and less on administrative tasks. It should be noted, however, that CRM also has its roots in relationship marketing which is aimed at improving long run profitability by shifting from transaction-based marketing, with its emphasis on winning new customers, to customer retention through effective management of customer relationships (Christopher et al., 1991). Thus, CRM is a more complex and sophisticated application that mines customer data that has been pulled from all customer touch points, creating a single and comprehensive view of a customer while uncovering profiles of key customers
and predicting their purchasing patterns. Technology that tracks and analyzes customer behavior allows companies to easily identify the best customers and focus marketing efforts and reward those who are likely to buy often. Acquiring a better understanding of existing customers allows companies to interact, respond, and communicate more effectively to significantly improve retention rates.