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LOYALTY PROGRAMMES IN BRAZILIAN RETAIL : A CRITICAL EVALUATION

The Brazilian economy has endured some important changes in recent years requiring businesses to improve their market awareness, flexibility and speed. Many have introduced a range of new policy initiatives and one of particular interest to the retail sector is the use of loyalty programmes. Based on empirical research, this article discusses the important concepts of ‘search’ and ‘credence’ products and evaluates the impact and utility of loyalty programmes on overall performance. The basic argument presented in the paper is that loyalty programmes and similar initiatives can be effective, but only if targeted discriminatingly at a specific market sector or customer base.