Customer satisfaction and loyalty in supply chain: the role of communication

Communication between buyers and sellers is central to the supply chain phi losophy. Further, the trend toward more detailed customer demands has made it even more important for firms to solicit input and feedback from their c ustomers in order to better tailor their offerings to customer needs. Previ ous research suggests a strong linkage between customer satisfaction and cu stomer loyalty. Highly satisfied customers are more loyal than less satisfi ed customers. Thus, it was hypothesized that firms proactively seeking info rmation from customers should realize a "pay off" in terms of more satisfie d and, subsequently, more loyal customers. A survey of buyers in the person al products industry was used to examine three methods of listening to cust omers. Frequency of vendor meetings with customers, formalized contact thro ugh the solicitation of feedback and/or conducting surveys, and personal vi sits by senior vendor managers were found to be related to customer satisfa ction as well as customer loyalty. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All right s reserved.