Service-provider retention and switching behaviour by ethnic minority consumers : the Portuguese community in Sydney

![CDATA[The viability of ethnic market targeting can be increased through high provider retention by customers. Concepts of loyalty and switching are explored and applied to a study of the Portuguese community in Sydney, Australia. Considering three classes of products, the aims are to examine motivations for provider retention and provider switching. This paper offers evidence of different rates of switching occurring between service products distinguished by their evaluation difficulty. The difference between the search class and the experience and credence classes points to a higher degree of retention in the latter, with approximately four out five ethnic minority consumers retaining their first provider in these classes. There are different reasons for switching that offer guidance in shaping targeting strategies. The reasons are primarily utilitarian in the case of search service-products, suggesting ethnic targeting strategies will be less effective compared to service-products high in credence or experience qualities. Reasons for current provider retention were examined from the perspective of switching costs. Retention of providers of experience and credence service-products appears to be a matter of avoiding relational costs, while consumers of search service-products appear to focus more on the procedural and financial costs.]]