Preference of forms of customer loyalty programs by clients of internet pharmacies

Abstract

Tough market changes require new trading directions to go in servicing the target markets. In particular, it is about offering new ideas, emotional and symbolic values strengthening relationships of shoppers to the company and brand and increasing their loyalty. This also applies to pharmaceutical products. The need to employ non-traditional forms of work with the market and sales promotion of OTC drugs and pharmaceuticals and nutritional supplements is also caused by the fact that in the last 3 years the sale of these products started to dynamically develop on the Czech market through Internet pharmacies. Nevertheless, effort to comprehensively meet the needs and wishes of customers and strengthening of relationships with them require the use of such innovative practices and tools in the electronic commerce environment that lead to increased loyalty of e-shop customers. The article defines appropriate forms of increasing customer loyalty with clients of online pharmacies and summarizes the results of quantitative marketing research among these clients, whose aim was to map out clients’ perceptions of the usefulness and importance of various tools of sales support and elements of building their loyalty to an online pharmacy. The research was aimed at exploring the perception of different forms of loyalty pro-grams.