With one wave of the wand , sunglasses have come from a nondescript accessory to an aspirational accessory because of advanced features , improved capabilities and better functionality . Customers who may not have owned a pair of sunglasses will now look to get their hands on these smart versions . With that one leap , sunglasses are now the talk of town and will be worn indoors and outdoors because of their unique features . We expect to see advances in this technology probably at the same rate as the smartphone especially with cloud technology .
Brands can turn around low penetration through such interventions by answering the question of utility and perception . Other tactics that can impact penetration are a little more familiar , such as is the case of washing powder which gained traction after being repackaged into smaller sachets which enhanced affordability and accessibility .
Education also plays a role in breaking the paradox of under penetration through creating an understanding of benefits and value . MPesa was a mystery to many consumers for years until it was well understood that it is a mobile money transfer service , and no hard cash will be exchanged in the process of a chain of transactions . Once this understanding was created across consumer landscape , the product rose to stardom and has been greatly adopted worldwide .
EssilorLuxottica has sold eyewear for decades , as far back as 1849 before its merger in 2018 and sold some of the world ’ s leading brands of eyewear but was not able to deliver groundbreaking innovative sunglasses over the years . One question that still lingers is that the sunglasses deliver on all smartphone capabilities but have no integration of 3D vision or VR capabilities , yet these are optically driven stimulative innovations that have already captured the TV and gaming industry and raking in big business . While the launch of the smart glasses is a surely a leap in the right direction , one would wonder why the company did not begin by incorporating the visual innovations that we would assume to be a default feature of today ’ s smart glasses .
As I wondered about that thought , I also came across an interesting book called ‘ Customer in the boardroom ?’ that may have helped me reach a few conclusions about the questions I had in the context of the smart glasses . It is apparent that most businesses are focused on meeting supply , servicing the market and the tackling competition leaving the immediate thoughts and needs of the customer out of boardroom conversations . Many companies are focused on innovating around the competitors , and rightly so - as a way to gain competitive advantage - rather than focusing on the world of the customer .
In many boardrooms , the needs of the customers are discussed only up to a certain level . Once the customer needs stop aligning with the bottom line , they are deemed not beneficial to the organization . Most marketing team discussions and board discussions are centered around technological developments , exploring greenfield , R & D and outsmarting competition . What that means is that the customer is often left to fit into the already predetermined box that was crafted with little consideration on how the customer is evolving , their latent needs and their utility needs .
As we think about our products and services , just like EssilorLuxottica , we all need to ask ourselves where the customer is today , where they want to go and how they get there - as an inverse to where the company is today , its aspirational goals and how to maximize competitive advantage . What most marketing professionals struggle with is where to link value to the product .
The expectation of a number of customers may be similar to mine with these new age sunglasses . Besides the same functions that I can find on my phone , my expectation with these sunnies would have been to find VR capabilities or 3D vision . This simple addition to the camera and audio capabilities can transform the audio-visual industry forever . That would warrant buying smart glasses for top dollar .
However , as we often do in our own marketing brainstorms , we view value as being cost-efficient and even ruling out a potential customer as the wrong target audience because they do not fit into the box we have created in our R & D labs . The result is shifting our focus to retention and classifying the products as niche while they are essentially under-penetrated .
However , with a slight shift in thinking about how to tackle and reach the underpenetrated areas we can achieve revenue growth . Growth is only achieved when the customer base grows . Back to our example of ordinary sunglasses vs smart sunglasses , the two still appeal to both the existing and non-existing customers . A new set of smart sunglasses customers have been created and a greenfield still remains for customers who are looking for more innovative capabilities such as VR and 3D capabilities . Once these customers begin to wear sunglasses , they can use the whole range , both the ordinary and smart versions and will essentially own a pair of either . This will increase revenue growth .
Companies can also cut costs and control expenditures but if done at the expense of the customer then it is still not a fulfilling venture . For customers to stay , they must perceive value . The best approach is to perceive how customers define their world and design their needs to deliver a win-win for both the business and customer . Asking customers what they want is still product focus not customer focus . Customer focus is fulfilling an emotive need , an aspiration for the customer . To unlock this , the business has to position itself as a value delivery system , what we often call the purpose .
These are the statements we are all so familiar with about making impact in rural areas , helping farmers mechanize and so on . The crux of the matter is in aligning the entire business to the rhythm of the customer . As the customer changes , the business should also change in tandem , pivoting with the main changes that are achievable and creating a clear-cut perceived impact in the mind of the customer . This clarity should then be carried across the customer touchpoints by keeping a pulse on the life of the targeted customer and designing methodologies that meet these needs .
In Africa , our problems are often unique and often only understood by us . But we have watched products and services come into our markets and thrive . As our markets grow through an exciting mix of innovations , many of our products remain under-penetrated . Besides innovating , we can educate customers on products pegged on value and functionality . Understated value leads to lack of interest , but even with lack of innovation some products just like the sunglasses can still thrive based on functionality .
In boardrooms , we sell shareholder value i . e customer value but in marketing and in business we sell product value . So , are your products and services understated or underpenetrated ?!
Diana Obath is a seasoned Public Relations and Communications Specialist . You can commune with her on this or related issues via mail on : ObathD @ gmail . com .