SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS
Christopher W. Hart
Marketing Management Fall 1999
Hamilton Summary
Most marketing people talk about identifying "unmet customer needs" - but what about "finding and eliminating customer sacrifices?" What are customer sacrifices? They are what your customers are forced to put up with to do business with your company. Think about it this way: It's Friday afternoon, and you have nothing planned. How about going to the movies? But which movie? At which theatre? Will it be sold out? How early should you get there to get a ticket? Will there be a line to buy tickets? What about parking? Traffic? These are all customer sacrifices - things the theatre chains force you to put up with to do business with them. How many times, after all this cognitive effort, have you ever decided it was simply too much trouble and said, "Let's see what's on the TV tonight," or "Let's just rent a video?"
When you do that the movie chain owners lose an opportunity. What do you think would be the impact on their bottom line if they could get you to go to one more movie a year? Analysis show that if the theatres could get their movie enthusiasts (those who go to 10 or more movies a year) to go to just one more movie per year they would see increased profits of 23% -- in the first year alone!
So, what could a movie chain do to make these sacrifices less of a deterrent? Just as Amazon.com provides it customers with the opportunity to write book reviews which Amazon publishes on its Web site, a theatre chain could do the same. By providing customers with rating forms they can begin to gather the information they need and once a customer-history database is created, the possibilities are endless. The creation of a frequent viewer awards program, access to a web site providing information on when customers need to arrive to buy tickets or get good seats, providing special offers telling customers about coming attractions they're likely to enjoy, are just some of the ways a movie chain could help eliminate customer sacrifices and gain the competitive advantage.
What sacrifices do your customers experience in order to do business with you? Part of your job as a leader is to challenge your organization to break out of its self-imposed boundaries, to think in non-traditional, innovative ways and to uncover ways to add customer value.
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American Marketing Association Publishing Group © 1999
