Building A “Prosumer” Relationship

Electronic or “e” commerce is built on a networked landscape. Understanding how to traverse this complex landscape is the key to business success. An essential rule to follow in this network age is incorporating relationship technology to the e-marketplace. A business following this simple rule will gain a competitive edge.

Relationship technology is basically, the application of science to the building of relationships.¹ How is technology used to build relationships? In the book, New Rules for the New Economy, Kevin Kelly observes

“The network is a structure to generate relationships. Networks haul relations the way rivers once hauled freight. When everything is connected to everything else, relationships are rampant. Each variety of connection in a network begets a relationship. Between firms and other firms. Between firms and customers. Between customers and the government. Between customers and other customers. Between employees and other firm’s employees. Between customers and machines. Between machines and machines, objects and objects, objects and customers. There is no end to the complexity and subtlety of relationships spawned in a network economy.”²

Therefore, to gain a winning edge, one must capitalize on the network structure to not only build, but to amplify relationships. What does this mean?

The focus of business in the network age is to amplify relationships. Specifically, this means “increasing the quantity and quality of economic relationships.”³ On a network, relationships are made up of connections between entities and the most common are peer-to-peer.⁴ Peer-to-peer relationships exist between one customer and another or between the business and the customer. These relationships have changed the face of commerce.

Long gone are the days when a customer would enter a store to select and purchase an item directly from the shelf. Today’s consumers can compare items from multiple shelves in multiple stores at lightening speed with the click of a mouse. Consumers also have the opportunity to actually design their product or change aspects such as color, texture or size. Essentially, consumers can have an active role in the design and manufacture of the item they wish to purchase. Today’s consumer is much different than those who existed prior to the network age.

In 1970, futurologist Alvin Toffler, identified this new consumer in a book called Future Shock. Basically, Toffler predicted a time when the roles of producer and consumer would merge.⁵ He later named this new consumer, a “prosumer.”⁶ Toffler envisioned the disappearance of a mass production of standardized, unyielding products, in favor of the mass customization of products. In fact, some feel the prosumer is a major player in the Web 2.0 revolution.⁷ So, how does one reach a prosumer?

Kelly feels the business must look to create a product for “a niche of one.”⁸ Kelly sees “network technologies such as data mining, smart cards, and recommendation engines… escalating the levels of relationships available to customers.”⁹ The ultimate goal is to amplify the consumer relationship to a point where it actually encourages prosuming. Kelly explains that this is accomplished by a series of progressive steps, consisting of first, creating; then, remembering; next, anticipating, and finally changing what the consumer wants.¹⁰ Each of these stages “elevates the firm’s commitment to the customer and raises the customer’s involvement with the firm.”¹¹

The new e-marketplace is built on a network of connections between consumers and the companies they do business with. The successful company uses relationship technology to build and amplify connections with customers. A business accomplishes this by involving the consumer in the design and manufacture of the products they purchase. By transforming “consumers” into a “prosumers,” businesses gain a competitive edge within the network landscape.

References