Do you want to keep your customers forever?

Customers, whether consumers or businesses, do not want more choices. They want exactly what they want - when, where, and how they want it - and technology now makes it possible for companies to give it to them. However, most managers continue to view the world through the twin lenses of mass market...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Harvard business review 1995-03, Vol.73 (2), p.103-114
Main Authors: Pine, B Joseph, Peppers, Don, Rogers, Martha
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Brand loyalty
Business management
Business strategies
Competitiveness
Consumer behaviour
Consumer demand
Corporate profiles
Customer relations
Customers
Data bases
Grocery stores
Market strategy
Online information services
Personal selling
Strategic planning
Technological change
Technology
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Summary:Customers, whether consumers or businesses, do not want more choices. They want exactly what they want - when, where, and how they want it - and technology now makes it possible for companies to give it to them. However, most managers continue to view the world through the twin lenses of mass marketing and mass production. To handle increasingly turbulent and fragmented markets, they try to churn out a greater variety of goods and services. But they end up bombarding their customers with too many choices. A company that aspires to give customers exactly what they want must use technology to become 2 things: a mass customizer that efficiently provides individually customized goods and services, and a one-to-one marketer that elicits information from each customer. The process of acquiring those skills will bind producer and consumer together in a learning relationship - an ongoing collaboration to meet the customer's needs over time that will continually strengthen their bond.
ISSN:0017-8012