Customer Value Through Sustainable Customer Relationships in Amway
The world of business has become highly competitive over the years. This has put pressure on companies to do the best they can to maintain their competitiveness. The world of business has been changing rapidly as customer tastes and preferences and technological changes keep on changing, forcing business organizations to adjust their way of doing things (Halme et al. 103).
There are many organizations in the market, all striving to get a big share of the market. It should be noted that the larger the consumer base, the higher the chances of an organization being competitive. It is, therefore, important for an organization to create customer value through any possible means, one of which is sustainable customer relations (Halme et al. 104).
This paper examines Amway’s creation of customer value for the benefit of the customers and the organization itself. It also looks at how Amway is serving the consumer market, as well as its global market to some extent. Finally, the paper examines the marketing strategies of Amway.
Amway, an organization whose line of operations is nutrition, health, as well as beauty and home products, is a company that has been keen to establish business strategies that will help it maintain its market position. It has been offering products that will satisfy the customers with the aim of retaining them and attracting more customers. It is imperative to note that customers are the lifeline of an organization.
In other words, a business organization will only succeed if it has a good flow of customers. This is reflected directly in the sales and profitability. An organization will only gain a competitive advantage if it is able to offer products that are either satisfactory to the consumers or beyond customer expectations (Kotler and Keller n.p.).
Amway develops products based on what customers need for it to maintain good customer relations. The company takes into consideration consumer preferences and requirements through feedback channels and incorporates the same in the products.
Once the company gets the feedback from customers, it can be able to know what needs to be added to the products or the changes that need to be incorporated. This is referred to as customer engagement. In doing this, the organization listens to the customers and responds to their needs accordingly.
Customer engagement is a means through which an organization measures customer satisfaction and determines customer expectations at the same time. When customers are engaged in organizational decision making in whatever way, they feel appreciated and part of the organization. Their loyalty increases, giving the company a competitive edge.
This not only creates value to the customers, but it also creates value to the organization. It creates value as the company listens to the customers and offers them what they need, thereby satisfying their needs. On the other hand, involving customers in decision making through seeking their feedback creates value to the organization because customer satisfaction gives the organization a competitive edge.
Amway also produces goods that are safe and healthy for human use. It is a company that deals with products that are highly sensitive, which could cause health problems to consumers if not checked carefully. This could tarnish the image of the company and affect its relationship with customers. The company has Research and Development (R&D) projects, all working towards ensuring better production.
The Research and Development team works in close collaboration with many universities to ensure that the products are developed according to quality standards and they meet all the conditions of a healthy product. Production of healthy and safe products is a strategy through which the company adds value to its customers and the organization itself as customers become satisfied with the products, thereby increasing sales.
Amway also creates value to its customers and itself through sustainable customer relations by having sustainable product designs. The company is highly innovative and is able to design its products such that the use of those products and services can contribute directly to social sustainability.
Through innovation, the company can produce goods that are affordable to many customers and promote social inclusion at the same time. It should be noted that customers always prefer to buy from an organization that produces affordable goods, but observes quality production at the same time. As mentioned in the case, customers do not buy products; instead, they buy benefits.
This is a factor that Amway has been able to take care consider in its operations. The company produces products that are beneficial to its customers through innovation. As a result, Amway has contributed to customer value as customers are able to benefit from the products it sells.
Finally, the organization creates value to its customers through corporate social responsibility. CSR is a strategy that has been used by many organizations to create good rapport with their customers and employees. CSR is a business model whereby a business organization ensures that it complies with ethical standards, as well as international business norms such as environmental sustainability.
CSR also ensures that an organization participates in actions that are of social good, which are beyond the primary objectives of the business. Business organizations participate in CSR is to create value to their customers. It is a strategy through which an organization appreciates its customers and acts responsibly in response to its effects on the environment.
Amway is a socially responsible company and has been engaged in creating value to its customers. The trust and loyalty that customers develop from its CSR, in turn, give it a competitive edge, which is value to itself.
Serving the Customer in Amway
Excellent customer service is among the main aims of any organization, regardless of whether it is operating in the global or in the domestic market. However, the organization has to maintain its course to achieve set goals and objectives (Kapoor, Justin, and Biplab 34). The success of the organization and its achievement of goals will depend on its services.
The company has to satisfy its customers to achieve its goals. Amway is a company that is committed to serving the customers. It offers the customers what they need to satisfy their needs sufficiently. The company receives feedback from customers regarding its products and then makes any changes to the products as per the feedback. In addition, the amount of goods the company supplies is dictated by the consumer demand.
The clients help the company to know what areas ought to be improved by raising various concerns about the products, which Amway acts upon to improve customer satisfaction. Amway has services that increase efficiency and convenience to customers. One such service is the online business opportunity it offers in the name of AMIVO.
The aim of this online business opportunity is to support and enhance traditional business. Conventionally, one has to visit the store to make a purchase. This is time consuming and might be inconveniencing to the customers. Amway developed the AMIVO online business opportunity to address this issue and improve its service to customers, which makes it easier for customers to buy from wherever they are at any time.
The company’s act of listening to the views of its customers and taking into consideration their suggestions and incorporating them in its production is an indication that it serves the customers. The activities that Amway conducts affect its neighboring community. The company aims at improving the community and making it a better place to live in.
The goods that the company offers are also an indication that it serves the customers well. Its products serve nutrition, health, beauty, and home needs, among others. These are products that are meant for human consumption and have an effect of making lives better and more pleasant.
However, it should also be noted that Amway has operations in several nations, thus it is also serving the global market. Amway has gone global and it has strategies to enable it serve the global market efficiently. An organization needs to have a supply chain management that is highly effective and has the ability to meet the needs of the market to succeed in the global market.
Amway’s development of a strategy for producing and distributing, as well as marketing in the global market helps it meet the requirements of serving the market. Amway is able to achieve its organizational objectives by serving the customers and the global market. It can, therefore, be concluded that Amway serves the organizational market as well.
The Product, Pricing Promotion, and Distribution Strategies of Amway
The products of an organization determine the kind of customers it will have and the market segmentation to be applied. Products are very important as they eventually determine the market strategies that need to be applied. It should be noted that different kinds of products are marketed differently because of their nature and target customers (Kapoor, Justin, and Biplab 50).
The home products that Amway deals with include air and water purifiers, cookware, as well as cleaning equipment, among others. These are products whose main target market is households. Nutrition and health related products can be sold to households and health institutions. The target market for beauty and home equipment is mainly households.
These are products that have a wide market as they can be used by a wide range of people, extending from the young to the old and males to females. However, there are other organizations dealing with similar products, which make the business highly competitive as each of the players is looking to secure a large share of the market.
Pricing is one of the most important factors in marketing. Any successful marketing strategy should have a pricing system that is highly effective and takes into consideration all significant factors that affect price (Kotler and Keller n.p). The term pricing can be defined as the process through which a business organization determines the amount of money it should receive in exchange of a product or the service it offers (Richter 24).
When determining the price, the organization should take into consideration all the relevant costs of the product or service and then incorporate its profit margin. In financial modeling, pricing is among the four Ps in marketing mix. In other words, pricing is essential in marketing and it happens to be the most important of the four Ps as it is the only one that generates income to the business.
As mentioned earlier, Amway is a company that responds to the customers’ feedback and makes changes as per the feedback. Therefore, it can be deduced that its pricing strategy is designed such that it adheres to the customer needs, but it has a favorable profit margin for the company at the same time. It sells goods at prices that are relatively low, which gives it a competitive edge.
Customers are said to always prefer buying at the lowest possible prices for the highest possible quality. Amway has quality products and offers them at a reasonably low price. In determining its prices, Amway conducts a price comparison survey to set competitive prices against its rivals.
Promotion strategy is the other important aspect of the marketing mix. An organization needs to promote its goods so that people can be aware of them (Richter 24). The fact that there are many organizations in the market means that each organization has to come up with ways of communicating to customers and potential customers about the product.
Promotion involves activities such as advertising, sales organization, public relations, and sales promotion, among others. The promotion strategy should be done in such a way that it provides any relevant information that will convince a potential customer to buy the product and an existing customer not to buy from a competitor (Kotler and Keller n.p).
This is one of the strategies that Amway uses to keep its products well known in the market. The company conducts its promotion in several ways. Advertisements through the Internet, as well as through conventional media are some of the ways Amway promotes its products.
In addition, Amway has good public relations that it uses to communicate to its customers. This, coupled with sales organization and an effective feedback channel, enables the company to create an efficient promotion strategy.
Finally, distribution strategy is another aspect of marketing mix that cannot be overlooked. This is the process through which the organization delivers the goods or services to a place where customers can access them conveniently (Richter 25). Goods need to be at the right place and at the right time so that they can satisfy the time utility, as well as place utility for the customer (Kotler and Keller n.p).
Amway has operations in various nations across the world as it operates in the global market. Amway has developed a distribution channel that ensures that goods are always at the right place and at the right time to be successful in the global scene.
This has been one of the reasons why the company has succeeded in the global market. The online business opportunity also enhances its distribution as customers can access the products at any time and from anywhere and delivery can be done upon purchase.
Works Cited
Halme, Minna, Gabriele Hrauda, Christine Jasch, Jaap Kortman, and Helga Jonuschat. Sustainable Consumer Services: Business Solutions for Household Markets. London: Earthscan, 2007. Print.
Kapoor, Ramneek, Justin Paul, and Biplab Halder. Services Marketing: Concepts & Practices. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Education, 2011. Print.
Kotler, Philip and Kevin Lane Keller. A Framework for Marketing Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
Richter, Tobias. International Marketing Mix Management: Theoretical Framework, Contingency Factors and Empirical Findings from World-Markets. Berlin: Logos, 2012. Print.