Assessing the determinants of customer retention in a multinational company: a case of Said Salim Bakhresa & Co Ltd in Tanzania

Retention of customers has always been difficult in various companies, finding new a customer has been a major problem and expensive than keeping them. This study intended to assess determinant of the customer retention in multinational manufacturing Company in Tanzania specifically in wheat flour milling industry. The study specifically intended to assess the determinants of customer retention in a milling industry that is SSB & Co. Ltd in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The determinants of customer retention that were assessed in this study included quality; timely delivery and complaint handling have influenced customer retention directly or indirectly in the company. A survey research methodology was used to collect data from SSB clients. Data were collected by using administered structured questionnaires from a sample of clients of SSB & Co. Ltd in Dar es Salaam who were the bakery owners, agents and wholesalers. The sample size was 70 respondents who were grouped into bakeries (27 respondents), wholesalers (27 respondents) and 16 agents of the company. Data were analyzed quantitatively by SPSS where chi-square tests for independence, correlation and regression analyses were used for data analysis. More precisely, the Chi-square findings showed that, there was an association between product quality and customer retention, there was an association between multilevel price and customer retention and that there was an association between multilevel price and customer retention. Multiple regression analysis also proved that product quality and on time delivery are more have a greater influence on customer retention than multilevel price. In that end therefore, the study suggests that, for firms to determine customer retention in multinational companies, product quality and on time delivery should be given priority.