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AN ANALYTICAL STUDY ON THE AWARENESS AND
RESPONSIVENESS OF CUSTOMERS TO SBI DEBITCARD LOYALTY
PROGRAM FREEDOM REWARDZ IN CHENNAI

P. Sugunalakshmi Abstract
To increase the frequency in the use of Debit cards among the cardholders, SBI has introduced an exclusive Loyalty Program namely SBI Debit card Loyalty Program Freedom Rewardz. The present analytical study aims at measuring the awareness of this program, its usage and redemption of freedom points among IT and non-IT sector employees in Chennai Metro since it is believed that the usage of cards & the concentration of Merchant Establishments are more in Metropolitan Cities. The study concludes that the SBI Debit card Loyalty Program Freedom Rewadz is popular among the IT sector employees than the non-IT sector employees mainly due to their accessibility to internet facilities.
INTRODUCTION
card holders & the business transacted environment, satisfaction of customers is customers and it is an invaluable asset for Cities of India Chennai ranks first in terms all the organizations. If the customers are of both volume & value of the point of satisfied, then they will maintain long- term relationship and become loyal to the in technology calls for sincere efforts & initiatives in the form of plans & programs England, Allen Solly, VLCC, Durian, IFB, Programs to recognize their customers’ relationship with them in terms of freedom every debit card transaction at Merchant entitled to Discount on purchase of goods Group for its debit cardholders to reward & services and free gifts. The Rewardz points can be redeemed to procure a wide transactions & redeeming the same for a range of products like Electronic items, main aim of this program is to increase the frequency in the use of debit cards by the Cauvery Research Journal, Volume 3, Issue 1 & 2, Jul. 2009 – Jan. 2010 Forfaiting as a source of Finance for Global Trade Objectives of the study
of activation & mode of activation of Statistical Techniques used
sample test (test of significance for the Nature and area of the Study
into the acceptance of this loyalty program Profile of the Respondents
among the SBI Debit cardholders is a Pilot study. Since it is believed that the usage of Number of
cards & the concentration of Merchant Respondents
Respondents’
classification
Methodology and Sampling Technique
Questionnaire circulated among One Education Under graduate hundred respondents. The sample consists of two groups (IT sector Employees & classification is the usage of cards is more Hypotheses
respondents of IT sector employees fall in the age group of 20-25 & 30-35years, most of them are technically qualified and fall in the income range of Rs 20,000-40,000. Cauvery Research Journal, Volume 3, Issue 1 & 2, Jul. 2009 – Jan. 2010 Percentage of awareness & Source of
awareness of the Respondents
significantly in respect of awareness & Number of
Respondents
Awareness IT
Activation of the Freedom Rewardz
automatically registered to the program. Freedom Rewardz.com & furnishing some In turn they will be given a membership, id and a login password after which they Alternatively they can also call the contact centre that will assist them in activating sector employees the awareness is through the internet and the bank as the sources. Activation of Freedom Rewardz
Number of
Respondents
Activation
H01: Two groups do not differ in respect of awareness & source of awareness of the Activation
Chi-square test is applied to the data and significance
Calculated
matter of
& degrees
of freedom
H02: Two groups do not differ in respect of Cauvery Research Journal, Volume 3, Issue 1 & 2, Jul. 2009 – Jan. 2010 Forfaiting as a source of Finance for Global Trade rejection of H02 since the calculated values are greater than the table values. Hence the employees have activated their two groups differ in respect of the account.83% of their activation is through activation & mode of activation of the Contact centre. Chi-square test is applied Use of cards at Merchant
Establishments
Establishments that are coming under this significance
Calculated
matter of
& degrees
of freedom
Some of the partner brands of this scheme Solly, Orra, Book café, Gini& Jony,Ferns Point of sale transaction (Budgeted &Actual) at Merchant Establishments in
Chennai, Coimbatore, and Madurai & Trichy Clusters (As on Nov 2009)
Name of the
Number of
Number of POS
Value of POS
Value of POS
transaction-
transaction-
transaction-
transaction-
Budgeted(Rs
Budgeted
(2009-2010)
in Crores)
(Rs in Crores)
(2009-2010)
Figures in brackets indicate % to total Source: SBI’s Regional Office, Trichy. 55.38%. It is believed that the SBI Debit card Loyalty Program is the right step at of the budgeted transactions have become the right time taken by the SBI to increase actualized within 8 months of the budget period and it is quite sure that volume will actual value of POS to budgeted figure is Cauvery Research Journal, Volume 3, Issue 1 & 2, Jul. 2009 – Jan. 2010 Use of cards at Merchant
–––––––––––––– =15.16 Establishments
Number of
Respondents
2.58 S.E the Hypothesis is rejected. Hence Use of cards at
there is significant difference between two Merchant
groups in respect of the frequency in the Establishments
Redemption of Freedom Points
Number of
Respondents
Source of
Frequency of use of debit cards to avail
Redemption
of the offer
Number of
Respondents
Frequency IT
H03: Two groups do not differ in respect of considered as the next preferred source. Particulars Sample
H04: Two groups do not differ in respect 2(Non-IT)
of source of redemption of freedom points. Chi-square test is applied to the data and significance
Calculated
matter of
& degrees
of freedom
Result of the Test of significance of the
difference between two Sample Means:
Standard Error of the difference between Cauvery Research Journal, Volume 3, Issue 1 & 2, Jul. 2009 – Jan. 2010 Forfaiting as a source of Finance for Global Trade between two groups in respect of source of Amount of Discount offer availed
Number of
Respondents
Amount of
Freedom Points earned
Discount(Rs)
Number of Respondents
Number of
IT Total 1000-2000
discount offer in the range of 3000-4000 followed by 28% in the range of less than reveals that 30% of the respondents have the SBI customers & the popularity is their accessibility to internet facilities. The Program is quite effective in increasing the References
Cauvery Research Journal, Volume 3, Issue 1 & 2, Jul. 2009 – Jan. 2010

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