Companiile orientate către consumatori riscă să-și piardă relevanța în lipsa unor planuri îndrăznețe de transformare

Source: Financiarul.ro.

• Businesses must shift from safeguarding traditional models to building their future
• Consumers crave highly personalized, real-time experiences

Organizations focused on consumer engagement need to transform their business strategies and take bold steps to remain relevant in a landscape driven by data and advanced technologies. This insight comes from the EY FutureConsumer.Now research, which outlines five essential business imperatives for consumer-centric companies to implement immediately.

„Few can predict how future consumers will behave, but one thing is clear for organizations facing this new breed of customers: resisting change is not an option; it leads directly to obsolescence. Today’s leaders are shaping customer behavior by increasingly integrating them into their ecosystems, primarily relying on superior service quality and intelligent data utilization,” states Cristian Cârstoiu, Partner at EY Romania‘s Business Advisory Department.

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For instance, Walmart, the largest brick-and-mortar retailer, has boldly diversified its business model to adapt to emerging trends. During the Walmart Associate and Shareholders Meeting in June 2018, CEO Doug McMillon referred to the company as a „technology firm,” a fitting description given the success of its e-commerce initiatives and enhanced customer experience.

The FutureConsumer.Now imperatives stem from over a year of qualitative research involving more than 200 business leaders, futurists, and professionals across various sectors, aimed at painting a comprehensive picture of what the future consumer might look like and what this means for today’s companies.

Here are five business imperatives and recommendations from EY for consumer-focused organizations:

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1. Seize Every Opportunity

Agile firms entering the market leverage technology to carve out new market positioning, challenging existing business models. In contrast, many traditional companies focus on protecting their legacy through gradual improvements. To stay competitive, businesses must respond to three key demands: maximize the diminishing returns of existing business models to support transformation; build on current capabilities to develop new business models; and create new capacities to capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Examples of companies embracing this approach can be seen in China, where players like Alibaba and Baidu initially mimicked established business models (such as those of Amazon and Google) but later diversified with innovative services and business models (like marketplaces or cross-industry offers in finance, telecom, or utilities), thus attracting previously unreachable customer segments.

2. Choosing Your „Tribe” Wisely

Companies that align with the values and concerns of their target groups-those that matter most to their business and their „tribe”-will gain a competitive edge. By differentiating their positioning and embedding their mission into every aspect of their organization, businesses can forge deep, lasting, and profitable connections with consumers, the professional community they target, and other stakeholders.

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Design Thinking methodologies and techniques like Customer Experience Management have been integral to the strategies of successful firms, maintaining a relentless focus on the experiences of current and prospective customers.

3. Capturing Every Micro-Moment

Tech-savvy consumers are increasingly making purchases of goods, services, and experiences in „micro-moments,” showing no preference for the platforms they use. Companies must tailor and adapt their product offerings, pricing, and timing to meet customer needs, as consumers make buying decisions in mere seconds, regardless of brand.

4. Delivering Measurable Outcomes

As technology provides consumers with more information about purchases than ever before, generic brand promises will become obsolete. Consumers will demand measurable and personalized results that go beyond the key benefits of a product or service. Future-savvy consumers will expect complete transparency regarding the quantifiable impacts of every purchasing and consumption choice they make. In this context, companies can transparently showcase the positive advantages of their products or services to attract a larger share of their target audience.

5. Mastering the Ecosystem

New technologies and disruptive business models are reshaping traditional value chains, and successful consumer-oriented companies will capitalize on new opportunities by determining where and how they can add more value. Consequently, businesses must define the type of consumer-centric ecosystem they wish to create and decide where they want to operate within that ecosystem.