Fig 1.1 Shopping for perfume in the New Year sales at London’s Selfridges 

It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages. (Henry Ford, Founder of the Ford Motor Company)

The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best but legendary. (Sam Walton, Founder of Wal-Mart)

We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better. (Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com)

Those three comments were made by the founders of three of the world’s most important companies. The companies were formed in 1903, 1962 and 1994, yet the founders all seem to agree on the importance of customer and customer service

This module starts by looking at customers and how they make decisions about their purchases. What factors do they think about when buying a chocolate bar, vegetables, a book, a refrigerator or a house? How do businesses decide which company to use when buying a new computer system? Before you can start to market to people you must have some clear ideas about how they think, and understand the attributes and benefits that they are looking for

Once you start looking at customers it quickly becomes obvious that they are all different. They are all looking for something but their decisions will be affected by a huge range of factors. The amount of money that each has will vary, they will be of different ages, they will have had different life experiences, different education, come from different cultures and so on

The challenge for marketers is to try to group these very varied  customers into what is known as market segments. Each market segment will consist of people likely to have a relatively similar view of the organisation’s product or service. One company may market computer games to teenagers in a particular way, but a very different approach would be needed by companies marketing running shoes to athletes or marketing round the world cruises to the elderly

Another quote from Jeff Bezos of Amazon highlights the focus of Section 3

If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful

Customers who have a great experience may become what are known as ‘delighted customers’. Creating this type of customer has a huge benefit for your company. Delighted customers will return to make future purchases, but, more importantly, they will tell their friends about the experience and persuade them to buy with your organisation

Section 3 starts by describing one of the most commonly used tools in marketing: the idea of the 7Ps which ensure that every customers gets exactly the Product that will satisfy their needs, at the Price that pleases them, in the Place where they need it, following effective Promotion that explain its benefits, served by People who are customer-focused, following effective Processes, and with Physical evidence that shows the quality of the product. The section goes on to look at the importance of customer service and the use of marketing ideas when setting up and operating a web-based sales outlet

So far we have focused on the needs of customers and ways in which organisations can try to satisfy those needs and even exceed them to create delighted customers. In practice, all organisations and customers are affected by broader trends in the wider environment. No company can expect to continue to maintain their levels of sales during a recession unless they take action to minimise the effects of the external economy. The final section looks at the various types of external influences on customers and thus on the likely levels of sales. We will use the idea of PESTLE factors which you may have met in relation to other aspects of management: this highlights the need to consider influences under Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal and Eco-environmental headings