Assessing the Changing Retailer Consumer Relationship: The Case of SMEs

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to extend strategic thinking in the area of Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) to reflect the contextual issues of SME retailing. The aim of the research is to identify how a customer Relationship Marketing (RM) strategy can enable SME owner managers to become more entrepreneurial in their marketing activities. Design/methodology: The paper adopts a single case approach using semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, observation and company documentation as the main data collection tools. These data collection techniques took place over a 6 month period as a result of the author’s employment within the company. Findings: The findings of the paper are structured around three key themes relating to three main strategic issues namely, lack of strategic focus on the customer, no customer data management strategy, and a conflict between operational efficiency and customer intimacy. Originality/value: The paper provides empirical knowledge of customer RM intervention within the SME retail sector. It is believed by adopting a RM strategy it will aid business owners in taking account of changing trends and in managing profitable relationships with customers to support entrepreneurial marketing activities.