How has Zara transitioned from transactional marketing to relationship marketing effectively?

At present, the biggest challenge for a company is not just to attract customers, but also to
retain them for the long term, so as to gain new customers from the existing ones. Basically
there are two marketing strategies which are being used by the firms for years to make sales,
these are – Transactional Marketing and Relationship Marketing. The basic difference between
these two is that transactional marketing focuses on product features, relationship marketing
gives emphasis to product benefits to the consumers. As learnt in our course, “Relationship
Marketing”, the differences among them are-

Having built its own state-of-the art distribution network, the company is leaving the competition
in the dust in terms of sales and profits, not to mention speed of inventory management and
turnover. Therefore, Zara has transitioned majorly from transactional marketing, which is a
mechanism through which the business focuses on individual point-of-sale transactions rather
than developing a relationship with the buyer. Zara has switched from this method because it is
now drifting more towards establishing a stronger connection with the customers so as to retain
them strongly in the future and enable loyal customers to spread positive word of mouth to bring
further sales and profits. Transactional marketing uses mass marketing and promotion to make
sales, while relationship marketing uses personalized marketing and builds customer
relationships to make sales. By making the brand experience meaningful and the exchange
valuable, Zara taps the potential of its customers to evangelize the brand. Rather than push
marketing out, Zara pulls customers in, cultivates them as brand influencers to improve
operations, services and products and stimulates them to spread the word. This is how Zara
have shifted from their standpoint from transactional marketing to relationship marketing–
In the case, we see that Zara adopts both standardization and adaptation of its marketing mix to achieve
the most effective outcomes. Zara’s business model requires a great control and flexibility, and hence
has always tried to keep the maximum control over its operations; wholly owned subsidiaries. The rest
of the strategies are carried out when the legal policies or political situation of the country or another
intrinsic attribute of the market does not allow them this option. Standardization of product information
different or incomplete specifications and varying product information availability typically add several
weeks to a typical retailer's product design and approval process, but Zara warehouses the product
information with common definitions, allowing it to quickly and accurately prepare designs and
henceforth, create a strong brand presence in the minds of the customers.