Augmented Customer Strategy

3The Augmented Customer Relationship: the Increasing Importance of the Customer’s Role

The digitalization of the economy has been accompanied by a transformation and intensification of the customer’s role in terms of their relationship with the company. Once a simple buyer of products and considered only as the passive beneficiary of the interaction with the company, the customer has evolved into a proactive player, a source of competitive advantage for firms. Customers now scan their products in store, modify their plane tickets on the app, participate in product innovations by providing their opinions and deciphering video games by offering complete guides on Internet forums, etc. Companies have encouraged this movement by developing self-service technologies without, however, identifying all the issues related to this increase in customer power. What are the benefits and risks of this increased customer involvement? How does one motivate and train customers to take on these new roles? What place is there for staff in these customer paths?

3.1. The customer, a long-standing player in the relationship

The customer has always been an actor in the relationship. From a product and transactional marketing perspective, they have been considered simply as a consumer who bought a product. The company’s role was to maximize its sales on a simple transaction. The development of service marketing and relational logic has led to a review of this position. The customer has become a partner ...