“Customer is king,” so the age-old business mantra goes. The relevance of this maxim has come into sharper focus today more than ever. This is because customers today not only have a wider selection of brands to choose from, but they also have direct access to digital platforms on the Internet where they can give live feedback.
Complaints spread faster than wildfire on the Internet. It is therefore critical for brands to preempt these complaints by becoming more customer-centric and striving for excellence. This is the only way to secure their brand reputation.
But for brands to become more customer focused, they need to see the product from the customers’ perspective. Similarly, they need to accept the fact that the customer’s perception is their reality.
This is especially true in the field of consumer electronics where customers’ interaction with products—for instance smartphones—is more frequent and personal.
This why LG, the foremost consumer electronics maker in the world, has taken a very deliberate approach to design consumer electronic products that have mass appeal, but at the same time, anticipate the unique needs of customers.
“Customers are the beginning and end of every process we undertake. We have to be intuitive and ask ourselves: what appeals to our customers?” poses Moses Marji, General Manager Marketing at LG Electronics.
Marji says that to appeal to the mass market while simultaneously meeting unique customer needs calls for a balanced design approach. It is not just about creating trendsetting products, but more importantly, meeting needs in a way that wows each and every customer. This is never easy, but always achievable for LG, which identifies excellence as one of its key business principles.
“The customer’s first impression counts a lot. That is why we must ask ourselves what unique need we are meeting before designing any product,” says Marji.
In today’s consumer electronics space, the greatest need that cuts across the board is convenience. Customers need to be able to use their products while on the go or with great ease. They must not feel inconvenienced or distracted; the product must fit into their daily routines.
For instance, today portability is key as it allows the customer to integrate the device into every facet of their life without having to make any major changes to their routine. This is a key area for LG, notes Marji, citing exciting product offerings such as the LG’s Musicflow portable speaker lineup and the Minibeam projectors
LG products are designed for excellence, and the secret behind achieving this excellence is a rigorous focus on customers’ needs. “Attentiveness to customer needs is one of the key reason why we have grown so rapidly, especially in emerging markets such as Kenya and East Africa,” concludes Marji.
