Jahangirnagar University: Walton's Loyalty Relationship Analysis

This report, prepared for the Introduction to Marketing course at Jahangirnagar University's IBA, analyzes Walton's strategies for building long-term customer loyalty. It begins with a company background and overview of Walton's product lines, followed by an examination of customer perceived value and unique selling propositions (USP). The report delves into the favorable factors and challenges Walton faces in the market, including competition and consumer preferences. It then explores loyalty-building initiatives such as customer interactions, loyalty programs, and institutional ties. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) practices, including personalized marketing and customer reviews, are also assessed. The report concludes with recommendations for Walton and provides an overview of the company's success in the technology sector in Bangladesh.

Jahangirnagar University
Department/Institute: Institute of Business Administration (IBA)
Second Year First Semester/Honors/Masters Final Examination-2020
Assignment for Final Examination
Course No.# MKT 201
Course Title# Introduction to Marketing
Name of the Student: MD. Obaidur Raman Dip
Class Roll No. #
Examination Roll No. #
Registration No. #
Academic Session #
Total number of written pages in the assignment # 13 (Excluding Top Sheet)
Date of Submission: July 24, 2021
Instructions:
1. Don’t copy from other’s assignment. Copying from others will be punished
severely.
2. The student must submit the assignment online (Google
classroom/email/google form etc.) as the course-teacher prescribes.
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192470
2018-2019
20193550199
1939

3. You must use your name# your EXAM ID only for naming your submitted file.
Walton: How Successful The Bangladeshi
Tech Giant is to Create a Long-Term Loyalty
Relationship with Customers?
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Company Background.....................................................................................................................4
Product Line of Walton...................................................................................................................5
Customer Perceived Value of Walton Group..................................................................................6
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)...............................................................................................7
Favorable Factors and Challenges for Walton.................................................................................8
Loyalty Building for Walton Group................................................................................................9
Definition of Loyalty...................................................................................................................9
Close Interactions with Customers..............................................................................................9
Loyalty Programs.........................................................................................................................9
Creating Institutional Ties...........................................................................................................9
Customer Relationship Management of Walton............................................................................10
Personalizing Marketing............................................................................................................10
Customer Reviews and Complaints...........................................................................................11
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
Index..............................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
Most of the successful managers consider customers as the only “Profit Centre” of their
companies. Customer’s identification with the company, also known as Customer-Company
Identification (CCI), has recently become crucial in building customer loyalty through customer
satisfaction (Huang et al., 2017). As a tech giant of Bangladesh, Walton is also trying to create a
Long-Term Loyalty Relationship with the customers. A customer-centered company is adept at
building customer relationships through products and skilled market engineering (Kotler and
Keller, 2016). This formal assessment will demonstrate how the tech giant of Bangladesh,
Walton, successfully creates a Long-Term Loyalty Relationship with the customers. Some of the
favorable factors and challenges will be demonstrated in the process, and lastly, a
recommendation for the future endeavors for Walton will be provided.
Company Background
S.M Nurul Alam Rizvi founded Walton group of industries in 1977. It started its journey as a
trading company. Since then, Walton has been enriched with numerous subsidiaries and
alliances. Hence, the company is now internationally recognized. At present, Walton has a
workforce of more than 20,000, with a total of 22 production bases under more than 680 acres of
factory area (Waltonbd.com, 2021)
.
Figure 1: Walton Group Bangladesh
Now, let us look at Walton Group at a glance.
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Walton Group (A sister concern of R.B Group of Companies LTD.)
Headquarter Chandra, Palikir, Jaipur.
Company Type Trading and Manufacturing Company
Objective To receive economic return on investment and contribute to the
development of technology in Bangladesh
Owner Bangladesh
Certificates ISO 9001:2015 Refrigerators & Air Conditioner Division
ISO 14001:2004 Refrigerators & Air Conditioner Division
OHSAS 18001:2007
Official Business 1978
Number of Customer
Service
120+
Industry Electronics, automobiles, steel, textile, etc.
Main Market Europe, Eastern Asia, Middle East, Africa
Market Share 66%
Table 1: Company Overview of Walton Group
Product Line of Walton
Walton is the pioneer of tech facilities in Bangladesh. At present, Walton have a variety in
product segment ranging from electronics to automobiles.
1. Refrigerator
2. Television
3. Smartphone
4. Computer
5. Air Conditioner
6. Washing Machine
7. Motorcycle (Walton Motors)
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Figure 2: Product Line of Walton
Customer Perceived Value of Walton Group
Customer Perceived Value or CPV is the difference between prospective customer’s evaluation
of all the benefits and costs of an offering and the perceived alternatives (Kotler and Keller,
2016). Marketers can successfully increase the value by offering a raise in benefits or reduce
costs. Meaningful marketing activity is always pointed at creating value. For this reason,
customer perceived value is widely recognized as the key to competitive advantage in the present
market (Zauner et al., 2015). A customer will differentiate between the benefits and associated
costs for each choice.
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Figure 3: Determinants of CPV
Hence, differentiation between customer values is considered to be Customer Perceived Value.
Walton tries to be the market leader by giving more utility and advantages to customers through
its products and appliances.
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
To further discuss CPV (Customer Perceived Value), the study will stress the factor USP. It is an
important factor determining that one product or service is different from and better than that of
the competition in the market (Entrepreneur, 2021). Some of the indicators, such as “lowest cost,
highest quality”, good service, warranty, guarantee, Etc., determine whether a product can satisfy
the needs compared to others in the industry. For this section, the study will take Walton
Smartphones as the key product.
Figure 4: Android Smartphones by Walton
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As a successful company, Walton focuses on USP, focusing on customer benefits and attracting
customers. The target market of Walton smartphones is people 18-25 years old. Hence, based on
the target customer, the USP of Walton Smartphones are as follows:
Favorable Factors and Challenges for Walton
This section of the study will focus into the relative favorable factors and challenges for Walton
to create a long term relationship with the customers. These are described below:
Favorable Factors Challenges
1. The demand for Walton appliances is
increasing (Refrigerator, bikes, and
smartphones)
2. The products are flexible and easy to use
3. People of the country love to use their
products
4. Walton provides high-quality appliances at a
low price
5. The trustworthy connection between the
distributor and service care facilities. Hence,
the ability to increase brand value through
initial offerings.
1. A shift of buyers needs and taste to another
similar product in the market
2. Lower price substitutes are now available in
the market
3. Government regulations on electronic
products have increased
4. Specific products (air conditioner, freezer)
charges more than some of the china based
products
5. Possibility of adverse demographic change
Table 2: Relative Strengths and Challenges for Walton
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Available Service
Centre
Highest number of service
centres in te country
Competitors like Nokia,
Symphony, Samsung have
less service centres.
Bundle Offers
Bundle Offers by
collaborating with mobile
operators
Customers can get a
discount of 1000/2000 on
the actual rate of a phone
Quality Products
in Less Price
Less price than oter
competitors. Follows zero
tolerance policy
ISO and UKAS certified
smartphones.

In B2B marketing, the establishment and maintenance of long-term business relationships are not
static but dynamic phenomena. From the study, it has been found that service quality contributes
a lot in creating long term relationships with the customers (Venetis and Ghauri, 2004). Hence,
the Walton group should focus more on service quality to retain customers for a long time.
Loyalty Building for Walton Group
Definition of Loyalty
The term loyalty describes a deeply helpful commitment to re-purchase a preferred product or
service in the future despite situational influences and having potential switching behaviour in
the market (Kotler and Keller, 2016). A company tries to give optimum service or produce
superior products for the target market to ensure customer loyalty.
Close Interactions with Customers
Walton is successful in interacting with the customers. The customers can share their experience
through E-mail, Chat boxes on different social media, and offer tangible proof of the positive
impact of Walton’s product. In this way, customers can show appreciation directly towards
employee contributions to the company.
Loyalty Programs
The Loyalty Programs are designed to reward the customers who frequently buy products and in
a substantial amount (Kotler and Keller, 2016). Although, there has been no observable loyalty
or frequency program conducted by Walton so far. However, the company is very active in
giving awards to the distributor in various regions.
Creating Institutional Ties
To support building loyalty, Walton Group tied the knot with some institutions by supplying
special equipment like computers, air conditioners, Etc. Some institutions are Victoria University
of Bangladesh, Canadian University of Bangladesh, and IBCS-PRIMAX Software (Bangladesh)
Ltd. According to the MoU, the students and officials would have special discounts on laptops
and computers Walton (Daily Sun, 2018).
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Figure 5: Institutional Ties with Walton Group
Customer Relationship Management of Walton
According to Philip Kotler (2016), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the process of
managing detailed information of all customers of a company. Additionally, it concerns with
managing the “TouchPoints” of all the customers to maximize loyalty. Customer Relationship
Management is very important for a company because the major driver for company profitability
is the aggregate value of the company’s customer base (Kotler and Keller, 2016).
Personalizing Marketing
Digital consumer engagement has been recently ranked as the highest strategic priority for
companies in a large scale survey by McKinsey & Company (Bigne and Rosengren, 2019). The
whole customer base is becoming technology-based, and they tend to communicate via different
platforms like social media, e-mail, Etc. Walton successfully uses e-mail, websites, call centres,
databases, and other relevant software to connect customers with the company. The customer
care service is always active to solve any problems.
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Figure 6: Customer Care Services of Walton
Customer Reviews and Complaints
Online customer rating has become a supportive tool in buying decisions. One of the examples
will be the leading E-commerce site: Amazon. In the first place, people go for the customer
review section to get an insight into the product. Walton is very sincere in taking customer
reviews in its database to work on products for further development. A study shows a
comparative analysis of customer satisfaction between Walton and Jamuna Refrigerators. The
study found that customer reviews regarding colour, size, design, price, flexibility, Etc., are
valuable inputs in determining customer satisfaction and acceptance (Babu et al., 2018).
Recommendation
This study aims to determine whether Walton: The tech giant of Bangladesh, successfully creates
Long-Term Relationships with the customers. Walton is more or less successful in this process.
Nevertheless, after completing this study, there are still many fields where the company can
stress developing the present condition even better. Hence, some recommendations are given
below:
1. To retain the customers of smartphone segments, Walton can offer the existing customers
exchange value.
2. Walton smartphones should set target customers of all ages people.
3. To build a strong brand image, Walton should pull out more sophisticated, sustainable,
and quality products.
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4. The number of showrooms should be increased more for fostering better access to
customer information.
5. Walton should sponsor more events and ties institutional knots.
6. Walton should maintain price stability.
Conclusion
Walton has received a vast reputation since its inception. The leading company holds the future
tech sector and relieves a positive ambience regarding the growth. This formal assessment
describes the performance of Walton in retaining its customers, i.e. the long-term loyalty
relationship with the customers. The tech giant of Bangladesh is more or less successful in
creating a long-term relationship with the customers. There are still some challenges that the
company should overcome. In conclusion, it can be said that Walton shows a promising future
for the country in the technology sector. The company has already made the country a producer
one from being a consumer country.
Index
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