Exchange relationships in consumer markets?

Abstract

Discusses the validity of classifying transaction and relationship exchanges (and marketing theories) according to whether the selling firm is operating in consumer or industrial markets. It is only recently that relationship marketing, and thus the exchange relationship paradigm, has started to become an alternative approach to consumer markets. Aims at understanding if the work of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) can be applied to end‐user consumer markets. There is a series of reasons behind this decision; however, the most relevant one is trying to bring a very extensive body of theoretical work within the realm of consumer marketing. First, lists the interaction and network approach assumptions (to be associated with the concept of exchange relationships), next, analyzes and reformulates these assumptions and finally, suggests that the interaction and network approach can be applied to consumer markets, showing that both transaction and relationship exchanges may co‐exist in all markets, regardless of the product/service sold or client/ market served.