Ms Recovery And Use Of Relationship Management Marketing Essay

We are living in a dynamic world today where only change is constant. Many successful organizations have been collapsed, for not responding to change, never to rise again. What made me to choose Marks & Spencer for my research proposal is that M&S has seen climax then downfall and is now rising again, so there is a potential for my research proposal to discuss the importance and validity of Relationship Management, CRM and Relationship Marketing and the policies, tactics, measures, ideas and strategies which are and may be helpful for Marks & Spencer to regain its triumph. In this research proposal customer satisfaction and loyalty will be discussed. Importance and validity of Relationship Management is mainly focused.

Importance of the study

This research proposal will give me a chance to study, learn, evaluate and analyse various issues and factors involved in the success and failure of Marks & Spencer and are crucial for other organizations as well. Marks & Spencer is believed to be back on track using new strategies to respond their external environment and for customer satisfaction. And what is the role of Relationship management, CRM and Relationship Marketing in the growth of business and increasing the turnover. M&S is one of the top retailer and famous brand in the UK and in many countries of the world. It would really help me to see things from different angles and to utilize the findings and experiences in practical and professional life.

Objectives

This study has four main objectives. The aim was to investigate that how M&S is recovering and utilizing the Relationship Management tools like Customer Relationship Management and Relationship Marketing.

To obtain useful data, questions were designed to be in line with the objectives.

Objective 1:What is the role of Relationship Management in customer satisfaction and loyalty?

The respondents will be asked: have Marks and Spencer informing you of promotions etc contacted you?

What do you think of M & S advertisements? Have you ever decided to visit the store because you were motivated by the message or offer?

What do you think of M & S website? Is it easy to use?

What do you think of M & S having its cards (loyalty card and/or credit card)? If you have one, does that encourage you to shop more often?

These questions will be asked to determine the relationship management of M&S that how M&S is interacting with its customers and how they are being managed. At the same time these questions aimed to find out the effectiveness of management tools (CRM and Relationship Marketing) being used by M&S to establish good relations to its customers and ultimately to achieve loyalty.

Objective 2: How much satisfied customers do M&S has?

The respondents will be asked: What is your experience of service? How it is better or worse than other places you visit?

Shops are decorated to create customer friendly environment. Do you think that M & S gives you that feeling when you walk into that?

Do you think that M & S is better now than it was before? If yes, what changes have you noticed?

These questions aimed to find out the level of customer satisfaction while they shop with M&S. In addition, these questions helped to have an idea about the feelings and experiences of customers who prefer to go to M&S stores and what is the level of satisfaction when they come out of the store.

Objective 3: What makes the customers to be loyal to M&S?

The respondents will be asked: Do you feel loyalty towards Marks and Spencer? Are you thinking or have you considered switching to another name recently?

This question was asked to determine the loyalty of M&S customers and to find out the incentives for the loyalty if respondent is willing to relate. Further more answer to this question gave an idea that why M&S is their first choice, despite they have more options and price is always a factor.

Objective 4: Is the customer service in store just good or exceptional?

The respondents will be asked: How do you find the staff? Do you find them extremely helpful, good or not good enough to represent M & S?

How easy do you find it to pay for your goods? Does the staff at checkouts makes you feel any better or they just do their job mechanically?

These questions were designed to judge the customers’ perception and experience of customer service in M&S stores. It was about customers’ response to the level of service offered by M&S. These questions are also important because customer service and staff attitude in any sort of business plays a vital role in customer retention and loyalty

Literature Review

This literature review aims to look at literature in Relationship Management, CRM and Relationship Marketing. The emphasis has been to focus on the aspects that are relevant to the objectives of the overall research to see whether these areas tend to achieve what they are intended for. Whether the impact of these strategies is negative or positive is also explained through everyday examples. Another area of discussion is whether these strategies really add ‘value’ to the product or services. Previous surveys and recent studies have been looked into, compared and, where possible, contrasted to see if all these strategies work for all situations alike. The importance of Relationship Management is also viewed in the light of successes and failures and relevant literature is discussed comprehensively. Main focus has been academic journals articles but magazines and the Internet has also been consulted to keep the literature up to date.

Relationship Management

Organizations are the bodies of people that work together for a particular set of purposes. Whatever their purpose is, they are social system, full of people who have ambitions. These people have the usual spread of human strength, reserves of energy and creativity that the organization can utilize. They form relationship with each other and with suppliers, Customers and Consumers. These relationships have important consequences. These social systems interact with their environment, buying or leasing space, purchasing inputs, selling products or services. If they are commercial organizations, they must meet the financial expectations of their founders or of financial institutions that may own their shares.

According to the oxford dictionary, relationship is a noun, which means the way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected. Another definition states that it is the way in which two or more people or groups regard and behave towards each other.

An organization has its relations with suppliers, creditors, debtors, customers, shareholders and other stakeholders.

A relationship that is the core of the advancement towards a state where goals become same with a slight difference of magnitude. A customer thinking about the satisfaction of his needs and he falls somewhere in the hierarchy of needs as per defined by Maslow in his famous hierarchy of needs. Needs ranging from biological needs to the utmost self-realization and actualisation. So is the case on the other side of the relationship where the host is a company or and entity which is the significant part of this paradigm. Both agree to disagree to form a state where the needs on both sides keep creeping to the utmost needs as mentioned above.

A relationship is needed when the objective is same. So flexibility on both sides with a range of decision-making and contingencies tactics not only helps to define each other but also to make them both each other’s need. This state needs something synergetic, something beyond the 2+2=4. A relationship orientation implies that the focus of marketing is on retaining customers by maintaining and strengthening win-win relationships over time (Payne and Frow, 1997; Gro¨nroos, 1990; Tzokas and Saren, 1996; Daskou, 1997; Berry, 1983). Though it is the case, but every side wants to see the final score as 5.This synergy develops the strong communication between the customer and the host.

Range of products in both service and production sides have made it easy for the companies to target their clients but on the other side it has immensely pressurized the companies to keep their goals CUSTOMER CENTERED. The notion ‘customer is always right’ to ‘customer and boss are always correct’ has proved it much synthesized two-way communication. The concept is not to share only the gains, its more sharing the pains. Its not only being jubilant on my annual sales targets, but to be concerned about the next day after the years end. It’s not only the passion to conquer the market but to conquer hearts. It’s a psychological give and take procedure where my gain is customer’s gain.

Customer Relationship Management / Relationship Marketing

CRM is a highly fragmented environment and has come to mean different things to different people (McKie, 2000). One view of CRM is the utilization of customer related information or knowledge to deliver relevant products or services to customers (Levine, 2000).

CRM in simple words is the way of building relationship with customers and to know as much as possible about the needs, demands and expectations of customer. Its about revolutionizing the way the business is done in an organization. Managing customer relationships effectively and efficiently boosts customer

Satisfaction and retention rates (Reichheld, 1996). Customer is the lifeblood for most of the businesses so relationship with customer is very important. There is lot of literature by the scholars that describe the importance and the ways how an organization can add value and benefit from Customer Relationship Management and/or Relationship Marketing.

The need for relationship marketing stems from the changing dynamics of the global marketplace and the expanding requirements for competitive success (Rich 2000). Literature seems to agree that the relationship approach is an emerging perspective in marketing literature (Gummerson 1997; Moller and Halien 2000). Scott (1995) stated the progression of relationship marketing by suggesting that “Relationship selling moves the dyadic exchange associated with personal selling from a short-term transaction orientation to a life-long process where immediate closings might be postponed on the basis of more effectively meeting customer needs”, as Yau et al. (1999) stated “The primary impetus behind the concept of relationship marketing is to foster a long-term relationship and thereby create repeat purchases”.

Wilson and Jantrania (1996) found that although relationship marketing is a relatively new concept, the whole idea of relationship is not when stating that “The importance of creating relationships is not a new concept, but to use relationships as a strategic weapon is”.

Figure Shows the position of Relationship marketing in comparison to other stems of research.

Ulrich (1989) compounded this thought when stating: “Satisfied customers are pleased, humoured and fulfilled; committed customers are dedicated and faithful”. An aspect of commitment is needed to bring the loyal customers into a relationship plan.