I have been a marketing man for decades and I believe in the saying “Customer is King”. But then this is not without conditions. However in the long run it will be proved that the customer knows best and that one cannot fool him forever! This is especially true in a competitive market. If at any point of time, there is only one supplier for an item and there is a demand for that, then the terms of the supplier is the law. When competition builds up and a number of manufacturers produce same or alternative products, the customer has choice and the suppliers will have to be more customer-friendly. One classic example is that of a top ranking automobile manufacturer of USA who famously said that he could deliver a car of any colour of the customer’s choice, as long as it is black! In order to increase the car production he had standardised the colour black, but then that was the requirement of the times and one cannot find fault with the manufacturer. But with changing market requirements he too changed, without which he could not have survived.

In this world there are many adventurers, even in the business community. Out of hundreds of those who venture into business only a few become great successes. Others fade away, after becoming wiser and learning some lessons from the failures. Success is only for those who are able to feel the pulse of the market and act accordingly. Changing policies to suit changing market requirements is the formula for success. Even this rule is not without exceptions or conditions. Manufacturers are known to use different strategies to maximise the market share and profits. Take for example a cigarette maker who lowered the quality of a certain brand “X”, which was used by the higher end users and introduced a costlier premium top quality brand of cigarettes. Almost the entire top end users shifted to the new premium brand paying a higher price, and some users of the competitors’ brands also shifted to the new premium brand! The manufacturer gained in market share as well as price realisation!
Whenever a manufacturer introduces a “new” or “improved” product in the market it is generally observed that the quality of the existing product is lowered and the customer seeks to go in for the new or improved variety, paying higher price. I have experienced this in the case of shaving blades. That wonderful brand of blades, which I was using for several years suddenly, became blunt and scratchy and I could no longer continue with that. I had to change over to the premium brand sold at a higher price, which I thought was nothing better than the old brand of the past! But then the manufacturer has had his say!
I remember an interesting story told by a management consultant during one of those seminars organised by the company for which I worked for many years. There was this industrialist who wanted to do some useful service to the village near his hometown. He sent one of his officers to go there and recommend some project for the village. The officer asked several villagers what they would like to get from the industrialist. Almost everyone said that they wanted a community well because they faced acute shortage of water. The officer said that a well was such a stupid idea because the industrialist wanted to spend a large sum of money. After considering several options the officer recommended that a library and a reading room for the villagers would be most suitable because that would be in keeping with the status of the industrialist’s reputation. Soon architects and contractors were appointed and land for the library was purchased and work on the project started in full swing. The leaders of the village attended the inauguration and all praised the industrialist for his philanthropy. After about five years the industrialist happened to pass through the village, when he noticed that the reading room was in a bad shape of repair and practically no one ever used the room after the inauguration. Mainly vagrants used the building for sleeping at night and the compound was overgrown with grass and wild plants! It became clear to the industrialist that even charity should be given only to the needy and however well intentioned, the consumer will utilise any product or service even if it is provided free only if it fits in his list of priorities and not because you want him to use it.
You can go wrong in all your calculations if you think that the customer has no intelligence and that your superior skills can manipulate his preferences. These days consumer durables like washing machines have become part of middle class household. But the scenario some ten years ago was different. It was the “in” thing to have a maid do the washing of clothes. Today it is prestigious to have a maid to wash the clothes, because maids have become very expensive! Some twenty-five years ago there was practically no market for washing machines and a couple of manufacturers who ventured to manufacture the same did suffer also. So it would appear that the secret of success is in feeling the pulse of the market correctly and acting accordingly.