A STUDY OF THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SWITCHING COSTS AND CONSUMERS RESISTANCE TO SWITCHING BRAND LOYALTY IN INDIAN MOBILE MARKET

To keep customers loyal to their brand is the main problem for companies in the mobile telecommunications market today. This research examines how and why consumers resist switching from one brand to another when they want to maintain loyalty, but there are many drawbacks associated with this. Interviews will be scheduled for qualitative data while quantitative data will also be collected through surveys so as to establish what makes consumer loyalty tick by understanding the impact of monetary and non-monetary switching costs on brand-switching behaviour across various industries including Indian’s Mobile Market. The researchers discover that although some customers might switch brands due to costs related to contract termination, handset subsidy, among others; however non-monetary switching expenses such as inconvenience and perceived risk tend to play an equal role in influencing customers’ willingness to shift. Additionally, it provides insights on how switching costs interact with consumer resistance towards changing brands, thereby highlighting intricate dynamics at work. Therefore, it is a significant study that contributes both theoretical knowledge and practical aspects of enhancing brand loyalty and reducing customer churn in a highly competitive Indian telecom industry. As a result, marketing managers can use the knowledge about interaction between consumer behaviour and switching costs as an input into their decisions making process.