Companies like Apple, claim that customers know nothing about the kind of products they need, therefore, their mission is to decode this unexpressed customer need, create and deliver a product which customers don't know how to ask for or even describe. Companies like Apple, even though they don't admit it, run large scale market research campaigns in order to identify trends and what people are familiar with. They then use this data in order to create a product which is addressing tomorrow's needs, a product which in essence will be able to create a market. At least this is how it has been up to now.At the same time, companies such as Google or Samsung try to collect as much data as possible, in order to identify what users want, how they want it and when they want it. One can say that this is like making an airplane, Boeing and Airbus spend years with end customers in order to find out and set up the final design of a new aircraft. As a result, the create amazing products, able to serve today's needs. But there is a third player which takes advantage of both approaches and this is Amazon. Amazon manages to gather a huge load of data which it then processes. Based on this data and combining it with its innovative skills and culture, as a corporation, it succeeds in developing a product which customers didn't expect to have, but needed it for sure. For example Amazons' latest move, to give free internet access with the product, is something so welcomed but also so unexpected. And there is where the magic begins. When a corporation has the ability not only to start a conversation with customers, not only to listen to what they need but also to be one step ahead of them, carefully preparing the whole customer's ecosystem for products its' going to launch.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)