Abstract:
Relationship marketing is identified as the most important concept under the marketing
paradigm. It is also recognized as the strategic concept to the business to business
practices to enhance customer loyalty in the hyper competitive environment. In this
context, the study examines the influence of relationship marketing on customer loyalty
with six underpinning dimensions of relationship marketing practices as trust,
competence, communication, conflict handling, commitment and bonding. The study
employs exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis to come to the
general conclusion based on sample respondents. Study covers the Colombo district and
applies the facts on business customers and questionnaires completed by 108 customers
of Arpico Interiors, who represent the executive level positions in the organizations using
simple random sampling. Results of the study stress the underpinning relationship
between relationship marketing and customer loyalty. The findings revealed that the
relationship marketing practices significantly influence on customer loyalty (R2 = .772) in
Interiors Company. Among the dimensions competence, commitment and bonding
enhance the customer loyalty. Implications are derived from the results and
recommendations are discussed.
