Five new trends drive the 'path to purchase'

Building a customer-centric organisation is not as clearcut as it seems and often companies miss the fact that customers need the right value proposition to shift their purchase focus. “In the information age, the focus on serving the customer was data – looking at a value proposition that centred around what the customer needed to know about the company. Now, as the advent of social media has launched the Connection Economy, the focus is around building relationships and facilitating conversations,” said Raymond de Villiers, chief executive of Digital Life. He was speaking at the launch of the Barloworld Logistics supplychainforesight 2014 survey in Johannesburg last week. Customers now ask companies: “How well do you know me? And how can you meet my needs?” said De Villiers, pointing to five new trends around understanding customers and what drives them, and meeting their needs: 1. Access is more important than brand In the connected age, customers want 24-hour access to a company either via social media or online or via a helpline. 2. Developing countries are more open to brands A well-known brand name still carries some weight in emerging markets, but developed countries’ customers want more interaction and connection. 3. Customers are online and talking People enjoy helping by sharing praise and complaints, and social media provides the platform for that. 4. The path to purchase is more complex Purchasing decisions are made online – based on the above trends – and the way to remain competitive is for companies to understand clearly what customers want and to provide it. 5. Customers have different ways of connecting Understanding how customers connect and meeting them along their path of connectivity will give companies a competitive edge. A great example of this, said De Villiers, was how Tescos Korea realised that their customers’ patterns included long hours at work, long commutes on the subway and then home. Tescos created an innovative way for commuters to purchase groceries by creating virtual shopping shelves at subway stations and providing life-sized photos of the products with built-in QR codes. Commuters simply take photos of the products they want, send a request and their groceries are delivered to their door by the time they get home. INSERT & CAPTION The focus is around building relationships and facilitating conversations. – Raymond De Villiers CAPTION The Tescos virtual store in a subway in Korea … customers photograph what they want, send a request, and groceries are delivered to their door.