Jeweller - August Issue 2018

BUSINESS
THE FUTURE OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
As online shopping increases, STEVEN
VAN BELLEGHEM says that customer
relationships remains an important driver
of loyalty in the minds of consumers.
Customer relations are in transformation and
pre-sales, sales and after-sales are changing
at high speed. Companies need to figure
out the current customer journey, the role
of self-service, their data strategy and
much more.
A few years ago, this author conducted
a global study on the future of customer
relationships in collaboration with
data-collection company SSI and
translation agency No Problem! The study
investigated all aspects of a modern
customer relationship and the highlights
were as follows:
ADOPTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Rogers’ Adoption Curve is a concept by a
communications studies professor named
Everett Rogers that seeks to explain how,
why and at what rate new ideas and
technologies spread.
Rogers first published the concept in 1962
in his book The Diffusion of Innovations and
the curve is well-known – every manager,
marketer and entrepreneur refers to this
body of thought from time to time. He
divides adopters into five categories:
innovators, early adopters, early majority, late
majority and laggards.
People are more aware than ever before of
the newest products and models as soon as
they hit the market, and never has the public
been so awake to the possibilities that are
coming their way.
Furthermore, the intention to buy these
new products is high, a position that sharply
contrasts consumers’ approach to new
technology just two decades ago. In studies
from the early 1990s in which respondents
were asked about their intention to buy a
mobile phone someday, the most popular
answer was a firm ‘No!’ Some 25 years later,
that sentiment has changed completely.
This is how it usually went with new
concepts: the ‘average Joe’ or Rogers’ socalled
‘early majority’ failed to see the point
LIFE IS FASTER
NOWADAYS AND
THAT INCLUDES
NOT ONLY THE
INTRODUCTION
OF NEW
TECHNOLOGIES
BUT THE
OBSOLESCENCE
OF OUTDATED
ONES
of most new technology, yet reactions today
are very different. For instance, 66 per cent
of people say they are interested in buying
a smart TV one day, one in two are actually
looking forward to the introduction of
smart cars, smart shoes and refrigerators are
slightly lower down on the wish list but the
idea of a smart thermostat is very popular.
Today, a mobile phone has become just
another fast-moving consumer good
(FMCG) and the average consumer replaces
their smartphone every 18 months – one
wouldn’t have to travel back in time too
far to find a generation who had the same
home phone for 18 years!
Things are moving quickly indeed. The
classic Rogers’ Adoption Curve probably still
exists, although its upward or downward
tilt is probably slightly more pronounced
than before. Life is faster nowadays and
that includes not only the introduction of
new technologies but the obsolescence of
outdated ones.
THE RISE OF DIGITAL OFFLINE
Traditional retailers are afraid of
August 2018 Jeweller 51