Technologies such as the Internet provide easy access to tremendous amounts of information, and people have been taking advantage of that to become smarter shoppers. They are using digital technologies to gather information, to find competing products, and to talk to other customers. Increasingly, they are using the Internet to avoid pushy marketers and to help them make their own purchasing decisions. The Internet is a great enabler of customer power. What many hoped would happen with the Internet is actually occurring, and it will change how you do business.
The proven sources of increased customer power are access to information, access to more alternatives, more simplified direct transactions, increasing communication between customers and increasing control over marketing contacts.
Another tricky area for marketers is the degree to which they should accept what customers tell them. Some customers will tell a company what they think it wants to hear, especially if it is rewarding them for being so open. Some will pay little attention to the truth of their answers, and others may deliberately lie- perhaps overstating a criticism to make sure it is not ignored. One outcome of taking everything the customer offers at face value is that supposedly “Customer led” brands begin to adopt similar values in an attempt to reflect the target market’s values and lifestyles.
Products and services as diverse as airline travel and food could feasibly share the attributes “empowering” and “approachable”. In the case of an airline research groups would have talked about the importance of being in control of their travel arrangements and how they expect a positive reaction from the carrier if arrangements need to be altered.
By comparison a convenience food brand could reflect the empowerment lifestyle attribute by offering consumers good food without effort. Approachability could relate to care-lines giving consumers the option to call up with nutritional or recipe queries. The USP is therefore buried by the desire to appeal to the customer.
The fickleness or lack of dependability of today’s consumers may be partly because they are baffled by huge choice they have and find it difficult to keep up with the constant flow of new goods and services onto the market. The complexity of 21st century life makes it difficult, even inappropriate, to be consistent. The way people behave may not even be consistent with the values they espouse. For example, at demonstrations outside Nike Town outlets against the company’s use of under-age labour in its outsourced manufacturing plants, some of the protesters sported Nike training shoes.
More choice, more competition and more information give consumers more power. In the past decade, a post-modern consumer has emerged who is happy to play the game as long as it is on his or her terms. Companies need to recognise this in their marketing operations, which should always remain relevant to the lifestyle of those they are trying to reach- but they must remember that this does not necessarily involve reflecting it. Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.
The proven sources of increased customer power are access to information, access to more alternatives, more simplified direct transactions, increasing communication between customers and increasing control over marketing contacts.
Another tricky area for marketers is the degree to which they should accept what customers tell them. Some customers will tell a company what they think it wants to hear, especially if it is rewarding them for being so open. Some will pay little attention to the truth of their answers, and others may deliberately lie- perhaps overstating a criticism to make sure it is not ignored. One outcome of taking everything the customer offers at face value is that supposedly “Customer led” brands begin to adopt similar values in an attempt to reflect the target market’s values and lifestyles.
Products and services as diverse as airline travel and food could feasibly share the attributes “empowering” and “approachable”. In the case of an airline research groups would have talked about the importance of being in control of their travel arrangements and how they expect a positive reaction from the carrier if arrangements need to be altered.
By comparison a convenience food brand could reflect the empowerment lifestyle attribute by offering consumers good food without effort. Approachability could relate to care-lines giving consumers the option to call up with nutritional or recipe queries. The USP is therefore buried by the desire to appeal to the customer.
The fickleness or lack of dependability of today’s consumers may be partly because they are baffled by huge choice they have and find it difficult to keep up with the constant flow of new goods and services onto the market. The complexity of 21st century life makes it difficult, even inappropriate, to be consistent. The way people behave may not even be consistent with the values they espouse. For example, at demonstrations outside Nike Town outlets against the company’s use of under-age labour in its outsourced manufacturing plants, some of the protesters sported Nike training shoes.
More choice, more competition and more information give consumers more power. In the past decade, a post-modern consumer has emerged who is happy to play the game as long as it is on his or her terms. Companies need to recognise this in their marketing operations, which should always remain relevant to the lifestyle of those they are trying to reach- but they must remember that this does not necessarily involve reflecting it. Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.
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