Relationship Marketing in Golf Retail
(2013)Department of Service Studies
- Abstract
- Relationship marketing is getting more focus from researchers today. The idea of earning the trust and loyalty of customers by engaging in relationships has been put to practice in many retail areas. Retailers and researchers are stressing the importance of establishing relationships with their customers and are in many ways focused on the physical service encounter. Literature often suggests that relationships occur during a service encounter with the idea that a good service encounter leads to satisfaction and loyalty. This is suggested to be achieved with a friendly, helpful and knowledgeable frontline employee and an added value to the core product. Technology is not often recognized as relationship driver, it is rather seen as... (More)
- Relationship marketing is getting more focus from researchers today. The idea of earning the trust and loyalty of customers by engaging in relationships has been put to practice in many retail areas. Retailers and researchers are stressing the importance of establishing relationships with their customers and are in many ways focused on the physical service encounter. Literature often suggests that relationships occur during a service encounter with the idea that a good service encounter leads to satisfaction and loyalty. This is suggested to be achieved with a friendly, helpful and knowledgeable frontline employee and an added value to the core product. Technology is not often recognized as relationship driver, it is rather seen as something essential to operate the store or perform the service. The purpose for this thesis is to critical investigate relationship marketing in golf retail and examine how technology are involved in the relationship process through an actor-network approach. By both critical examine relationship marketing and how technology is involved in the relationship process; this thesis aims to provide new possibilities in relationship marketing. This thesis is built on a qualitative case study design of a Swedish golf retailer Dormy and its’ customers. The investigation has been made with interviews and participants observation. Findings in this theses suggests that technology is seen as something essential to buy golf products, it is also seen as important in transformation of feelings from the store to the golf course. The result also show that technology is more involved in the relationship process in golf retail than a friendly employee is, which is often overlooked in the literature and at the retailer. Findings also suggests that the time and place dimensions in golf retail is not bounded but can move and shift over time, and that satisfaction can increase or be achieved a long time after the visit to the store. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4153529
- author
- Wiklund, Joakim
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2013
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- relationship marketing, technology, actor-network theory, service encounter, golf retail
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 4153529
- date added to LUP
- 2013-11-15 03:40:59
- date last changed
- 2018-10-18 10:28:05
@misc{4153529,
abstract = {{Relationship marketing is getting more focus from researchers today. The idea of earning the trust and loyalty of customers by engaging in relationships has been put to practice in many retail areas. Retailers and researchers are stressing the importance of establishing relationships with their customers and are in many ways focused on the physical service encounter. Literature often suggests that relationships occur during a service encounter with the idea that a good service encounter leads to satisfaction and loyalty. This is suggested to be achieved with a friendly, helpful and knowledgeable frontline employee and an added value to the core product. Technology is not often recognized as relationship driver, it is rather seen as something essential to operate the store or perform the service. The purpose for this thesis is to critical investigate relationship marketing in golf retail and examine how technology are involved in the relationship process through an actor-network approach. By both critical examine relationship marketing and how technology is involved in the relationship process; this thesis aims to provide new possibilities in relationship marketing. This thesis is built on a qualitative case study design of a Swedish golf retailer Dormy and its’ customers. The investigation has been made with interviews and participants observation. Findings in this theses suggests that technology is seen as something essential to buy golf products, it is also seen as important in transformation of feelings from the store to the golf course. The result also show that technology is more involved in the relationship process in golf retail than a friendly employee is, which is often overlooked in the literature and at the retailer. Findings also suggests that the time and place dimensions in golf retail is not bounded but can move and shift over time, and that satisfaction can increase or be achieved a long time after the visit to the store.}},
author = {{Wiklund, Joakim}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Relationship Marketing in Golf Retail}},
year = {{2013}},
}