Bu çalışmanın amacı, bir spor merkezinin iki şubesinde sunulan spor hizmetinden yararlanan 195 müşteriden sağlanan verileri kullanarak müşteri sadakatinin oluşturulmasında etkili olan değişkenleri belirlemek ve artan müşteri sadakatinin işletmeye sağladığı faydaları değerlendirmektir. Bu amaçla müşteri sadakatinin oluşturulmasında etkili olan değişkenlerin müşteri sadakati üzerinde yaptığı etki, çoklu regresyon modeli kurularak iki şube için ayrı ayrı analiz edilmiştir. Yapılan analizler sonucunda spor merkezinin her iki şubesinde de müşteri sadakatinin oluşturulmasında algılanan hizmet kalitesinin, müşteri memnuniyetinin ve rakip spor merkezlerine geçme maliyetinin etkili olduğu ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Müşteri sadakatinin oluşturulmasına bağlı olarak, müşterilerin aynı spor salonunu gelecekte de tercih etme kararında olduğu, çevrelerindeki kişilere spor salonunu olumlu yönde anlattığı, tavsiye ve teşvik ettiği anlaşılmaktadır.

Customer loyalty can be improved by businesses through efficient analysis and management of customer portfolios. The crucial factors in improving customer loyalty are perceived service quality, satisfaction, trust, price, cost of switching to competitor business and investment expertise. Especially in terms of service businesses with similar services, forming customer loyalty enables competition advantage, preserves cash flow and increase profitability. Value perceived by customer is based on the comparison of service quality perceived by customer with monetary value of the service perceived by customer. Service quality perceived by customer comes out of the comparison of the expectations of the customer about the service provided by the business with his/her actual perception. On the other hand, determination of the perceived monetary value of the service provided by the business at a reasonable level is effective on increasing the perceived value of the customer. Customer satisfaction is the perceptions of the customer occurring after experiencing a business and/or its products and/or services. Achieving customers’ satisfaction is the prerequisite for turning them into loyal customers for the business in the future. Improving customer satisfaction allows raising the business’s brand value and enables the business to follow competitive strategies as well as having a positive effect on the business’s market share and profitability. Cost of switching to a competitor business is shaped depending on the customer experience and his/her investments throughout his/her business process. Throughout the value exchange process with the business, the customer has the following investments: tangible, enlightenment, price-dependent and psychological. Switching of a customer to a competitor business might cause the following: a lot of procedural cost, risks arising from uncertainty in the quality of untested brands, not being able take advantage of the promotions provided by the business switched from and psychological cost of switching to another brand. If the cost of switching to a competitor business is high, the customer might perceive this new business negatively in many aspects. Especially because the similarity between services is a lot in service businesses, the customer can perceive transition to the competitor business more easily. Also, some or the reasons for switching to a competitor business in service sector are service deterioration, failures in service presentation, price, answering customer complaints, inconvenience, competitors, ethic problems and involuntary transitions. Long-term relations with customers upon trust might be a solution for avoiding these transitions. If the cost of switching to a competitor business is high, the customer will want to stay with the current business and by establishing customer loyalty; the customer will be less sensitive the disadvantages in the service quality and price of the business and might overlook certain flaws. Customer loyalty depends on the intention of a customer to continue buying a product from the business in the future despite situational conditions. The core of management of customer loyalty is directing the business resources according to customer variety. Not every customer has the same value. Therefore, strategies towards customers should differentiate. Customers with a higher value should be reinforced in their purchasing behaviours so that returns to the business can rise. On the other hand, customers with lower values lead to extra cost to the business and result in negative effects on profitability. If required, investments for these customers should be ceased or they should be managed through less costly operational processes so that more resources could be allotted for new customers, switching to a competitor business could be retarded and customer loyalty could be maintained. Being customer-oriented, relations upon long-term trust, customized products, barriers against switching to competitor business and bonus programs are crucial in forming customer loyalty. By turning satisfaction into loyalty, permanence and frequency of purchasing of the customer from the business, acceptance of high- price policies and gaining new customers through advice are possible. The aim of this study was to analyse the basic elements in forming customer loyalty in two different branches of sports centre belonging to Kütahya Municipality and thus to put forth their advantages in terms of customer attitudes and behaviours depending on customer loyalty. In this context, perceived value of the customer, customer satisfaction and cost of switching to competitor business were determined as basic elements in forming customer satisfaction and the effects of these variables on forming customer loyalty in the two branches of the sports centre were researched. The population of the study was 690 customers of the two branches of Kütahya Municipality Sports Centre registered for May and June. In terms of time and cost, sampling method was preferred and convenience sampling of non-probability sampling method was used. Since the population was 690, taking p=0.8 and q=0.2, the sampling was determined 165 customers. After using face to face questionnaire method for two months, data were obtained from total 195 questionnaire forms. The responses of the participants were analysed using SPSS 15.0 for Windows. The descriptive statistical findings about the demographical characteristics of the participants were assessed separately for the two branches. 55,8% of the participants in Atakent sports centre were male while 44,2% were female. Their age groups were as follows: the first group between 25 and 34 forming 38,3%, the second between 18 and 24 forming 32,5%, and the fourth between 35 and 44 forming 21,7% of the group. There was also those between 45 and 54 (6,7%) and those 55 and over (0,8%). Other demographic features of the participants are as follows: 54,2% were single while 45,8% were married; 60,8% were university graduates and 26,7% were high school graduates, while 8,3% had master’s degree, 2,5% were primary school graduates and 1,7% were secondary school graduates; 36,7% were employed in private sector and 31% were students, while 19,2% were public employees, 10,8% were housewives and 1,7% were retired. In the Azot branch, 61,3% of the participants were female and 38,7% were male, while 53,3% were between the ages of 25 and 34, 37,3% were between 18 and 24, 8% were between 35 and 44 and 1,3% were between 45 and 54 but no participants were 55 or above. 56% of the participants in this branch were single while 44% were married; 48% were high school graduate, 37,3% were university graduate, 8% were secondary school graduate and 6,7% had master’s degree. Also, 44% of the participants were employed in private sector, 28% were students, 14,7% were public employees and 13,3% were housewives. In order to determine whether there was a difference in terms of customer loyalty and independent variables depending on the demographic feature of participants, “t-test” and “ANOVA” test were conducted. It was found that the participants in Atakent branch didn’t show any differences in customer loyalty or independent variables depending on gender, whereas in Azot branch, males had higher value perceptions than females but females’ perceptions about cost of switching to competitor business were higher than males’. It was determined that there was no significant difference in customer loyalty or independent variables depending on marital status and age groups in both branches. The analysis of whether there was a difference in customer loyalty or independent variables depending on education showed that in Atakent branch those with high school education, university education and master’s degree had higher value perceptions than those with primary school education. On the other hand, the analysis of whether there was a difference in customer loyalty or independent variables depending on profession showed that in Azot branch students had higher value perceptions than private sector employees and housewives had higher perceptions about cost of switching to competitor business than public employees. Reliability analysis on customer loyalty scale showed that Cronbach Alpha was %95,6, which means the scale is highly reliable. The effect of customer-perceived value, customer satisfaction and cost of switching to competitor business on customer loyalty was analysed using multiple regression model on both branches of the sports centre. The results revealed that customer- perceived value, customer satisfaction and cost of switching to competitor business were effective on customer loyalty in both branches. The regression model on Atakent branch showed that the biggest effect on customer loyalty was due to customer- perceived value, whereas the regression model on Azot branch showed that the biggest effect on customer loyalty was due to customer satisfaction. Accordingly, it can be said that businesses in the service sector can boost their profitability by raising customer-perceived value and customer satisfaction to secure customer loyalty and by enforcing barriers against switching to a competitor business.