Customer Relationship Management in Online Companies - Research Paper Example

The paper "Customer Relationship Management in Online Companies" is a perfect example of a management research paper. According to Yufan (2014), online businesses and online shopping are on the rise and the growth in online businesses indicate the compelling advantages that online business environment offers over the customary brick-and-mortar stores and this includes more flexibility, improved market outreach, more convenient and quicker transactions among other benefits. However, online business comes with various challenges such as stiff competition since it is very easy for customers to compare prices while shopping online. The fierce competition is a threat to brand loyalty (Tehra, 2014). Customer loyalty is perceived as the key to business profitability. Therefore, online web stores must maintain customer relationship since brand loyalty is the most vital resource of brand capital. Aileen (2006) explained that establishing and developing brand loyalty implies deep interactions with customers. The center of brand strategy should focus on the relationships between the brand and the customers, which means nurturing customer loyalty. Customers who are extremely satisfied with the products or service have a high likelihood of repeat buying and eventually become loyal customers. To achieve this, it is important to maintain a relationship with customers. Marketing practices show that satisfied customers might not always be loyal customers (Aîda & Pierre, 2010). However, customer satisfaction is undeniably the foundation of customer loyalty. This paper, therefore, seeks to find out the customer relationship management strategies that companies use to maintain customer loyalty in online web-stores. In addition, this thesis will discuss the relationship between customer relationship management and brand loyalty. Actually, customer relationship management is a management philosophy as well as an automatic management system and the focus is always on the customer and cultivating good relations with the customers. The study has undertaken a qualitative, explorative study design to find out the customer relationship management strategies that companies use to maintain customer loyalty in online web-stores.