Unit 11
P1
Describe the development of relationship marketing
I will be describing the development of relationship marketing which includes the
difficulty of attracting new customers, the cost of losing customers within Asda and
the importance of lifetime customers.
Relationship marketing is a marketing activity which is aimed at developing and
managing long term relationships with customers.
In relationship marketing, a sales database is used as the customers profile, buying
patterns and history of contacts needs to be managed. [Business Dictionary]
In order for business to maintain the customers they may need to adjust certain
things such as their products and services. For instance, an organisation such as
Asda may notice that they’re “chosen by you” products are not selling as well as they
should, therefore a change would be put into place. Asda may change the shape of
their products, or even the design of the product so that it can look more appealing to
the customers which will hopefully result in them purchasing the product(s). It is
important for organisations such as Asda to be able to meet their customers needs
and acknowledge and understand what they want and this can be done by
introducing products they may possibly want which will possibly increase the
chances of being the customers first choice. Developing a successful relationship
with customers will increase the organisation's profit as the customer will continue to
return and shop at Asda.
Businesses may find it difficult to attract new customers as they would have no
knowledge of the customers wants and needs. In addition, attracting new customers
may be costly as advertising would be necessary. Advertising varies from television
advertisements to posters on bus stops.
In addition, when it comes to attracting new customers the term “trial and error”
comes into place. For example, a customer may shop in Asda for the first time and
, may want to try something new and end up disliking the products after a few
purchases, this may affect the business as they may have ordered more than usual
as the organisation believed that it will all sell so money may be lost as the stock will
take a longer period of time to sell.
Lifetime customers are important as they are what hold the business up. In other
words, lifetime customers are the reason why most businesses are still thriving.
Relationship marketing is based on loyalty and consistency. Customers remain loyal
by continuously returning to shop at Asda and consistency is shown in the same
way.
Asda shows their appreciation to long term customers and attracts new customers
by incentives. Incentives are used to encourage and thank customers for being such
loyal customers. Asda has a club card which is “for their customer retention and
customer reward schemes which means the recipient can choose a gift they want”.
With Asda’s club card you are able to spend it on:
● Groceries in-store
● Electricals
● Home furnishings
● George clothing
● Games and entertainment
● Beauty and fragrance
● Music, film and books
● Beers, wines and spirits
Asda aims to make shopping cheaper for the average household which will attract
customers as they would want to save money. Asda aims to do this by cutting prices
and offering more in store deals. Multiple deals have been created by Asda which
may be known as “rollback” deals which are cut downs in the pricing of products.