Customer Is King
The Absolute Truth of the Internet Age: Customer is King
There are phrases we hear many times that almost start losing their meaning and for a while now that has been true of the statement 'Customer is King.' Most customers have been going, "Really?" But something has shifted in recent years that has made this the absolute truth of our times. What is this element that has made the customer the king again? - Knowledge.
It should perhaps be more accurately called information and access to information but knowledge has a better ring, doesn't it? What all these words refer to is really the same in that today's customer is a well informed customer. This has been called the Information Age. The Web and its multi-pronged impact on our life is well analyzed in the press and the new designation Web 2.0 is an acknowledgment of how lives are linked and lived through this medium. The Web plays an unquestionable part in a middle schooler's research paper, a recent graduate's job hunt and a consumer's bargain search. This is the weapon that has re-established the truth of the statement 'customer is king.'
How has information helped make the customer dominant? The idea that there are stores in broad price brackets and you go to your local version of Nordstrom or Target depending on your budget is dated because today's customer is more likely to log on and research - where is the best value for money for a given product/service. This search and gathered information is the customer's bargaining tool. It enables the customer to not settle for anything that is presented as a great deal because there are various ways to compare. For one, every store advertises their promotional deals on the web and takes out the leg-work element of comparison shopping.
The other interesting choice the consumer has is to get immediate feedback from sites devoted to shoppers in similar positions - so you can look up a blog that rates the washing machines you are considering or see which product is rated highly by your favorite shopping guide website. You can visit your social networking site and ask your 150 friends for a recommendation for the best Falafel in NYC or for a romantic date movie option for the weekend. The other way in which social media has helped the consumer is in the immediacy of information. So, somebody who sees a great deal on a popular brand of jeans can tweet about it within a few seconds a large community of people can be reached. This makes the information more relevant or pertinent to every shopper. The truth is bits and pieces of this information have always been available and have always been part of how a customer makes choices. What the Web has achieved and what is offers is simultaneous information from formal and informal sources and a chance for the customer to amalgamate the information without too much difficulty. And an informed customer is an empowered customer.
This new reality takes some getting used to but can be very attractive for a seller who has a great product or deal to offer and not much of an advertising budget. The flip side of this for the seller is that there is very little chance of convincing a potential customer about a 'quality' or 'deal' unless there is substance to back up such claims. The customer is king means that those who seek to set themselves apart really have to deliver in terms of innovation or price. It would be a mistake to assume that a customer seeks only value in terms of price because even in these challenging economic times what most consumers are looking for is a balance of quality and price. Gone are the days of the brand names holding sway, but a savvy retailer will know that the ultimate acknowledgement of the customer's influence and power is to deliver a product that combines good price and great quality.