Probing how consumer demands and needs are drivers

The market has moved from a supplier market to a consumer market. All organizations have realized that customer-centric behavior enables higher growth and improves customer loyalty. Even for organizations working in the Business-to-Business (B2B) domain, it is not that different. An organization in the B2B domain is one where the organization directly sells goods and products to another organization and not to the consumer. Let us take a simple example of buying a laptop. An individual can buy a laptop online or from the store irrespective of the brand. Thus, companies such as Dell, HP, etc., would be an organization in the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) segment. However, electronic chips are needed to manufacture laptops, which might be delivered by a company like Intel. Therefore, Intel will sell its chips to HP, Dell, etc. Thus, Intel would work in the B2B domain. In most organizations, you will encounter the statement the customer is king. This is largely evident in the way products are made and offered to us today versus a few decades back. You must have seen that over the years, products have undergone a huge change. In the 1990s, food items were sold loose; however, due to hygiene requirements, ease of transportation, and storage, you mostly find products that are well packaged or you prefer buying packaged products. What has led to this change? As you might rightly point out, consumer and market demands are acting as drivers. There is a similar situation in the automotive industry. In the 1980s and 1990s, for instance, there were hardly any vehicles and variants in the Indian market, which was mostly dominated by a few manufacturers. Today, you have local and multinational brands offering you multiple variants. In simple terms, you are spoilt for choice.

All these changes are solely due to consumers demanding the supplier provide these possibilities. Today, it is just not enough for you to own a car or a motorbike; equally important are the features being offered and the cost-to-feature ratio. It is also possible that you might even pay a little more for that additional comfort.

Consumer awareness has increased. As a result, consumer demands on quantity, quality, safety, and price have all gone up. It can be very difficult to satisfy this need without automation.