Retailer Relationships - Essay Example

Out of all the different brands of retailers in the US, the most influential brand that has affected my life and the life-style of millions around the world is Wal-Mart. This is the main reason why I choose Wal-Mart for this study. Wal-Mart has grown to become the market leader with 4,423 stores and with yearly sales of $307.73 billion, being tripled the total sales figure of the second largest retailer- The Kroger Co (Stores.org, 2012). Its dynamic management strategies and most importantly the business success have influenced me to become a fan of Wal-Mart in its Facebook page and this has made me choose the company for this study.

Customer relationship is an antecedent to the value creation and sharing of consumer-seller interaction (Varey, 2002, p. 1). In recent years, building relationship with customers has become an extremely important marketing strategy to help a firm attract, retain and maintain customers for longer period. Wal-Mart has successfully used several social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter to create stronger relationship with its customers. According to recent reports, Wal-Mart continues to tap social media to create stronger relationship with tech-savvy customers with a view to establish stronger brand equity among its customers.

Building customer relationship will certainly help the company maintain long term advantages of customer loyalty, which is basically customers’ commitment to repeated purchase and re-patronization for a preferred goods or service. Konrad (2012) found Wal-Mart as the first topper in social media starts since it has more than 15 million fans on the social network. The company has set specific guidelines for its Facebook and Twitter users, asking its customers to strictly adhere to the social media rules and giving them instructions such as be polite and courteous, stay on topic, keep it real and encouraging customers complaints, feedback and opinions (corporate.walmart.com, 2012). Prior to