This will create a significant insight into the ways with which the effectiveness of customer loyalty programs tends to result in effectively enhancing their brand image. The research will further create a crucial understanding of the extent to which the challenges of customer loyalty programs can be mitigated as per customer requirements. Thus, the significance of the research is that it will help in acquiring knowledge about loyalty programmes in the retail sector being a potential determinant of customer loyalty levels.

1.8 Structure of the research study

Figure 1.3: Structure of the research study

(Source: Created by the learner)

1.9 Summary

Based on the given propositions, the current chapter has managed to identify the background of the research study. This included a comprehensive description of the research aims and objectives, which needs to be taken into account. In addition, the study also included the initiation of the research problem, which will be further evaluated in the next chapter of the research.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

The literature review is a significant chapter that helps to develop a basic understanding of the concepts and the ideas of the study. It provides clear guidance to the researcher for the effective development of ideas about the basic variables of the study. Similarly, in this chapter of the study, key factors affecting the core concept of the topic is being discussed based on the already published literature. A conceptual framework has also been considered in this chapter to map out the basic concepts relevant to the topic.

2.2 Conceptual Framework

Figure 2.1: Conceptual Framework

(Created by the learner)

2.3 Concept of customer loyalty

Customer Loyalty is an essential business aspect that is developed upon the products and services provided by the company. As mentioned by Hadi et al. (2019), customer loyalty describes the emotional relationship between the customers and the brand. The adequate manifestation of the customers' willpower to buy a product repeatedly indicates the customer's loyalty. Repeated purchase also denotes the effective image development of the product in the market. Sometimes the success of the brand positioning is indicated by the customer, loyalty level of the firm. The majority of success and provisions are required to be ensured with the help of effective strategies that can make the firm more prominent in front of the customers. However, Al-Ghamdi and Badawi (2019) stated that customer loyalty is the by-product of positive experiences of a customer with the brand. It is visible when the trust is already developed and the brand is positively imaged within the mind of the customer. This leads to better persuasion of the customers in case of selling new products in the market as well.

The significance of the concept gets developed by the benefits it adds to the firm. It can be noticed that customer loyalty ensures the effective enhancement of customer base and sales. Aburayya et al. (2020) mentioned that customer loyalty makes the business sales consistent and also benefits the scope of growth of the firm for enhanced results. It develops a sense of commitment within the customers for the brand and this can be for a longer time period. Several initiatives by the brand ensure the effective development of customer loyalty within the organisation and it also benefits in gaining the overall success of new products launched in the existing market. However, as per the idea of El-Adly (2019), customer loyalty highly depends upon the brand's capabilities to create effective offers and customer engagement programs. The maintained quality and the attractive prices highly manipulated the customers for repetitive buying of the products.

2.4 Impact of customer loyalty on the customer retention power of the brands

Customer retention power is highly important for the brand to ensure organisational success. This is because retention of the customers ensures sales and the constant growth of the firm. According to the idea of Lesmana et al. (2020), Customer Loyalty and Brand Loyalty are identified to be the two major aspects of business success and effective retention of customers. This is because the customer loyalty level gets manipulated by the experiences that they witness while dealing with the brand. This makes the customer retention power of the firm strong. The best element that is being used for the effective attraction of the customers is continued engagement. This highly boosts the effective performance of the brands and also removes the gap between the customers and the brands.

The most significant kind of business outcome is associated with effective brand development and policies. As per the idea of McLean and Wilson (2019), customer engagement highly determines the effective manipulation for sales. Utilising the interactions and rewards, the customers are acknowledged to support the brand. However, de Oliveira Santini et al. (2020) stated that the effective designing of the loyalty programs and assessing the needs of the customers effectively also help them to adequately support the brand and get retained. Customer engagement can be highly boosted and they can be involved within an interacting business environment by a properly designed customer loyalty program.

Customer retention power of the brands indicates their ability to hold on to the customer base for a longer time period. It can be observed that the enhanced customer loyalty of the brand makes the sales rate consistent and even helps for the constant growth. As per the idea of Simanjuntak et al. (2020), customer retention is ensured by the engagement of the customers within the brand. Therefore, the customer loyalty programs have the complete potential to ensure the customer retention power of the brand. On the other hand, Almohaimmeed (2019) stated that customer loyalty ensures the retention ability of the brand as loyalty develops from satisfaction and it makes the purchase decisions of customers consistent. Involving several tools for customer loyalty such as e-commerce marketing strategies, customer convenience policies and so on ensures customer engagement and satisfaction for enhanced retention power of the brand. Another major policy to win over the loyalty of the customers is to incentivise repetitive purchases. It can help the customers to get attracted by considering the additional benefits for the firm.

2.5 Factors affecting customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is completely associated with the perception of the customers about the brand. The experiences of the customers of a brand are required to be considered at a higher rate to ensure their loyalty to the brand. Some of the prominent factors that can highly impact the reputation of the brand in front of customers and can manipulate customer loyalty include convenience and expectations of the customers. Customer convenience throughout the several stages of the purchase cycle is required to be considered for better recognition of the brand. As per the idea of Romdonny and Rosmadi (2019), the recognition of the brand can be ensured with the help of the effective development of the organisational techniques and the enhanced loyalty of the individuals. Convenience boosts the satisfaction rate of the customers within the firm and as a result, boosts their loyalty of them towards the brand. On the other hand, Aldaihani and Ali (2018) mentioned that the products and loyalty program strategies of a brand are required to be designed while properly aligned with the customer needs to ensure effective engagement. Properly adhering to the needs and the preferences of the customers and fulfilling their expectations helps to develop the emotional relationship between the brand and the customers.

Customer service and rewards of the firm also play a vital role in shaping the overall business success of the brand. The customers can be highly engaged towards the brand with the help of the effective development of adequate offers and rewards. According to Lepojevi? and ?uki? (2018), effective loyalty programs for customer acknowledgement and improvement of regular customer service can highly support the effective quality of performance of the customers. This is something that boosts the overall perception of the customers about the brand. Apart from these, Prasetyo et al. (2021) mentioned that the quality of the products and services of the brand also plays a vital role in shaping the overall experience of the customers. It can be noticed that apart from all marketing policies and promotional techniques, the quality of the products play a significant role in shaping the overall reputation of the business firm in the market. It boosts the competitive advantage of the firm over others. Thus, the quality of the brand products and services can help in retaining the customers and even attract them for boosted organisational reputation.

2.6 Qualities of effective customer loyalty programs

Effective customer loyalty programs can boost the performance of the brands in gaining a beneficial customer satisfaction rate. As per Septianto et al. (2019), proper designing of the customer loyalty programs helps to gain the most amounts of benefits within the competitive business environment. The enrolment rate of the customers in the loyalty programs and the average spend per Member indicates the effectiveness of the loyalty programs and their impact on customer perception. On the other hand, Yang et al. (2019) stated that Organic Return Rates for Members indicates their attraction towards the brand and their effectiveness for the brand development. This indicates the effective performance of the organisational workforce in terms of applying the most significant strategies for customer attraction. The customer-centric strategies can help to enhance the satisfaction rate of the customers and can boost the sales of the firm for enhanced growth through customer retention.

2.7 Different types of customer loyalty programs and their impact on customer loyalty

Business organisations tend to ensure that the consumers market is maintaining certain consistency. In the purview of this, the companies create innovative techniques to maintain a consistent amount of loyalty. According to the views of El- Adly (2019), business organisations use the consumer perceived value to analyse the intricacies of customer loyalty. When it comes to service organisations, satisfying the consumers is one of their main objectives. In this case, the organisation brings in innovations like consumer loyalty programs. Taking the views of Juanamasta et al. (2019) into consideration consumer loyalty programs can be defined as how business organisations reward the customers for engaging in business with them for a prolonged period. These are generally marketing and promotional tools which the companies use to show how the consumers can benefit from sticking to their brain product or services.

Consumer loyalty programs generally have varied objectives for different business organisations. Although according to the viewpoint of Kwiatek et al. (2020), one of the main and common objectives of the consumer loyalty program is to ensure that it can maintain a positive relationship with regular customers. For efficient consumer loyalty programs, the organisation will require to understand the purchasing behaviour of the consumers. Relationship quality with the consumers is one of the major models of loyalty programs and will have positive outcomes for the company and this can be enhanced with the help of loyalty programs. From the viewpoint of Nastasoiu and Vandenbosch (2019), it is pivotal to design a proper loyalty program as it can help in attracting new consumers and increase brand goodwill. These processes generally include providing rewards points or giving discount offers to ensure that the consumers are compelled to buy the product or order the service again.

Figure 2.2: Loyalty program model aligned with relationship quality

(Source: Kwiatek et al. 2020)

Rewards points act as one of the most used ways of rewarding the consumers for their loyalty. These are generally provided every time the consumers use the services of the organisation. The points which are collected can be used to redeem discounts or get cashbacks. As opined by Wang et al. (2018), the rewards points can act as an achievement excitement for the consumers and this, in turn, will attract other consumers as well. This can be done by providing the consumers with a membership card or using a digital method to store the points. However, according to Alshurideh et al. (2020), discount offers and gifts can act as a better option for the organisation. This shows direct appreciation of the consumers and it gives them a feeling of importance.

In recent days the consumer loyalties program has been impactful on the overall aspect of consumer loyalty. As per the views of Chaudhuri et al. (2019), the consumer loyalty programs directly impact the sales of the company which implies a positive effect. The variables of the consumer loyalty programs can be assessed with the help of analysing the consumer retention rate. On the other hand, Bahri-Ammari and Bilgihan (2019) state that consumer loyalty programs do not always have a positive impact on the organisation. Some consumers can find this a marketing gimmick to overshadow quality issues with the products or services provided by the organisation. It can be said that everything depends on what form of consumer loyalty program the company chooses to implement and how difficult it is to replicate by the consumers.

2.8 Interrelationship between customer characteristics and customer loyalty programs

The target market of the organisation has a direct relationship with the type of consumer loyalty program an organisation goes for. It has to be noted that the effectiveness of customer loyalty highly depends on the background characteristics of the target consumers. According to the views of Septianto et al. (2019), the target consumers are supposed to be analysed before the organisation finalises the type of loyalty program it wishes to implement. Segmenting the target market can help in understanding the needs of the consumer and what they expect out of the organisation. Thus, it is important to understand the emotions of the target market. However according to the views of Aluri et al. (2019), in the era of machine learning and modern digital innovations, it is easier to learn the demography of the target market. This data then can be used to analyse the target market and put an efficient consumer loyalty program into effect.

Figure 2.3: Impact of the emotion of the target market on consumer loyalty programs

(Source: Septianto et al. 2019)

One of the major aspects that are required to be considered here is that the target market of the company has certain expectations from the organisation regarding their loyalty. Saini and Singh (2020), have stated that the consumer loyalty theory is a very important factor that the organisation needs to consider. It emphasises the psychological aspect of the consumers and mentions that the organisation is required to understand what the consumer is thinking. Consumer loyalty programs are a type of marketing aspect that is required to be designed for attracting regular consumers and retaining them efficiently. On the other hand, Ahmad et al. (2021) have opined that the social exchange theory can be a very important aspect to consider for the organisation. It states that when two different parties interact with each other they tend to have certain expectations from each other,

It can be said that analysing the market and more specifically the target market of the business can be an effective way of implementing an efficient consumer loyalty program. According to the views of Yang et al. (2019), the specific importance of the target market motivates the consumers to buy from the organisation regularly. It provides them with a sense of focus and ensures that they are psychologically happy. Understanding the culture and the collectivism of the target market will help the organisation in ensuring the rewards provided are aligned with their needs. However, as per the views of Gorlier and Michel (2020), the organisation might lose the chances of gaining new consumers if it specifically focuses on the target market. It can be said that too much focus on the target market can hamper the motivation of the new consumers to be attracted to the brand.

2.9 Strategies to improve customer relationship or loyalty through loyalty programs

The major element that attracts the customers for sales is the additional benefits that can be provided to them for organisational development. It can be observed that the customers of any brand highly seek additional benefits apart from buying the product in order to make the purchase repetitive. Considering this, some of the most prominent policies for the enhancement of customer loyalty and regular relationship with the brand would be involving issuing rights, kind of rewards and offers for the right set of customers. As per Nik Hashim et al. (2021), the customer-centricity model is another area of focus that can help brands to boost their sales and customer loyalty. Each of the customer loyalty programs planned for the business growth is required to be adhering to the elements of the customer-centricity model.

Figure 2.4: Elements of the Customer-Centricity model

(Source: Influenced by Nik Hashim et al., 2021)

The development of matured relationships between the brand and the customers is important to ensure the effective development of the organisational reputation. On the other hand, Hee and Ying (2019) stated that thought leadership can also benefit the business to develop an effective level of customer loyalty. This is because, thought leadership is associated with the effective development of customer-aligned processes, products and services. The loyalty programs are required to be designed in the most significant way to ensure the implementation of customer-aligned policies for further satisfaction of the customers. Another beneficial strategy for customer loyalty development would be to encourage referrals and develop partnership programs. Effective partnerships with compatible brands and suppliers can often enhance the convenience of customers.

2.10 Literature Gap

A literature review involves several secondary published data sources, reviewing which helps to develop the actual idea about the study. In this case, as well, several literature sources have been considered while focusing on their relevance to the topic and their authenticity. However, some of the major gaps have been witnessed by the researcher while conducting the research. It has been noticed that the major gaps are witnessed to be creating major challenges for the researcher to maintain the quality of the research paper. For instance, several literature sources have been found to be restricted in terms of access and such sources could not be involved in the study. Moreover, the researcher has not focused much on the loyalty program designing aspects. These gaps in the research would be aimed to be mitigated in future studies with the help of effective strategies.

2.11 Summary

This chapter has revolved around the concept of customer loyalty and the role of loyalty programs over the customer loyalty level of brands. Thus, the literature review, in this case, has significantly developed the basic concepts about the loyalty programs' effectiveness and the significance of customer loyalty for the effective retention of the customers within the brand. This chapter has effectively helped to meet the objectives of the study by discussing the interrelationship between customer characteristics and loyalty programs.

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Introduction

Research methodologies are the technical approaches of the researchers for conducting the research project. This chapter in the report mentions the methodological approaches that have been utilised for this particular study, while also providing adequate justifications for the methodological choices of the researchers. The ethical concerns of the researcher have also been mentioned in this chapter providing reasons behind such concerns and the good practices involved in the research.

3.2 Research Onion

Figure 3.1: Research Onion

(Source: Saunders et al., 2015)

3.3 Research Philosophy

The research philosophy is simply the belief of the researcher that indicates the overall process and practices of conducting the research. As per Ryan (2018), it provides evidence of the ways followed for the collection of data about particular phenomena of research. There are majorly three types of research philosophies that are widely followed by researchers across the world. Those philosophies are realism, positivism and interpretivism philosophies. In this case, the Interpretivism research philosophy has been followed to support the effective development of the research outcomes.

The interpretivism research philosophy has supported the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data for the benefit of the study. The interpretivism philosophy has supported collecting data and delivering research outcomes that are valid and close to the truth. On the other hand, the utilisation of the realism or positivism research philosophy has been eliminated as they could have restricted the usefulness of all kinds of data within the study and made the study more complicated in terms of validity and reliability of the research data.

3.4 Research Approach

The research approach indicates the systematic step-by-step process of conducting the research that indicates the plan of the researcher about the research conduct. The research approaches can be divided into two main categories, which are inductive and deductive research approaches.

Figure 3.2: Deductive research approach

(Source: Influenced by Woiceshyn and Daellenbach, 2018)

This study is a deductive study that has been involving both real-life observations as well as secondary information based on the theoretical understandings involved in the paper (Casula et al., 2021). It has helped for the effective development of ideas about the customer loyalty level of Sainsbury’s while focusing both on the real-life information and the knowledge gathered from previous theories and secondary sources. An inductive approach has not been utilised in this study as it could have made the study completely focused on the secondary observations and theoretical concepts, eliminating the significance of the real-life observations.

3.5 Research design

Research design indicates the pattern utilised to formulate the paper. As the idea of Doyle et al. (2020), it indicated the overall strategy of the researcher for the integration of several aspects of the research study. It is something that indicates the coherent and logical performance of the researchers. Effective selection of the research design, aligning the same with the aims and objectives of the paper actually helps to effectively address the research problem. Among Descriptive, Correlational and Experimental research designs, the descriptive research design would be utilised as this can assist for the effective subject-based investigations of research variables.

The descriptive design of the study has helped for the systematic development of the idea about the customer loyalty level of Sainsbury's and can also help for the identification of the effectiveness of loyalty programs. However, the other researcher designs such as the correlational and the experimental research designs would have been eliminating the capabilities of the researcher to answer the research problem through valid analysis of the subject based concepts.

3.6 Research Strategy

The research strategy of a researcher in the specific plan of action helps to provide direction to the researcher in terms of thoughts and efforts. It enables systematic research conduct while producing high-quality results after the analysis of the research data. The strategy for research is determined based on the type of data planned to select for the paper. In this case, as the study has involved both primary and secondary data, the applied strategies are Case study and survey. These are the research strategies that would be encouraging the researcher to collect both timely and relevant data of the correct forms.

3.7 Data collection Method

The data collection method is simply the methods followed for the collection of relevant data and information for the research study. This indicates the specific processes used for the collection of the most relevant data for reaching conclusion. As per Draper et al. (2021), there are majorly two types of data, which are primary data and secondary data.

Figure 3.3: Types of research data collection method

(Source: Influenced by Simplilearn, 2022)

Primary data are the ones that are collected from human samples. On the other hand, the secondary data are being collected from the published data sources such as books, journals, articles and other published sources. As primary data results in some generalised observations, it can be collected through surveying human samples, while interviews can also be conducted to gather primary qualitative data. In contrast to this, secondary data can only be collected from sources that help to explore the variables of the study in a more varied way.

In the case of this particular research, the mixed method has been followed where both quantitative and qualitative data have been used. The research has been developed based on both primary and secondary data, among which the primary data is quantitative in nature and the secondary data is qualitative in nature. Human samples from Sainsbury's have been employed as participants to collect the quantitative data through a survey. Simultaneously, the most relevant set of information has been reviewed through the reading of published sources that are not more than five years old. The face to face interview has not been employed in the study as it could have been generated threats in terms of time constraints and the limited resources to be used for the research.

3.8 Data Analysis method

Data analysis is one of the most vital stages for a researcher to perform as this stage reflects the research outcomes and helps to reach the conclusion. The significance of data analysis in a research study is to consider the findings and jot down the indications of the collected data to inform the readers about the scientific topic of the study. However, based on the types of data, the suitability of data analysis techniques differs at a major rate. In this case, the collected secondary data has been analysed using the thematic method based on valid and relevant themes to the topic. On the other hand, the primary quantitative data has been analysed using numeric analysis tools such as Ms Excel. This has also supported a graphical and tabular representation of the findings based on the responses of the research participants.

3.9 Sampling Technique, tools and samples for the study

Sampling is the process of short-listing and selecting participants for the research study, who helps to gather the most suitable data and information for the study. In this particular case, the snowball sampling technique has been used to sample 50 customers of the brand and assess their opinion about the customer loyalty program of Sainsbury’s. Some of the major tools that have been used for the sampling technique include online emailing, consent form, information sheet and so on, which has supported the consensus employment of the participants within the study. In contrast to this, the sampling for the secondary published data has been performed based on the year of publication as no journal, book or articles of more than five years old have been considered in the study.

3.10 Ethical consideration

The involvement of human samples in the study has given rise to major ethical concerns of the researchers that have also influenced to take the required measures for the ethical presentation of data in the paper. The study has been formulated based on the regulations provided by the Data Protection Act 2018, under the UK legislation and the privacy norms, to protect the ethical rights of the research participants. The major concerns have been the confidentiality and anonymity needs of the participants, which have been majorly supported through effective protection and storage of data in secured devices and restricting the access of the same.

Validity and reliability

The basic purpose of conducting research is to inform the customers about specific information and data relevant to the research topics. In this particular case, the study has highly helped the readers to assess the effectiveness of Sainsbury’s customer loyalty program, while considering valid and reliable data and information. The validity of the paper has been ensured with the help of the involvement of samples who are the real customers of the brand and the reviewed secondary sources are all peer-reviewed. The relevance of the data has also been considered to prove the reliability of the pieces of information provided in the paper.

Credibility and reflexive analysis

The study has proved its credibility as the utilisation of both primary and secondary data has actually improved the authenticity of the research process. Initially, knowledge has been gathered using the secondary thematic methods, which have been verified later on with the help of primary quantitative data collection and analysis. The similarity of the observations has proved the authenticity of the researcher and the processes and has contributed to the improvement of quality of the study. On the other hand, reflexive analysis in this study has helped to easily access the theoretically flexible data and appropriate analysis approach. In order to ensure reflexivity in the study, the researcher has utilised the process of impartial analysis for better acknowledgements of the assumption of thematic data. In this study, the appropriate acknowledgements to the secondary researchers have been provided in support of the high quality of this study.

3.11 Research Timeline

Figure 3.4: Research Timeline

(Created by the learner)

3.12 Summary

The completion of this chapter has helped to understand the significance of several methodological approaches and their importance to become suitable for specific research. In the further sections, the utilisation of such methodological approaches can be witnessed through the data collection, analysis and representation methods applied for informing the readers adequately.

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