The traditional marketing approach advocates the
marketing mix principles and the quest for market share
dominance through mass marketing techniques and a focus
on new customer acquisition. This approach has guided
managers for decades in planning and implementing their
marketing strategies . Customer retention, in the
traditional marketing approach, is seen as the 'end’
rather than the means to delivering long-term
profitability to firms. This paper discusses key issues
pertaining to customer retention management, namely its
definition, forms of measure, benefits and potential
strategies for application. It uses examples from a
variety of contexts. It is proposed that customer
retention should be part of the strategic marketing
planning process . Customer retention, we envisage, is a
potentially potent marketing management strategy. pdf