A Review of Relationship Marketing Fundamentals

Relationship marketing is a concept coined more than two decades ago, appearing as a refined and modern form of traditional marketing approach. Such marketing approach brought about a paradigm shift, thereby challenging the existing literature in marketing. This literature review paper seeks to identify and analyse the concepts of relationship marketing, and explores how it benefits the organizations in enhancing their returns. With a rise of an intense competitive environment, it has become imperative for the businesses to follow newer strategies for increasing their profitabilities. Thus, the focus is on retaining the customers and building long-term loyalty for the sustainability of the organizations. With this argument in line, relationship marketing is seen to be primarily acting as a bridge involving multiple aspects including technologies to foster an effective trust, mutual bonding and satisfaction among the prospective customers. Finally, this research explores the factors inducing relationship marketing strategies and customer relationships with suitable suggestions for further research.