Customer Centricity In E-Business Essay Help Websites

Table of Contents
Customer-Focusedness as a Concept Difficulties of Customer-Orientation Examples of Customer-Centricity in E-Business References

Numerous sectors and economic spheres have prioritized client centricity for several decades. Customized operations and services that put customers at the center of corporate processes, so granting them greater influence as stakeholders, have dramatically improved the customer experience (Fournier 2011). In consumer-centric contexts, customers have the capacity to influence marketing and business tactics, adjust product variety and look, and act as brand and business image producers. The rapid growth of information and communication technology had a significant impact on the dynamics and behavior of consumers. Customer connections are equally essential to the entire profitability and competitiveness of e-commerce-dependent businesses and organizations. Nonetheless, e-commerce enterprises must adapt their customer-centric approach to their virtual environment in light of the distinctions between brick-and-mortar and online customer behavior.

Customer-Focusedness as a Concept

As a concept, client centricity has occupied the attention of business professionals for some time. Its impact on corporate performance has been debated for almost half a century (Shah et al. 2006). Historically, client centricity was a source of debate and inquiry. Its significance is now generally acknowledged, and the concept is utilized in a vast array of businesses. Customer centricity's guiding premise is the alignment of a company's operations, goods, and services with the needs of its customers (Fader 2012). In other words, rather than focusing on selling their products to consumers, customer-centric organizations are primarily concerned with satisfying their requirements.

A company organization can benefit from a customer-centric approach. First, it helps to strengthen and develop a positive brand image by associating it with an emphasis on service delivery and customer service excellence (Bucci 2012). Secondly, in today's world when customer experience is highly valued, firms that employ customer-centric strategies are able to enhance their revenue by adding value to the goods and services they provide (The journey toward greater customer centricity 2013). Thirdly, client centricity enables companies to cover their consumer categories with greater depth and involvement. Specifically, KPMG (2016) researchers define the adoption of customer-centric models in firms as operating "from the inside out and the outside in" (p. 5). This statement indicates that business insiders, such as employees, leaders, managers, and service-providing teams, are able to connect with their customers, collect feedback, and use it for the benefit of the business and the betterment of the customer experience. In this manner, customers and businesses engage in a continuous interaction that benefits both parties.

Difficulties of Customer-Orientation

In addition to its tremendous benefits, client centricity presents numerous hurdles to businesses who adopt this strategy. In fact, as observed by Shah et al. (2006), numerous contemporary businesses face challenges and encounter problems in their efforts to become customer-centric. The greatest obstacles associated with this strategy include the requirement to "read the minds of customers," the difficulties of transforming organizational structure, culture, and processes away from product-centricity, and the modification of financial KPIs to reflect the new strategy (KPMG 2017; Shah et al. 2006). Furthermore, Viehland (2000) projected that in the 21st century, customers will become increasingly tech-savvy and knowledgeable. In order to focus on satisfying their needs and desires, businesses will have to become accustomed to engaging with customers who are educated, intelligent, and conscious of their importance to firms. According to PWC (2014), one of the primary obstacles of customer centricity is that consumers have become accustomed to simple buying and service experiences that can be evaluated at any time of day. This trend causes customers to anticipate firms to be "always on" (PWC 2014, p. 1). In practice, this remark indicates that firms must invest significantly more effort in client connections than they would if they relied on the traditional 9 am to 5 pm timetable.

Customer-Focusedness in E-Business

The incorporation of contemporary digital technology into the sphere of commerce led to the birth of e-business, in which marketing and commercial operations are conducted online utilizing digital means. E-business organizations, like all other sorts of businesses, confronted the increasing relevance of customer pleasure and experience for organizational effectiveness. Due to the fact that e-businesses operate online and communicate with their customers digitally, their approach to customer relationship management differs from that of brick-and-mortar merchants.

Firstly, e-businesses enjoy a higher level of consumer satisfaction since they operate online and offer a greater degree of convenience, ease of access, and 24-hour availability (Kumar & Kumar 2014). Moreover, e-businesses lack the human contact capabilities of brick-and-mortar service providers, which hurts their customer relationship management positions. In addition, e-businesses must rely on a set of specialized customer care methods. In an effort to engage customers, advertise their services, and retain existing consumers, e-businesses frequently bombard them with spam and unsolicited emails (Kumar & Kumar 2014). The latter has a significant detrimental effect on the client experience. The difficulty in measuring the expenses of maintained vs newly gained clients, the required input in customer experience management processes, and the value of acquired advantages is a further significant problem for e-businesses (Kumar & Kumar 2014).

In order to understand how to traverse the various customer centricity techniques, e-businesses must do rigorous and repeated customer base and market research, according to a critical analysis of the material offered above. In addition, according to Jain (n.d.), knowledge is one of the most valuable things a modern organization may possess. E-businesses that operate online are able to obtain the required information regarding customer requirements. However, they must take an innovative approach to customer market research, as consumers seeking online experiences may be less eager to complete lengthy surveys and answer open-ended questions.

Examples

Dow Chemicals is one of the examples that can be examined for the aim of exploring client centricity in e-business. This is a renowned manufacturer of agricultural, plastic, and chemical goods. Dow Chemicals began operating as an e-business in the middle of the 1990s, developing its online presence and beginning to sell its products via a website (Chandran & Gupta 2004). Dow Chemicals encountered technology problems in addition to those revolving around organizational structure and culture adjustments, which Shah et al. (2006) identified as some of the major issues in customer centricity. Insufficient client experience was offered by their first website interface. The e-commerce approach required modifications and eventually incorporated customer-centric order and purchase management, a personalized interface with product-related information, and an order-tracking feature that kept consumers informed.

Amazon.com is another e-business noted for its customer-centric approach. This company began as an online bookstore. Amazon.com, aware of its lack of hands-on experience and personal interactions with customers, added a number of functions such as the option to search for books by their contents, suggestions for related or similar products, a quick checkout process, and the ability to view a few pages of selected books (Amazon.com 2006). As a result, this e-business was able to defeat many of its brick-and-mortar rivals by offering features that made online shopping simpler and quicker than physical shopping.

In addition, the customized supply chain is one of the most significant advantages utilized by the majority of e-businesses. This method enables them to expedite product deliveries via overnight and one-day shipping alternatives. Consumers adore and respect these characteristics. As a result, some companies employed them as value-added initiatives. Consequently, this ability is an additional major advantage of customer-centric e-businesses that encourages consumers to favor e-shopping over traditional shopping.

References

Amazon.com, Web, 2006.

Bucci, D. (2012). Customer-Centricity: Why Now More Than Ever!

Chandran, M., and Gupta, V. (2004). The consumer-centric e-business approach of Dow Chemicals.

Customer centricity: focusing on the right customers for strategic advantage, second edition, Wharton Digital Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2012.

The unwanted brand. Business Horizons, volume 54, number 3, pages 193-207, 2011.

Web. Jain, V.P., Importance of information flow, customer relationship management, and customer satisfaction in e-commerce strategic management, n.d.

The route toward increased client centricity, web page, 2013.

Seeking client centricity: KPMG 2016, Web.

KPMG 2017, The online consumer reality, Web.

E-business: advantages and disadvantages in customer relationship management. International Journal of Management and International Business Studies, volume 4, issue 3, pages 349-356, 2014.

PWC, The Cluetrain Manifesto, and embracing the "always on" consumer, Web, 2014.

Shah, D., R.T. Rust, A. Parasuraman, D. Staelin, and G.S. Day, "The path to customer centricity," Journal of Service Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 113-124, 2006.

Critical success elements for designing an e-business strategy. Research Letters in the Information and Mathematical Sciences, vol. 1, no. 1, 2000, pp. 1-7.

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