The Osservatorio Fedeltà UniPR at the University of Parma, Italy and the Observatoire de la Fidélité & de la Fidèlisation Clientèle at University of Bordeaux and Aquitem, France, are happy to announce their partnership in the domain of Loyalty Management and customer relationship management.

This partnership will allow the two research institutes from now on to share research insights and ideas, to cooperate on research projects and to exchange reports, insights and updates. The first joint project is already underway: the Observatories are working together on their 2021 annual consumer research that will map how Italian and French consumers interact with the different touchpoints of their loyalty programs. Stay tuned for updates!

Get to know the Observatories below:

Observatoire de la Fidélité & de la Fidèlisation Clientèle

This Observatory was born from a partnership between AQUITEM, a Bordeaux company specializing in the management of loyalty programs and IAE Bordeaux University School of Management (University of Bordeaux).

This collaboration, which began in 2008, focuses on the production and dissemination of knowledge and expertise in the form of publications and other jointly organized conferences.

Thus, once a year, a conference open to students and professionals, is notably organized. This conference aims to advance ideas and enrich debates around the evolution of consumer loyalty. This conference is  generally revolves around four highlights.

· The presentation of the results of the Loyalty Barometer, which seeks to measure the relationship that consumers maintain with loyalty programs and to assess their evolution over time

· The presentation of the results of a study conducted every year on a specific topic depending on the more pressing concerns of professionals (in 2020, the issue of developing a responsible loyalty program was investigated);

· The presentation of research articles or professional testimonials.

· The presentation of the Loyalty Observatory report, drawn up on the basis of a work produced by the students of the Master 2 in Strategic Marketing, which offers a benchmark on the latest academic and consultancy research on the topic of customer loyalty;

Beyond this conference, the Loyalty Observatory regularly feeds its blog, which is a reference site in the field in France. It receives 3,000 visitors each month and its report is downloaded 20 to 50 times.

Osservatorio Fedeltà UniPR

The Osservatorio Fedeltà (Loyalty Observatory) was created in 1999 at the University of Parma with the goal of studying the adoption of loyalty management and the use of customer data in European retailing and overseas.  The Loyalty Observatory is based within the Department of Economics and Management, where it draws on over 40 years of research in the fields of marketing, retail management, channel relationships and trade marketing. From the beginning, the goal has always been to contribute to the development of a customer loyalty culture among Italian managers across all industries and support managers, researchers and students interested in developing research projects or training or simply knowing more about loyalty management and customer relationship management (CRM).  Prof. Cristina Ziliani, Full Professor at University of Parma is the Director of the Observatory, while Prof. Marco Ieva is Head of Research and Promotion.

At the Loyalty Observatory annual workshop, where more than 500 managers, marketing practitioners and academics gather together in Parma (physically or online), the Observatory’s research is disseminated among companies in the consumer goods manufacturing, retailing, ecommerce and services sectors. The Observatory develops research and training projects for companies on loyalty, CRM and customer experience management. The workshop’s record, over 20 years, makes for impressive reading: nearly 3,000 delegates (representing 1,400 companies), over 150 speakers, 25 sponsors, and more than 500 student workshop organizers. Over 100 master’s theses on loyalty, more than 60 academic papers and five books have been written thanks to the activity of the Osservatorio Fedeltà.

The Observatory Steering Committee is formed of managers from companies that aim to support the Observatory in its research and dissemination activity. Dialogue is established with the Observatory team to exchange ideas, develop projects, create events and recruit talented graduates and professionals in the fields of loyalty and CRM. Partners help shape the Observatory research agenda and are distinguished players in the fields of marketing intelligence, customer data, loyalty, CRM, promotion platforms, consulting and services. Check the Observatory website to discover the partner companies.