Online interactions have emerged as a dominant exchange mode for companies and customers. Cultivating online relationships-defined as relational exchanges that are mediated by Internet-based channels-presents firms with challenges and opportunities. In lockstep with exponential advancements in computing technology, a rich and ever-evolving toolbox is available to relationship marketers to manage customer relationships online, in settings including e-commerce, social media, online communities, mobile, big data, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality. To advance academic knowledge and guide managerial decision making, this study offers a comprehensive analysis of online relationship marketing in terms of its conceptual foundations, evolution in business practice, and empirical insights from academic research. The authors propose an evolving theory of online relationship marketing, characterizing online relationships as uniquely seamless, networked, omnichannel, personalized, and anthropomorphized. Based on these five essential features, six tenets and 11 corresponding propositions parsimoniously predict the performance effects of the manifold online relationship marketing strategies.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	relationship marketing, relationship selling, online relationships, e-commerce, online shopping, online retailing, social media, mobile shopping, virtual assistants
Research Division:	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Research Group:	Marketing
Research Field:	Service marketing
Objective Division:	Information and Communication Services
Objective Group:	Media services
Objective Field:	Internet, digital and social media
UTAS Author:	Arli, D (Dr Denni Arli)
ID Code:	150307
Year Published:	2019
Web of Science® Times Cited:	136
Deposited By:	TSBE
Deposited On:	2022-06-07
Last Modified:	2022-09-12
Downloads:	0