Organizations must recognize that this isn’t only relevant to consumer products companies but that all businesses will need to take advantage of the Internet to serve their customers.
In 1996, Toys “R” Us, with $11 billion in sales and 1,400 stores, launched its first web site. Remember, this is a company that was established in 1948. This initial web site was simply an on-line brochure. Visitors couldn’t buy anything. So, what happened? By April of 1999, Toys “R” Us had lost the first round of e-commerce to eToys, a three-year-old startup.

Despite almost unlimited financial resources and its real-world retail experience, Toys “R” Us was at a disadvantage in cyberspace. The people at eToys knew the web better, they had more experience with on-line customers, and they weren’t concerned about taking sales away from retail stores. Who were the real veterans here?

The only hope for Toys “R” Us rested in its ability to take advantage of its intellectual capital, not in its cash capital. What Toys “R” Us was really up against was not a startup but its own “Old World” mindset.

• Mindset: In the shopping center environment where Toys “R” Us had the largest presence.
• Mindset: In retail, where Toys “R” Us management had all the power.
• Mindset: Toys “R” Us missed that…on the Internet, the customer has all the power!

Before 2000, companies pushed products through the channel to waiting customers. Now, customers pull products and services through the channel, and they do it on demand. By 2010, most buyers will be connected, completing the Customer-Led Revolution in business.

All organizations, throughout the world, will have to change to prepare for the New World of e-customers, both externally and internally.

Externally, you’ll have to take the customer’s view of your web site. Unfortunately, to this point, most don’t offer what their customers really want.

Internally, you’ll have to organize your company completely around customers, and let them lead the way.

Customer-led companies have conversations with their customers about what they want, and they give customers a means of talking to each other. Customers trust each other more than they trust a company.

Unfortunately, most automobile manufacturer’s web sites still give visitors only the company’s point of view while offering not much more than the same marketing material found in a brochure at a dealer’s showroom.

A customer-led approach would provide areas for various groups of customers to share their experiences with each other, on-line. People, who are looking for new cars, are much more likely to believe actual owners than company propaganda. A perceptive Ford executive once said, If we’re not customer driven, our cars won’t be either.” Apparently, the Ford Company did not listen to that executive.

To be perfectly honest, there still aren’t many customer-led companies in the world, so those of us who are willing to take a progressive stance can take the lead. By the year 2010, over 2 billion people will have gone on-line and they will change the business landscape more than any group or event in history.

Most companies make common mistakes on-line that wind up driving their customers away. Is yours one of those organizations? What are you doing today to turn your enterprise into a customer led business?