Marketing and Customer Loyalty

This chapter presents an analysis of the evolution of marketing, from its birth to the present day, and a description is provided of the current state of the discipline. The aim is to verify the current role of our discipline and to consider the definitions of marketing formulated by colleagues during its first sixty-five years of life for the purpose of identifying some gaps and schisms that have been detected between what is stated in literature and what actually happens in firms. This chapter seeks to clarify the situation, verify the state of play and offer a possible solution and for this purpose it: (1) analyses the evolution of the concept of marketing as reported in literature; (2) defines a leitmotiv that has evolved over time providing the relevant key words for each phase; (3) reports some elements highlighting the evolution of marketing; (4) considers the gaps and schisms emerging from literature; (5) lists seven situations that have undermined the validity of what marketing stands for/represents/proposes. In particular, some motives or reasons are given that have weakened, impaired and at times even nullified the possibilities for marketing to make a winning contribution to the firm. All these considerations have provided a stimulus for reflecting on how marketing can return to being a guiding light acknowledged in the company and make a strategic and effective contribution to the market.

The second chapter concentrates on strategic action and on the ways to increase customer loyalty and refers to: • two points linked to the uniqueness of the offer and the dynamics for managing the competitive advantage; • the four steps leading from the purchase to customer loyalty; • the analyses of the performance of and on the customer; • four methods for developing customer loyalty. These elements define the strategic action, understood as the fulfilment of the activities carried out to achieve customer hyper-loyalty. Such activities contain, in the way they present themselves, elements linked to the strategy underpinning them. To ensure the effectiveness of every marketing action, it is crucial to know and analyse the four steps (purchase, repeat purchase, retention, loyalty) that form the path leading from the purchase to loyalty as presented below. The objective stated is two-fold: on one side it is to analyse every single component as having its own significance; on the other, it is to identify, where possible, a common theme that is logical as far as content is concerned and sequential with regard to process and which defines the path followed by the “steps”.

The TES marketing mix is examined in this chapter which recommends moving from customer provisioning to customer loyalty combining the supply of products/services with customer loyalty. In particular, the variables identified (“Ps”) have been checked against reports in literature to support the theoretical contents of the monograph and as a further link with business reality. The Tes marketing mix is provided with some practical examples: • Product: co-design (training programme for pharmaceutical sales representatives); • Price: breakdown of the value drivers (insurance sector and pharmacies); • Advertising: cross-cultural communication (examples from the automotive sector, etc.); • Distribution policy: Tes Retail Specialist (food distribution). Interviews, observations and empirical surveys have been carried out regarding the concepts and concrete effects of the TES approach to support the explanation of the research question. At the end of the chapter the “Information—Relationship” matrix is presented. It is an instrument with which the marketing actions linked to customer involvement can be gathered and attributed as it identifies both the four main types of customer present on the market and the possible behavioural approaches to be adopted with the same.