Consumer Experience

I could not agree more with the following statement:

“when we increase the value we provide to our customers, we can also increase the value they provide back to us”

The consumer experience is more than having a decorative store, calming music, or free samples. It is about creating an entire experience around your product or service so that the value of the product exceeds its monetary value. I believe it is a key marker of differentiation in the marketplace. For example, there are virtually thousands upon thousands of stores that sell clothing. But what makes certain stores more profitable than others? Initially, you may say price. Though price is one of the strongest indicators of value, customer experience is vital step in the purchase process and it greatly influences how the consumer perceives the brand. Wal-Mart is specifically constructed in a way that when consumers walk into the store they feel that they are getting a good bargain. Complete with white and blue vinyl floors, tall cases filled with a vast selection of inventory, bright lights and large signs with “roll-back” prices, Wal-Mart is creating a customer experience that is based on giving their consumers value by trying to seem that they sell their products at the lowest possible price point. In contrast, a consumer experience that made a lasting impression was  my experience shopping for sari’s and salvar’s in India. My parents are from the southern tip of India called Kerala. Kerela contains many different cities including the populous cities of Kottaym and Ernakulam. Deciding to go shopping in one of these major cities will turn out to be an entire day affair. After having the driver pick us up from my mother's house located in the rural jungles of Pathanvarum  in a family-sized TATA Sumo and catching a ride in n auto-rikshaw, we finally arrive at our first destination: Seematti Sari Store. Seematti is comprised of five floors of beautifully designed clothes ranging from bridal wear to men’s wear. As my family walks into the giant superstore, I look around see all of the elaborate Indian paintings, paisley encrusted clay jars, and the plush, royal couches. We were immediately greeted by the manager of the store and asked that we be seated next to a platform further into the store. In the picture, you can see how the platform is set up. The sales person stands on top of the “stage” and pulls different types of sari’s from the shelves behind them. As we were walking to our designated sitting spot, I am astounded at the number of customers and equally the number of people employed by Seematti. As we sit in front of our platform, a women jumps on top of the platform and begins analyzing my mother and I. We begin briefly describing the type of outfits we were looking for. The sales woman, smiles and prances towards the shelves and begins showcasing sari after sari after sari. While my mother and I were dissucussing our likes and dislikes of the selection being presented, another staff worker approaches us asks us for drink order. We both order hot chaiya (hot tea, similar to chai). While drinking our delicious chaiya’s, another staff worker asks if we would like some complementary snacks. We nod yes and within five minutes we were nibbling on our favorite Indian snacks which included samosas (triangular shaped, fried bread stuffed with potatoes, peas and carrots) and jalebi (fried dough coated with orange colored syrup). The quality of service was simply refreshing. Seematti’s goal to make the purchasing process enjoyable was remarkable. I could easily see how people who are not accustomed to such high quality service spend the entire day shopping. When people linger in the store longer, they are more inclined to purchase more products which means greater revenue for the store. Going to a sari store in India is much more than simply going to purchase a few items and return home, it is about enjoying a day in town, socializing with people at the stores, and enjoying great food. When you come back to the States and wear a sari, you immediately associate your product with the consumer experience you had in the sari store. 

Personas

Marketers must be constantly getting to the “root” of their consumer base. Starting with the most basic question such as who are the people who are using my product service? Why do they use my product? What about them drives their need or want to use my product? Is there something about their personal character which uncovers other potential consumer markets? Knowing who your consumers are is a crucial part of properly implementing an effective marketing program. When my company is losing market share and I am losing the amount of people who come into my store, I may be looking to target a new customer. If I change “the type of person” who I am directing my efforts to, I need to spend a substantial amount of time researching and exploring my new customer. In the article “Looking upscale, Wal-Mart begins make-over” published by the Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart uses the concept of personas to change their target market. Wal-Mart’s share price was down 17% in the past year: thus, causing a definite business problem for the company. Unfortunately, “[Wal-Mart’s] sales at stores open at least a year, a key measure of retailing performance, have been lagging.” More specifically, the marketing objective of Wal-Mart is to increase the amount of people who come into the store resulting in an increase in sales. In the context of the article, Wal-Mart was originally targeting lower-income rural shoppers. Economic trends that are affecting Wal-Mart are due to the “country’s uneven economic recovery over the past couple of years [which has] benefited high-income Americans more than the traditional Wal-Mart customer, who values price over image.” After surveying Wal-Mart’s vast clientele, customer’s claimed that they were “starved for fashion.” Through these surveys, Wal-Mart reveals an unfilled niche in their consumers. Because Wal-Mart has most commonly been regarded as a company with “roll-back” prices, The consumer who Wal-Mart is now trying to target is identified by the name of Gracie. Gracie is “at least 25 and spend a high percentage of disposable income on fashion apparel.” Gracie adores fashion, yet she is on a budget. The position that Wal-Mart is trying to communicate to consumers is that they can now be regarded as a retail store that carries fashionable items which was spear-headed by the creation of “Gracie”. Furthermore, with the example of how important personas are as supported in the example of Wal-Mart, marketers must take the time to learn the most they can about their customer. If a marketer were creating a persona about me there would by some key insights to be taken into consideration such as:

·         Name: Jessica

·         Age: 20, College Student who is Business/ Pre-Med.

·         I am a born-again Christian. I hope to live my life that will bring God glory.

·         Ethnicity: South Indian, first-generation American. (Being Indian and first generation American is an important detail for marketers because it means that I grew up in a traditional, conservative household where the importance of God and hard-work were the foundation of my home. Products that have characteristics such as durability and are in a sensible price-range are attractive because of my cultural background.)

·           Interests: Indian dancing, singing and spending time with family. (Again, as a South Asian, my interests are driven by my cultural background. Generally, Indian families are very large and close-knit. For example, I have around 50 first cousins all around the world. So products that enable me to keep in touch with my family are very important.)

·         Family: Growing up in a household of two brothers, I enjoy playing and watching sports. I would not consider myself a “girly-girl,” but as a hobby I enjoy applying make-up for friends who are participating in weddings, engagements and prom/homecoming dances.

·         Apirations: I would like to use my resources and the knowledge I have obtained through school to impact people’s lives all across the globe whether it be through the medical field or working for a non-profit organization.

·         I value  the importance of hard-work and perverance,yet I enjoying having fun. I am not afraid to try new things and meeting new people.

In creating a suitable persona, marketers would need to flesh out the details of their customers to properly design a product that would clearly fill their needs or wants.

Industrial Design

As a business major at the McCombs School of Business, there are certain concepts that are reinstated in every course that I have taken. These concepts revolve around maximizing profit potential for the firm, decreasing expenses and increasing revenue. As supposed future CEO’s and CFO’s, we are trained to analyze how we can yield high earnings for our respective companies. So when Dr. Walls announced that we were going to here from someone who has a background in industrial design, I presumed that the lecture would be based on how one could manipulate a product to make it more appealing to consumers: thus, increasing revenues for a given company. When the first slide appeared on the screen, I paid close attention to all of Jeff’s titles. “Jeff Mulhausen, Designer, Thinker, Researcher, Strategist, Problem-Solver, Entrepreneur, etc.” At first, I was a little confused because I did not see the correlation between each of his titles. Intuitively, I did not see how someone who has a degree in industrial design can be deemed as problem solver. Before Jeff’s presentation, I perceived industrial design, or job’s with similar professional titles, to pertain to people who were strictly concerned with aesthetical features of a product.  I did not understand how selecting the color of a product or making a product look sleeker corresponded into being a problem solver. Furthermore, I could not see how one could solve any real problems while working under any component of design. Before this looming air of doubt began to manifest itself into utter disbelief, Jeff slowly but surely opened my eyes to see how design has a great role in the creation of a product or even the furtherance of a mission. Jeff began his presentation with a definition of industrial design which included a description that industrial design is  about “creating and developing concepts…optimiz[ing] function and value” and that industrial designers help in determining “how well a [product] functions.” I did not know that those who are in the field of industrial design had such key roles in all aspects of the product. In addition, Jeff continued the discussion by explaining three main steps that should be taken in order to design a product that can be useful in society. The process begins with problem seeking in which you look into the world around you and see how you can make a particular process easier or how you can create a product/service that can impact someone’s life. Essentially, you want to evaluate how you can use your capabilities to improve someone’s life. Next, you begin the problem solving phase in which you think about how to logically solve the problem. You start gathering data or background information and see if such a product/service currently exists in the market. Finally, you arrive at the implementation stage in which you turn your idea into a reality. The implementation is your solution to the posed problem. This process seems to be an effective way to create a product/service because it is simple yet equips an entrepreneur or a designer with all the necessary tools to begin their creation. Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, I was under the impression that industrial designers were only concerned in making sure that a  product looked pleasing to eye and that the product was jammed pack with numerous, yet often times, seemingly unnecessary bells and whistles. So, when Jeff explained that Dieter Rams, one of the key historical designers mentioned in the presentation, stressed the importance of simplicity, I was pleasantly surprised. Since a “good product should be one that can be used by the majority of people”, simplicity is crucial. Also, I was also pleased to hear that business success is now also translating into social benefit. Products such as the Life Straw and the TOM’s shoes prove that industrial design is not about creating more useless “stuff” rather it is using your capabilities to create a product that can improve someone’s life. Industrial design is not limited to the aesthetics of a product, but instead industrial design is a launching point to satisfy observed needs or even provide a solution for those with limited resources in developing countries.