Proceedings of 4th Global Business and Finance Research Conference
25 - 27 May 2015, Marriott Hotel, Melbourne, Australia
ISBN: 978-1-922069-76-4
Mobile Operators’ Marketing Strategies towards Current
and New Customers: An Analysis over Turkey’s Mobile
Operators
Ayşe Nazlıhan Coşkun*
The cost of acquiring a new customer is six to seven times higher than maintaining
an existing customer. On one hand, the new customer costs include cost of
advertising, price sensitivity, cost associated with explaining the brand and potential
inefficiency in dealing with new customers, on the other hand, the satisfied current
customers generate substantial profits for the company. Although this is the case, the
mobile operator brands in Turkey insist on investing more for their potential
customers and have a tendency to ignore the points which pave the path for
customer satisfaction. Information Technologies and Communication Institution (BTK)
made it possible to switch between mobile operators in 2008 and for approximately
six years this has led to a scene for the unsatisfied customers rebranding in
unprecedented amounts which cannot be underestimated. This article aims to
present the marketing strategies of Turkcell, Vodafone and Avea which are three
leading brands of GSM industry in Turkey. Furthermore, the number porting data
from Information Technologies and Communication Institution’s annual reports in a
six year span are put under the scope. In conclusion, implications for practice are
offered for a more stable state in the market with more satisfied customers in the long
term.
Field of Research: Marketing (Marketing Strategy, Buyer Behavior, Marketing Case
Studies)
___________________
* Asst. Prof. Ayşe Nazlıhan Coşkun, Public Relations and Advertising Department Okan University,
Istanbul, Turkey, E-mail: nazlihan.coskun@okan.edu.tr