Customer Relationship Management in Online Retail Business

This article discusses the aspects, benefits, and impact of quality management systems on customer relationship management in online retail business. It also explains the processes necessary for achieving effective CRM and the use of loyalty schemes to gain information about customers. Additionally, it reviews the customer relationship management in Al Aqili Group and proposes improvements to processes for CRM.

Running head: CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
Customer relationship
Name of student
Name of University
Author note
Table of Contents

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Part A...............................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Aspects of customer relationship management............................................................................3
Benefits of good customer relationship management..................................................................4
Impact of quality management systems on customer relationship management.........................5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................6
Processes necessary for achieving effective CRM......................................................................6
Role of internal staff in achieving effective customer relations..................................................7
Role of external stakeholders in achieving effective customer relations.....................................8
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................8
Use of loyalty schemes to gain information about customers.....................................................8
Information gained is used to inform marketing and customer service policy............................9
Part B.............................................................................................................................................10
Task 1.............................................................................................................................................10
Review customer relationship management in Al Aqili Group.................................................10
Propose improvements to processes for CRM...........................................................................11
Improvements to the roles of staffs in promoting good customer relationships........................12
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................12
Stages involved in the implementation of CRM system............................................................12
Timeline for the stages involved................................................................................................13
Key roles and responsibilities for different tasks involved........................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................15
Part A

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I have been working as a trainee customer services manager at a large online retail
business and it has shown significant growth and good revenue generation for the past few years.
The profit level has been increasing along with increased numbers of customers’ queries and
complaints regarding the products and services delivered. The Customer Experience Director has
focused on improving the customer relationship management processes and I have been assigned
with the role of managing the human resources properly during a Customer relationship
management or CRM project. It will be helpful for identifying the ways staffs can be managed
and enable changes embedded to the working practices for improving the CRM efficiency at the
retail business (Khodakarami and Chan 2014).
Task 1
Aspects of customer relationship management
The major aspects of customer relationship management or CRM are strategy, operations,
analytics and collaboration. The strategic aspect of CRM is based on the business orientation and
it has helped in developing an useful strategy, which can attract more customers and obtain the
highest value from the customers. The operational CRM enhances the efficiency of operations
and improves the operational areas of sales, campaign management, customers’ services delivery
and marketing procedures. The CRM analytics can allow the online retail business to enhance
the value creation, furthermore improve the effectiveness of making decisions in business. By
using the CRM, it will be easy to store, retrieve, integrate, extract and manage distribution of
customer relevant data and information accurately (Ramchandani and Ghias 2013). The
collaborative dimension of collaboration during the customer relationship management can assist
in overcoming the communication barriers, furthermore align the people, processes and

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technologies to enhance the potential of employees and deliver the best organizational
performance.
At the online retail business, the SalesForce Automation is another important aspect of
CRM that has enabled forecasting, recording of sales and tracking the interactions of staffs with
the customers. It has also assisted in controlling the major elements including the lead
management, account management and forecasting the sales to understand whether the online
sales of products will be beneficial or not. It can also assist in management of contacts, business
activities and email management for interacting with the customers and obtain their views and
opinions (Armstrong et al. 2015).
Benefits of good customer relationship management
The growth of e-commerce and mobile shopping have created more scopes and
opportunities for the online retail businesses to expand business and at the same time, manage
easy accessibility to the products and services by the customers. The customer segmentation
becomes easy with the implementation of CRM. It will be convenient for the businesses to
provide personalized customers’ services to the customers and keep consistent communication
with them to understanding their needs and preferences properly too (Trainor et al. 2014).
The use of CRM systems can provide a detailed information about the appropriate actions
to be undertaken, furthermore allow the customers to gain the appropriate data and information
about the products and services delivered by the online retail business. The customized CRM
system is used at the online retail business to automate self service processes and save the time
and cost of managing the marketing approaches. It will also improve the workflow efficiency
and ensure maintenance of a centralized social media interaction. The e-commerce traffic will be

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increased with the involvement of social media platforms, furthermore create scopes for the
customers to provide justification regarding the delivered customers’ services (Kumar and
Reinartz 2018). The CRM is also used to integrate the business processes with a payment
gateway, which can rack the payment methods and analyze the best sources of revenue, thus
providing higher value to the customers and customizing the services accordingly.
Impact of quality management systems on customer relationship management
In the highly competitive business environment, the management of quality is essential
for delivering the best quality customers’ services and for ensuring higher revenue generation.
The major procedures used by the online retail businesses include Total quality management or
TQM, ISO and Balanced score car. The TQM can be useful for conducting the 360 degree
feedback procedure where the areas of weaknesses are identified and necessary changes should
be done for maintaining the quality to the highest level (Koegler et al. 2013). The company will
be able to come up with unique solutions for enhancing the product quality and ensure customer
satisfaction largely. It will also enhance the credibility of information regarding the products and
services delivered. The ISO or International standardization of organization allows for setting
various rules and regulations required to apply various quality measures and produce the highest
and uniform quality products and services all over. The ISO 9001 will assist in applying the CR
approaches to track the sales activity along with the new and existing customers (Choudhury and
Harrigan 2014).

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Task 2
Processes necessary for achieving effective CRM
The main aim of implementing the CRM system is to develop an effective platform for
delivering the new leads, increase the level of attraction and retention of the customer and
increase the market share. There are various steps followed to implement and achieve an
effective customer relationship management system or CRM. A new system development could
be a daunting task for the online retail business and thus proper allocation of time, effort and
investments should be done for creating an appropriate platform and ensure delivering the best
customers’ services (Goetsch and Davis 2014).
The business automation planning is important for bringing out the best from the use of
software and internet that can assist in the growth and development of business. The automation
process focuses on the three major areas including the marketing, sales and service delivery
(Chang, Wong and Fang 2014).
Few of the most suitable steps for successful CRM implementation are as follows:
Improving the quality of data- Here the company interacts with the customers through Omni and
multi channeling, which enables lead generation and email address checks. The data is available
in different qualities in different data stores, which must be kept consistent and ensure preventing
data redundancy for meeting the demands of best customers’ services. The quality of data is
further improved through assessment of response rates of customers to the website, complaints
and feedbacks provided by the staffs and legal requirements that should be complied with for
implementing the CRM system effectively (Hazen et al. 2014).

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Consolidation of data- The data consolidation allows for managing a unified view and better
accessibility to the data. The datasets are consolidated and automatically processed, which
improves the 360 customer view and ensure that the data is of highest quality and duplication pf
data is absent.
Making data more valuable- The enrichment of datasets with useful information including the
geographical and marketing related information can also increase the quality of data and make it
more valuable. It will also enable the company to assess the different market segments and
evaluate their demands and preferences (Ptak and Schragenheim 2016).
Availability of data centrally- The data are made available related to the customer and different
market segments and at the same time, ensuring that the data is protected by complying with the
legislations, laws, rules and regulations. The smart customer MDM can also be used for better
management of data and information, furthermore control the master data within the framework
of data governance procedure (Kumar and Reinartz 2018).
Role of internal staff in achieving effective customer relations
There are various roles and responsibilities of the staffs in achieving the customer
relations properly and at the same time, develop a good understanding between the company and
customers. This will not only help in understanding their needs and preferences, but can also
benefit the company by predicting how well the products and services can fare within the
marketplace. The internal staffs comprise of the IT managers, operational managers, front line
and administration officers. To implement an effective CRM, it is always essential for
maintaining a proper level of integrated knowledge that includes the information technology,
business, psychology and marketing. It also involves the staffs to work in coordination and as an

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unit. The engagement of staffs is important to gain acceptance and support for CRM (Trainor et
al. 2014). The managers should assess the benefits and encourage them through benefits and
rewards for keeping them motivated and make them indulge with the maintenance of CRM
system properly.
Role of external stakeholders in achieving effective customer relations
The implementation of CRM system is successfully once it has gained full acceptance for
utilization by the external stakeholders. The stakeholders need to focus on the business and
predict the rate of return on investments that can be achieved by implementing the CRM system.
This not only increases the chances of completion of the CRM implementation, but will also help
to deliver the right services to the customers, who are considered as the most important
stakeholders in business. The online retail business needs to design the CRM system accordingly
for meeting the demands and preferences in the market, furthermore increase their level of
satisfaction and enhance the revenues generation probability (Navimipour and Soltani 2016).
There are other stakeholders in the stakeholder management plan such as the vendors, interest
groups, backward linkages, etc., who must also be taken care of for maintaining business
stability and allow them to interact with the business fluently.
Task 3
Use of loyalty schemes to gain information about customers
Based on the different online retail business aspects in UAE, it is quite clear that a huge
amount of cost is incurred to make sure that the CRM implementation is successful and more
customers are attracted as well as retained. The use of loyalty schemes is an effective long term

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marketing plan that provides benefits to the customers so that they can be retained and new ones
are attracted as well. These programs can keep the customers motivated and allow targeting the
different market segments for influencing their buying behavior and make purchases consistently
(Dale 2015). There are various discount coupons and cards that can be provided to the clients for
making them eligible to avail discounts regarding the present purchases made. The allowances
provided can be used afterwards for keeping the prices of products lower while purchasing,
furthermore obtain the information about the clients. It will also help in evaluating their comfort
level, purchasing behavior and their expectations from the products and services delivered. It is
thus considered as an effective attribute to the conduction of marketing research (Mishra,
Boynton and Mishra 2014). By gathering necessary information about the clients, it will be much
easier for the online retail business in UAE to deliver the customers with what they want and
enhance the average purchase value with better rewards. It will be convenient for successful
management of CRM system and maintain close connections between the business and its
customers while the incentives provided through loyalty schemes can be used for customer
referrals (Eichorn 2018).
Information gained is used to inform marketing and customer service policy
Once the clients provide necessary information and details, the loyalty cards and schemes
are beneficial for managing new marketing and customer service approaches. The company will
be able to know about the new customer and the existing customers who have been retained as
well. Their preferred brands can be identified and the prices that will be suitable for influencing
their buying behaviors. The use of customer information assists in carrying out the mass
marketing approach through a customer centric orientation. The management of customer
information is essential and the information should be stored in databases to keep interaction

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with the clients and create scopes for product differentiation, revenue growth opportunities and
exploration of heterogeneity in customers’ demands and preferences (Bettencourt et al. 2014).
The customer service policies and procedures are kept into consideration to ensure that the
marketing approaches are managed wisely and different market segments are targeted to increase
the customer base and enhance the profit level for the online retail businesses in United Arab
Emirates.
Part B
The organization that is most suitable to be conducted for the review of CRM is selected
as Al Aqili Group in United Arab Emirates.
Task 1
Review customer relationship management in Al Aqili Group
The customer relationship management or CRM at the organization has helped in
recording the customer related data and information such as the names, addresses and
information related to transaction and store those in the Oracle Database (Jaakkola and
Alexander 2014). It will also assist in creating more targeted market campaigns, furthermore
improve the level of customer service and increase the number of subscribers in the website
managed by Al Aqili Group to deliver products and services to the customers. The CRM system
at the organization will foster innovation through better customer services delivery and achieve
the desired customer loyalty, furthermore manage the sales, marketing and contracts related to
the company. The different loyalty programs and schemes are managed by the company to
enable development of partnership program, furthermore ensure proper communication with the

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customers along with management of good relationships with them to influence their consumer
buying behaviors (Chen et al. 2014). It will also help in managing the transactions and billing
system, furthermore ensure management of marketing and sales along with successful
management of relations with the customers of Al Aqili Group in United Arab Emirates. The
company is known for its delivery of good quality products and services, which can allow for
better implementation and management of CRM, furthermore maintain consistency and improve
the overall performance of the retail business. The main focus of CRM is to attract customers
and thus the CRM system can make it easy to spread simple information about the products to
the customers (Meyer-Waarden 2013). Due to this, the customers will be able to know about the
products and services through the website and even place orders, keep track of the order and
finally manage the transactions with the use of a payment gateway.
Propose improvements to processes for CRM
The company, being a large and reputed online retail business has been involved in
online marketing and sales of products and service, which has been facilitated with the use of
various customer relationship management or CRM tools and techniques for developing trust and
loyalty among the customers. It is managed by sing various tools including CCPS or customers
connection status, call blocking service, FnF change and mobile backup. The social media
involvement has further improved the scopes for engaging with more customers within the
different market segments and enable video call and extra facilities for the creation of a new
dimension in the service of the company Al Aqili Group in UAE (Yoo and Bai 2013). The staffs
must be aware of customizing the experiences of the clients and keep them aware of the
information, which can influence the consumer buying behaviors too.

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Improvements to the roles of staffs in promoting good customer relationships
The roles of staffs are improved by providing them training and developmental sessions
to improve their skills, knowledge and expertise, furthermore make them enough capable of
developing good relationships with the customers and create a sense of trust and loyalty. The
roles of staffs should be improved by making them habituated with the online website
management and for ensuring that the customers are attracted responsibly and the existing
customers are retained as well. This will not only promote business growth and development, but
will also control the information and data required to keep contacts with the customers on a
consistent manner. The customers mainly focus on quality and good customers’ services, which
can be managed by providing them with the products that can make them obtain the highest
value for the cash (De Keyser, Schepers and Konuş 2015). The staffs should be made understood
about the importance of CRM and make them achieve the desired sets of skills to maintain stable
communication with them. The staffs must be kept taken care of and should be respected,
because they are the most important stakeholders in business.
Task 4
To enable implementation of the CRM system and proposed changes at the organization,
a clear and effective implementation plan should be developed to identify the different stages
involved, a specific timeline and preparing the major roles and responsibilities for the different
tasks present in the implementation plan (Saarijärvi, Karjaluoto and Kuusela 2013).
Stages involved in the implementation of CRM system
The stages followed during the CRM system implementation include:

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 Clear identification of the target market and enabling value proposition
 Making the staffs understand the significance of CRM strategy implementation and
considering the overall costs that shall be incurred
 Evaluating the ways and approaches required to handle the clients with ease and
effectiveness
 Selection of the most suitable CRM software system to measure or monitor the
performances of the staffs
 Lastly, engaging the customers altogether again by communicating with them for
increasing the customer base and increasing the revenue generation at Al Aqili Group in
United Arab Emirates
Timeline for the stages involved
Stages involved Time taken
Identifying the target markets 15 days
Understanding the importance of CRM system 10 days
Evaluating approaches to handle customers 5 days
Selecting the most suitable CRM system 2 days
Enabling consistent communication and
increasing customer base
8 days
Total 40 days

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Key roles and responsibilities for different tasks involved
The key roles and responsibilities of the staffs are to develop an integrated customer
relationship management or CRM system and also keep consistent communication with the
clients to understand their behaviors regarding purchase along with their demands and
preferences in the different market segments. The identification of targeted market segments is
possible through the assessment of information obtained from the customers regarding their
purchases and their opinions related to the products and services that they want to purchase from
Al Aqili Group in United Arab Emirates (Khodakarami and Chan 2014). The significance of
implementing the CRM system is that it increases the customer lifecycle value, consistency of
strategies implemented along with the enhanced business performance and efficacy achieved
though great communication with the customers and through the collection of vital data and
information based on the preferences of theirs. The sales, support staffs and individuals who hold
managerial positions at different levels of the organization are trained by making them
participate in training and developmental programs for improving their knowledge and expertise
(Trainor et al. 2014).

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