When customers get clever: managerial approaches to dealing with creative consumers

When customers get clever: managerial approaches to dealing with creative consumers

When customers get clever: managerial approaches to dealing with creative consumers

Berthon P.R., Pitt L.F., McCarthy I., Kates S.M. Business Horizons, January-February, 2007, Vol. 50 No. 1, Start page: 39, No. of pages: 9

Purpose – To explore the issue of creative consumers and their implications for business. Design/methodology/approach – Defining creative customers as individuals or groups who adapt, modify or transform a proprietary offering such as a product or service, compares and contrasts them with the concept of the lead user: creative consumers work with all types of offerings not just novel or enhanced products; they do not necessarily face needs that will become general; they need not benefit directly from their innovations; and they rarely ask permission to experiment with a firm’s offering. Contends that while creative consumers and lead users are two distinct groups of customers, there is potential for an overlap between them, and creative consumers represent an important and overlooked group and should be treated strategically. Constructs a four-fold typology of firms’ stances towards creative consumers: resistance; enabling; discouragement; and encouragement. Suggests that the matrix should serve to prompt a series of questions that will require a firm to evaluate whether it has the appropriate stance for the set of environmental circumstance under which it operates. Findings – Delivers a framework for understanding that creative consumer exist and for developing an appropriate strategic response based on the specifics of their context. Research limitations/implications – Has no stated implications for future research. Practical implications – Suggests that responding to the threats and opportunities of creative customers will require a three-way fit between a specific stance towards creative consumers; the relative ability and desire of consumers to adapt, modify, and transform their products; and the firm’s ability to scan, track and control consumer-produced innovation. Originality/value – Argues that the creative consumer is likely to be an increasingly important force for change and innovation in many markets, and that firms must enhance awareness of their creative consumers, analyse their impact, and formulate an appropriate response.

Keywords: Consumer behaviour, Corporate strategy, Creative thinking