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1.1 Problem Statement
For many years, successful neighborhood merchants, restaurants and pubs had real customer relationships. They knew their customers personally, understood what they wanted, and, as best they could, satisfied their needs through personalized service. As a result, they earned loyalty and a large share of their customers′ business. Some of the best examples of building customer loyalty can be found in those traditional small businesses.
Now the question arises how customer relationships can be built in the world of E-Business. E-Business - the buying and selling of products and services over the Web - and its impact is comparable with the industrial revolution at the end of the last century. After hysteric times of E-Business startups and well known bursting bubbles the point of disillusion has come. Some internet companies recognize that traditional business concepts are not necessarily outdated. Acquiring customers on the international marketplace of E-Business is enormously expensive and unless those customers stick around and make lots of repeat purchases over the years, profit will remain uncertain. For lasting success companies have to intensify their efforts towards customer loyalty and customer relationship management. Without loyalty even the best-designed E-Business model will collapse. This leads to the following objective.
1.2 Objective
The objectives of the thesis are
-to combine the concept of customer loyalty with the characteristics of E-Business
-show how companies can build loyalty with customer relationship management
1.3 Relevance of the Topic
1.3.1 Theoretical Relevance
Concerning E-Business there exists plenty of literature mainly from a technical point of view. The drawback is that although loyalty and relationships are seen as very important factors in the context of international business, the question has obtained scarce attention in literature about E-Business. Existing studies in this area mainly have descriptive character or try to offer quick-fix over-optimistic internet solutions, which become obsolete pretty fast. The contribution of this thesis is to fill that gap and offer a more conceptual/systematic as well as critical perspective.
The thesis
-Transfers the concept of relationship management into the environment of E-Business
-Points out potential conflicts
-Demonstrates benefits and show ways to increase online customer-loyalty
1.3.2 Practical Relevance
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Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Problem Statement
- Objective
- Relevance of the Topic
- Theoretical Relevance
- Practical Relevance
- Literature Review and Theoretical Framework
- State of Research: Descriptive instead of Conception
- Methodology
- Definition and Limitation of Research Topic
- Research Structure
- Loyalty and Customer Relationship Management
- Definition of Loyalty and Relationship Management
- Benefits of Relationship Management & Customer Loyalty
- Transactional View versus Relationship View
- The Evolution of Relationship Management
- General Approaches to Relationship Management
- IMP Interaction Approach
- Five-phase Profit Chain by Bruhn
- Dynamic Framework by Dwyer, Schurr & Oh
- Evaluation Criteria for a Concept of Relationship Management
- Chosen Concept
- Definition of Loyalty and Relationship Management
- International E-Business
- Definition of E-Business
- Value Adding Characteristics/Opportunities of E-Business
- Interactivity, Dialogue, Individuality
- Customer-Integration and Innovation
- Changing Structure of the Value-adding Process
- Market-pull and Customized-push instead of Market-push
- Global, 24-hour Access
- Customer Loyalty and International E-Business
- New Model for Customer Loyalty & Relationship Management in E-Business
- Individuality and Interactivity during the Relationship Process
- E-Business Relationship Process
- Stage 1: First Contact - Online Surfer
- Stage 2: Customer Satisfaction - Online Buyer
- Stage 3: Customer Loyalty
- Stage 4: Customer Retention - Repeat Business Contacts
- Stage 5: Economic success & Long-term Profitability
- Influencing factors: External and Internal
- Instruments for Customer Loyalty in the World of E-Business
- Knowing your Customers - Customer Profiles & Database
- Online Communities
- Complaint Management System
- Membership Clubs
- Datamining
- Customer-Integrated Product Innovation
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This thesis aims to explore the concept of customer loyalty and its application within the context of international e-business. The main objective is to develop a new model for managing customer relationships in the online environment, considering the unique characteristics and challenges of the digital marketplace.- The evolution of customer relationship management and its adaptation to the e-business context
- The role of interactivity, individuality, and customer integration in building online customer loyalty
- The development of a multi-stage relationship process for e-business, encompassing stages like first contact, satisfaction, loyalty, retention, and long-term profitability
- The identification and analysis of key instruments and strategies for fostering customer loyalty in the e-business environment
- The exploration of the impact of external and internal factors on customer loyalty and relationship management in e-business.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The thesis begins with an introduction to the research topic, outlining the problem statement, research objective, and its theoretical and practical relevance. Chapter two delves into the literature review and theoretical framework, examining the existing state of research on customer loyalty and its application in e-business. Chapter three provides a comprehensive exploration of loyalty and customer relationship management, defining key concepts, outlining benefits, and discussing various approaches to relationship management. Chapter four focuses on international e-business, defining its key characteristics and examining how its unique opportunities influence customer loyalty. Chapter five presents the core contribution of the thesis by developing a new model for customer loyalty and relationship management in e-business. It outlines the relationship process, analyzes influencing factors, and explores key instruments for fostering customer loyalty in the digital environment.Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The main focus topics of this thesis are customer loyalty, relationship management, international e-business, online customer experience, interactivity, individuality, and customer-integrated innovation. The work examines the application of these concepts in building and sustaining long-term customer relationships within the digital marketplace.- Citation du texte
- Wolfgang Katsch (Auteur), 2001, International E-Business – Building Online Customer Loyalty with Relationship Management, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/550
