Hari's Corner

We were recently shopping around for a digital camera for my brother. We went to a lot of shops, did a lot of research and finally ended up buying a Sony Cybershot DSC W35 from an authorized Sony dealer - Sony World. There was another shop we went to earlier. In that place, the salespeople sounded dubious, wouldn't share any product information (even prices!) and wanted to know what we wanted before committing themselves to a price. These people didn't even offer us genuine company guarantee and instead wanted us to accept their "shop" guarantee, which I suspect is not even worth the paper it's written on. We simply left the shop after that. He had even tried to get us to fill up an order form before that! His over-anxiety to sell coupled with his reluctance to share product information was a definite turn-off and left a bad taste. This might have been an extreme case but the fact was, even authorized camera dealers elsewhere were either reluctant to share product information or ignorant about the finer details we wanted to know on model differences. In contrast, the people at Sony World seemed to know exactly how to treat customers. They weren't keen on selling, but rather were forthcoming with all the details about the product. They even allowed us to handle the demo pieces and take snaps to help us make the decision. They clearly told us what the differences were between two very similar looking models and told us that it was better to buy the lower priced one because it also came with a free 512 MB memory card while the other did not and the only other difference was the size of the LCD panel at the back.. Sony might be slightly more expensive and may not give any discounts - but the fact is, they made a sale because the people at Sony World knew their job. And that professional attitude definitely shifted us in their favour. Even this decision wouldn't have been easy except that we were left with no other choice as other camera dealers simply couldn't tell us enough to decide.

The point is, why did we have to go through so much hassle to buy a digital camera? Granting that half the problem was the immense array of choices available in this particular market, we were genuinely surprised at this lack of transparency from sources we should be able to trust. Without the internet, we couldn't have got half the information we did and even there, most of it was collected from independent reviewers and not from the product manufacturers themselves. Now how many people can afford to turn to the internet in such cases and even if they could, how many would actually be patient and meticulous enough to sift through so many reviews for valid, pertinent information before arriving at a conclusion? Why wasn't even half this information available from even authorized dealers? I'm not talking about mere subjective opinions, but the technical details; for instance - "does this camera have an optical viewfinder?", "how many manual controls does this camera have?" and "how clear is the picture at maximum resolution?", "what is the average battery life?" and so on. If some dealers cannot answer the simple price question, how can they expect customers to trust them on the more intricate details? I can only conclude that:

1. The majority of their customers are really very poorly informed and,
2. The majority of their customers trust them completely to take the decision for them.

That's disturbing because it implies that there really are people who spend money without really thinking about what they're getting for it. And people who buy digital cameras aren't exactly illiterate either.

This might be an isolated incident, but it made me think about the broader issue - why are marketers generally so reluctant to share product information which might help customers make more informed purchase decisions? How can they expect people to shell out hard cash for products with sketchy and often inaccurate information? A lot of shopkeepers tend to carry the attitude that customers don't know anything and so will accept their advice and recommendations. Increasingly that's becoming a myth and marketers can no longer expect to continue selling products - especially technology products - without educating both the customer and their own sales force. Time and again, I've experienced extreme frustration when shopping because retail salespeople are either too stupid, too ignorant or too disinterested to help out effectively. And this attitude seems to flow from the top. It's astonishing that they're effectively turning people away by exhibiting such attitudes.

I think there's a strong case for the marketer to be aware that impulsive or uninformed buying is not exactly a healthy trend from a seller's perspective as well. Because rash purchase decisions will more often than not lead to regret and create a base of dissatisfied customers. Take the example of holiday packages. It's not easy selling holiday packages in a country like India because most middle-class people (at whom these packages are targetted) simply cannot afford them and generally the holiday culture just hasn't caught on in this segment. Even people who have a bit of money to spare will generally invest in traditional and safer ways where there is an assured return on investment. Yet, in many cases, these holiday packages get sold because people are temporarily under the influence of glossy full-colour brochures and the picturesque description of exotic foreign resorts and take a decision to buy based on that immediate attraction. Without having a sound idea of where and when to take a holiday and considering the feasibility of taking on a long-term monetary commitment, many people invest in such schemes only to be disappointed later when they find that their work schedule and circumstances simply don't permit them to enjoy the product. The end result is that they will tend to discourage their friends and relatives from investing in such schemes based on their own experience.

I'm not saying that marketers should not be creative while selling their products. The issue is, when it comes to any non-trivial purchase, customers need to be better informed and it's up to the marketers to make that effort in their own interests as well as the interests of the customer. Very often it's the product which sells itself to people who have a genuine need and just simple, direct and accurate communication will do the job. Marketers over-complicate their own jobs by seeking out customers where there are none and by failing to understand their real requirements. Their energies should be focussed on build a strong and technically competent sales force that will build a network of trust and reliability. Credibility is such an important factor - even for the big brands. Customers always feel safer when a company sales executive can talk about the product in dispassionately technical terms. At the very least authorized dealers should have to learn their stuff before being allowed to sell the stuff. Otherwise they're letting down customers and letting down their principal as well.

How much brand equity can you build when you sell products in such a haphazard manner? And how much customer loyalty can they really expect in the long run from people who don't know what your product is really about? It's so easy to turn off genuine customers by being excessively eager to sell without showing complete transparency.

The idea should be to create satisfaction and not merely make a sale.