Pluralism in contemporary marketing practices

Over the last decade, considerable emphasis has been placed on the importance of relationship marketing. The re‐orientation of marketing has been at the expense of the traditional approach to marketing, that is transaction marketing (the “4Ps”). However, others conclude that transactional marketing is still relevant and practised concurrently with various types of relational marketing. However, no empirical evidence has been provided to support the proposition of a pluralistic approach to marketing. We, therefore, draw on empirical, qualitative case study evidence from the emerging and transforming international food supply chain that supports the proposition. The paper uses two settings from this context to illustrate that both transactional and relational approaches to marketing are employed concurrently. The first case, at the product origin of the supply chain, is based upon research into relationship marketing in the Danish‐UK dairy supply chain. The second case, at the consumer interface of the supply chain, evolves from a study into an interactive home‐shopping supermarket in New Zealand. The paper considers implications and areas for further research.