Business Studies

Reply must be a paragraph long of at least 275 words or more not including references which should supported by citing at least 2 peer-reviewed journal articles between 2017-2021 for each reply and a biblical reference. Your reply must be in current APA format and must include a reference list. Make sure that you are adding new and relevant information with each reply. Reference sample make sure to include DOI-Drollinger, T., Comer, L. B., & Warrington, P. T. (2006). Development and validation of the active empathetic listening scale. Psychology & Marketing, 23(2), 161-180. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20105 Discussion to Reply to:
Question 1

In contemporary society, customer value differentiation has been emphasized more than customer needs. However, there are a couple of reasons attached to that decision. Most companies that emphasize customer value differentiation believe that efficiency can only be achieved by laying lesser emphasis on customer needs. Companies believe that this approach will assist them in streamlining/eliminating unnecessary wastage of resources. Customers are then considered based on their value and not their needs so that the company can quickly determine prospects as well as customers with high potential growth. A company can also tell valuable customers from those that generate little of zero profit through that approach. With such effective/significant evaluations, a company can become flexible enough to shift its focus into spending resources in the right activity/group so as to make higher profits (Woodside et al., 2008). However, in every advantage, there must be an attached disadvantage, and, in this case, customers who are not loyal can cost a company untold losses.

Question 2

Although not guaranteed, individual needs could be met by a company. I would say that this attempt is equally a feasible undertaking. Here are some examples that prove that the venture is profitable; when consumer needs are satisfied, the affiliated company dramatically minimizes the chances of competition from other companies. For a company to decide on meeting individual needs, it must weigh the benefits that come with it. For instance, meeting individual needs comes with an increment in customer loyalty, minimizing competition, and comprehending each customer’s needs (Tadajewski, 2018). Companies that have strategic plans can easily meet individual needs upon installing measures that adequately obtain profits and cover expenses (Silvestri, 2020). Additionally, customers tend to feel motivated whenever their company of choice decides to prioritize their (consumer) needs.

Question 3 (Product categories

Automobiles

As for automobiles, there are different divisions such as Business 2 Consumer (B2C) and Business 2 Business (B2B). Consumers from the categories have different needs, and the affiliated companies can easily categorize their needs. For instance, for (B2C), an example of a branded product is Marcedes Benz (Wu, 2021). However, the company finds it easy to categorize the needs of their consumers based on what the consumer appreciates most in the car. Some of these features include driving comfort, sunroofs, class, and elegance, as well as heated leather seats (Jedidi, 2019). In another case, the needs of (B2B) consumer needs can be categorized based on the kind of transportation they will be comfortable with, the quantity of goods they want to transport, and their destinations. It would be easy to categorize each group based on their needs with such knowledge.

Airlines

(B2C) airlines can easily categorize the needs of their consumers by considering significant factors such as destinations, comfort, prestige, and the preferred class. Categorizing consumer needs becomes feasible when the company is equipped with such information. In another perspective, airlines can also categorize the needs of the customers based on distances covered and preferred features within the airbus.

Personal Care

Personal care is diverse and could include products such as cosmetics, toothpaste, and deodorants, among others. For instance, consumers from L’Oreal cosmetics are easy to categorize based on their needs. L’Oreal falls under a category known as B2B (Liozu & Ulaga, 2018). Some of the primary factors considered by L’Oreal cosmetics in categorizing consumer needs include the desired shades, quality of the products, skin tones, class and elegance, cost, and fragrances. As for toothpaste, an example of a brand under category (B2B) includes AIM toothpaste. Some of the factors considered by the company when categorizing consumer needs include the cost, the packaging, effectiveness, and flavors.

Hotels

Hotels give conducive room for activities ranging from comfort and serenity. An example of a branded hotel includes Burj Al Arab. Such a facility can easily categorize the needs of its consumers based on the nature of its frequently visiting guests, comfort, need for serenity and class, conferences, and prestige/status. The recurrent personal needs of consumers are also essential to consider.

Question 4

Based on “The Design of Work, “individuals should draw freedom from work. Keller gave an example with God’s creation where animals have the freedom to live differently (Keller, 2014). However, when the same concept is imported into the business world, every consumer has their freedom to freely choose whatever brands that match their preferences. In the business world, different companies are offering similar products. Thus, the consumer should be given the freedom to consume the product of their choice without being castigated for any reason whatsoever. Some of these differences could be a result of personal values, the company’s leadership, its reputation, general image, and personal perception/feelings about the company. Ford, Marcedes Benz, and BMW are all automobile companies but with different types/numbers of consumers who enjoy the freedom to shop from their preferred plug.

ANSWER

Discussion Reply

I agree with the post that most organizations have focused on customer value differentiation rather than customer needs. One of the major reasons why businesses consider customer value rather than customer needs is because customer value enables the organization understand their value points which increase competitive advantage (Eggert, Kleinaltenkamp and Kashyap, 2019). Customer value entails the total experience of clients regarding the products and services, organization and customer support as well as the overall influence of the interaction between the product and consumer and the benefits conferred (Gupta, Gallear, Rudd and Foroudi, 2020). Some of the essential customer values that organizations focus on differentiation include quality, service, image and price.

It’s possible for companies to meet the individual needs of the customers. It’s feasible for companies to meet the individual needs of the customers through extracting consumer data which helps in understand the needs of the customers. However, it is challenging for companies to meet the individual needs of the consumer since ensure that all the products cater on customer’s needs is quite expensive and not very efficient. Differentiating customers by needs takes a lot of time and resources that companies may lack. Personalization and customization are all essential components of lucrative and successful business transactions (Bleier, De Keyser and Verleye, 2017). One of the ways through which customers can identify the customer needs is through soliciting feedback from every customer and listening to the customers on social media.

Mercedes is one of the care brands that has focuses on differentiation. The differentiation strategy used by Mercedes focuses on attracting consumers and meeting their wants. The brand offers value to the clients through categorizing the needs of the consumers on what the clients appreciate more about the care. For instance, some of the features include class, sunroofs, driving comfort and elegance. L’Oreal categorizes different consumer needs include product quality, desired shades, class and elegance, skin tones, fragrances and cost. Burj Al Arab has focused on consumer needs through different amenities such as conferences, serenity and class, guest comfort and prestige.

References

Bleier, A., De Keyser, A., & Verleye, K. (2017). Customer Engagement Through Personalization and Customization. In Customer Engagement Marketing (pp. 75–94). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61985-9_4

Eggert, A., Kleinaltenkamp, M., & Kashyap, V. (2019). Mapping value in business markets: An integrative framework. In Industrial Marketing Management (Vol. 79, pp. 13–20). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.03.004

Gupta, S., Gallear, D., Rudd, J., & Foroudi, P. (2020). The impact of brand value on brand competitiveness. In Journal of Business Research (Vol. 112, pp. 210–222). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.02.033