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Reversing the Logic: The Path to Profitability through Relationship Marketing

Author

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  • Kumar, V.
  • Pozza, Ilaria Dalla
  • Petersen, J. Andrew
  • Shah, Denish

Abstract

Many firms have experienced greater success through implementing relationship marketing strategies. This is achieved by gaining knowledge about their own customers through database marketing and about the general marketplace through marketing research. Over time, this has led firms to adopt a general framework which we call the conventional path to profitability. This conventional framework suggests that new product innovation leads to acquisition, acquisition combined with a rich experience leads to satisfaction, satisfaction leads to loyalty and customer retention, and loyalty/retention leads to profitability. However, we show that some of the links in the framework are weak based on both academic research and marketplace realities. Consequently, we reverse the logic of the conventional path to profitability. We introduce a new approach that starts the customer relationship management strategy with customer profitability and the notion that different customers should be rewarded and satisfied differently. In addition, we outline a strategy that relationship marketing firms can implement, leading to higher levels of customer profitability and offer directions for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Kumar, V. & Pozza, Ilaria Dalla & Petersen, J. Andrew & Shah, Denish, 2009. "Reversing the Logic: The Path to Profitability through Relationship Marketing," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 147-156.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:joinma:v:23:y:2009:i:2:p:147-156
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intmar.2009.02.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. V. Kumar & Rajkumar Venkatesan & Tim Bohling & Denise Beckmann, 2008. "—The Power of CLV: Managing Customer Lifetime Value at IBM," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(4), pages 585-599, 07-08.
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    7. Blattberg, Robert C. & Malthouse, Edward C. & Neslin, Scott A., 2009. "Customer Lifetime Value: Empirical Generalizations and Some Conceptual Questions," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 157-168.
    8. Shankar, Venkatesh & Balasubramanian, Sridhar, 2009. "Mobile Marketing: A Synthesis and Prognosis," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 118-129.
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    Cited by:

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    5. Rémi Mencarelli & Carole Lombart, 2017. "Influences of the perceived value on actual repurchasing behavior: Empirical exploration in a retailing context," Post-Print hal-01592035, HAL.
    6. Lee, Hyoung-joo & Shin, Hyunjung & Hwang, Seong-seob & Cho, Sungzoon & MacLachlan, Douglas, 2010. "Semi-Supervised Response Modeling," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 42-54.
    7. Blattberg, Robert C. & Malthouse, Edward C. & Neslin, Scott A., 2009. "Customer Lifetime Value: Empirical Generalizations and Some Conceptual Questions," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 157-168.
    8. Aksoy, Lerzan & Buoye, Alexander & Aksoy, Pelin & Larivière, Bart & Keiningham, Timothy L., 2013. "A Cross-national Investigation of the Satisfaction and Loyalty Linkage for Mobile Telecommunications Services across Eight Countries," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 74-82.
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    10. Mencarelli, Rémi & Lombart, Cindy, 2017. "Influences of the perceived value on actual repurchasing behavior: Empirical exploration in a retailing context," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 12-21.
    11. Verhoef, Peter C. & Venkatesan, Rajkumar & McAlister, Leigh & Malthouse, Edward C. & Krafft, Manfred & Ganesan, Shankar, 2010. "CRM in Data-Rich Multichannel Retailing Environments: A Review and Future Research Directions," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 121-137.
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