Abstract
This chapter examines the problem area of managing customer relationships in Internet-based marketing channels. Marketing channels can be defined as “…sets of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for consumption or use” (Sterns, El-Ansary, & Coughlan, 1996, p. 1). Companies have several formats of marketing channels they can use and need to manage (Stern, et al., 1996). The Internet is now established as a commercial media and investments are often said to be made in “the online channel.” But, is the Internet one monolithic marketing channel? This is the first research question that this chapter will address by analyzing an airline industry case. The chapter also uses the case to give a partial answer to the second research question: What are the antecedents to customer relationships when Internet-based marketing channels are used?