The influence of perceived value to customer loyalty with customer satisfaction as an intervening variable on ESSE Brand Users in Manado

In today's competitive business landscape, establishing and maintaining customer loyalty is crucial for the sustained success of brands. This study aims to shed light on how perceived value influences customer loyalty, and how customer satisfaction mediates this relationship. The study employs 100 respondents to gather comprehensive insights from ESSE Brand Users in Manado. The findings show that the perceived value is significant on customer satisfaction but not for customer loyalty while the customer satisfaction is significant on customer loyalty. By exploring the interplay between perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty within the context of ESSE Brand Users in Manado, the study aims to provide valuable insights for marketing practitioners to enhance their strategies. Understanding how perceived value and customer satisfaction impact customer loyalty can help businesses tailor their offerings and customer service to build stronger brand loyalty among ESSE users in this specific market.


Introduction
Today's era, companies are required to respond to changes, in order to survive in their respective business areas.The main problem that today's companies faces is how the company can attract and keep customers loyal to the company, so that the company can develop and survive.Companies have to compete for customers.Thus, the Company must make the process of marketing to achieve their goals.The development of cigarettes industry nowadays is very quickly along with the challenges of an increasingly competitors, potential customers, growing population (especially in Indonesia) and taxation, these factors encourages companies to become more competitive.
The ESSE cigarettes brand was established in 1996 under a huge South Korean cigarettes company known as KT&G or PT Korea Tomorrow & Global broke into Indonesian market for the first time in 2004 with sales reaching 120 million cigarettes.KT&G itself is the largest cigarette company in South Korea and is included in the top five world cigarette manufacturers.The company's products are currently sold in more than 50 countries, including Indonesia.However, being in the top five cigarettes in the world doesn't mean it can dominate the Indonesia's cigarettes market share.So, in this past few years, ESSE is trying to shows their determination to get to the top by rebranding itself to match with the new market that are still growing in Indonesia which is the millennials and gen z market.They determine to strengthen their value to attract new customer and to maintain their loyalty to ESSE brand.
With the increase in the number of brands, each existing cigarette brand is competing to become the first choice of customers by improving its quality, innovation and promoting it to a large audience.The quality of a cigarettes brand is important because it relates to the level of customer satisfaction which will impact on maintaining the brand's market share.According to Buttle and Burton (2002), costs and benefits are related to the quality of a brand; customer retention, customer satisfaction and positive word of mouth marketing as well related to quality of a brand.
A brand can't last long without customer loyalty, and that's why it is known that customer loyalty is an important factor for a brand.Loyalty has meaning that although customers finds dissatisfaction in a product but still choose one brand over the others and can accept the negative and positive sides of the products.
Through experience or learning that has been obtained by customers for a product quality they have obtained as well purchases made continuously is the basis of the formation of customer loyalty.In a particular business or organization, customer loyalty plays an important role.Customer behavior component and customer attitude components are part of loyalty.Meanwhile, Saravanakumar and Jayakrishnan (2014) argue that company recommendations by customers to other people, use of goods or products in the long term as well as purchasing more of goods or services by customers is a behavioral aspect of customer loyalty.
Achieving the goals of every company or business is the desire of every organization involved.Customer satisfaction, product accessibility, increased sales, product awareness as well as growth are various kinds of goals that everyone wants to achieve in a brand.The business goal is also inseparable from maximizing profits.The customer satisfaction level that has a connection with customer loyalty is one of the levels in profit maximization.In all the efforts made by the company to achieve, customer loyalty is one of the indicators in this objective.According to Odunlami and Matthew (2015), customer loyalty can be measured through customer satisfaction because Customer loyalty is directly related to customer satisfaction.
Perceived value is a multidimensional construct that comprises customers' assessment of the benefits they receive from a product or service relative to the costs they incur.Perceived value related to promotion strategy, product quality, communication quality, interpersonal, trust and customer satisfaction variables that have an influence on the level of customer loyalty.Customers who feel or perceive positively from the product and recommend it to other people continuously with desire to purchase again means loyal customers.The variables to be examined in this study are perceived value and customer loyalty through customer satisfaction.Feelings of comfort and satisfaction from customers arise from good product quality.Consumer loyalty will be created when customer satisfaction increases obtained, this can be achieved with good brand's product quality, if customers have long been consumers of the brand then consumer loyalty can get even higher.According to Daniawati et al. (2023), high loyalty is also influenced by the duration a person becomes a participant in an institution or organization.
To achieve customer loyalty, it needs something that attracts the attention of customers, maintains a good product quality and innovation this also related to Perceived Value.Based on the customer's perception of what has been given for customers, customers will make an assessment related to product quality, emotional value, product benefits, price and social of the overall assessment on the product is a perceived value (Iskandar & Bernarto, 2021).The customer's desire or interest to return and make a purchase is in the value of this loyalty.
When a transaction occurs between companies that offering products to customers that are comparable in terms of benefits is the reason a perceived value occurs.
Despite the significant impact of perceived value on customer loyalty in various industries, there is a notable dearth of study investigating the relationship between perceived value and customer loyalty among cigarette users.
Additionally, while customer satisfaction is widely acknowledged as a key mediating factor in the loyalty process, its role as an intervening variable between perceived value and customer loyalty specifically in the context of cigarette users remains largely unexplored.Addressing the gap is crucial to gain a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms that drive customer loyalty among cigarette users, informing effective marketing strategies and potentially contributing to public health initiatives and tobacco control policies.
Based on the several problems had been questioned above, the objectives of this study can be formulated as follows.

Marketing
According to Kotler and Keller (2012), marketing is the recognition and fulfillment of human and societal needs.Marketing may be defined as "profitably meeting needs."According to the American Marketing Association (2014), marketing is both an activity and a process. of producing, communicating, delivering, and exchanging services that provide value for customers, client partners, and society at large.Moreover, marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.Marketing involves satisfying customer needs.If the marketer understands consumer needs, develop products that provide superior value and prices, distributes, and promotes them effectively, these products will sell very easily.Marketing deals with costumers.Building customer relationship based on customer value and satisfaction is at the very heart of modern marketing.
Marketing is managing profitable customer relationship.The goal of marketing is to attract new customers by promising superior value and to keep grow current customers by delivering satisfaction (Scheff & Kotler, 1996).

Perceived value
Perceived value is the result or benefit received by the customer related to the total cost (McDougall & Lvesque, 2000).Simply put that value is the difference between benefits and costs received by customers.Received benefit is a combination of elements including physical attributes, service and technical support obtained when using product (Lunarindiah, 2016).

Customer loyalty
Customer loyalty is important in business because it can improve financial performance and ensure the company's viability.Loyalty is described as a strong commitment to purchase or subscribe to a particular good or service in the future, despite the fact that the situation and marketing efforts may impact the behavior (Kotler & Keller, 2012).Customer loyalty refers to the degree to which a customer is committed to purchasing products or services from a particular company or brand repeatedly over time.It is the result of positive experiences with the company, its products, or its services, leading to a sense of trust, emotional attachment, and an ongoing relationship between the customer and the brand.

Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is the measure of how well a product or service meets or exceeds customer expectations.It is the overall evaluation of the experience a customer has had with a business, including the product or service itself, as well as the interactions with the company's employees or representatives.Customer satisfaction is important for businesses because it directly affects customer loyalty and retention, as well as their reputation and profitability.When a customer is satisfied with a product or service, they are more likely to become a repeat customer and to recommend the product or service to others.
Previous research Hapsari et al. (2016).This study aims to investigate the interrelationship among service quality, perceived value and customer satisfaction.The data were collected from 5-star Indonesian Airline from Surabaya and Malang, East Java Province, Indonesia.The two hundred of observed data was used to test the hypothesis.The data were analyzed by using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.The results illustrate that perceived value plays a partial mediating role between the service quality and customer satisfaction.Khasbulloh and Suparna (2022).The results show that all hypotheses were accepted.Perceived risk has a negative and significant effect on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Perceived value has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Customer satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction plays a significant role in mediating the influence between perceived risk and perceived value on customer loyalty.The implementation of this study shows that in creating customer loyalty, the Bukalapak's management is expected to be able to optimize the risk and value perceived by consumers, as well as customer satisfaction which can also increase customer loyalty.Mainardes and Freitas (2023).The findings, on the one hand, indicate that banks' investments in customer satisfaction, empathy, price and competence tend to generate positive results by expanding customer loyalty in addition to the return on similar investments made by Fintechs.On the other hand, when Fintechs invest in reliability, they tend to capture better results in increasing customer satisfaction compared to traditional banks.The comparison of the effect of the dimensions of perceived value on satisfaction and loyalty between traditional banks and Fintechs stands out, which is a novelty in the literature.
This comparison can support strategies that aim to strengthen relationships with customers and increase the recurrence of business, both for traditional banks and Fintechs.Figure 1 describes the conceptual framework of this study with hypothesis noted as follows.
H1: the perceived value has an effect on customer satisfaction H2: the perceived value has an effect on customer loyalty H3: the customer satisfaction has an effect on customer loyalty H4: the perceived value has effect on customer loyalty through customer satisfaction as intervening

Method
The data for this study will be gathered through the use of a quantitative approach.According to Sugiyono (2013), quantitative methods can be interpreted as a research method based on the philosophy of positivism, used to examine specific populations or samples, data collection using research instruments, quantitative/statistical data analysis, with the aim to test hypotheses which has been set.In order to determine the direct influence of independent variables (X), such as perceived value and customer satisfaction, on dependent variables (Y),

H2
such as customer loyalty, a survey method was used as the primary source of primary data by distributing questionnaires.
In this study, the population as the sample used is all ESSE cigarette users in Manado with total 100 respondents.Sekaran and Bougie (2016) define population as "the entire group of people, events, or things of interest that the researcher wishes to investigate".It is a collection of people, events, or things of interest about which the researcher wishes to draw conclusions based on sample statistics.Purposive sampling is a sampling technique with certain considerations, where researchers have made certain criteria based on the characteristics of the subject that will be used as research samples.The criteria used in the selection of the sample that the respondents have been using ESSE cigarette product with minimum of a year in Manado.The primary data in this study were obtained using a instrument, in the form of a questionnaire and secondary data obtained using literature study.Table 1 presents the definition of operational of variables for this study.Validity test is used to measure whether or not a questionnaire is valid (Ghozali, 2017).One questionnaire is declared valid if the questions on the questionnaire are able to reveal something that will be measured by the questionnaire.Reliability testing in this study will use the Cronbach Alpha formula.A questionnaire is said to be reliable if the value is > 0.6.In normality test, the distribution of data with normal distribution pattern (data distribution is not skewed to the left or right) while if the probability value > 0.05 then population is normally distributed.Sugiyono (2013) defines path analysis as a subset of regression model that can be used to investigate the causal relationships between two variables.The regression equation, in the form of a structural equation of this study shows the hypothesized relationship as follows.
On equations, X is perceived value, Z is customer satisfaction, and Y is customer loyalty.As the coefficient for perceived value (X) in equation 1 is standardized, the value P1 is obtained and while in equation 2, the coefficients for perceived value (X) and customer satisfaction (Z) will yield P 2 and P 3 values.

Direct effect of X to Y = P 2
The indirect effect of X to Z to Y = P 1 x P 3 Total effect (correlation) X to Y = P 2 + (P 1 x P 3 )

Result
Table 2 shows that the Pearson's correlation for all indicator statement items of the perceived value (X), customer satisfaction (Z), and customer loyalty (Y) is significant.Those results indicate that the entire items of the variables are valid.shows that the answer of respondents to statements on questionnaire have been consistent over time.Table 5 shows the value of the Variance Influence Factor (VIF) of the results has been carried out on the perceived value and customer satisfaction less than 10 with tolerances more than 0.100.Those results indicate that there is no correlation between perceived value and customer satisfaction.Thus, it can be concluded that the two independent variables are free from multicollinearity.  2 shows that the distribution of the dots on the scatterplot graph above and below the Y axis and do not form a clear pattern.
Thus, it can conclude that the analytical model used in the research does not have heteroscedasticity.
Table 6 shows that the model for Eq. 1 is Z = 6.174 + 0.797X which can be interpreted as follows: (1) the constant value is 6.174 means that if the perceived value (X) is equal to 0 then the customer satisfaction (Z) is 6.174; and (2) the regression coefficient value for the perceived value (X) has a positive value of 0.797.This shows that if the perceived value increases by 1% then customer satisfaction will increase by 0.797 assuming the other independent variables are held constant.A positive sign means that it shows a unidirectional influence between perceived value and customer satisfaction.This condition shows that the better perceived value is carried out the greater the customer satisfaction on ESSE Brand Users in Manado.The result also shows that perceived value (X) is 0.000 (less than 0.05) so it can be concluded that hypothesis 1 is accepted or perceived value has an effect on customer satisfaction.The F test shows statistic 228.381 and significant at level of 0.05 which means the model between the perceived value (X) and customer satisfaction (Z) is declared fit or feasible.
The regression test also shows that the model for Eq. 2 is Y = 3.999-0.003X+0.685Zwhich can be interpreted as follows: (1) the constant value is 3.999 which states that if the perceived value (X) and customer satisfaction (Z) are both equal to 0 then the customer loyalty (Y) is 3.999; (2) the coefficient for the perceived value (X) has a value of -0.003 which means that if the perceived value increases by 1% then customer loyalty will decrease by 0.003 assuming the other independent variables are held constant.A negative sign means that it shows a bidirectional influences between perceived value and customer loyalty on ESSE Brand Users in Manado.This condition shows that the better perceived value is carried out, the lower the customer loyalty on ESSE Brand Users in Manado; and (3) the coefficient for the customer satisfaction (Z) has a positive value of 0.638 which means that if the customer satisfaction increases by 1% then customer loyalty will increase by 0.638 assuming the other independent variables are held constant.A positive sign means unidirectional influences between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty on ESSE Brand Users in Manado.This condition shows that the higher the customer satisfaction will increase the customer loyalty on ESSE Brand Users in Manado.It can be stated that the perceived value (X) have a negative effect on customer loyalty (Y), while customer satisfaction (Z) have a positive and significant effect on customer loyalty (Y).Furthermore, the findings show that the significant value of perceived value (X) is 0.988 so the hypothesis 2 is rejected and it can be concluded that perceived value has no significant effect on customer loyalty directly.Otherwise, the significant value of customer satisfaction (Y) is 0.003 so the hypothesis 3 is accepted and it can be concluded that customer satisfaction has an effect on customer loyalty.The F test shows statistic 15.300 and significant at level of 0.05 which means the model between the perceived value (X), customer satisfaction (Z), and customer loyalty (Y) is declared fit or feasible.
Table 7 shows the result of path analysis where the perceived value is significant on customer satisfaction but not customer loyalty.The test results also show that customer satisfaction has a significant effect on customer loyalty.It can be concluded that perceived value has indirect effect on customer loyalty through customer satisfaction, but in case of direct effect perceived value signs no significant effect on ESSE Brand Users in Manado.By path analysis, the direct influence of the perceived value on customer loyalty on ESSE Brand Users in Manado (P 2 ) is -0.002 while the indirect effect (P 1 x P 3 ) is 0.411(or 0.837 x 0.492).
The total influence of perceived value directly or by intervening of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty is calculated as (P 2 ) + [(P 1 ) x (P 3 )] or -0.002+0.411 which gives total of 0.409.

Discussion
The influence of perceived value on customer satisfaction Based on the test results, it shows that the significance level of perceived value is 0,000 while the significance level has a smaller value than Alpha (0.05), which is 0.000.Thus, it can be concluded that the perceived value variable has a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction on ESSE Brand Users in Manado, which means that Perceived Value have influence on ESSE Brand Users in Manado.This result supported by Liljander and Strandvik (1995) who argue that perceived value has an influence on satisfaction.Others argue that customer perceived value presents enhancement in customer satisfaction (Fornell et al., 1996;Bojanic, 1996).The finding of this study is supported by Wang (2014) and Yang (2016) which confirmed that the positive impact of perceived value on satisfaction.
The influence of perceived value on customer loyalty Chiguvi and Guruwo (2017) about the impact of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty in the banking sector and based on the result customer satisfaction and customer loyalty has a positive and significant effect.Also, the result of this study is consistent with Ooi et al. (2018).
The influence of perceived value on customer loyalty with customer satisfaction as an intervening variable The test results show that perceived value has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction with a significant level of 0,000 < 0,05, but when it came to direct approach of perceived value to customer loyalty turns out to be negative and no significant effect on customer loyalty with a significant level of 0,998 > 0,05, while customer satisfaction has a positive and significant effect to the customer loyalty with a significant level of 0.003 < 0.05.This condition shows that customer satisfaction can be used as a intervening variable for the influence of perceived value on customer loyalty on ESSE Brand Users in Manado.It can be seen from the result that the indirect effect is 0.411, while the direct effect is -0.002 so that the total effects of perceived value on customer loyalty with customer satisfaction as an intervening variable on ESSE Brand Users in Manado are 0. 409.In summary, when customer satisfaction is used as an intervening variable, it serves as the bridge between perceived value and customer loyalty.
The positive influence of perceived value on customer satisfaction reflects customers' perception that they are receiving a good deal, quality, and value for their money, leading to increased satisfaction and subsequently higher loyalty to the brand.

Conclusion
The customer to customer loyalty when we include customer satisfaction as an intervening variable.It can be said that perceived value has an important role in influencing the customer loyalty of ESSE users in Manado when we include customer satisfaction as an intervening variable.This study recommends that given the independent variables is very important in the influence towards ESSE's perceived value then it is hoped that the further researchers or marketers to complement with other variables.For universities, this study can be used as a reference for developing new ideas that can be implemented in marketing and promotional studies

Figure
Figure 1.Conceptual Framework

Finally, Figure 3
describes the influence of perceived value either directly or indirectly on customer loyalty intervening by customer satisfaction.

Figure
Figure 3. Path analysis results of this research have shown that the perceived value has a positive effect on customer satisfaction ESSE brand users in Manado.It can be said that perceived value has an important role in influencing the customer satisfaction of ESSE users in Manado.This study has shown that the perceived value is not partially or directly influenced customer loyalty of ESSE users in Manado.It can be said that perceived value has no effect in influencing the customer loyalty of ESSE users in Manado.It means if perceived value increases, it does not give guarantee the customer loyalty will increases as well.The customer satisfaction has a positive effect on customer loyalty of ESSE users in Manado.It can be said that customer satisfaction has an important role in influencing the customer loyalty of ESSE users in Manado.The perceived value has a positive effect on

Table 6 . Regression tests
Uns is unstandardized coefficients and St is standardized coefficients.

Table 7 . Path analysis
Based on the test results, it shows that the significance level of Perceived Value variable (X1) is 0.988 while the significance level has a value greater than Alpha (0.05), at 0.988.Thus, it can be concluded that the Perceived Value variable has no effect towards Customer Loyalty on ESSE brand users in Manado, which means that Perceived Value are not have influence on Perceived Value on ESSE brand users.These contradict with the previous research of Ernilawati and