India Retail News

For any consumer brand, customers are at the core of their business.  And consumer brand companies, which once obsessed with customer satisfaction and building customer loyalty, have since evolved to focus on continued engagement with their customers. And thus far, it has helped companies to create awareness amongst their customers on improvements and innovations to their products and newer products that are being developed.  However, recent events of Customer Rebellion make it apparent that customers seem to want more out of their favourite brands. 

Take for instance, the furore that was created when Twinings, the famed British tea manufacturer, introduced changes to their Earl Grey tea. The company had added a "dash of lemon, and a touch more of bergamot" to make the 180 year old tea tradition lighter and refreshing for its younger customers.  However, the modifications, minor as they were, led thousands of customers to initiate an online Customer Rebellion across Facebook forums and other social media spaces.  The wave of protests moved so quickly online that Twinings made an offer to all customers who complained on the new product to sample it for a period of ten days, to check if they developed a taste for it; and for those who didn't, it offered a year's supply of their Original Earl Grey tea.  

While India hasn't witnessed any notable instance of Customer Rebellion so far, it can not be denied that consumers in the country would well initiate an online rebellion, were they to be unhappy over any changes to their preferred product brand.  Online protests such as these tend to spread quickly, causing considerable damage to the product brand and its perception within the market. Therefore, consumer brand companies would need to act proactively to avoid a Customer Rebellion - but how exactly do they achieve this?

Firstly, companies would need to focus on creating a strong social media presence. This would entail creating a fan page for their brand within Facebook and ensuring there really is a "real person" behind the forum - someone who will respond to all queries, and truly listen to and value customers' feedback. Next, they would need to communicate frequently with customers and keep them engaged with constant updates on their products and brands.  Further, companies ought to take note that a customer's needs are central to the engagement that exists between them and the customer, and therefore highlight product features that will be most beneficial to the customers (as against what they would like to say about their product).

Keeping customers happy and engaged may actually be quite simple, when companies maintain "high touch" with their customers - across their physical and virtual worlds. 

About the author: Lakshmipriya Somasundaram is a Contributing Editor for TradeBriefs. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it