CREATING THE LOYAL CUSTOMER BASE

A great number of economists share the opinion that the long-term profit generation is actually essential goal as well as the main motive for the existence and functioning of a company. However, in order to achieve long-term profitability, a company has to fulfill several important preconditions. Loyal customer base is one of these important preconditions. Company’s loyal customers are in fact the partners of that particular company and a stable source of profit. Within this context, it is important for a company to nurture the principles of marketing orientation and above all to be customer oriented, because the customers make up the crucial part of the company’s policy. Thus, it is very important to posses an established and continuous process for measuring both retention and loyalty of customers as well as the level of achieved customer satisfaction. CRM value chain is a very useful concept which helps us to a great extent the development of successful long-term relations with the customers. It also refers to company’s fundamental marketing activities that must be continuously implemented in order to build successful long-term relations with strategically important buyers.

Key words: customer oriented, satisfaction, loyalty, CRM value chain.

JEL Classification: D11