The Shift of Power from Manufacturers and Sellers to Consumers
In the present marketing scenario, Consumer is the king. All leading organizations aim to satisfy their customers as a top priority and strategy for the growth of the brand. Over a period of time, customers have become increasingly aware and there has been a noticeable power shift from the manufacturers and sellers to the consumers of the product or service. It is the consumers who create demand and it becomes the responsibility of the marketers to fulfill those demands (Ishak & Zabil, 2012). The advent of technology and the increasing number of players in every industry have allowed this shift of power towards the consumers.
Since a long period of time, customers have been cheated and disregarded by businesses. In practicality, a consumer held no power and they could do little about manipulating the product quality or the product price. There were limited options available to customers in terms of industry offerings and they had to make do with the little available alternatives. Over time, these trends changed. Governments started promoting entrepreneurships and the overall industry offerings improved. With the growing technology, customers started communities and making each other aware. This technological advancement led to the birth of social media which connected billions of individuals from across the globe through a single platform. This essay highlights upon how this shift occurred and how have customers taken the baton and influenced leading brands. The essay also talks about how organizations have understood the power of consumer activism and the steps that they have taken to ensure positive positioning in the minds of customers
Consumer activism and awareness plays a significant role in the buying behavior of customers. There are several factors that have led to consumer activism. The most important of these factors is the availability of a unified platform for customers in the form of social media. Social media plays a critical role in enhancing customer awareness (Agnihotri et. al., 2016). In fact these social media platforms largely impact consumer decisions, buying behavior, patterns and preferences. This is precisely the reason why organizations invest so heavily in their social media marketing strategies. Product positioning plays a significant role in ensuring business success. These platforms have enhanced customer awareness but have also created a platform for businesses to set the right positioning in the minds of customers (Sigala et. al., 2012). These platforms have given a voice to both businesses as well as its customers.
Impact of Social Media on Customer Awareness
Of many social media platforms, Twitter has played the most significant protagonist in consumer activism. All leading organizations announce their new products, policies, services and leadership through this platform. Twitter gives a voice to organizations as well as customers in different parts of the world. Product or service quality offered by businesses play a significant role in ensuring customer satisfaction. Today organizations put tremendous efforts in ensuring the quality of their offerings because they understand that compromising with the quality of product offering can have much dire consequences as compared to a few years ago.
Every leading brand has a twitter account. It is through this platform that organizations communicate with customers and customer communicate with each other. A bad customer review of a leading brand garners urgent attention of the brand. This results in immediate and improved customer service offered to consumers enhancing their power in the dynamic. Customers can offer their feedback about the product or service they have received. This review is posted on a public forum and is hence accessible to all customers of the brand in different parts of the world. These reviews increase customer awareness and lead to improved services by the brand.
Today consumers have also gained power because they come together in a united front. A negative review posted by a customer about a brand is further shared by other customers in order to ensure that more people become aware about the fault in the product offered by the firm. This compels the business to take immediate actions regarding the product which in turn leads to improved service quality.
This customer unity, awareness and power also ensures that organizations are ethical in their behavior, advertisements and service quality. Recently a leading apparel brand, H&M, unveiled a new advertisement for a T-shirt. The quote on the T-shirt read “Coolest monkey in the jungle”. However, the child that modeled for the T-Shirt was an African. A few hours after the advertisement was released, customers were offended by the advertisement and considered the ad highly racist (Langenfeld et. al., 2018). Thanks to social media and specifically Twitter, the news spread like wild fire. The hashtag #BoycottH&M went viral. Leading celebrities like American Rapper Diddy, model, Rapper G-Eazy, Actor Jesse Williams, Basketball superstar LeBron James and activist Sir Maejor and influencer Mina Mayweather took to twitter and expressed their disappointment with the brand (The Independent, 2018).
Product Positioning in the Minds of Customers
Source 1: Twitter
Source 2: Twitter
After facing immense wrath from all their customers, the brand had to finally take down the advertisement. H&M apologized about this insensitivity and assured customers that they have no such intentions. Such is the power of social media. Consumers come together, create movements and fulfill their goals. Such consumer movements allow brands to understand the real power that lies with customers. When such movements become successful, customers take more efforts to address their grievances as consumers and social media platforms provide them with the most appropriate tool to achieve the same.
In 2011, one such movement was launched in Israel. Cottage cheese is the staple food of the country and has been so since decades. Until 2006, the price of Cottage cheese was regulated by the government of Israel. However, in the year 2006, the price was deregulated which led to a sharp inflation in the price of cottage cheese. By 2011, the price of cottage cheese had peaked to NIS 7 or USD 1.97 per container which was 43% higher than that in 2006 (Hendel et. al., 2015). Extensive news regarding the price hike was followed by a Facebook event which was created on 14 June, 2011. The event urged customers of cottage cheese to boycott the product till the price of it reaches NIS 5 or USD 1.41. This particular event received immense attention from customers all over the country and was joined by more than 105000 Facebook users (Levin, 2012).
Data revealed that the Boycott has immediate impact. Various super markets and grocery stores started offering mammoth discounts on the product. Special promotional prices were introduced (Greene et. al., 2012). Marketers understood the power of their consumers and that there can be no supply if the demand is removed. Even today, the price of cottage cheese in Israel is under NIS 6. It is only with the power of social media that consumers can begin movements that can largely impact product supply, product quality as well as product prices.
Over a period of time, there has been a major shift in the buying patterns of customers as well. This shift is predominantly evident in terms of individual shift from offline to online shopping. Customers no longer feel the need to visit shopping malls or mom and pop stores in order to fulfill their needs. The products they are simply a click away and get delivered at their doorstep. Along with the added convenience that online shopping has presented to consumer, another advantage of this changing pattern is customer awareness. Customers visit Ecommerce platforms, select a product of their choice and make an informed decision after analyzing customer reviews. This community of people that allows customers sitting in varied locations to share their personal experiences of the products largely enhances customer awareness level within different industries.
The Importance of Product and Service Quality
Source 3: Amazon Inc.
Organizations have also understood the importance and the changing trend towards a digital customer. Therefore now brands not only encourage customers to post reviews but they also ensure that positive customer reviews are shared across different platforms and has an enhanced reach (Sashi, 2012). Organizations tend to be a lot of more careful about their behavior and hence have known to have improved ethical standards.
Conclusion
Consumer activism is not a myth. It is a reality that organizations are becoming aware of. Customers today have realized the power that they hold and ensure that organizations deliver the best. Be it in the case of H&M or the price of cottage cheese in Israel, the power of customers has been able to bring about a change. All leading brands understand the power that lies with customers and hence they put tremendous efforts to ensure customer satisfaction (Kim & Ko, 2012). This has led to an overall improvement of various industries.
The fact that customers have become more active and aware has been possible with increasing competition among marketers and growing use of technology. As long as customers continue to take the baton, unite, enhance awareness and stay active, the industries will continue to boom leading to an overall improvement in individual lifestyles and product offerings by marketers.
References
Agnihotri, R., Dingus, R., Hu, M.Y. and Krush, M.T., 2016. Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales. Industrial Marketing Management, 53, pp.172-180.
Greene, T., Johnson, A. and Leshem, N., 2012. The other Israel: the politics of the social protests. Renewal: a Journal of Labour Politics, 20(1), p.70.
Hendel, I., Lach, S. and Spiegel, Y., 2015. Consumers’ Activism: The Facebook boycott of Cottage Cheese. SSRN
Ishak, S. and Zabil, N.F.M., 2012. Impact of consumer awareness and knowledge to consumer effective behavior. Asian Social Science, 8(13), p.108.
Kim, A.J. and Ko, E., 2012. Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), pp.1480-1486.
Langenfeld, E., Wilson, M. and Phillips, R., 2018. ‘PORTFOLIO SPRING 2018’. JOUR 4473. 4(1), p. (11).
Levin, D., 2012. The Cottage Cheese Boycott: The Conjunction between News Construction and Social Protest on Facebook. JOMEC Journal, (1).
Sashi, C.M., 2012. Customer engagement, buyer-seller relationships, and social media. Management decision, pp.253-272. Emerald Insight. United Kingdom.
Sigala, M., Christou, E. and Gretzel, U. eds., 2012. Social media in travel, tourism and hospitality: Theory, practice and cases. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
The independent, 2018. ‘H&M faces customer boycott over racist hoodie’. Available at https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/hm-hoodie-racist-boycott-advertising-people-h-m-a8149246.html. Accessed on 3 June, 2018.
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