Exploring consumer loyalty towards brands of safe vegetables in Vietnam

Purpose: Expanding the market share of safe food through a modern retail system has faced a lot of difficulties in Vietnam. Thus, a further understanding of consumer behaviour and loyalty towards such food is essential for food retailers. This study aims at exploring segments of consumer loyalty and its influential factors towards safe food brands in the country. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a sample of 250 consumers buying safe food in Hanoi city in February 2019, two-step cluster and multinomial logistic regression analyses were applied. Findings: The results show that four segments of brand loyalty were formed from the interaction between attitudinal and behavioural loyalty as the framework of Dick and Basu (1994), namely, true loyalty, spurious loyalty, latent loyalty and disloyalty. Notably, over 60% of the consumers were in latent loyalty and spurious loyalty, indicating variety-seeking behaviour, multi-brand loyalty or low recognition of the brand. Consumer satisfaction was the most vital motivating consumers to higher loyalty levels. Additionally, brand trust and brand familiarity played significant roles in developing true brand loyalty. An attractive selling store and friendly staff were also important in enhancing brand loyalty. Originality/value: This study is one of the first to elicit consumer loyalty and identify factors driving the loyalty towards brands of safe food in a developing country like Vietnam.