Relationship marketing(RM) has applied in consumer markets in the late 1990s as it applied in service markets and industrial markets. Especially a retail firm can analyze the informations about customers in various and rapid ways thanks to computerizi...
Relationship marketing(RM) has applied in consumer markets in the late 1990s as it applied in service markets and industrial markets. Especially a retail firm can analyze the informations about customers in various and rapid ways thanks to computerizing nowadays. Therefore a retail firm trys to gain an advantage over the others by having a long-term trade an a long-term relationship with consumers in consumer markets and it stimulates RM in consumer markets to develop.
However, an empirical study on RM in consumer markets is rare in contrast with the theory on it.
This study will survey the application of RM in consumer markets in each type of retailing firms in empirical method.
The purpose of this study is to survey whether the application of RM is useful in consumer markets as it was useful in service markets and industrial markets and what cause factors of RM influence the performance factors of RM in consumer markets in each type of retailing firms.
In this study, the assumption that each factor of RM could influence the performance factors of RM in each type of retailing firms differently will become clear. And the assumption that the cause factors of RM could influence the quality factors of RM and they could exist will become clear. And also the assumption that the factors of the quality of RM could influence the performance factors of RM will become clear positively in empirical method.
So this study will show the difference in application of RM in consumer markets in each type of retailing firms.
In this study, the closeness to an employee, the interest in a customer, the fittings of a store the closeness of a store, the experience of the past in a store and opportunism were selected for the cause factors of RM. And the customer's trust, dependence and commitment on a store were selected for the quality factors of RM. And the customer's orientation for a long-term trade and a long-term relationship on a store were selected for the performance factors of RM.
The results of this study can be summed up as follows.
First, the assumption that the degree of the cause factors of RM could be different in each type of retailing firms was proved to be true.
Second, it was evident that there is an indissoluble connection between the cause factors of RM and the customer orientation for a long-term trade and a long-term relationship.
This study showed that the closeness to an employee, the interest in a customer, the fitting of a store, the closeness of a store and the experience of the past in a store except opportunism are included in the cause factors of RM.
Third, this study showed that the cause factors of RM have an effect on the quality factors of RM and they have an effect on the performance factors of RM, which has been shown in the study on RM in service markets and industrial markets.
Especially, it was evident that the trust and the commitment in quality of RM are closely related with the performance factors of RM. However, the dependence which has been in the quality factors of RM in service market and industrial markets was comparatively distantly related with the performance factors of RM.
Finally, it was evident that the cause factors of RM positively influence the quality factors and the performance factors of RM.
The results of this study in relation to the purpose present a number of important things.
First, one of them is whether the application of RM can be effective in consumer markets or not. The opinion that the application of RM is effective in consumer markets is more persuadable because it was evident that the cause factors of RM positively influence the performance factors of RM.
Second, in other to gain an advantage over the others by strategy of competition, a retail firm may make an effort which makes the consumer become a long-term customer. And the trust and the commitment for the consumer may be raised in order to achieve its purpose.
Third, it is necessary for a retail firm to strengthen the closeness to an employee, the interest in a customer, the closeness of a store, the fitting of a store which can be the direct measures and raise the trust and the commitment.
Fourth, on the application of cause factors of RM and the quality factors of RM in consumer markets, there was a difference in each type of retailing firms. It suggests that there is any possibility of a difference in the performance factors of RM in each type of retailing firms.
And it shows that RM can't be applied to all the types of retailing firms in the same way because the degree of effect and relevance on the performance factors of RM in consumer markets is different in each type of retailing firms.
The further researches on RM in consumer markets, first of all, need to study each cause factor of RM in detail and additional facts which could have an effect on the performance factors of RM.
On the other hand, it is needed to study RM in more various types of retailing firms in detail and RM for each consumer class or each product type.