Consumer empowerment

Résumé du document

With the growing industry of ethics consumption and environmental friendly products, the marketing industry has radically changed its traditional system of approaching their consumers. Indeed their marketing strategies are much more customer driven as the "authority of consumer" plays nowadays a major role in our post modern society. In fact, the role of the consumer has been profoundly modified over the last years shifting from isolated to connected, from unaware to informed, from passive to active. Thus firms have to consider this new alleged authority from the consumer described as "consumer empowerment", and thereby to adapt their strategy accordingly. But what do we understand exactly by the concept of customer empowerment and how can we explain this new emerging shift in the consumer behaviour? Finally what are the effects of this consumer empowerment both on the marketing strategies followed by the firms and on the decision-making of the consumers?

Extraits

[...] (Drucker, 1955) 4. Global economy It is a fact that nowadays every consumer can purchase any product or service coming from every part of the world. With the growth of e-business, the consumer is no longer isolated but rather has access to such a wide range of products available at anytime. In that sense, internet has also contributed to revolutionise the market place by abolishing geographic and trade barriers. With deregulation of markets, the deletion of transaction costs and custom duties has permitted to a more integrated economic network: globalisation. [...]

[...] Effects of empowerment on consumer behaviour 6. Impact on the consumer decision model The consumer empowerment concept modifies the traditional consumer decision process model on four stages: the need of recognition, the search for evaluation and evaluation of alternatives, purchase and at last on post- consumption evaluation. The understanding of the impact of consumer empowerment at each stage is of up most importance for the implementation of efficient marketing strategies such as a push system or marketing in the reverse logic (Chris Lawer, 2004). [...]

[...] Concept of consumer empowerment 1. More than an customer King This concept of consumer empowerment refers to the greater power given to consumers over the marketers in the overall marketing or communication process. Far from the traditional system where consumers would normally purchase what is being offered by the effective demand, here the consumer plays an active role in indicating their preferences and needs to the companies. It is no longer the case of a market oriented where the marketers would adapt their products by a simple market research. [...]

[...] On one side, the firms can use the innovative ideas of expert users and in return consumers would see their requirements more entirely met. This situation is all the more feasible as we assist to a democratisation of innovation where all can innovate for themselves. All in all, consumers participated actively in this process even if they are fully aware that they are the targets of advertising and are prepared to resist it. For example many consumers are not lured by the fair trade consumption since they are not sure if the benefits will go entirely without intermediaries to the local producers. [...]

[...] In other words the concept of consumer empowerment results in what the economist Burton-Jones would name almost-perfect” and/ or customer market. Indeed the companies have to face this major shift in the consumer behaviour by adapting some strategies enabling them to target even more accurately the customer needs and wants. Therefore it is a significant challenge for companies to the extent that they need to take into account this new approach to consumption: an importance attached to consumer value by providing further access, content, education and commerce (Turnquist, 2004) 2. [...]