Did you know that Nike almost went out of business in 2001?
Well… almost. But they survived. This debacle resulted from a flawed understanding of demand and supply. However, they were able to turn this situation around before it got too bad (although they lost about 100 million in sales).
Almost all businesses have competition.
Even if your idea is super-unique, crazy hard or pretty mysterious like the Antarctica’s Blood Falls, you are not immune to competition. Someone will follow your lead and try to beat you at your own game.
The anonymity, breadth and speed of the internet means one bad customer experience can have a snowball effect on your business’ brand and finance. Putting the consumer at the core of all business operations has never been so critical. Customer centricty is far broader than simply providing great customer service.
Customers nowadays expect not only personalised experiences, fast and reliable service, but also the best pricing for the products they’re interested in buying. Knowing your customer and what drives their purchasing habits is important.
Everten Online, Kitchenware Online Retailer, spoke to CMO about how they exceed customer’s expectations.
“Being an online store, you lose that face-to-face with customers, and we really try to go the extra mile by helping our customers and giving our customers good advice when they call. We have very knowledgeable customer service team,” he says.
The giant Amazon arrived in Australia and has been generating a variety of opinions about what the future holds for online and physical retailers
“Experts believe that proaction doesn’t necessarily mean absolute price and service competitiveness with Amazon but rather developing an effective total marketing package and a flexibility geared to fast decision-making”, says Roger Pugh from The Big Smoke Australia.