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Attempts to clarify the concept of affinity and to distinguish it from other marketing‐related terms. Gives guidelines for differentiating three general levels of affinity groups, suggesting respective strategic implications. Offers a taxonomy for classifying sources from which types of affinity may emerge and provides a method for relating the affinity levels with the taxonomy in order to develop a marketing plan. Elaborates on future opportunities in the field.

Describes the importance of plastic payment cards at the point of sale (POS) and the evolution of the credit card in general and affinity cards in particular. Suggests reasons for both the growth of plastic card payments (the cashless society) and the threats to affinity cards (the interchange fee). Places the affinity credit card within the paradigm of relationship marketing and emphasises the triadic nature of these relationships. Discusses the development of the research into affinity credit cards and the issues of branding and trust that impact upon the triadic relationships. Explores the potential for affinity marketing and reports on research into trust and ethics which is relevant to this concept. Places affinity marketing within the retail arena and finally draws conclusions on the future for payments at the POS, relationships operationalised via plastic cards and triadic affinities.

To enable research to be conducted into the validity of the relationship marketing paradigm, a model has been developed which allows researchers to test the characteristics of the relationship at any point in time. This model is rooted in the biological sciences and is based around the concept of symbiosis. It has been adapted to offer a five part classification of relationships and used during an on‐going research programme into affinity credit card relationships. The results of the research indicate that the majority of the “relationship managers” employed by a sample of charities with affinity credit cards, perceive their relationship with their credit card issuer to be of equal benefit to both organisations, and thus fit the classification of the model. From the comments of the relationship managers in the research interviews there is, however, also evidence of some degrees of some of the other classifications in the proposed model of relationships.

This study investigates the synergetic impact of joint marketing collaboration between a bank and an affinity organisation on their affinity credit card holders' behaviours. Seeks to identify the sources of the influence of the alliance partners which induce changes in the attitude and behaviour of cardholders.

A theoretical model was developed to reveal the impact of perceived card benefits, affective customer loyalty toward the bank, affective customer loyalty toward the affinity organisation, and perceived prestige of affinity organisation, on the card usage behaviours of customers. Survey data were obtained from 162 students who were holders of a university affinity credit card in Hong Kong.

Findings indicated two routes of influence that affect the intention and behaviours of affinity credit cardholders. The two routes were complementary rather than competitive in a symbiotic collaboration. The first is a cognitive route. It shows that a cardholder's attitude formation is strongly influenced by the cognitive evaluation of card benefits instead of by affective loyalty toward the bank or toward the affinity organisation. The second route is an emotional route of influence. It originates from the perceived prestige of the affinity organisation to cardholders' intention and usage behaviours.

The impact of the symbiotic collaboration on customer behaviours is an important question which has yet to be answered in the literature of strategic alliances. To the best of one's knowledge, this is a pioneering empirical study addressing this research issue.

Compares the affinity credit card markets in the USA and the UK, focusing on the members of the partnership trio: charities, card issuers and cardholders. The affinity card market in both the USA and the UK is expanding rapidly. Explores the motivations for entering the partnerships and the satisfaction derived from the partnerships. Discusses the results in the light of an increasing deregulated marketing environment permitting foreign credit card issuers entry into the UK market.

The purpose of this paper is to classify and compare the importance of the benefits consumers derive from affinity credit card programmes.

A random sample of affinity credit card holders of a major Greek athletic club (AC) was surveyed and a multi-group structural equation model was run to assess the hypothesised relationships among the study constructs.

Overall, the relational benefits of affinity credit cards outperform the functional ones. However, this finding depends on the number of additional credit cards held by affinity credit card holders.

The study is the first one to test formally the viability of a core services marketing theory (relational benefits) within the affinity marketing field as a means of explaining consumer behaviour within such a context.

Examines the history and economics of the credit card before describing the origins of the affinity card concept both in the USA and the UK. Explores different strategies of some major UK affinity card issuers and the aspirations of the affinity groups with whom a mutually beneficial relationship is sought. Successful affinity cards occur where the expectations of the card issuer are met by the aspirations of the affinity group and examples are used to illustrate a good and bad “fit”. Considers the current pressures on affinity cards and offers some thoughts on the need for a mutual understanding of the aspirations of both issuer and affinity group.

In February 2005, Lloyd James Group conducted an analysis of the list market, which showed an 8 percent decline in commercially available lists. The purpose of this paper is to consider the implication of this modest decline in commercially available data, looking at where those declines are occurring, where the growth areas are, and what other techniques are coming into play to partner work alongside traditional list usage to deliver the results that managers and shareholders are demanding. The paper aims to consider how one such additional technique – affinity marketing – is being used across a number of sectors with retail operations, and how this compares with sectors with no retail presence.

The first piece of research discussed, In Search of Quality, was carried out in Q1 of 2005. The research was carried out through data sources: lists and data sources, Marketing UK, Catalogue and e‐Business Annual, Precision Marketing, DMIS, FEDMA, World Advertising Research Centre, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, Office of National Statistics, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, KPMG. The second research paper discussed, A Growing Affinity, was carried out in October/November 2005 through telemarketing and e‐mail field work by Marketing UK. The research base was the UK top 1,000 companies in the banking, charity, credit card, hotel, insurance, retail, telecoms, travel and utility sectors. Future research would look at consumer perceptions of and reactions to affinity‐based campaign where a known organisation introducing a third party to the consumer and look at the perceived logic of different kinds of combinations.

Over the past couple of decades, marketing in the UK has evolved considerably. A key aspect of this change has been the shift away from the use of mass marketing techniques in favour of a more tailored approach, with retail organisations attempting to deliver a more personalised marketing message to distinct groups of consumers. This development will continue, not with one technique in particular winning out over others, but with the marketer using an increasing range of tools – commercial lists and other third party data, affinity, inserts and further piggy‐back techniques, co‐branding, sponsorship, and more – to reach responsive consumers within their catchments in an increasingly fragmented marketing communications world.

This paper provides retail marketers with an outline of practical options available for use to enhance marketing campaigns and maintain critical volumes as well as quality. The conclusion is that marketers must use a combination of tools and channels to achieve the desired reach and rate of response in the face of data scarcity and increased media fragmentation.

Cause‐related and affinity marketing are based on the assumption that linking a commercial organisation's product with a non‐profit organisation enhances the product's appeal and provides differentiation from rival offers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the efficacy of this premise.

In‐depth qualitative research was conducted to explore the construction of consumer value in affinity credit cards, followed by large‐scale quantitative research to assess the prevalence of the perceptions and behaviour patterns identified.

Linked products offer a range of individual and group benefits, both functional and symbolic. However, the value placed on these benefit categories varied according to the type of affinity group.

Whilst encompassing a wide range of affinity categories, all of the affinity credit cards were issued by one financial services organisation. Variation is therefore possible between the benefits offered by other financial services organisations operating affinity schemes.

The findings demonstrate the need to identify the value perceived by different groups of consumers of affinity products and to tailor affinity products to the type of affinity organisation with which they are linked.

A key strength is the research's access to card holders from a wide spectrum of affinity categories. This has proved elusive in prior research. The paper challenges the assumption that linking a product to a non‐profit organisation enhances its appeal and provides a basis for differentiation. The efficacy of this premise depends on the type of cause or affinity group, with the value placed on benefit categories varying accordingly.

Consumer affinity may be a key factor in overcoming ethnocentric barriers and promoting a favourable attitude towards specific foreign countries and their products. However, progress in knowledge of this concept in international marketing literature has suffered from a lack of integration and analysis. The purpose of this study was to shed new light on the concept of consumer affinity based on a comprehensive systematic review of the literature, provide a critical analysis of previous research in terms of conceptual, methodological and substantive issues and problems and offer avenues for future research.

This structured systematic review of consumer affinity included articles published in international peer-reviewed journals from 2008 to 2021, examining key conceptual, operational and substantive aspects.

This systematic review of articles on consumer affinity published over the past 14 years revealed that this line of research is a growing vibrant domain in the context of international marketing. It also showed that current knowledge of consumer affinity is characterized by theoretical inconsistencies, contradictory empirical results and scant international marketing research in the affinity domain.

This article provides an overview of the extant literature on consumer affinity and yields a consolidated image of its current status, as well as a research agenda that raises new questions for the academic community.