Chapter 6

Consumer Experience Management

Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to revisit the fundamental concepts of ­market and marketing to establish the role and importance of emotions and experiences. It discusses the consumer experiences and approaches to consumer emotions along with various dimensions of experiences. The chapter highlights the issues and challenges faced by marketers in understanding and managing the consumer experiences, along with the new perspective of marketing and customer centricity and the issues and challenges involved therein. The chapter concludes by highlighting that in all businesses we create emotions and experiences only. Thus, a timely understanding and managing of key relevant emotions can grow your business in a sustainable manner. There are different approaches to conceptualize emotions and emotional experiences. It can be a simple approach of simple representation of emotional responses across a set of core dimensions: valence (continuum from positive to negative) and arousal (continuum from high to low). These two dimensions are viewed as a circumflex; discrete emotions are systematically placed around the perimeter of a circle, their placement representing the extent these emotions bear reflections of the identified dimensions.¹ According to these approaches, all feeling states have some valence and arousal level and can be thoroughly represented on this two dimensional circumflex.² However, these approaches seem to fall short when it comes to capturing the full range of emotions that people experience.³ The dimensional approach aims to represent affective responses using a limited array of common dimensions. Although, dimensional conceptualizations can be considered among the more influential approaches to emotion in the context of ­consumer behavior, recently, researchers have started pointing out their limitations. A substantial criticism highlights that these accounts of emotion propose an oversimplified account, limited ability to distinguish between emotions of similar valence and arousal levels, and no theoretical explanation of the causes and consequences of discrete emotions.⁴ Similarly, there are attempts to group emotions based on their similarities. This research strives to identify a limited set of basic emotions that reflect the common characteristics of others in the same category. For example, one approach says that there are eight primary emotions consisting of fear, anger, joy, sadness, acceptance, disgust, expectancy, and surprise.⁵ According to this approach, from these basic categories, one is used as an exemplar to determine what other emotions should be grouped in that category. A substantial amount of work on basic emotions categories was based on distinctive facial expressions associated with specific emotions. Drawing from developmental research, these conceptualizations assume that there is a limited set of emotions universally deemed to be associated with a certain facial expression, and these expressions are inherent to all humans across cultures. For example, the other approach says that there are 10 fundamental emotions: interest, enjoyment, surprise, distress (sadness), anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame or shyness, and guilt.⁶ These theories mainly argue that any experience of emotion is the result of the particular pattern of responses across these various basic emotions. In other words, more complex emotions are the result of mixtures of these basic emotions. Thus, in any given situation, it is possible to describe emotional response by measuring the extent to which each of the basic emotions is experienced.⁷ However, as for the mechanisms by which second order emotions like pride, guilt, jealousy, or envy are evoked, these theories are not very informative, and not all emotions are communicated through nonverbal articulation or have a universal facial expression (e.g., hope).⁸ Therefore, the challenge is to address the excessively limiting range of concepts to describe the complicated phenomenon of subjective emotional experiences. Furthermore, I see that the focus of these approaches has usually been the communication of present emotions. It is not surprising that they have also been critiqued for merely labeling but not theoretically explaining the occurrence of emotions.⁹ I strongly believe and suggest that some of the subjective experiences of emotion are culturally bound and, therefore, not easily defined by a combination of universal basic emotions only. Many researchers have acknowledged the lack of an overarching theory capable of thoroughly depicting the intricate phenomenon of emotional response.¹⁰ The common weakness of these conceptualizations is that although they systematically relate and categorize a wide array of emotional responses, they do not bring an explanation to the mechanism as to why certain situations and experiences lead to specific emotional responses. Their shortcomings render these theories merely descriptive of emotional responses in terms of their relation to other emotions and their interpersonal communication. Similarly, consumer behavior researchers have noted that although these theories have found acceptance in the field of marketing, these theories fail to rigorously explain the nature of emotional response in consumption contexts.¹¹ Recognizing these limitations, emotion researchers have directed attention to cognitive appraisal theories, which bring rigorous clarifications to theoretical and practical difficulties in the study of emotions.¹² This more flexible conceptualization enables cognitive appraisal approach to represent emotions at a more refined level. Rather than enforcing dimensions of valence and arousal on a wide range of emotions, this cognitive approach acknowledges different dimensions on which emotions can be further differentiated. Many empirical findings support this more fine-grained conceptualization. Remember that the information conveyed by emotions goes beyond their valence or intensity;¹³ therefore, different emotions with similar valences (and levels of arousal) lead to different experiences and outcomes. For example, sad individuals make situational attributions while angry individuals were more likely to attribute events to human factors.¹⁴ Also, there can be dissimilar effects of negative emotions on risk perceptions; even though fear and anger are both high-arousal negative emotions, fear tends to trigger risk-aversion, whereas anger tends to trigger risk-seeking. Fear and anger have opposite effects on cognitive appraisals and on optimistic risk estimates.¹⁵ Furthermore, there can be different motivational effects of negative emotions. For example, anxious individuals tend to prefer low-risk and low-reward options, whereas sad individuals tend to prefer high-risk and high-reward options—a seeming reversal of the high arousal and high-risk pattern observed elsewhere.¹⁶ This is because anxiety, which is typically associated with situations of high uncertainty, activates a goal of risk and uncertainty minimization, whereas sadness, which is typically experienced in response to the loss of a source of reward, activates a goal of reward maximization.¹⁷ In consumption context, the dimensions of valence and arousal are inadequate for explaining how emotions impact consumer decision-making processes. For example, consumers, in post purchase, coping response to negative outcomes can reflect that emotions such as anger, regret, worry, and disappointment lead to distinct types of coping, even though they are of similar valence.¹⁸ So what do you think now? Do differing emotions lead to contrary decisions when the judgment or choice at hand involves real monetary outcomes. The feelings of disgust and sadness have opposite effects on economic decisions like selling prices of objects and endowment effect.¹⁹ In addition to this, as per appraisal theories, emotions result from cognitive activities such as processing, or evaluating personally relevant information.²⁰ In a sense, appraisal is the process by which the individual makes meaning of his surroundings. This often involves evaluation and judgment about a situation on different dimensions. Appraisal theories use principal assessments of situations and the environment to explain which specific emotions are elicited by those events. These theories assume that the emotion is elicited by the personal denotation given to a situation, and, therefore, it is not necessarily bounded by the objective assessment of the situation by others.²¹ Therefore, the prediction depends on the association between the individual’s subjective meaning of what is happening and the emotion being elicited. Antecedents to the process of appraisal are these perceptions of the personally relevant information and individual expectations, as well as the person’s goals related to the situation at hand. Every individual has his or her own personal perspective and previous experience as they get in a situation, as well as diverging expectations. Consequently, different people often experience widely varying emotional reactions to similar objects and events. Since evaluations of underlying causes or aspects of situations will determine which emotional responses are elicited by those events, the individual’s knowledge is key, since it will define one’s expectations and beliefs about a situation, as well as its relevance.²² Many dimensions have been suggested for explaining diverging experiences of emotions. There are six cognitive dimensions that define the patterns of appraisal underlying different emotions: certainty, pleasantness, attentional activity, control, anticipated effort, and responsibility.²³

Dimensions of Experience

The most commonly studied dimension of emotional experience is the pleasantness dimension. Pleasantness accounts for the majority of variance explained in an attempt to categorize emotions.²⁴ This dimension has been conceptualized as a fundamental evaluation of whether the situation or one’s environment is congruent or incongruent in terms of the desired personal outcomes.²⁵ Pleasantness is sometimes referred to as outcome desirability or goal congruence, and it is associated with valence. It refers to the cognitive appraisal of whether the outcome of a situation is good or bad (positive or negative) with respect to personal outcomes.

Parallel to this conceptualization, some theorists argue that the positive or negative evaluation of a stimulus is actually a function of its consistency (or inconsistency) with achieving one’s goals. This basic evaluation of goal congruence is sometimes referred to as motive ­consistency,²⁶ and it basically involves an assessment of whether the situation is helpful toward or deterring from the achievement of personally relevant goals, which is facilitated or hindered in the current situation.²⁷ The appraised direction of goal congruence determines the valence of emotional response and differentiates positive and negative emotions. Different situations can bear different aspects that would be assessed differently in terms of congruence with one’s goals; consequently, it is possible that one situation can elicit positive and negative emotional responses at the same time. The other dimension of experience is the perception of responsibility and control that the individual believes he or she or others have over the present situation. The control over the situation could be attributed to oneself, to another person, or to the situation itself without responsibility on a person.²⁸ Different attributions are related to discrete emotions even if they were to elicit emotions of the same valence; and causal inferences play a substantial role in consumer experience management. Also, the extent of certainty one has about a situation exerts a strong influence on the emotional experience of the individual. In other words, some emotional experiences are associated with feeling certain and, thinking that one knows what is happening in the current situation, or with a feeling of confidence to accurately predict what will happen in future situations. Thus, among other dimensions, certainty has been deemed quite important in the determination of emotional reactions.²⁹ An emotion can be high or low on the certainty dimension regardless of its valence. In addition, certainty-related emotions seem to signal a higher inevitability and confidence about surroundings, while uncertainty related emotions signal lower levels of confidence, for example, high levels of uncertainty are most strongly associated with the emotions of hope, surprise, fear, worry, and, to some extent, sadness, while high levels of certainty are strongly related to the emotions such as anger, ­disgust, happiness, and pride.³⁰

Furthermore, there are effects of positive versus negative emotions on information processing. Here, the affective responses are taken as sources of information, and people inspect their feelings to see how they feel about a situation. Specifically, negative affect convey the information that the environment is potentially threatening, whereas positive affect signal that the environment is safe. People infer the extent of effort that they need to put in to a given situation from these different signals. Consequently, their judgments are affected by this information, which their affective state signals; they then make their judgments accordingly, usually resulting in a mood-congruent judgment.³¹ According to this, negative mood experiences convey the information that something is not right or missing, which motivates people to be more alert and attentive, leading to higher message elaboration. On the other hand, positive mood experiences convey that the situation is acceptable and safe, and, therefore, there is no need for higher elaboration. People in a positive mood engage in nonanalytic, top-down, creative processing styles, and people in a negative mood engage in analytic, effortful processing.³² For example, happy (compared to unhappy) persons are less likely to make an in-depth evaluation of the arguments contained in a message, and, therefore, less inclined to discriminate between strong and weak arguments.³³

Therefore, I think a cognitive fine tuning is required to encounter what you wish to experience. Undesired states motivate people to act and change their situation to a more desirable one. A strive to change calls for a vigilant evaluation of different aspects and analysis of the details of the situation as well as projected outcomes of any action. Being in a negative affective state is associated with a narrowed focus of attention in an attempt to improve the currently undesired state,³⁴ promoting bottom-up, analytic processing. The people become more vigilant and careful and tend to revise their current state of mind or routine behavior, which in turn deters top-down approaches. On the other hand, the people in a positive mood are already in their desired state, and the maintenance of this state does not require as much effort, and, therefore, those in a good mood may spend less effort in an attempt to protect their current affective state,³⁵ increasing nonanalytic and top-down processes. In sum, affect regulation predicts that people in negative affective states will engage in the behavior if they believe that the behavior will uplift their mood.³⁶ People who experience a positive mood are more sensitive, than people in a negative or neutral mood, to the mood-changing consequences of their actions since any stimuli would be more likely to distract the person and uplift a negative mood. Hence, individuals who are in a positive mood will be more careful with their choices since they perceive that any stimulus would have the potential to hurt their mood. Therefore, people in a positive mood (compared to a negative mood) will be more likely to scrutinize messages which they think have the potential to be mood lifting, and they will also be more likely to avoid the messages that have the potential to be depressing.

Consumer Emotion Management

Believing and communicating that any business is a value creation process without considering the emotions and experiences of people is like working out all predictions of value in a vacuum. Therefore, I propose that there can be a new perspective and understanding of the term ­market; where the word market conveys that it is nothing but timely management of all key and relevant emotions. In context of emotions, let us understand the term market differently. Instead of defining the market as a regular gathering of people for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other commodities or an area or arena in which commercial dealings are conducted and promoted and advertised. Market in an emotional context may be defined as:

M—managing; A—all desires; R—relevant needs; K—key wants; E—emotions and experiences; T—timely (Temporal effect).³⁷

In other words, market should be defined as timely management of all relevant and key emotions and experiences. Accordingly, marketing should be defined as the process of first identifying all key and relevant desires, needs, and wants, along with the emotions and experiences, and then creating, pricing, communicating, and delivering the desired and valued offerings and image so as to facilitate the transaction and exchange between two partners not parties in order to create and provide satisfaction in a win-win manner to both the company and consumer. ­Customer satisfaction continues to be one of the topics companies research most. Consequently, theorists are continuing to explore new models and methods that may unlock meaningful information about customer satisfaction. Marketing researchers have not yet agreed on one global definition for customer satisfaction. Although the constructs have been thoroughly explored, one theoretical model has not been, and likely will not be, accepted due to the complex process involved in arriving at a customer’s judgment of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Prior experience, the relationship or history that a customer has with a business, moderates the customer’s service quality judgment and level of satisfaction.³⁸ The satisfaction judgment a customer makes after each transaction may be a transaction-specific judgment³⁹ or a cumulative global judgment based on multiple interactions with the firm or product.⁴⁰ Customers continually update their beliefs and expectations regarding a service, and with each visit they integrate new information with their existing knowledge about the provider. Each service encounter yields a service quality judgment that results in updated expectations for the next visit. Expectations are norms based on experience with the product. These expectations vary with the consumer and are formed from past experiences with word-of-mouth and advertisements about a firm. Remember, regardless of how customers form expectations or arrive at satisfaction conclusions, all customers have expectations, and these expectations change as encounters with a firm change. Meeting or exceeding these evolving expectations determines the financial success of a firm.⁴¹ Therefore, I strongly believe that customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction is in fact the consumer’s judgments and experiences regarding a firm’s success or failure in meeting expectations, with met expectations resulting in satisfaction and unmet expectations resulting in dissatisfaction. In addition to product- and brand-related knowledge, individuals systematically use nonmarket types of knowledge such as knowledge of emotions in evaluating products and prospective consumption experiences. The presence of emotional information (i.e., emotional benefits) facilitates access to categorical knowledge of an emotion and the types of experience associated with it. This information is then used to make favorable or unfavorable evaluations of the brand. Understanding emotional knowledge and how it leads to a desired outcome, that is, developing evaluations of a products or services or making a choice selection, is an important component of consumers’ emotional experiences. For example, imagine browsing knife sets in an airport and then ordering one before you board your plane, or going to a department store to look at makeup without having to bounce from counter to counter to check out each brand’s selection. Companies including Macy’s HSN (Home Shopping Network) and Adidas are building large, TV-like interactive screens to give consumers experiences like these in an ever-increasing effort to bring the convenience of online shopping to the offline world. The whole idea is to enhance the in-store shopping experience, where the majority of retail sales are still rung up. Retailers are looking for ways to bring the convenience, selection, and ability for product comparison of the online world. For example, HSN’s digital shopping wall could be set up in an airport and would allow someone to virtually browse anything while waiting for a flight, complete the purchase through their phone and have the item shipped home. It is a way to refresh the shopping experience without having to build a new store. Also, customer satisfaction involves cognitive and affective aspects in prepurchase, purchase, and postpurchase phases of buying goods, receiving services, or both. Therefore, the biggest challenge for marketers is to develop an ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express consumer emotions. Implicit in this is the marketer’s awareness of both the emotions themselves and the thoughts that accompany their emotions, the ability to monitor and differentiate among emotions, and the ability to adequately express consumer emotions. There is a need for distinct emotional reasoning abilities such as perceiving, facilitating, understanding, and managing emotional information.⁴² Where perceiving an emotion is the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotions.⁴³ Implicit in this is the individual’s awareness of both the emotions themselves and the thoughts that accompany their emotions, the ability to monitor and differentiate among emotions, and the ability to adequately express emotions.⁴⁴ Facilitating emotion is the ability to access, generate, and use emotions to facilitate thought. This aspect involves assimilating basic emotional experiences into mental life.⁴⁵ More specifically, this includes weighing emotions against one another and against other sensations and thoughts, and allowing emotions to direct attention. With this ability, emotions are marshaled in the service of a goal, which is an essential component for selective attention, self-monitoring, self-motivation, and so on. Similarly, understanding emotions is the ability to analyze complex emotions and form emotional knowledge. This aspect involves the reasoning and understanding of emotional problems, such as knowing which emotions are similar and what relation they convey. Finally, managing emotion is the ability to regulate them to promote a desired outcome⁴⁶ by understanding the implications of social acts on emotion and the regulation of emotion in the self and in others. Regulating or managing emotions involves knowing how to calm down after feeling stressed out, or alleviating the stress and emotion of others. For example, let us see as to how, the company, Macy’s Inc. is managing consumer emotions. Macy’s Inc., established in 1858, is an iconic and premier retailing brand in the United States, with fiscal 2014 sales of $28.1 billion. The company operates Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s brands with about 825 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico, and the macys.com and bloomingdales.com websites. The company also operates 13 Bloomingdale’s outlet stores. Macy’s offers powerful assortments and the best brands, tailored to each and every customer, with obvious value, engaging service, and unforgettable moments. Macy’s is distinctly different from other major retailers. Macy’s embraces customers and strives to provide an experience that transcends ordinary shopping. Its DNA includes special events that are magical—the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Fourth of July Fireworks, flower shows, fashion extravaganzas, celebrity appearances, cooking demonstrations, and holiday traditions, ranging from the arrival of Santa Claus to tree lightings and animated window displays. Beyond fantastic events, Macy’s is delivering magical moments every day. They surprise and delight customers with unique and interesting fashion merchandise—including exclusive brands that Macy’s reminds their customers that they won’t find elsewhere. They engage customers in stores, online, and via mobile devices by offering special experiences, as well as advice and options that bring fashion ideas to life. Macy’s is committed to creating a more inclusive experience for people with disabilities by offering assistive technology for anyone reading a web page. They offer the use of a free app which is suitable for people with physical disabilities that prevent them from using a traditional mouse, keyboard, or both to navigate the web. This app provides special features to consumers for standard PC’s including: hands-free tracking, onscreen keyboard, page reader, manual scan, auto scan, xy mouse, direction mouse, radar mouse, and customizable tool bar. The app is helpful for people with conditions such as stroke, paralysis, arthritis, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy (CP), mild visual impairment, and dyslexia. In short, Macy’s is one of the first U.S. retail brands to take this initiative for better reach, serve and empower, and provide a good shopping experience to people with disabilities. Furthermore, Macy’s offers the convenience of shopping digitally in their physical stores, particularly for a customer who comes into a department store but really prefers to shop on their own, as opposed to coming up to a counter and getting assistance. There is also a Macy’s Beauty Spot kiosk, a rounded, roughly seven-foot-tall, four-foot-wide structure inlaid with interactive touch-screens on both sides, which allows a customer to browse the department store’s makeup brands in one place. Customers can look at top-selling products or shop for products involved in specific looks on the 40-inch screen. In short, Macy’s is able to access, generate, and use emotions to facilitate thought for creating a more inclusive experience for people with different abilities and offering to each and every customer with value, engagement, involvement, and unforgettable experiences.

Consumer Centricity

Marketing has witnessed revolutionary developments in the field of customer management. Viewing the customer as the key asset to the firm has led us to look for ways to increase value of the client to the firm. Concepts like customer lifetime value and valuation of customers, customer equity have emerged as important traditions in investigating ways to increase a firm’s value. These concepts can be merged into a broader concept called customer centricity. Research investigating customer value has suggested that antecedents of increasing customer value can be grouped as organizational or product related variables. An organizational antecedent that is more relevant than others for customer relationship development is the customer centricity of the organization. In a customer centric organization, the main emphasis is on building long term and profitable customer relationships. All the organizational decisions must start with the customer as the focal point, and employees should act as customer advocates and be customer centric or relationship centric. In a customer centric organization, the main emphasis is on building long term and profitable customer relationships. A customer-centric organization builds an operating model around a deep understanding of its customers—what they value and the contribution each makes to the profitability of the company. This requires designing business processes that recognize different customer segment needs, and delivering a positive and seamless customer experience at every touch point across the customer life cycle, thus promoting a culture where the customer is at the heart of any ­decision-making process.

Basically, customer centricity is a strategy to fundamentally align a company’s products and services with the wants and needs of its most valuable customers, with a sole motive of making more profits for the long term. The key to successfully managing a customer experience initiative is the deliberate development of a customer centric framework. Customer centricity is actually an approach to doing business in which a company focuses on creating a positive and consistent consumer experience at the point of sale, through a call center, online, and via all communications, including mobile, email, and print. For example, in 2012, Banana Republic surprised passengers on a flight from New York to Los Angeles with an exclusive in-flight fashion show. Banana Republic collaborated with five influential fashion bloggers to live-tweet the world’s first ever in-flight fashion show and subsequent press event in Los Angeles. Banana Republic provided an unprecedented, real-time perspective for audiences around the world to have front-row seats at the in-flight fashion show. In addition to a fashion show, Banana Republic also brokered smart partnerships with Virgin America and Gilt Taste to provide Mad Men themed cocktails and meals in-flight, along with Mad Men episodes streamed live on TVs. Similarly, in 2013, there was a “BRLove4All campaign” launched by Banana Republic to support love for all. Couples—same and opposite sex—were invited to share their photos for the chance to be outfitted by Banana Republic for their nuptials (or other special occasion). The campaign was hosted on Facebook and entries were pulled from Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook leveraging the #BRLove4All hash tag. Banana Republic also supported the campaign by updating its cover photo and profile image and sharing a statement across all platforms with a unique version of the marriage equality symbol, comprised of folder t-shirts. Banana Republic proudly displayed all of the images and stories received on its Facebook page through a special photo gallery page and app. The gallery showcased a remarkable collage of affection, displaying couples from all walks of life, all united to celebrate love. The Banana Republic brand has started a new autumn campaign on Snapchat—and has signed a partnership with Instagram for image sharing, and, as such, the idea is to work directly with Instagram to leverage its insight into its audience. The previous examples show a true real life attempt by a brand like banana republic to be more transparent and customer centric in its working. It always allows customers and people, at large, to experience its new launches in a way that felt real.

Furthermore, a customer centric approach can add value to a company by differentiating themselves from competitors who do not offer the same experience. Without truly understanding your customer’s behaviors, likes, and dislikes related to your products, a customer will never be at the center of your efforts, In retail context, personalizing across channels (website, e-mail, display ads, mobile, store) allows retailers to ­dynamically personalize the experience for each shopper, delivering the products they are interested in at exactly the right time, no matter where they are.

Exhibit 6.1 Do you know your customer? A checklist

This provides a consistent shopping experience, helps the consumer reach the ready state, and leads to improved conversion and revenue. Creating a dialogue between the organization and users facilitates consumer experiences in terms of a buyer’s perceived involvement intensity and personal meaning. Do you know your customer and the emotions and experiences felt by her or him? Please see Exhibit 6.1 showing a checklist for your ready reference.

Issues and Challenges

How effectively business deals with the challenges of sustainability will define its success for decades to come. Current sustainability strategies have three major deficiencies: they do not directly focus on the customer, they do not recognize the looming threats from rising global overconsumption, and they do not take a holistic approach. Therefore, there is a strong need for a framework for a customer-centric approach to sustainability that should encompass and emphasize outcomes of business actions, measured holistically in term of environmental, personal, and economic wellbeing of the consumer. Marketers have a bigger challenge of understanding the consumption mediated impact of marketing actions on environmental, personal, and economic wellbeing of the consumer. The actions are needed both in external-market domain and in internal-company domain. Without a framework to create, continuously evolve, and ensure a unified customer experience, a company’s best intentions in marketing, loyalty programs, employee involvement, product development, and customer service can actually have a negative impact. In retail context also, the challenge is to implement ­customer-centric marketing. By employing customer centric marketing, retailers can reach consumers wherever they are to engage them throughout the shopper’s lifecycle, utilizing different vehicles. Retailers need to build upon a ­holistic strategy and employ cross-channel personalization techniques across all touch points to attract, convert, and nurture consumers. Consistent, ­personalized communications will help increase buyer readiness leading to increased purchases from consumers. So where should you start? Make sure you are thinking about a strategic, holistic approach.

Conclusion

Customer centricity should ultimately result in improvement of ­consumer experience as executive leaders across all industries continue to face market challenges. Competition continues to accelerate, and, in retail, large chain stores compete by aggressively buying market share through acquisition, while small specialty and pop-up stores often lack the cost efficiencies of their larger competitors. New digital buying options are fragmenting the retail purchase process, giving customers the ability to shop anytime, from anywhere. Digital shopping opportunities make it challenging for retailers to keep and build store traffic without big price incentives. Being truly customer centric is increasingly difficult as channel options increase and customer expectations grow. Where it was once sufficient to collect and share customer data points across a line of business for better target marketing, now true customer-centricity means an ability to react in real-time, both inbound and outbound, and share data all across the organization’s growing lines of business and channels of operation. Becoming more customer-centric requires retailers to engage in ongoing two-way dialogues with customers—shifting the focus from campaigns to customer lifetime value. And being customer centric requires knowing each customer, and being able to interact with them in a way that reflects their preferences, their past behavior, and their anticipated next behavior.