Often a company leadership faces unending challenges especially when it comes to rapid technological changes. Since the emergence of information technology, company communication with its customers took a turn to an unknown destination.

Just think back ten years ago or even 5 years, how were businesses reaching their customers? How were customers reaching them? Compare that to how communication is passing between the two parties now and who is driving it. Technology has placed the power in the customers’ hands literally with the internet-enabled smartphones and tablets. Note, that these devices are always being improved such that the newest version offers more to the consumers, making the previous one obsolete in as little as six months.

How and why has technology changed the way consumers behave? Here are a few things that you need to keep in mind as you reinvent your strategies to keep up with the consumers.

Customers are connected

Almost everybody is living two lives, vibrant online life and a somewhat boring offline one. We are all connected on one platform or another through our network of friends. We also own more than one device that keeps us updated. This means that we thrive on being active and informed online, and ExactTarget Marketing content verified this from a study they did, whereby 91% of consumers indicated that access to content across all devices was important.

Information technology advancements fuel the connectivity that brings together the world as one big community, from smartphones to super-fast data. This trend is not about to change because now kids as young as 5 years know how to operate a smartphone, LinkedIn even lowered its age limit to 13years to capitalize on the technology adoption rate.

Companies need to meet consumers where they are and satisfy their sophisticated needs. If your target market spends more time on Instagram or Twitter, be present and respond to them on the same platform. Are you doing enough to leverage technology and handle the informed consumer?

Consumer expectations have changed

In the past, as a company, you set the times that you were open for business, and customers had to put up with it or stay without that particular product. Technology has totally changed that, with the introduction of e-commerce and mobile phones, customers can access products at any time. They have raised expectations on what is acceptable customer service and what is not. As a business, you have to keep up with the changed consumer behaviour or be out of business.

For example, if a customer wants to purchase something online at night and has a query, they expect to get instant answers. If they do not they choose another supplier from the myriad available online who can meet their immediate need.

Answer the following questions:

Question 1: (60 Marks – 400 words)

Referring to the case study, external sources of information and BE201 course material;

a. Just think back ten years ago or even 5 years and explain how were businesses reaching their customers and how were customers reaching businesses prior to technological advancement. (30 Marks)

b. How and why has technology changed the way consumers behave? Elaborate your answer while discussing the strategies which may be adopted by companies to keep up with the consumers. (30 Marks)

Question 2: (20 Marks – 200 words)

“Technology has placed the power in the customers’ hands”. Discuss this statement while providing relevant arguments and examples (20 Marks)

Question 3: (20 Marks – 150 words)

As a marketing manager at Carrefour, what marketing strategy will you implement using information technology advancements to positively affect consumer purchasing behavior? Explain while underlying the use of the Marketing Mix (4 Ps) (20 Marks)

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Question 1 a Prior to technological advancements businesses reached their customers through traditional methods such as print media radio and television advertisements They also relied on word of mout... View the full answer