Repertoire or subscription loyalty?

Repeat purchase is a critical source of revenue, which has given rise to loyalty cards and customer relationship management (CRM). However, there are two types of repeat purchase, repertoire and subscription, which manifest in very different customer behaviour and loyalty rates. It is important to know which kind of repeat purchase to aim for, as it affects benchmarking, share of category requirements and the level of loyalty that managers can reasonably expect.

Repertoire buying describes people who buy several brands steadily, and there are few solely loyal buyers. Sometimes these people are described as loyals or switchers, but neither is accurate: they are …