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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

What "Customer Centricity" means

for e-businesses

automation that take into account all factors - from con-
cerns about consumer behavior to contexts and mo-
ments. This allows for a targeted individual approach,
which goes far beyond the usual rough segmentation,
such as sex, age, or marital status, but can forecast
needs: If a customer for example has bought a perfume
or a washing machine, such products should not be
offered to him immediately again, but only after a few
months.

3. Do not offer products, but experiences: Custom-
ers do not want to buy products any more, but experi-
ences - and therefore companies should increasingly
approach them on an emotional level. However, you
The importance of customer relations has reached a cannot succeed, if you present in your online stores or
new dimension and both B2C and B2B companies have at the point of sale only the functional characteristics of
to rise to the challenges. The following four key success your offerings. An optimal "Customer Experience" im-
factors may help you to achieve centricity for your cus- plies the merger of product data with target group-
tomers consistently and continuously. oriented real content and its integration into an appro-
priate context. Technically, this can be realized by inte-
1. Analyzing data in real-time: Modern systems are grating a commerce platform with the content manage-
able to detect more and more data, as well as pro- ment system, enhancing the product data in a targeted
cessing big data in real time, so that from past experi- and consistent manner with individual texts, pictures or
ence and present data, forecasts can be created. Car videos, and that way creating holistic customer experi-
drivers, for instance, experience that with their naviga- ences. Seamless brand and theme worlds emerge,
tion system that takes a new traffic jam immediately into where buyers can experience the products better and
account and optimizes the planned route accordingly. more personally across all channels.
Similarly, customers receive more and more shopping
recommendations related to their past and current be- 4. Let the customers determine their own business:
havior, their location, and specific situation - which is In order to survive in the "Age of the Customer", as I
quite feasible using the latest techniques. Combined said, companies have to center the customer in all of
with real-time geolocation data, the evaluation of cus- their business activities, including the internal process-
tomer information could be as follows: A customer in es. Nowadays, shoppers don’t want to waste a single
the city center receives a message on his smartphone thought on which department to address regarding con-
that the running shoes he was searching for online in cerns or complaints, and no longer see it as necessary
the past few days are now offered by the store he is just to explain a salesperson exactly again, what they have
passing by - in the right shoe size at a special price. discussed in detail already during their call to the call
Well, most probably he won’t miss the good opportunity center. Therefore, new forms of organization are need-
to get them there. ed which combine all aspects of customer orientation
from the traditional departments such as marketing,
2. Provide relevant information only: Today’s con- sales or e-commerce, and combine it instead as
sumers often feel overwhelmed by a multitude of infor- “customer relationship management”. Furthermore, it is
mation: They receive emails, newsletters, WhatsApp - strongly recommended not to force customers to be-
and Facebook messages, surf the Internet, and are come active where companies want them. If they buy
captured by television and radio. Due to this so called or reserve a product on the Internet, they might want to
"information overflow”, he would simply prefer to get pick it up or change it at a branch. In order to make this
just information relevant to him. It means, if a company happen, and to provide customers with additional indi-
showers him with lump sum offers that have nothing to vidual consultancy in the store regarding an online or-
do with his own personal reality, he turns away irritated der, companies have to be informed at all times about
and sometimes even annoyed. Therefore, it is crucial what has already happened on the Internet and vice
not only to capture and analyze data in real time, but versa. Companies that do not integrate their online and
also to process the data, so that in the end only relevant offline channels seamlessly are wasting cross- and up-
information is generated. selling potential and will therefore get difficulties in the
near future. The same fate has to be expected by trad-
In the "Age of the Customer" the relevance and the con- ers, which means all those who do not comply with the
text rules! It can be achieved by means of suitable, inte- request of the customer to deliver a product ordered
grated systems for the personalization and marketing
online as soon as possible, will have problems.
12 Asian eMarketing May 2015 - Personalization in Marketing
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