Relationship Marketing in 2015:: A Delphi Approach

Over the past twenty years, relationship marketing has represented a renaissance in marketing and even a paradigmatic change according to some. The shift has had uncertain effects, however, and its applications have faced some serious challenges. Questions are being asked about the future of relationship marketing by both academics and businesspersons. To answer these questions, we have devised a Delphi-type predictive survey of twelve European marketing experts, with the aim of producing one view of potential changes that may occur by the year 2015. The present paper categorises this view into four major themes. It also details the managerial implications of one of the themes based on the following key points: “the experience at the heart of relational approaches”; “new data generation”; and “working together with communities”.