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The role of technology in successful customer relationship management (CRM) implementation is a perennial subject of concern to marketers. This paper reviews CRM studies, especially those with empirical data about the role of technology. The studies consistently indicate that technology is a necessary but not sufficient factor in the ultimate success of a CRM system. The paper then presents a model of CRM implementation that positions technology as an enabler of CRM success, but identifies other marketing and organisational issues as key drivers. It includes a case history of successful CRM implementation that features a staged approach to both technology integration and organisational readiness.

The direct marketing database of customers and prospects has from its inception been recognized as critical to the success of tactical activities such as promotional and customer service programs. This article argues that there are numerous other programmatic decisions that can be improved by analysis of the database. Further, it argues that the most effective use of a database extends beyond tactical exercises to strategic marketing decisions. A hierarchy is presented that can guide managers toward more powerful and more integrative uses of the database resource in planning and executing databased marketing activities at both the tactical and strategic levels.

The widespread availability of sophisticated technology coupled with the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions in financial services has heightened competition throughout the industry. Battles for the consumer's financial services dollar are taking place constantly, usually based on single-step direct marketing programs. But consumer resistance appears to be growing, especially resistance to new, high-tech alternatives to existing products consumers already use and understand. This paper examines some examples of the current situation, then uses a discussion of diffusion of innovations theory to help explain why the current situation has occurred. Thereafter, it uses Curriculum Theory, developed by a group of innovative direct marketers about 15 years ago, to offer potentially more effective direct marketing methods. Finally, it examines a new product, the smart (or stored value) card, and suggests ways to use what is known about diffusion to build effective curriculum programs.

Marketers have regarded the Internet as the consummate direct-response medium. The ability to interact one-on-one with customers and the ability to track their every move allowed precision targeting never before possible. More recently it has become clear that the Internet can also be used in branding efforts. The ability to blend direct-response and branding efforts is the Internet’s greatest benefit and its ultimate challenge to marketers. This article reviews evidence for the branding impact of online marketing activities. It also looks at the key concepts of interactivity and consumer experience online. It then presents a construct we call interactive brand experience and describes the Internet-specific techniques that can be used to orchestrate brand experience on the Web. It concludes by summarizing the implications of using the Internet for brand development and discussing the way in which branding on the Internet is evolving.

E-marketing has evolved from an environment that was solely direct response to one that includes significant opportunities for brand development. Internet marketing uses a rich set of tools to create exceptional customer experience that results in strong relationships with the brand. Off-line tools like elements of the brand and image-building promotional programs are as important as ever in building brand equity. To those have been added online tools, including personalization, customization, cocreation, purchase-process streamlining, self-service, brand community, rich media, product self-design tools, and dynamic pricing. This gives the marketer a rich choiceboard of off-line and online techniques from which to select the most appropriate for the brand and any given promotional activity. The challenges are to select the most effective tools and then to execute flawlessly and seamlessly at all customer touchpoints to achieve the desired quality of customer experience.

This article reports the finding of a study designed to extend the use of proximity judgments to an experimental design. The analysis mode of multidimensional scaling (MDS) and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to determine the effect of the experimental manipulation on the respondents’ perception of a hypothetical new coffee product relative to seven types of coffee products currently available to consumers.

There are few if any marketing concepts that have generated effort as voluminous and sustained as marketing segmentation. From the middle 1950's to the present, the topic has attracted both academicians and practitioners because of its inherent intellectual challenge and relevance to real world marketing decision making.

Women's current high levels of participation in the labor force have focused attention on changing life-styles and consumption patterns. This study uses life-style variables as predictors of food shopping behavior. A set of intervening variables reflecting women's attitudes toward food preparation explains their food shopping behavior better than either a working/nonworking classification or general role orientations.