The Hindu Business Line : Cultivating consumer loyalty

Advances in technology are transforming the traditional roles of the producer and the consumer. The producer of goods and services is gradually evolving into the new role of a facilitator. He facilitates the satisfaction of the needs felt by the consumer. In this process, the producer and the consumer are forming symbiotic relationships in which their mutual loyalty is recognised and nurtured.

In the earlier era, the consumer was taken for granted. He was a docile underdog in the world of commerce. Business opening hours, mode of payment, range of products were all decisions made by the producer at his sole discretion. Dissatisfied consumers were pushed aside; and the queue for buying the products continued to be filled in by the less demanding and more subservient consumers.

It was during the latter half of the 20th that technological and political changes leapfrogged to an unprecedented extent, resulting in a new movement, now, known as globalisation. Products rolled off the assembly lines from different centres in different countries, but mostly owned by the same corporate house. Geography was conquered by the developments in transport and telecommunication.

Shifted to consumer retention

Over-zealous consumers mobbed the market to satiate their thirst for goods and services, thanks not only to the plenty of purchasing power in their hands, but also due to the variety of choice confronting them in the malls. New patterns of consumption came into being with the rise of shopping arcades, the spread of television advertising, and the onset of consumer activist groups. By the 1980s, quality of the product became a primary parameter for securing marketing advantage. However, from the 1990s, the focus shifted to consumer retention. A range of marketing devices for attracting and retaining the consumer was deployed by the trade and commerce. Today, as environmental awareness is on the rise and, further, the media reporting of any managerial misadventure is prompt and instantaneous, consumer reactions impinge far more swiftly on purchasing patterns.

Count on experiences

Effective management of the experiences of a consumer is an important issue in promoting his loyalty to the company. People want only good experiences. No wonder, the Japanese give so much importance to “consumer delight”. Success in the delivery of goods and services is largely determined by the extent to which they result in the consumer having the desired good experience.

While consumer mobilisation is an ongoing task for a manager, it is equally important to retain existing consumers for an enduring corporate success. Thus, managers are perennially in pursuit of schemes that promote consumer loyalty.

Implementing such schemes requires the understanding of the forces that are redesigning the concept of the consumer, the changing roles which consumers are called upon to play, and the foundations on which consumer loyalty may be built and sustained.

(The author is a Chennai-based freelance writer. blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)