Relationship Marketing in the Internet Age

Relationship marketing emerged from a shift to a market orientated business climate focusing on long-term relationships with customers, competitors, and other important influence markets. In this perspective, many organisations are faced with new dilemmas since the conduct of business on the Internet. Is Internet really supporting relationship marketing, or on the contrary hindering it? In order to find some empirical support, we lead an interview with a winery which has, both, online and offline activities. Indeed, the case study method is adequate in order to extract key variables from real-life situations. The results testify of Internet’s support activity to the development of relationships but its impossibility to create credibility, trust and commitment without an offline organisation.