Marketing Essay on Customers Needs

The question on what customer want has puzzled many organization specifically the stakeholders. This problem has frequently been addressed by over-reliance on the definition of customer expectation. However, the use of technology has changed everything drastically, and in the end, has controlled clients unprecedentedly. As a result, most companies are functioning in uncertain and complex business environments. Consequently, most business, have resorted to forging ahead without over-reliance on competition on commodities they offer. Forging ahead has been done with a mixture of activities that differ from organization to organization. Successful companies have only managed to forge ahead by altering their policies while looking at the policies from the customer perspective. A study by Johnston and Kong, 2011, has shown that only long-term policies that are geared towards enhancing customer experience yields maximum profits for the organization. Therefore, to meet the full organization potential, there has to be a clearer definition of the client's experience and purposes, development of an understanding of what is important to the client, finding a proper strategy to manage customer expectations. Besides, the reinvention of customer journeys using digital technologies, using the journeys to empower the customers, and continuously improving and establishing key governance metrics in the organization are fundamental to meeting customer needs. All these aspects are crucial in any organization, automotive industry inclusive. The concepts of customer demands are best discussed in an organization as customer centric.

Customer Centricity

Customer centric as one of the procedures for doing business is where customers are treated well with the aim of provision of positive customer experience for following transactions and referrals (Wagner & Majchrzak, 2006). Besides, customer centric yields customer loyalty and improve profits. Therefore, a customer-centric company far matches more than the definition of a company that offers better commodities for its clients. Consequently, the significance of a company that is regarded as customer centric is seen to grow daily.

Moreover, the act of a good customer centricity does not end at offering excellent customer service, but it prolongs to providing a great experience from the awareness stage to post-purchase processes via purchasing process (Vivek et al., 2012). Therefore, customer centric is a strategy based on putting customers first and at the center of the business, as illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: The aspect of Customer Centricity

Placement of customer at the center of the business enables one to collect data, which gives a vast representation of full customers view. Having proper customer view permit development of models that enhances customers experience. Customer experience is important in some ways: the customer purchase behaviour can retrieved from the information; best commodities for client can be created from data and customer segmentation can be done.

Fader 2012 in this book noted that focusing on the customer makes business sense as 60% of more profitable companies are customer-centric. However, customer-centricity does not come without challenges. For instance, since the economic downturn era that is during power shift between brand and customer customers have been very selective of their expenditure on the brands. It has been noted that for brands where customer are treated with respect and great services are offered, the clients have often have preference over such organizations. In addition, the emergence of technology has also offered customers a platform to compare commodities prices, which has posed a huge challenge for many organizations. This has been the major challenges for almost all organization the world and over.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2: Challenges faced by organization in achieving customer-centricity

Practices that is associated with customer centric organization

The best way to attain customer centric is by anticipating customers needs. Delighting customer does the anticipation of customer needs with the commodities they like (Verhoef et al., 2010). Consequently, customers, centric brands are donned to create product, processes, policies and customer culture that would support the clients vast experience whose sole purposes are to meet customers goals (Kumar et al. 2006). Therefore, the practices associated with customer centricity are branding on passion of the client; brands that focus on client demands; brands that build a relationship with the client by maximizing clients commodity experience and brands related to formulating a strategy to keep loyal customers and ensure the organization is profitable.

A measure of the success of an organization regarding customer centricity is also a factor that must be addressed. Notwithstanding, churn rate, which is the acquisition of new clients, and customer lifetime value (CLV) that is the profits generated during the lifetime of a customer, are the most measure of customer centricity. The two measures are non-easier to meet hence the process of ensuring an organization is customer centric is complex and long but can only be met by small changes in the policies that are geared towards attaining the set goals. Consequently, in an attempt to be a customer centric, an organization unlocks the true potential of customer value by acting the customer capacity. Customer centricity cannot be addressed without innovativeness.

Innovativeness

Gone are the days when automobile dealers would wonder from shop to shop-comparing makes and models. In the 21st century, dealers have been noted to engage their clients online, which has not been easier as it seems. The timing has to be appropriate besides the selection of appropriate platform. Consumers in the industries are offered new technology in advance as compared to old days when they would meet the new technologies only after purchase of their cars. This has improved their experience with the new brands thereby enhancing loyalty amongst the clients. Most car dealers before introducing a new model, they often ensure the customers are with them and that the brand is clearly appreciated by the clients. Such moves enhance loyalty amongst the customer, thereby boosting profits.

Since the investment recession, car bargains has seen bring drastic decline. Although other areas in the retail industry witnessed increased sales, the automobile industry has failed to witness the increase of momentum (Chatterjee et al., 2002). As noted in many developed countries, the automobile sales have been decreasing yearly at a rate approximate to 2.2% (Buttle, 2009). This trend has seen automobile dealers continue to struggle while other retail agencies begin to recede. The dynamics in the purchasing power in the automobile industries have also been accredited to the fact that nowadays, customers spend more time researching than the norm in the 20th century.

Consequently, the dealers in the industry have adjusted their tactics by looking for better strategies to reach the clients. Dynamism in the industry have sparked mixed results hence automobile dealer unlike the other dealers in the market, cannot cultivate loyalty among the clients within the industry. To understand better the customer experience in the market, four innovate drives will be discussed.

Connectivity revolutionizes vehicles

In the current century, the world is said to be a global village, meaning everything can be connected to via the internet for anyone access. This has been the trend in the automobile industry as the dealers avail brand technology on the internet for clients perusal (Blake et al., 2003). However, the use of technology has also enhanced dealers interaction with the customer as the customer can nowadays receive the alert on the traffic jams. This has allowed the merchants to interact more often with the clients, thereby providing the required update on the automobile. Connectivity is also associated with telematics, which puts more power into the customer hand. Therefore, just by a press of a button, in case of an accident, the customer can send alert and he can be rescued. The existence of clients data improves efficiency of the dealers in terms of provision of services, hence enhancing client loyalty, thereby boosting customer value life which increases profitability (Chen and Popovich, 2003: Linoff and Berry, 2011).

In summary, innovativeness in customer centricity in the automobile industry enhances majorly continuous delivery revolution. Continuous delivery revolution has been a stepping-stone in enhancing service delivery between the manufactures and the dealers, while at the same time gain competitive advantage, which bolsters: time-to-market, risk reduction and employee engagement (Godlevskaja et al., 2011: Lamberti, 2013).

Organization models

Growth in has been a major challenge in most organization in the 21st century amid heightened global competitive economy. Human resource managers have been the key link between organization performance and work design challenges that are drivers of growth (Mohrman, 2007). This lead to talent management that is an indistinguishably to company and work systems design. Consequently, HR should expand its focus to accommodate both work designs and organization business performance. Talent management must hence be presented in terms of compelling growth agendas, which are geared towards new markets or development through innovative products or services or business models. In talented management, organizations often integrates new resources and re-align with existing ones besides reconfiguration of the core design features to manage increased growth complexities. The star model in figure 3 below can best represent talented innovative management.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 3: Star Model

According to this model, for growth to be realized, new organization capabilities, which are combination of many factors such as customer behavior, routines and knowledge, must be put in place. These must be addressed to counter the major challenges of growth presented in figure 4.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 4: Challenges of growth

The growth and competitive base of many organization shifted from knowledge base to research and development, design work system in many companies have varied leading to some industries having more models of products. A good example in this category is Toyota, where the number of brands increased while increasing employers base. While the base grew slowly, the number of cars model from the organization increased in the market. This is attributed to the work design and strategy of the organization, which employ human resource and their skills effectively.

Data analysis

Stakeholders

General information

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 5: Stakeholders gender

It was noted that the majority of stakeholders were male with 62% and female with 38%.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 6: Stakeholders age

Majority of the stakeholders are 31-40 year old.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 7: Stakeholders dealers

Majority of the stakeholders dealer is Isuzu Dmax.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 8: Stakeholders dealers and profits

Most organization profits are below $10000.

Customer Centricity

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 9: Customer Centricity as a term

97% of the stakeholders accepted they have heard about customer centricity.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 10: Understanding customer centricity

Majority of the stakeholders suggested that they definition of customer centricity is to understand the customer.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 11: Practice customer centricity

100% of the stake...