Relationship marketing, the development of mutually beneficial long-term relationships between suppliers and customers, is being widely cited as the future of marketing. The traditional short-term focus on transactions has been criticised on two main grounds. First, short-termism has promoted a form of hitand- run marketing in which the customer's best interests are not served. Second, short-termism has not served corporate self-interest either because it is more costly to attract new customers than it is to retain existing ones. Despite this, marketing theory is still resolutely transaction-oriented. Its focus is clearly on customer acquisition, rather than customer retention.