Charting Relationship Marketing Practice: It Really Didn’t Emerge in the 1970s

Abstract

Purpose To provide a history of relational perspectives in marketing practice from the nineteenth through to the twentieth century. Design/methodology/approach Engages in a systematic reading of published histories of retailing practice using the key attributes of transaction and relationship marketing as a conceptual framework to interrogate whether earlier practitioners were committed to either approach. Findings This paper supplements the studies conducted in other domains that undermine the idea that relational practices were rejected in favor of transaction-type approaches during the industrialization of the United States and Canada. Practical implications The content of this paper provides textbook authors with a means to fundamentally revise the way they discuss relationship marketing. It has a similar pedagogic utility. Originality/value This paper studies the writings of practitioners known to be pioneers of retailing to unravel their business philosophies, comparing and contrasting these to known attributes of relationship marketing. It deals with an historical period that has not previously been studied in this level of detail by marketing historians.