Is Your Customer Wearing A Chain?

Blue Ocean Strategy Articles : Is Your Customer Wearing A Chain?

In most industries, competitors converge on the definition of the target customer. However, the customer is usually a chain of “customers”: the purchasers, the users and the influencers who hold different definitions of value. Businesses can identify compelling opportunities by understanding how to best relate to each member of this chain – according to one of the Six Paths of Blue Ocean Strategy.

Consider this anecdote as a humorous illustration of the ‘chain of customers’ perspective. There is a story of a Hungarian man who was once bargain shopping in Vienna and found shoes at extremely favorable prices. He swiftly purchased half a dozen pairs. Unfortunately, all the shoes began to fall apart almost as soon as he put them to use.

When he went back to complain at the shop, he was informed that the shoes were not really designed for much wear. They were in fact made for dressing the dead. And as such, the proprietor was not accustomed to complaints about the shoes’ performance or durability. Clearly, in this case the ‘target customer’ was indeed the purchaser and not the user of the product.

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