Dewell Marketing

The telecoms.com website is always a great resource for us in keeping abreast of developments in the market.

A recent post with the same name as ours talks about how 2012 will change the way you do business with your customers, or you will lose them. In other words, you need to invest more time and effort with your customers because the competition is just a click on their smartphone away.

Here are a couple of the many points worth reading:

 Smartphones Are Everywhere

Smartphones galore:  Along with the evolution of open-source operating systems, such as Android, lower component costs, and an insatiable consumer appetite for mobile products there have been many new handset manufacturers entering the market, largely located across Asia, and that trend shows no sign of slowing down over 2012.

Your Customers Use Their Smartphones to Make Buying Decisions>

Smartphones aiding purchasing decisions: The use of the smartphones will continue to enhance the physical practice of shopping. With the advent of MMS, consumers began to take photos of an item in store, and send it to a partner or friend for opinion. Today, they can quickly scan a barcode using their smartphone to view  user reviews, price comparisons and retailers within walking distance. For retailers, this places greater pressure to compete instantaneously and not only with their physical competitors but online ones too.

Brand loyalty to create differentiation: With handset manufacturers struggling to make their smartphones stand out from the crowd, 2012 will see OEM brands look for more defining USPs. According to WDS: “We believe this will be in the form of an optimised cross-device user experience across the OEMs full device portfolio.” The firm cited Sony as an example, which recently bought Ericsson’s stake in their Sony-Ericsson joint venture. It will now bring its smartphone division under the parent brand alongside its other consumer electronics and may look to integrate its product offering to create a unified experience, in a bid to boost brand loyalty. 2012 is set to see some OEMs proceed with collaborations across different device categories and software platforms in a bid to remain competitive in this changing landscape.

Your Customers Want an Experience!

Emphasis on customer experience: With price wars over the years making the mobile handset market increasingly price sensitive, operators cannot continue to invest and encourage innovation under this degree of price pressure. They must reverse the trend and win back customer loyalty based not on price, but service and brand value.

2012 will be the year the you need to engage your customers more than ever. You need to acquire new customers; you need to service them; and you need to retain your existing customers – they are too valuable to let slip away!