module specification

This 30-credit module gives a well-balanced coverage of strategy and organisation, marketing aspects, analytical CRM, operational CRM, CRM systems and their implementation. It is intended to cover the entire scope of CRM from a marketing management angle and tackle challenges in relation to B2B as well as B2C relationship marketing. This module targets advanced undergraduate retail management students, as well as those advanced students taking courses in direct marketing, database management or business intelligence.
This module is structured into three parts. In the first ten weeks students are becoming familiar with the most recent academic developments in the field of CRM. Emphasis is placed on defining, analysing and measuring loyalty in retail and on exploiting customer information databases. During the next ten weeks the module focuses on the role and contribution of marketing to CRM. Students explore the whole array of digital and direct marketing tools, aspects related to fashion retail branding and channels of distribution through real-time case studies of British and international retail companies. The third part of the module is centred on understanding CRM systems and CRM measurements. Students will learn how to plan and evaluate customer journeys for a variety of retail organisations, including fashion. All students enrolling onto this module have access to a plethora of secondary sources about customer relationship management, database and digital marketing, including mobile, email, SEO marketing, made available to them with the help of specialists from the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing.
In order to cope with this advanced level module, students enrolling on this module must have good levels of knowledge of online retail, fundamentals of management, retail supply chain and marketing with emphasis on brand communications.

Skills development includes: problem-solving, numeracy skills, academic reading, advanced academic and practitioner researching, critical thinking, academic writing, advanced digital literacy and IT skills, time management, team and leadership skills, independent working, intellectual discussion and awareness of contemporary debates in the business management related disciplines.  Assessment components provide the vehicle for skills development.
This module bears a critical element of employability in that it helps students enhance their numeracy skills by teaching them analytical models currently used in UK and foreign retail practice.

The main aims of the module are to:

1. Broaden students’ understanding of the role CRM plays in customer conversion and retention but also in generating loyalty and long-term profitability for retail businesses
2. Help students understand the different types of relationships at consumer and industrial level, and appreciate the complexity of relationship management in retail
3. Help students understand the challenges of managing customer information databases, as well as aspects related to CRM ethics and customer data protection
4. Enable students to develop appropriate strategies to manage a customer portfolio.
5. Enable students to enhance their numeracy skills, critical thinking abilities and their capabilities to develop strategic solutions to retail businesses in a variety of contexts and situations.

Introduction
Understanding customer-supplier relationships
Defining customer relationship management (CRM); the ten golden rules of CRM
Defining loyalty, the loyalty ladder, physical and digital touchpoints; application to the retail industry
Customer experience gap
Customer Journey and DNA in a retail context; B2B vs B2C

Strategy and Organisation
CRM as an integral business strategy in retail
The relationship oriented organisation

Intelligence
Customer knowledge strategy in retail
Customer data management in fashion retail; databases and their role; data analysis and data mining
Segmentation and selections
Retention and cross-sell analyses in retail
Management reporting: measuring, learning and optimising; benchmarking, NPS scores

Marketing
The role of marketing
The five broad stages of CRM
The customer proposition: Simplicity, Single-minded, Persuasive, Emotional
Customer lifetime value in retail
Type of bond with customers: financial, structural and emotional; the 40 emotional drivers
Engaging customers
The relationship policy
Internal marketing and internal relationships
Service quality
Customer trust

Channels
Multi-channel management
Personal selling
Online environment
Contact centre management
Customer portfolio management

CRM Systems and their implementation
CRM systems
Implementation of CRM systems; Loyalty schemes and ROI
Generating consumer insights: database analysis, research, brand experience
Techniques used to recognise customers: decile analysis, Pareto diagram, RVF score, retention analysis, penetration analysis, behaviour analysis, portfolio analysis, predicting customer defection, propensity to rebook, predicting cross-selling, identify switching
Customer profitability experience; cost-benefit analysis
Planning customer contact strategies though the customer lifecycle
Ethical issues in CRM practice
The future of CRM theory and practice

The module is delivered over a 30 week period and consists of 1.5 hour lectures and 1.5 hour seminars each week. Exceptions to this are the designated employability week and teaching weeks: 13 and 28 (where week 1 is the first teaching week of the academic year) which are used for research and preparation for examinations.

The module is delivered via lectures and seminars. Supporting material is made available via Weblearn, which facilitates a blended learning approach to include wider reading and other materials to support the syllabus. The seminars serve to anchor knowledge imparted in the lectures and provides a forum for:

• A better understanding of lectures through small group discussions, case study/ journal article/problem solving analysis and interchange of questions and answers.
• Assist students in relating their knowledge to the fashion retailing discipline and profession
• Applied understanding of technical skills required for carrying out research in order to assist in employability skills for future careers in fashion retailing. Students will need to consider this aspect of the module as part of their personal development and be able to produce examples in a portfolio of the research skills for a future employer.

In addition, the seminars incorporate summative and formative feedback in order for students to have an opportunity to reflect upon and evaluate their performance.

Activity Week – usually Week 7 (where week 1 is the first teaching week of the academic year)
Activity week 7 is used to stimulate ideas and activities for students from different subject groups taking this module to enhance PDP.  Activities allow students to further develop their team skills, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving.z`

On completion of the module students will be able to:

1. Understand the nature of customer loyalty and the meaning and application of CRM
2. Understand how customers interact, use and buy from brands
3. Successfully apply analytical methods to measure customer retention and loyalty
4. Plan and target a customer contact strategy, using the optimum mix of online and offline communications and services
5. Plan, devise, implement and evaluate a profitable customer retention strategy

Peelen, E. and Beltman, R. (2014) Customer Relationship Management, 2nd edition, ISBN-13: 9780273774952
Goldenberg, B. (2008) CRM in Real Time, ISBN-13: 978-0910965804
Hill, N., Roche, G. and Allen, R. (2007) Customer Satisfaction,  ISBN-13: 978-095541611
Shaw, C. (2007) The DNA of Customer Experience, ISBN-13: 978-0230500006
Finnegan, D. and Willcocks, L. (2007) Implementing CRM, ISBN-13: 978-0470065266
Chaffey, D, and Ellis- Chadwick, F. (2012) Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice, 5th edition, ISBN-13: 978-0273746102
Krafft , M., Hesse, J, Höflin, J., Peters, K. and Rinas, D. (2010) International Direct Marketing: Principles, Best Practices, Marketing Facts, ISBN-13: 978-3642072581
Hughes, A. (2012) Strategic Database Marketing, 4th edition, ISBN-13: 978-0071457507 
1to1media.com – customer strategy & CRM
mycustomer.com – focusing on CRM technology and application
conversion-rate-experts.com - blogs with CRO cases and advice
smartinsights.com
marketingexperiments.com - summaries of tests on changes to online communications
BuzzMetrics – neilsen-online.com/products_buzz.jsp?section=pro_buzz
Customer Management Bulletin – bulletins@ebulletins.com
Hitwise –offering relevant statistics and newsletters – hitwise.com
trendwatching.com – emerging consumer trends
webanalyticsdemystified.com – advice from specialist consultants