Stinginess is cool!
Marketing The balancing act between good service and low prices is putting graphic companies under increasing pressure.
Marketing The balancing act between good service and low prices is putting graphic companies under increasing pressure.
Customers are becoming increasingly unpredictable: for example, they afford an exquisite dinner with expensive wine, drive a BMW, but shop at discount stores. For many, the constant search for the cheapest offer or a "bargain" has become an obsession. "Stinginess is cool!" is the slogan for this behavior in Germany. This trend also has an impact on business between companies.
Meeting customer needsWe live in a demand-driven customer economy. Graphic companies are also feeling this. King Customer is courted by many suppliers. Often with low prices. There is not a lack of prepress capacity or printing presses, but a lack of customers and orders. The question arises as to how graphic arts companies can react to this?
One of the most important imperatives in marketing is to uncover and satisfy needs. Companies try to do this by asking their customers, listening to them and then adapting their offers and solutions. Examples of how to meet the widespread desire for the cheapest offer can be found in many industries: Airlines adjust their fares daily according to load factors and demand, reducing in-flight service and seat pitch for low-cost customers, while first-class and business customers are treated to even more comfort. Banks are pushing small savers onto the Internet and getting them to carry out their transactions themselves. At the same time, they punish those who don't with high fees. Discounters such as Aldi in Germany or, in some cases, Denner and PickPay are doing away with any in-store shopping convenience, offers and goods are presented on pallets and customers only have a limited choice. Newspaper publishers persuade their readers to arrange vacation redirects for their subscribed newspaper on the Internet themselves. Those who do not want to or cannot do this are charged a fee.
The widespread desire of print customers for low prices is putting graphic arts companies under pressure. They need to find an appropriate response. One solution may mean no longer offering the same service to all customers and learning the art of saying no. "It's important to serve all customers well, but that doesn't mean that all customers have to be served equally well," says marketing pope Prof. Dr. Philip Kotler. Graphic companies can divide their customers into two groups: service-conscious and price-conscious. In other words, those who want production advice and service (and are also prepared to pay a reasonable price for this), and finally those who only look at the price (and want to do a lot themselves).
Marketing does not mean offering all customers the same amount or always more. To put it provocatively, it means that, if necessary, you have to take something away from certain customers in order to be able to offer more to others.
Focusing on customersMany print customers place little value on advice and support, they mainly look at the price. Others want in-depth advice and excellent service. Graphic companies must learn to listen to these wishes - and they must consider which customers they want to work for and can then consistently adapt to these needs.
Andreas Käppeli
Customers are becoming increasingly unpredictable: for example, they afford an exquisite dinner with expensive wine, drive a BMW, but shop at discount stores. For many, the constant search for the cheapest offer or a "bargain" has become an obsession. "Stinginess is cool!" is the slogan for this behavior in Germany. This trend also has an impact on business between companies.
Meeting customer needsWe live in a demand-driven customer economy. Graphic companies are also feeling this. King Customer is courted by many suppliers. Often with low prices. There is not a lack of prepress capacity or printing presses, but a lack of customers and orders. The question arises as to how graphic arts companies can react to this?
One of the most important imperatives in marketing is to uncover and satisfy needs. Companies try to do this by asking their customers, listening to them and then adapting their offers and solutions. Examples of how to meet the widespread desire for the cheapest offer can be found in many industries: Airlines adjust their fares daily according to load factors and demand, reducing in-flight service and seat pitch for low-cost customers, while first-class and business customers are treated to even more comfort. Banks are pushing small savers onto the Internet and getting them to carry out their transactions themselves. At the same time, they punish those who don't with high fees. Discounters such as Aldi in Germany or, in some cases, Denner and PickPay are doing away with any in-store shopping convenience, offers and goods are presented on pallets and customers only have a limited choice. Newspaper publishers persuade their readers to arrange vacation redirects for their subscribed newspaper on the Internet themselves. Those who do not want to or cannot do this are charged a fee.
The widespread desire of print customers for low prices is putting graphic arts companies under pressure. They need to find an appropriate response. One solution may mean no longer offering the same service to all customers and learning the art of saying no. "It's important to serve all customers well, but that doesn't mean that all customers have to be served equally well," says marketing pope Prof. Dr. Philip Kotler. Graphic companies can divide their customers into two groups: service-conscious and price-conscious. In other words, those who want production advice and service (and are also prepared to pay a reasonable price for this), and finally those who only look at the price (and want to do a lot themselves).
Marketing does not mean offering all customers the same amount or always more. To put it provocatively, it means that, if necessary, you have to take something away from certain customers in order to be able to offer more to others.
Focusing on customersMany print customers place little value on advice and support, they mainly look at the price. Others want in-depth advice and excellent service. Graphic companies must learn to listen to these wishes - and they must consider which customers they want to work for and can then consistently adapt to these needs.
Andreas Käppeli
