customer experience white goods
TRANSCRIPT
Does the online presence of home appliance manufacturers meet the customers’ expectation?
Does the online presence of home
appliance manufacturers meet the
customers’ expectation? The digital networked consumer is revolutionizing trade and
manufacturers. Companies from both sectors must react to the
changing buying patterns and the increasing influence of
consumers by adapting digital technologies. The IBM Institute for
Business Value shows in its study, “Greater Expectations –
Consumers are asking for tomorrow, today” the expectations and
requirements of customers for the online presence of retailers.
Taking this study as basis, the IBM Interactive Experience
consulting in DACH has developed a list of criteria to analyze the
online presence of various white goods manufacturers in Germany.
In addition, a social media analysis was conducted to deliver
insights into the actual customer expectations from these
manufacturers.
Conclusion of Analysis Even the best manufacturer fulfills max. 58% of the criteria.
Especially the support of mobile devices, the integration of retailers
and sales partners as well as online shops in the online presence do
not completely fulfill customer’s expectations. To give an example,
the presence of a service chat, a virtual shopping consultant,
alternative online payment options besides credit card or a "shop in
shop" solution are an exception. Optimized websites for mobile
devices and applications are sometimes not even existing or have
only very limited functionality. In a nutshell, one can say that no
manufacturer completely meets the customer expectations towards
their online presence!
Implications Therefore, the central question for the white goods manufacturer is:
Should they go into direct sales via an online shop? This would
mean being in competition with retailers. Or should they
deliberately refrain from direct sales?
Competing
with retailers?
In order to be successful,
a dedicated online shop
must be able to compete
against the established
retailers, such as
Amazon or Conrad, in
terms of design and
functionality.
Alternatively, existing
trade structures can be
incorporated into the
online presence. In the
end, for the
manufacturer it should
not matter in which
shop the customer
purchases the product.
The focus should rather
lay on not losing the
customer during and
after visiting the online
presence of the
manufacturer.
Does the online presence of home appliance manufacturers meet the customers’ expectation?
So, how can white goods manufacturers increase
the success of their websites? Customers do not necessarily expect direct sales by manufacturers.
However, they want information in terms of content. The social media
analysis shows that 87% of customers talk about pre and after sales
issues in social networks. Most customers read product reviews and
use social media in the decision process of choosing the right product.
Furthermore, they consult social media if they encounter problems
with the product.
As a consequence, manufacturers should use extensive data analysis
to become “customer whisperers” to stay relevant for their customers.
It is important to engage a dialogue with the customers in order to
understand their needs and expectations. The online presence of the
manufacturer offers the ability to collect customer data, to gather
customer feedback and to understand customer behavior. By
understanding the customer, companies can break new ground and
restructure the "customer journey" based on specific customer
clusters.
Interested?
The IBM experts
Stephan Osthues and
Jan Schurkus gladly
elaborate on this issue if
you are interested.
Contact details: