A recent news item on the net held my interest and helped get me thinking. It concerned a popular snack company in New York who, by the middle of last month, had started switching from their current biodegradable compostable packaging to a type of plastic bag/packaging for their product, in a bid to quiet complaints by consumers/customers of the product that the current compostable bags were very noisy!.The compostable bags were stiffer, hence they produced a rather distracting and almost irritating noise when handled. Although customers were thankful to the company for making packaging that were recyclable (which is a good thing), they however complained about the noise produced with the bags. Their complaints were heard and prompt action taken to resolve the issue.
This case in point has only proven—once again—that, not only is the customer often right, in business, the customer is always king. Who is the consumer? Simply put, A consumer is a buyer of goods and services and could be an individual or a group. Buying must take place for a business to grow. And as the end user of a product, the consumer has a right to safety, a right to be informed, a right to choose, a right to be HEARD. This is why most consumer-oriented societies develop a consumer protection legislation where the government and other agencies play a role to protect consumers’ rights. This legislation insists on safe, reputable and reliable products and services. In such societies, federal; state or local laws prohibit against specific and unfair practices, and may also work with individuals to resolve consumer complaints against particular businesses. These laws do permit and acknowledge that businesses must make profit but discourage superfluous profit at the expense of the consumer. Research shows that in today’s market, consumers are changing their interests and desires, they are more sophisticated than those of past generations (as demonstrated in the example above). Today’s customers attend schools for much longer periods of time, they are exposed to newspapers, magazines, movies, radio, TV, travel and Internet. They interact with other people, hence, their demands are more exacting, and their taste changes more volatile. Thus a dissatisfied customer can switch from patronizing one particular firm to seeking the same service/product offered by a different firm—only better. Affected firms must, consequently, bring changes to the way their business operates, rather than see customers’ dissatisfaction as an excuse to close down, or point the finger at others.
Most firms in the country have customer care departments/units which are assigned the specific task of supporting the customers by introducing their product to the customer, providing appropriate and relevant information to the customer and attending to the needs of the customer. But how well has this worked?. In a profit-oriented society, the customer’s voice is almost silenced, a case which should not be. However, it is important to note that the Federal Government has put in place some laws and consumer-enlightening programmes committed to the welfare of the consumer, but for this to be effective (as it’s the case in many advanced societies), the laws should be enforced regularly with a greater commitment.
Margaret E.
