This thesis analyses the topic customer card in the context of CRM but with specific reference to the German Textile Industry.
According to history Henry Ford mentioned with the introduction of the “Modell T” in 1908 that every customer could choose the colour of the car by himself as long as the chosen colour was black. He did that because black was easy to work with. Because of the non-existing competition during this time, companies did not have to operate towards consumer needs and were able to focus on the goods they produced.
Mass marketing was developed to reach out for as many customers as possible to sell the maximum amount of goods. In the late 1960s the quality of products became similar which changed the competitive situation. Companies were forced to differentiate from each other by creating customer benefits. Because of the rising variety, consumers started asking for products fitting their needs. New technology led to machines that were able to produce different types of products and mass customizing was born. To be able to individualize a product, a lot of information concerning the customer, needs to be collected. This process is called customer integration. Mass customizing has a one way communication from consumer to company. To create a dialog relationship, marketing was developed. The aim was to build a long-term relationship between company and customer, so that both sides generate a benefit. A rising profitability and a longer business relation were responsible for higher profits. Research led to the result that it is about seven times cheaper to keep a customer than generating new ones. According to further results, an increase of 5% in customer relationship can enable a profit increase between 20% and 120% by cross- and up-selling actions. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) describes this relationship process between a company and its customers. During the time of the relationship, customers are supposed to be bound to the company for as long as possible, so that they will not migrate to a competitor.
Different CRM-tools have been developed to achieve that goal. A common one is the customer card program. In Germany there are approximately up to 200 million customer cards in use at the moment.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- 1. Introduction
- 1.1. Problem definition
- 1.2. Aim and research objectives
- 1.3. Structure of thesis
- 2. Customer Relationship Management
- 2.1. Theoretical background
- 2.1.1. Definition of CRM
- 2.1.2. Types of bonds
- 2.1.3. Operative and analytic CRM
- 2.1.4. Customer satisfaction, trust, and commitment
- 2.1.5. Customer loyalty
- 2.2. Customer Life Cycle
- 2.3. Opportunities and risks
- 2.4. Instruments
- 3. Customer card
- 3.1. Theoretical background
- 3.2. History and development
- 3.3. Types and categorization
- 3.3.1. Open and closed systems
- 3.3.2. Stand-alone versus multi-partner-card
- 3.4. Functions
- 3.5. Objectives
- 4. CRM in the German Textile Industry
- 4.1. Market structure
- 4.2. Breuninger, P&C, H&M
- 4.2.1. Breuninger
- 4.2.2. Breuninger Card
- 4.2.3. Peek & Cloppenburg
- 4.2.4. Peek & Cloppenburg Card
- 4.2.5. Hennes & Mauritz
- 4.2.6. H&M Club
- 4.2.7. Comparison of programs
- 4.3. Additional loyalty tools in the German textile industry
- 4.4. Controlling
- 4.4.1. Costs using a customer card program
- 4.4.2. Returns using a customer card program
- 4.5. Regulatory framework
- 5. Opportunities and risks of customer cards
- 5.1. Opportunities
- 5.1.1. Card design, incentive structure, and service
- 5.1.2. Customer view of advantages and use of customer cards
- 5.1.3. Data evaluation
- 5.1.4. Securing staff support
- 5.1.5. Integration into corporate strategy
- 5.2. Risks
- 6. Diversification
- 6.1. Economic diversification
- 6.2. Social diversification
- 6.3. Technical diversification
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This thesis examines the use of customer cards as a tool for customer relationship management (CRM) in the German textile industry. It aims to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of customer cards for both retailers and customers, explore the various types of cards available, and discuss the key factors for successful implementation.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and its theoretical foundations
- Customer cards as a CRM tool in the German textile industry
- The benefits and challenges of using customer cards for retailers
- The impact of customer cards on customer behavior and satisfaction
- The integration of customer card programs into corporate strategies
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
- Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter introduces the research topic, defines the problem, and outlines the aims and objectives of the thesis. It also presents the structure of the work.
- Chapter 2: Customer Relationship Management
This chapter provides a theoretical overview of CRM, including its definition, types of bonds, operative and analytic CRM, customer satisfaction, trust, and commitment, and customer loyalty. It also discusses the customer life cycle and the opportunities and risks associated with CRM.
- Chapter 3: Customer card
This chapter delves into the theoretical background of customer cards, examining their history, development, types and categorization, functions, and objectives. It also explores different types of customer cards such as open and closed systems, stand-alone versus multi-partner-cards.
- Chapter 4: CRM in the German Textile Industry
This chapter analyzes the market structure of the German textile industry and examines the implementation of customer card programs by major retailers such as Breuninger, Peek & Cloppenburg, and H&M. It compares the different programs and discusses additional loyalty tools used in the industry. This chapter also analyzes the controlling of costs and returns using a customer card program and the regulatory framework surrounding customer card programs.
- Chapter 5: Opportunities and risks of customer cards
This chapter explores the potential benefits and challenges of using customer cards for retailers and customers. It examines the opportunities related to card design, incentive structures, customer perception, data evaluation, and staff support. It also explores the risks associated with customer card programs, such as data security, customer privacy, and program complexity.
- Chapter 6: Diversification
This chapter investigates the potential for diversification of customer card programs in terms of economic, social, and technical factors.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The key terms and concepts explored in this thesis include Customer Relationship Management (CRM), customer cards, loyalty programs, textile industry, German market, market structure, customer behavior, data analysis, data security, customer privacy, diversification, and integration into corporate strategies.
- Quote paper
- Claus Hombrecher (Author), 2016, Customer Card as a Tool for CRM in the German Textile Industry, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/458055
