Being customer-centric through CRM metrics in the B2B market: the case of maritime shipping

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a comparison between the traditional methods for the calculation of customer relationship performance and the modern metrics suggested by the current literature in business-to-business (B2B) markets using the Greek maritime shipping industry as an example. Design/methodology/approach The primary research was conducted in two phases: quantitative analysis of actual measurements and qualitative evaluation of the results. More specifically, in the first phase, the measures used were a collection of traditional and modern customer relationship management (CRM) metrics applied to actual historical data along with statistical data for actual customers of a company supplying services for maritime transportation of containers in the Greek international trade market. For the qualitative evaluation of these results, a semi-structured interview was carried out with seven “specialists/experts” in this business sector, who provided an assessment of the relative worth of each set of CRM measures. Findings The use of modern customer-centred metrics (Share and Size of Wallet, recency, frequency, monetary value) in the shipping sector of Greek industrial activity is the most profitable and efficient means of decision-making. The qualitative research showed that the customer-centred metrics were judged to be more effective and useful, as they provided a multi-dimensional and multi-layered picture of the current and future situation for the company and its customer base. Research limitations/implications To ensure confidentiality of personal information, the research did not use, examine or evaluate the individualized data to preserve the anonymity of the survey sponsor and their specific customers. Originality/value This is the first study that examines the effectiveness of different types of CRM metrics in the B2B market, which has, until now, suffered a dearth of empirical studies in the field, especially in the context of national economies that face intense international trading problems and significant reductions in activity in their maritime shipping industry due to the economic recession.

The impact of trust, privacy and quality of service on the success of E-CRM: the mediating role of customer satisfaction

“…A new type of competitive advantage for customer relationship management (CRM) could be provided by these changes. Based on Dyche (2002), the CRM systems are infrastructure that enable the company to increase its offerings to increase the customer features, which helps them to win the trust and confidence of their business partners (Fotiadis and Vassiliadis, 2017). In today’s dynamic and complex competitive market, it is essential to apply all the efforts to attract potential customers and keep the current customers.…”

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“…O CRM pode ser entendido como a implementação prática da teoria de marketing de relacionamento, possibilitando aplicação dessas práticas por meio de tecnologia (Barac et al, 2017). A visão de CRM mais utilizada atualmente é uma abordagem holística e estratégica, com foco em lucratividade, aumento do fluxo de processos de negócios e fidelização dos clientes (Cruz-Jesus et al, 2019;Pedron et al, 2016;Rodriguez et al, 2018;Soltani & Navimipour, 2016) e depende da coleta extensiva de dados e da distribuição de informações (Fotiadis & Vassiliadis, 2017).…”

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“…The study suggests that each index can provide, directly or indirectly, critical performance measures to interested parties and the management of each company within their industry. Similarly to Fotiadis and Vassiliadis (2017), we adopt RFM as an important metric in our work. However, in comparison to Fotiadis and Vassiliadis (2017) and the other cited works, the complexity of the real-world scenario and analysis we consider in this paper is of a greater scale, both in terms of the size of the data and of the variables included in our study.…”

“…Similarly to Fotiadis and Vassiliadis (2017), we adopt RFM as an important metric in our work. However, in comparison to Fotiadis and Vassiliadis (2017) and the other cited works, the complexity of the real-world scenario and analysis we consider in this paper is of a greater scale, both in terms of the size of the data and of the variables included in our study.…”