Effectiveness of Strategic Marketing Alliance for Affinity Card

Abstract

Affinity Card is derived from credit cards, aiming directly at a group of people sharing common backgrounds, requirements, or consensus, and this type of credit cards represent the spirit, cohesion and extraordinary division of the group and its functions are better than the credit cards.
As Affinity Card possess the characters of dominating the markets immediately, arising the market shares, and having the functions that display the group characteristics and distinguish the identities. This has become one of the competition strategies of issuing institutions; also a turning point of strategic marketing alliance for issuing bank, non-profit organization and other traders.
Presently, there are only few researches relating to this subject, and marketing alliance of three entities is even rarer. Thus, from the perspective of consumers this research constructs structural relationship model of strategic marketing alliance for Affinity Card, and employs LISREL as the analysis instrument; results of field research can be concluded as following:
1. Before issuing bank and public welfare group are co-operating to form the marketing strategic alliance, apart from the fact that self-image and reputation will affect the image of Affinity Card, the appropriateness of alliance will also become one of the main factors influencing the consumers’ cognition of the image of the affinity card.
2. The image of Affinity Card and the level of the co-operation closeness within three entities (issuing institution, public welfare group and other traders) are the important factors to influence the consumers’ willingness to possessing cards.
3. The congruity of consumers’ self-concept is the key of affecting the image of Affinity Card and consumer willingness to possessing cards.
4. After issuing institutions and affinity group co-publish the Affinity Cards, the loyalty of the consumers towards the Affinity Cards is formed mainly based on their willingness to possessing cards.
5. During the process of marketing strategic alliance, the consumers’ willingness to possessing cards is the important factor to affect both partners’ images and reputations; but after the alliance, the image of issuing institutions may also be influenced by the reputation of the affinity groups.
6. When the ordinary traders join the co-marketing activities of Affinity Cards, its numbers of visitor will be increased by the rise of consumers’ willingness to possessing the particular Affinity Cards.
7. After issuing institutions and public welfare group co-publish the Affinity card and process the co-marketing activities with the ordinary commercial traders, this kind of co-operation between three entities will lead to a result of “all wins”.