How Can Databases Improve Sales?

Bachelorarbeit von Mathias Lüdtke-Handjery

Abstract:

The evolution from transaction marketing to relationship marketing in recent years has resulted in a need for more rigorous databases and greater utilisation of current computerised tracking systems. Customer relationship management is a combination of people, processes and technology that seeks to understand organisations’ customers. It is an integrated approach to managing relationships by focussing on customer retention and relationship development. Organisations that successfully implement customer relationship management will reap the rewards in customer loyalty and long runs profitability. The impact of information technology in the relationship marketing context, such as database management systems, data warehouses, and data mining, is increasing, due to technological development which facilitates the storage and analysis of massive amounts of data. However, successful implementation is elusive to many organisations, mostly because they do not understand that customer relationship management requires company-wide, cross-functional, customer-focused business re-engineering. Furthermore, while organisations are collecting and analysing data, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the privacy of their personal information and information about their purchase behaviour.

The purpose of this project is to analyse the new marketing approaches, proposed by the literature, as shifts away from the traditionally dominant marketing mix model. The marketing approaches include database marketing, relationship marketing and customer relationship management, which carry with them additional analyse tools and theories for their effective implementation.

Firstly databases, database management systems, and data analyse tools such as data mining will be investigated to emphasise the necessity of these tools in database marketing, relationship marketing, and customer relationship management. The main issues dealt with consist of data, data collection, data warehouses, data marts and database marketing. It is intended to bring all these issues together to have a comprehensive overview considering modern information technology.

Secondly, relationship marketing and customer relationship management development and characteristics will be examined. The shift from transactional marketing to relational marketing will be described. Different viewpoints concerning the overall relationship marketing strategy will be shown. Moreover, linked and involved theories such as the customer lifetime value and customer loyalty programs will be brought in.

Thirdly, Chapter Three, will bring all information provided in Chapter One and Two together, focussing on the main cross over issues in databases and relationship marketing. The main issues discussed in this Chapter are the importance of accurate data used in customer relationship management, differences between database marketing and relationship marketing, and privacy issues of data collection.

Finally, in the fourth part of this paper, the contextualisation, an analysis of customer relationship management efforts in a worldwide operating organisation, Deutsche Bank AG, is evaluated and compared with literature. The differences in theory and practice will be drawn out. Discrepancies will then lead to gaps in theory and or practice which will be evaluated.

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