There has been a growing trend in recent years for suppliers to differentiate their products through services, rather than solely through products. Consider the case of Apple, whose market share has consistently come under assault from cheaper tablets and touch screen phones competing with their iPad and iPhone. Nevertheless, it has managed to stay ahead […]
Read More… from Servitization: Implications for Sales and Marketing
A team of researchers used video tracking to observe consumers in real time during the entire shopping process. Analysing the video, the researchers were able to distinguish a number of behaviours related to both unplanned and planned purchases, and as a result, increased our understanding of why and how consumers make unplanned purchases. The research […]
Read More… from How and Why Shoppers Make Unplanned Purchases
Research dating as far back as the early 20th century has shown that the first argument presented to humans on even complex topics has greater persuasive appeal and is more likely to change minds. Building on this, Dana Carney and Mahzarin Banaji from Haas School of Business and Harvard University, respectively, set out to test […]
This is the age of multichannels. Companies today are selling their wares through the Internet, catalogues and bricks-and-mortar stores. Not all channels, however, are cost-effective, especially given the low-cost opportunities offered by moving customers to the Internet. What happens when a retailer eliminates one of its channels? Will customers comfortable with that channel migrate to […]
What happens when a business has more orders that it can fill? While the situation may seem to be a happy one, resolving the dilemma effectively is key to maintaining a happy and profitable customer base. The decisions must thus be made carefully: which customers should be served first? The high-margin customers might seem the […]
Read More… from Managing Customer Relations When Demand Exceeds Supply
Customers are considered a firm’s most important asset, and acquiring and retaining them is a vital concern for managers. But how exactly do managers make customer management decisions? According to the University of St. Gallen’s Dr. Johannes Bauer and his fellow researchers, little is known about the decision-making processes of individual managers when they are […]
Read More… from Using Adaptive Decision-Making in Customer Management
Imagine rushing into a store to grab a bottle of wine on your way to a dinner party and encountering a salesperson who wants to share their extensive knowledge of wine with you. Although the salesperson is very friendly and very keen to be helpful, he is clearly unaware of your need for rapid service […]
Read More… from The Secret of a Good Sales Assistant: Reading Customer Mood
Word of mouth (WOM) behaviour has attracted a lot of attention from marketing executives in recent years, particularly in light of the increase in size, number and character of online communities. According to a 2012 Marketing Week article, WOM has moved on from the simple message passed on when someone sees a friend face-to-face and […]
In a typical negotiation process, one of the parties will make an opening or first offer, which is then met by the recipient of that first offer. Prior research has shown that negotiators ‘anchor’ on this first offer, which means that the resulting settlement will be biased toward the first offer. Four academics from Columbia […]
Read More… from Precise First Offers in Negotiations Vs Rounding
In the early 2000s, there was a rush by organizations to outsource and offshore many call centres because of the significant cost savings that could be achieved. But offshoring has often led to a reduction in customer satisfaction, so businesses are increasingly bringing their critical customer service call centre operations back ‘onshore’. At the same […]
Read More… from Homeworking Beats Outsourcing: a 6 Step Model
