Is Customer Loyalty Dead?

A recent article, "Is Loyalty Dead?" in the Gallup Management Journal (December 2009), observes a trend in slumping customer loyalty.  How does this apply to the early childhood world where customers are committed for the long term and not individual purchases?  Some excerpts from the article:

".... in today's "new normal" economic climate, customer loyalty can no longer be taken for granted. And while it may not be dead, customer loyalty shows all the signs of becoming an endangered species. One study from Catalina Marketing reports that more than half of the average brand's highly loyal customers became markedly less loyal in 2008 than they had been a year before. That's a scary figure because, as the study also notes, the defection of loyalists has already resulted in some severe drops in company revenue. When a company's once-reliable fountain of sales and profit shows signs that it's running dry, there's reason for real concern.

"The question, of course, is whether this is a reflection of the current economic climate — or an underlying characteristic of an emerging new-millennium consumer with a decidedly different mindset. That consumer places little value on brand relationships and will never demonstrate the sort of steady habits and loyalties that marked preceding generations....

"When we see evidence that customers have changed what they've regularly been buying, we assume that means they're no longer loyal. But maybe they never were.  We shouldn't confuse 'habit' with 'loyalty.' True loyalty represents a deeper customer connection, a fully engaged relationship. If a habit has no real grounding, or if it lacks a vital emotional bond, it's merely a current behavior that's subject to change when circumstances vary or new options appear.  What's more, habits reflect past behavior, but what companies should be concerned about is future behavior. So companies ask customers about their intentions and about what they plan to do. But intentions aren't the same as actions, and customers' stated intentions often contrast sharply with what they subsequently do."

CAEYC Update — Friday's EED information about their 2010 conference was listed incorrectly.  The correct conference information is:

CAEYC Annual Conference and Expo
California Association for the Education of Young Children
Long Beach, California • April 8-10, 2010

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