Assignment: Consumerism Affecting Innovation DUE 2/6 As we continue to explore the impact of emerging technologies on business and society, your second assignment is to prepare a discussion on how the new consumerism is affecting innovation in business.  We discussed new consumerism last week (see lecture below pg 2-8). The assignment is as follows: - Explain consumerism (in your own words!) - Identify a specific aspect of new consumerism and provide detailed examples of how this new consumerism resulted in innovative responses by an organization of your choosing. - Provide 3 or 4 bullets on ways that companies can 'listen' (and interact with) their customers in order to not miss innovative opportunities.  Think like a consultant: if you had to provide 3 or 4 suggestions for an organization to do, what would you suggest? _____________________________________________ All original writing please and provide your sources. A business-like presentation / proper spelling, grammar is important. “New Consumerism” Overview With the onslaught of disruptive technology, consumer behavior and ultimately decision-making is changing like never before. The new age consumers are taking control of their journey, discovering relevant product and service information and making decisions their way in real time. With Internet and social media as their weapon, consumers are making sure that businesses have no other way out, than to compete with each other in real time. The behavior of the interconnected consumers is not only changing, it is opening and closing traditional touch points, places, and ways to engage customers in real time and at the right time. Although we are talking about connected customers here, let’s also learn about the three categories that various consumers fall into – Generation C is building an efficient human network where information and experiences serve as the ties that bind relationships. Therefore, it seems only fitting that firms apply a human touch in their marketing efforts. It is important that firms follow these four steps to connect with the customers: 1 Listen 2 Learn 3 Engage 4 Adapt How do we manage the emerging trends being driven by these consumers? Understanding the customers is the only way to develop effective and meaningful marketing, sales, and service strategies. This is the only way a company is able to develop or inspire a vision to provide their customers the satisfaction and experience they desire. Without this, the experience is left to the customer to determine and share. This creates chaos and confusion in the market. Since connected consumers are the most influenced by those they know, the brand value of a product or service spirals down faster than one thinks. This means organizations need to be on top of their products, brand - and customers. The Dynamic Customer Journey The Dynamic Customer Journey (DCJ) is about businesses building on existing experiences to retain customers. During the journey,.

1. Assignment: Consumerism Affecting Innovation DUE 2/6
As we continue to explore the impact of emerging technologies
on business and society, your second assignment is to prepare a
discussion on how the new consumerism is affecting innovation
in business. We discussed new consumerism last week (see
lecture below pg 2-8). The assignment is as follows:
- Explain consumerism (in your own words!)
- Identify a specific aspect of new consumerism and provide
detailed examples of how this new consumerism resulted in
innovative responses by an organization of your choosing.
- Provide 3 or 4 bullets on ways that companies can 'listen' (and
interact with) their customers in order to not miss innovative
opportunities. Think like a consultant: if you had to provide 3
or 4 suggestions for an organization to do, what would you
suggest?
_____________________________________________
All original writing please and provide your sources.
A business-like presentation / proper spelling, grammar is
important.
“New Consumerism”
Overview
With the onslaught of disruptive technology, consumer behavior
and ultimately decision-making is changing like never before.
The new age consumers are taking control of their journey,
discovering relevant product and service information and
making decisions their way in real time. With Internet and
social media as their weapon, consumers are making sure that
businesses have no other way out, than to compete with each
other in real time. The behavior of the interconnected

2. consumers is not only changing, it is opening and closing
traditional touch points, places, and ways to engage customers
in real time and at the right time. Although we are talking about
connected customers here, let’s also learn about the three
categories that various consumers fall into –
Generation C is building an efficient human network where
information and experiences serve as the ties that bind
relationships. Therefore, it seems only fitting that firms apply a
human touch in their marketing efforts. It is important that
firms follow these four steps to connect with the customers:
1 Listen
2 Learn
3 Engage
4 Adapt
How do we manage the emerging trends being driven by these
consumers?
Understanding the customers is the only way to develop
effective and meaningful marketing, sales, and service
strategies. This is the only way a company is able to develop or
inspire a vision to provide their customers the satisfaction and
experience they desire. Without this, the experience is left to
the customer to determine and share.
This creates chaos and confusion in the market. Since connected
consumers are the most influenced by those they know, the
brand value of a product or service spirals down faster than one
thinks.
This means organizations need to be on top of their products,
brand - and customers.
The Dynamic Customer Journey

3. The Dynamic Customer Journey (DCJ) is about businesses
building on existing experiences to retain customers. During the
journey, businesses should engage customers to gain insight on
defining the customer experience. As customers are being
engaged, businesses should orient the customers’ experience
based on their reviews shared. This is important: too many
feedback points from consumers go ignored. Social media is
utilized but not used as a catalyst for change or to improve the
customer experience.
On the other hand, the DCJ is designed to capture the
experience that customers desire by promoting awareness.
Businesses are expected to determine what influences their
customer’s decision-making process. The influence loop can be
considered as a business journey to take the important steps in
the discovery process:
1 Awareness
2 Consideration
3 Evaluation
4 Purchase
5 Experience
6 Loyalty
7 Advocacy
The Influence Loop characterizes a constant and public
elliptical path that often repeats itself. Every shared experience,
every touch point influences the decisions of all those who enter
this ellipse. Although these stages of the DCJ may look similar
to the sales funnel, but the DCJ is designed to uniquely capture
the path of the connected customer (Note: the AIDA funnel
shows a linear path, whereas the DCJ reflects a constant
elliptical path).
As customers share their experiences online, businesses must
embrace listening, learning, engaging and adapting to promote

4. customer satisfaction. You - the manager, the leader, and the
employee - need to provide input and influence to your company
to encourage them to pay attention to customers' feedback and
activity on social media. By doing so, businesses will soon
discover that the DCJ presents moments of truth that either lead
people towards the company or away from them. To explain this
better, each stage in the DCJ can be looked at from a higher
level.
Business Advantages of New Consumerism
1 Increased Business Intelligence – Interacting with Generation
C “The New Consumers” goes beyond just “social media
listening.” This is about intelligence – about how to engage
Generation C based on who, and what is important to them, and
how they connect with each other and your business.
2 Meaningful Engagement (instead of Everyday Marketing) –
Based on how intelligently businesses engage with Generation C
could be the difference between meaningful engagement, as
opposed to everyday marketing.
3 Great Marketer to Great Connected Marketer – The great
insight tapped by studying Generation C will expedite the
transformation from a great marketer to a great connected
marketer. This is a tremendous coup for the business, as it
would benefit from relevant and compelling marketing,
promotional, and advertising strategies.
4 “Humanized Experience” for Customers – Customers
experience a refreshing humanized experience exuded by the
business.
5 Optimized Customer Funnel – Better customer experience
would hopefully lead customers to move towards a state of
loyalty and, ultimately advocacy.
6 More Focused Efforts – “The research into the dynamic
customer journey (DCJ) would help businesses clarify how and
where to focus efforts on shaping decisions and experiences
before, during and after the purchase. The results of studying

5. the DCJ will contribute to a far more accurate point of view that
tailors marketing, sales, service and loyalty strategies to be
more effective and engaging” (Solis, 2014).
Content Author: Barbara L. Ciaramitaro, Ph.D. / Revised by
Terri Richards, Ph.D.
© Walsh College, All rights reserved