IAETSD JOURNAL FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH IN APPLIED SCIENCES ISSN NO: 2394-8442 A Study on Customer Loyalty of Jio Users towards Jio, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh Dr. B.KISHORE BABU*1 Asso.Prof, Dept. of Management, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Vaddeswaram, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. [email protected] Abstract: Competition in the telecommunications world in India is very firm, brand switching of customers is also very high. That’s why each provider trying to provide the best for its customers so that they can be loyal to the same provider. customer loyalty is defined a relationship between customer with a particular brand name, and company exemplified by their purchase of the customer or consumer buying behavior towards a consistent and profitable brand and measured as recommended to other consumers. In India, there are ten mobile telecom providers operating in the market (Vodafone-Idea, Airtel, Jio, BSNL, Aircel, Reliance communications, Telenor, Tata Docomo, MTS India, MTNL). The rationale of this study is to know the customer loyalty of JIO customers towards JIO After free services time was over. Whether customers are continuing the JIO or not? to know overall satisfaction of customers towards services of JIO, factors which considered to select JIO This study uses data 300 respondents from the population was Reliance JIO users in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, with a structured questionnaire. The questionnaires were scrutinized using MS-Excel. The results of this study show that 63% of the customers are highly satisfied with the performance of JIO services, 45% of the customers are highly agreed that, they will continue the JIO services in coming years and wants to be loyal to the JIO, 52% of the customers are highly agreed that they satisfied with the performance of JIO and suggest others to use JIO Key Words: customer loyalty, telecommunication, satisfaction, Brand switching INTRODUCTION Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, performing business operations as Jio, is A Long Term Evolution (LTE)mobile network operator in India. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, that make available wireless 4G LTE service network and is the only 100% VoLTE (Voice over LTE) operator in the country, with coverage across all twenty two Telecommunication circles in India. The services were first beta-launched to Jio's associates and workforce on 27 December 2015 and later on services were commercially embarked on 5 September 2016. The company will launch its 4G broadband services all over India in the first quarter of 2016-2017 financial year. It will offer data and voice services with peripheral services like instant messaging, live TV, movies on demand, news, streaming music, and a digital payments platform. The Reliance JIO has a network of more than 250,000 km of optic fiber cables in the country, over which it will be collaborating with local cable operators to get broader connectivity for its broadband services. With its multi-service operator licence, Jio will also serve as a TV channel distributor and will offer television-on-demand on its network. preceding to its pan-India commence of 4G data and telephone services, Jio has started providing free Wi-Fi hotspot services in cities throughout India including Surat, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Indore, Jabalpur, etc. VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1, JAN/2018 388 http://iaetsdjaras.org/ IAETSD JOURNAL FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH IN APPLIED SCIENCES ISSN NO: 2394-8442 In the telecommunication industry, the foremost form to protect subscriber base is to triumph customer loyalty, an important prerequisite for the long term safeguarding of the brands life. Customer enduring association with a service provider is of superior importance to the accomplishment of a company in an exigent and cutthroat market. Loyal consumers construct businesses by buying more, and providing new referrals through affirmative word of mouth in due course. Research Problem The Telecom industry is one of the swift mounting industries in India. Consumers have all possibilities of purchasing and switching the mobile service provider due to industry expansion. Number of companies in this sector is increasing, so each one of them wants to overplay others to attract consumers. This research deals with customer loyalty of Reliance JIO users towards JIO. Objectives 1. To know who influenced the purchase of JIO. 2. To know which factors customers considered for purchase of JIO. 3. To study the customer loyalty of the JIO customers towards JIO. 4. To know the overall satisfaction levels of JIO customers towards JIO. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 1. Kotler and Keller (2006) hold that companies be acquainted with the significance of gratifying and keep hold of customers. To them, the following are attention-grabbing truth about customer uphold, get hold of new customers can cost five times more than the cost occupied in satisfying and retaining present customers, the average company loses10 percent of its customers each year, and the customer profit rate tends to increase over the life of retained customers. 2.(Eshghi et al., 2007; Heskett & Sasser, 2010). There is a glut of definitions of loyalty and/or customer loyalty in the present literature. Customer loyalty is customer repeating purchase intention to some particular products or services in the future 3. According to Uncles et al. customer loyalty can be classify as (a) attitudinal-loyalty to the brand whereby customers have a constructive set of affirmed conviction towards the brand purchased, (b) behavioral-loyalty to the brand where loyalty to a firm brand is defined chiefly with reference to the prototype of past purchases, and (c) co-determinants of buying brand where loyalty is moderated by incident variables such as individual’s current circumstances, their characteristics, and/or the purchasing situation faced. In this study, the concept of customer loyalty is based on both user’s attitudinal-loyalty and behavioural-loyalty to the telecommunication service provider 4. According to Serkan and Gorhan, there are four dimension that influence customer loyalty in choosing desired telecommunication service providers. These dimensions are corporate image, perceived service quality, trust and switching cost. 5. According to Anderson and Narus , faith is a belief to another party’s word or pledge because the party is measured as integral, honest, truthful, and able to perform actions that will result in positive outcomes or prevent actions that will end in negative results. A customer who believes a definite brand is likely to form optimistic buying custody towards the brand 6. Oliver defines customer loyalty as a deep held commitment to repeat patronage from a preferred product/service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts that may potentially cause switching behaviour. Customer loyalty has been found to be the key mediating variable in explaining customer retention, which is the likelihood of a customer returning, making business referrals, providing strong word-of-mouth, as well as providing references and publicity. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY RESEARCH METHOD: Descriptive Research Method In this study survey method is used. VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1, JAN/2018 389 http://iaetsdjaras.org/ IAETSD JOURNAL FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH IN APPLIED SCIENCES ISSN NO: 2394-8442 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: A purposive-cum-convenient sampling method is used in selecting participants. Population: The target population for this research for this study is the customers who are using Reliance JIO in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh Sample Frame: Customers using Reliance JIO in Vijayawada SAMPLE SIZE: A purposive cum-convenient sampling method is employed. 300 sample respondents are chosen on the basis of their being readily available/accessible at Vijayawada DATA COLLECTION: It is a descriptive research, where the data is collected from both primary and secondary sources; the primary sources are collection of opinions and behaviors of the population using a structured questionnaire and secondary sources like previous researches in this field, various journals, books and websites. INSTRUMENTS USED: The researchers used the personally administrated and online survey questionnaires as a data collection method. STATICTICAL TOOL: The data was analyzed using Ms Excel and presented in inform of chart and tables. ANALYSES OF ATTITUDE AND OPINIONS OF RESPONDENTS Table: 1 Age (completed years) SI. No Age Number Percent 1 10-20 14 4.6% 2 20-30 108 36.0% 3 30-40 112 37.0% 4 40-50 36 12.0% 5 50-60 14 4.7% 6 60-70 8 2.7% 7 70-80+ 8 2.7% Total 300 100% Source: Field Survey Diagram:1 AGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS 120 108 112 100 80 60 Number 36.00 37.00 36 Percent 40 14 14 20 12.00 8 8 4.60 4.70 2.70 2.70 0 <20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71+ Source: Table 1 VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1, JAN/2018 390 http://iaetsdjaras.org/ IAETSD JOURNAL FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH IN APPLIED SCIENCES ISSN NO: 2394-8442 An analysis of diagram 1 shows the age distribution of the respondents. The table reveals that out of 300 respondents, majority 112(37.0%) are in the age group of 31-40 years, followed by 108 (36.0%) between 21-30 years. 36(12.0%) between 41-50 years. The average of respondents is 34.46 and S.D. is 12.4 and mode is 30.5. Tabl.2 Sex Sex Number Percent 1 Male 162 54.0% 2 Female 138 46.0% Total 300 100% Source: Field survey Diagram: 2 Sex distribution of respondents 180 162 160 138 140 120 100 Male 80 Female 54 60 46 40 20 0 Number Percent Source: Table 2 An analysis of the diagram shows the sex distribution of the respondent. Out of 300 the respondent majority 162 (54 percent) are males and rest 138 (46 percent) are males.