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The physical customer experience

In: Building Great Customer Experiences

Author

Listed:
  • Colin Shaw
  • John Ivens

Abstract

Congratulations on taking your first step to building great customer experiences. Why do 85 per cent of senior business leaders from our research 1 say that differentiating on the physical is no longer a sustainable business strategy? It has been for centuries, from the times when blacksmiths made suits of armour for King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table; to the time when bartenders sold whiskey in saloons in the Wild West; to today, buying a DVD player at your shopping mall. Why the change? The answer: innovation, speed and commoditization. Innovations of new technologies; innovations of new channels; innovations in business models; innovations within society which have freed our economies and created growth; innovations in transport that have created a global business community; innovations that have led to the dawn of the digital age. Innovation and the competition it creates are increasing the speed of change. These three things, innovation, competition and change, are endemic in organization cultures, and the momentum they generate is self-perpetuating in driving faster and faster commoditization in markets we never believed possible before. The combination of these factors means that companies find that traditional differentiators are now difficult to sustain, and the cost of keeping up with these changes is becoming prohibitive.

Suggested Citation

  • Colin Shaw & John Ivens, 2002. "The physical customer experience," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Building Great Customer Experiences, chapter 2, pages 15-40, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-55471-9_2
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230554719_2
    as

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