New Consumer a Threat or Strength

Stimulus response model & marketer perception

Stimulus response model (S.R.M) and Marketing Strategist perception has given birth to “New Consumer” the stimulus response model and Marketing strategist perception (marketing strategy) have been used together over and over in a cycle and in consequence we having “New Consumer” in the market.

Marketing Strategist Perception

Perception regarding the buyer in the market, this perception evolves from answer to the following questions.

• Who is in the market and what is the extent of their power with regard to the organization.
• What do they buy?
• Why do they buy?
• Who is involved in buying?
• How do they buy?
• When do they buy?
• Where do they buy?
• What are the customer hot and cold spots.

(Strategic Marketing Management 3^rd edition Richard M.S Wilson & Colin Gilligan)

An answer to these questions rapidly evolves a perception which a marketing strategist (an org) considers in devising “Marketing Strategy” which helps an organization to achieve Competitive Edge and Customer Satisfaction.

Stimulus Response Model

Now the above questions are answered by Stimulus Response Model

The stimulus response model gives Marketing Strategist a vivid understanding of how the above questions can be fully answered. As we see that the model begins with external stimulus that have environmental factors and marketing factors , now the different elements mentioned in these two factors are such factors that affects every buyer and all that happens inside the buyer black box and under that we have buyer characteristics and buyer decision process. 

The environmental factors and marketing factors of the external stimulus comes together with buyer black box elements consequently contributing to the buyers buying decision and that’s where we have answers to our questions regarding the buyer in the market.

And after that a Marketing Strategy planner devise such a strategy from the inside out of an Organization, from creating the very product and focusing on all functions of the organization that provides solution to these question in form of a product/service and if that solution perfectly solves what a buyer wants to buy that means now we have fully satisfied customer which means we got a step closer to achieve competitive advantage.

But what if the same is offered by one of our competitor’s or by many then we have to work on the whole thing again, starting from the answering the question regarding the buyer in the market and devising a marketing strategy that will over come the shortages of our previous marketing strategy and we will get a step closer once again.

But then again our competitor’s they aren’t going to give in and will try to break the barrier’s that our marketing strategy have created and so redefining and reassessment of marketing strategy and buyer in market respectively carried out and this cycle continues.

COMPETITIVE EDGE & NEW CONSUMER

CYCLE

At the same time there is another part to this cycle that is buyer gets more product/service oriented as the cycle continues and that’s where we have a New Consumer conceived out of the cycle.

This New Consumer is far more product/service oriented and far more demanding and highly unstable, in a sense that it will switch more often then the old consumer.

“To a large extent, these higher levels of media advertising, brand and technological literacy can be seen to be the direct result of having been exposed to a far greater number and a much larger variety of media than any previous generation. Included within this are 24-hour television, satellite broadcasting, and a huge upsurge in the numbers of newspapers and ever far more finely targeted magazines. The advertising literacy then follows directly from this in that the sheer number of advertisements to which they have been exposed is higher than ever before. Brand literacy emerges from brands having been an integral part of lifestyles for as long as this generation has been alive, something that was not always the case with older consumers. Equally, the technological literacy follows from their exposure to technologies such as information technology from very early age. The combined effect of this is the emergence of a very different type of young buyer who has very different and often much more unpredictable patterns of buying, and who is typically very aware of the subtleties of brand differences.

In many ways the emergence of this new type of consumer, be it in the teen market or those aged 20-55, represents one of the biggest challenges for marketers . Since their expectations of organizations and the nature of the relationships that they demand are very different from anything previously.”

(Strategic Marketing Management 3^rd edition Richard M.S Wilson & Colin Gilligan)

In actual the organizations themselves and the competition they constantly having, are responsible for the creation of this New Consumer. In order to have a far stronger competitive edge over competitors every organization has been constantly involved in Competitive edge & New Consumer Cycle, where one having competitive edge by planning marketing strategy in according to the inputs provided by stimulus response model, the competitive advantage at core level is something that is very clear to consumers, and that’s why they go for that particular offering, against the offerings by competitor’s and hence giving competitive edge to that particular organization.

Now the competitor’s will always try to overcome the shortcomings of their marketing strategy so they also follow the cycle and chalk out a marketing strategy considering the inputs from the stimulus response model and offer their product/service in the market. 

And like I said competitive edge is something that at core level should be vividly understandable to consumers. So if the competitors make such an offer which is understandable to consumers and differentiate their product/service from the one already having competitive edge, the consumers would definitely go for that offer.

Now the organization that was having the competitive advantage in first place would again go for Competitive Edge & New Consumer Cycle and will try to repeat the same process successfully which in consequence would get it competitive advantage.

That was the left side of the cycle, now lets focus on the right side, that is of New Consumer, by offering something that is clearly understood by consumers and which leads to competitive advantage, what all organizations are doing is creation of the New Consumer at the same time which is highly unstable and would seriously undermine many organization and would prove to be a huge strength for few others.

If an organization completes this cycle much faster and successfully far many times than its competitor’s that would mean that the organization has not only achieved a strong competitive advantage but at the same time have created a very lethal New Consumer for its competitors so it’s a huge strength in that sense and we can imagine the other organizations in the market who weren’t sharp enough to catch up with the pace of the organization that is already having the competitive advantage. So it’s a huge threat in that sense.

New Consumer is a reality and there is no other way to escape but by keeping innovating, creating product/services according to the cycle demands and not only that but to keep doing it faster, a lot more than your competitor’s. This is the only way to a successful escape.