BRAND LOYALTY-A STUDY OF CELLULAR SERVICES IN ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA

The phenomenal growth of the IT & ICT industry in India has brought to the fore the growing importance of the country as a knowledge powerhouse. Communications is the fastest growing sector in India''s economy.The average compound rate of growth of the economy works out to 24.02 per cent per annum since the turn of this millennium. No other sector of the economy has clocked such a rate of growth. The sector accounts for about 4 per cent of GDP and the recent high rate of growth has contributed to about 11 per cent of the growth in overall GDP of the country.To avail global advantage,mobile providers of India & abroad should seek for loyal customers.Hence, Brand loyalty is a highly sought after goal in the market place & building loyalty is seen by some as the ¿central task for the marketing manager¿ as it has many advantages.The presence of Brand loyal customers has a beneficial impact on sales,costs & profit & they act as barrier to competitors because enticing such customers is very expensive.Marketing managers should therefore know which of the strategic alternatives at their disposal give the best results vis-à-vis brand loyalty.