Factors Leading Companies to Visit Their Loyal Customers in France and the Middle East – Africa

This article will seek to identify strategies that companies are using to obtain the loyalty of their consumers in France and the Middle East and Africa. This is in response to various luxury companies heading east either on explorative trips or for business (Prior Sanz, & De Lima, 2013; Oberthur, 2014). The paper seeks to determine what the main strategies of obtaining customer loyalty are. The main concerns for this project are areas in the Middle East and Africa as well as France.

Various articles have cited a wider market in these areas for the new developments. France according to some sources is the biggest market for luxury goods (Ministère des affaires Etrangères, 2014). On the other hand, the MEA region is mainly made up of emerging economies (Bisson, Kirkland & Stephenson, 2010). The countries have a high capacity of growth especially after the recent stagnation of the Chinese economy.

Research Question

Recent studies have shown major luxury companies worldwide turn their attention to the MEA and France (Oberthur, 2014). What are the main strategies that luxury companies are using to obtain customer loyalty who intend to make mall visits a onetime affair? Are these strategies viable for other industries to exploit? How effective are these strategies and what are their driving forces?

Importance of project

The importance of this project is to highlight the new developments in the MEA and France. The project will seek to determine if the new developments in regards to the strategies used to get customer loyalty are likely to be exploited for other industries rather than the luxury business. With the report of this project, many business companies will be able to learn what actions they should take in regard to France and the MEA (Ryals, 2005; The Impact of Ageing Populations 2010; Chesters, 2013). The project will strive to be exhaustive with regard to its achieving an understanding of the two markets and what strategies are likely to work in these areas. This will enable future exploitation of both the industry and the market much easier.

Academically, this project will allow the reader of the project report to learn about these two regions. The project will also make analysis of customer behavior in any region easier for the reader. The report will also read into previous reports with regard to the matters that are important to this report. These include the way the luxury industry operates and what factors are likely to improve the growth of the industry.

Literature basis

Literature shows mass entry into the region. Companies that have entered MEA the region include the Zegna, Hugo, Hermes international, Kate Spade and Michael Kors Holdings (Barron, 2011; The Impact of Ageing Populations 2010). France on the other hand continues to grow in terms of consumption of luxury goods. In fact, France is the largest consumer of luxury goods. Companies like LVMH, Hermes, Chanel and PPR Luxury Group have made a strong presence in the country (Oberthur, 2014; Deloitte SA, 2014). The growth of the French market has been evident for many years. Current growth is mainly on men’s design and is dependent on men’s need to look better

The MEA region has also shown an insatiable demand for luxury goods (Market Watch 2012). Studies have shown that many people from the region have often made trips to South Africa in search of luxury brands (Business Wire 2014; Datamonitor.com, 2006). According to studies, while South Africa’s demand for luxury goods still remains, the country no longer holds the top position. Furthermore, the country’s economy has slowed down in the near past.

Specifically, mall businesses have been thriving. In both markets, the growth of the internet has been on the rise. Both regions have been employing different forms of loyalty programs with customers who visit malls with the intention of having a one time visitors and making them loyal every day customers of luxury goods (Azur Digital, 2014; Cerberusip.com, 2013). Mostly, while the Middle East and Africa have mostly used the social media and the internet to obtain their market shares, France is employing a mixture of the internet and a series of mobile applications to do the same (Lacey & Lips, 2013). Different companies have exploited loyalty programs exhaustively.

Methodology

To achieve the objectives of this report, several tools will be utilized. To analyze the economy, various websites and online databases will be used. The websites of the various companies operating in the France, and the Middle East and Africa region will be visited and explored for the various tools they use to attract a loyal market share. Other databases include the Yahoo Finance website and the Bloomberg website. These websites provide current information about various companies that are listed in various stock exchanges. For this reason, only companies that are listed will be studied.

To obtain more reliable information, various academic library databases will be explored for scholarly reviewed journals. The advantage of using online libraries is many reliable academic materials that are provided in digital format. They are also easy to cite and look up using key words. For the case of this research paper, searching for major research terms like malls, France, luxury goods will help me to obtain many results to cater for the most part of the paper.

Further information will be obtained by conducting surveys to the luxury companies that have dominated the regions. The survey questionnaires will be mailed or faxed to them. Clear instructions will be mailed together with the request information. The request will be followed up with a call to ensure that the mail had been received and is being taken care of. This way, the project will be bound to shed some light to the developments.

Project plan

The first part of the report is to select the countries of study. While there is a general knowledge as to the regions to be studied, not entire regions can be studied. The companies that operate in these areas will then be selected and checked up on the Yahoo Finance website. This will be done before October 15^th, 2014.

Next, the information will be gathered from the websites and databases mentioned. This will take place by October 22^nd, 2014.

Further information will be collected from the companies themselves. The companies will also be informed about the information already available and requested to confirm. Only one letter will be sent to those companies that operate in more than one country in the regions of study. This will be done by October 25, 2014.

Follow-up on unreturned questionnaires will be done on October 30^th, 2014. Appreciation letters will also be posted on the same day.

A complete list of companies that will have returned questionnaires will be populated on November 7^th, 2014. This is the list of companies that will eventually be studied.

References

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Ford Motor (2014). Ford Launches Product Acceleration in Middle East & Africa, Bringing at Least 25 New Vehicles by 2016. Business Wire (English).

Lacey, P., & Lips, J. (2013). Smart, Savvy and Ready to Soar: Customer loyalty in the Middle East. Aimia Inc.

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