Customer Associations with Department Stores and Juice Brands

In class last week, we had two guests who are researching topics related to CRM. The first, Lucija Mihaljevic wanted to gain insights from you on department stores. She walked the students through a discussion on expectations related buying and shopping experiences in a department store vs. a shopping mall. The second, Ozana Marija Cicak was interested in your preferences related to non alcoholic beverages in particular juices. She posed questions about juice products, prices, place, packages and promotions. The students were then asked to provide a link to a department store from their country/region/town and three words to describe it. Many also opted to put a link to a juice brand website and also three words to describe it. The results are compiled her in various collages.

In Contrast here are the results of Three Words to Describe Favorite Juice Brands, 33 Students also sorted into a wordle

Customer Relationship Management 1 of 101

Customer Relationship Management

3 words when they come together bring almost endless interpretations. I always begin the first day of CRM class addressing just the first word and do an open discussion asking the class to be a live thesaurus for substitutions of the word "customer". This word game is an effective way to get them to avoid underestimating the fundamental terminology and their responsibility in shaping the course. These early perspectives help me understand the contexts in which they frame customer scenarios and then allow me to customize the course helping them focus on customer types that they embody as well as those they may have to manage in their current or future careers. The orientation towards the word customer, atleast in yesterday's session, came from culture and country of origin with language aiding or inhibiting responses as well as customers in relations to the places they are acquire products or services. Students are themselves customers of the college they attend; their parents if a funding source are also customers of the education but not the users. In this view the students can recognize that they will need to rethink casual associations with the word "customer" and become more alert to variations that would then impact the level of service delivered and received in customer transactions. Here is the start of the "customer alphabet" and their explanations:

Audience...like a group who watches or listens to a performance,live or pre-recorded Addict...like someone who is driven to habitually crave and consume Beneficiary...like someone who is a recipient of a benefit Buyer...like fashion buyers or other retailers in a B2B exchange with a wholesaler Consumer...like in mass consumerism across a multitude of channels Delegate...like someone attending a conference and representing a larger group Employee...like the internal customer of a company Fan...like a supporter of a sports team, celebrity or Facebook page Follower...like of a cult or a Twitter personality, person, entity or cause Guest...like those staying in some form of accomodations and especially emphasized by Disney Hackers...like computer experts who spend alot of time online Investor...like someone who buys into a new business venture John...like someone who uses the services of "massage parlor" King...like male head of household Lovers...like someone whose passion goes beyond simply liking some brand or other object of affection Member...like someone who belongs to a group with similar lifestyles Niche...like an emerging subset of consumers with special characteristics Order...like someone who places an order to buy via phone, fax, mail,email, sms,etc. Patient...like someone who requires health care Queen...like female head of household Reader...like those who consume texts in the form of articles, books, magazines, research and similar Shopper...like someone who makes an effort to seek and find items to purchase Subscriber...like those who repeat purchase patterns monthly or yearly to tv, magazines or other forms of entertainment Tourist...like those who travel for pleasure Unknown...like those who have yet to discover or be discovered Undesirables...like those people who are using a brand and the brand would prefer not to be associated with that profile of customer (This one needs an example, Abercrombie&Fitch vs. The Situation(of Jersey Shore infamy) Vendee...like someone who makes a purchase through a vending machine Win back...like a customer who used to purchase from company, left for a competitor and then cameback again X...like an anonymous consumer Yearner...like those with an ambition for something, a drive, a striver Zealot...like an extreme enthusiast or advocate

Have any others to add? Suggest additions and substitions in the comments.