INSTRUMENTS FOR ENSURING CUSTOMER LOYALTY IN E-COMMERCE

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of using tools to ensure loyalty to commercial structures in harsh con-ditions of competition and market turbulence. It has been found that loyal customers ensure stable functioning and ra-tional use of funds for commercial structures. Loyalty tools play a special role in e-commerce systems due to their ac-tive development and maximum coverage of the Internet user audience. The common features and differences between the concepts of customer loyalty and customer retention are clarified, and the main factors influencing consumer loyal-ty in the distribution are characterised. The components of consumer loyalty in modern conditions are analysed. The leading role of loyalty programmes as a tool for ensuring customer loyalty to a company or its products is confirmed, and the main principles of forming loyalty programmes are characterised, compliance with which allows consumers to receive benefits. The specific features of loyalty programmes in e-commerce, enabled by the use of digital technologies, are noted. A comparison of B2B and B2C loyalty programmes is carried out according to a number of criteria, and their main tools and areas of influence are identified. The features of the most popular types of loyalty programmes in e-commerce are described, the market segments in which they work most effectively are identified, and the factors that determine their applicability in the relevant segments are outlined. Attention is focused on the requirements that loyalty programmes in e-commerce must meet. An algorithm for developing and implementing a loyalty programme into the structure of an online store is provided. The technical and software solutions for the development and operation of loy-alty programmes used by various types of commercial structures on the Internet have been studied. An analysis of the functioning of existing loyalty programmes has been carried out using the example of the largest domestic Internet re-tailers. Practice shows that modern loyalty programmes are actively developing and modifying, using the capabilities of digital technologies, in particular, transferring customer loyalty tools to mobile applications of commercial structures and increasing the level of personalisation and improving customer satisfaction using artificial intelligence tools.