Loyalty card adoption in SME retailers: the impact upon marketing management
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) retailers adopt and implement a loyalty card programme as a marketing management decision-making tool.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative and longitudinal case study research design is adopted. Data were collected from multiple sources, incorporating semi-structured interviews and analysis of company documents and observation within a retail SME.
Findings
The findings presented focus on the loyalty card adoption process to reflect both the organisational issues and impact upon marketing management decision-making.
Research limitations/implications
This research is restricted to one region within the UK, investigating loyalty card adoption within a specific industry sector.
Practical implications
SME retailers operate in an industry environment whereby there is a competitive demand for loyalty card programmes. SME retailers need to carefully consider how to match the firm’s characteristics with customer relationship management (CRM) operational requirements as highlighted in this case.
Originality/value
The evidence presented extends current knowledge of retail loyalty card programmes beyond the context of large organisations to encompass SMEs. The study also illustrates the value of a structured, formal CRM system to help SME retailers compete in a complex, competitive and omni-channel marketplace, adding new insights into the retail literature.
Keywords
Citation
Hutchinson, K., Donnell, L.V., Gilmore, A. and Reid, A. (2015), "Loyalty card adoption in SME retailers: the impact upon marketing management", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49 No. 3/4, pp. 467-490. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-06-2013-0321
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited