China's Retail Business, Relationship Marketing Model Study

Relationship Marketing is an innovative theory that has occurred in the western countries at the end of last century. Once upon it's debut, it has been greatly responded from the corporation field. The marketing theory has experienced such process: Customer Marketing , Industrial Marketing , non-profitable Marketing and Services Marketing, while the Relationship Marketing theory is developed on the basis of the Services Marketing theory ,so it is up to date and has been the focus ever since.Relationship Marketing includes a series of activities such as identifying, establishing, maintaining and consolidating the relationship between corporation and customers as well as other benefit-related individuals or institutions. Relationship Marketing focuses on maintaining current customers and cultivating loyal customers that could bring long-term profits to the corporation.Since China's entry into WTO, Chinese retailing industry has been exposed to fierce competition from foreign retailers. It is urgent for Chinese national retailers to improve own competitive edge. Retailing marketing is one way available. Nowadays, there are a lot of problems existing in national retailer's marketing, such as, laggard marketing concepts and homogeneous marketing methods, which has been obstacles to national retailer's development. So it is time to break up the old marketing models and introduce new ones to national retailers.The author therefore applies the Relationship Marketing model to the national retailers, which in return will solve the current problems. On the basis of illustrating the need to carry out relationship marketing, the author has detailedly introduces concrete steps and methods.