Report on Consumer vs. Marketer Power Dynamics in Marketing

This report examines the evolving power dynamics between consumers and marketers, particularly in the context of digital marketing. It highlights how consumers, armed with more information and access to various touchpoints, are increasingly influencing purchasing decisions. The report references the shift from marketers 'pushing' information to consumers 'pulling' it, emphasizing the importance of consumer engagement and the impact of social media. It uses examples like Amazon's targeted recommendations and the increasing role of consumer reviews to illustrate how consumer behavior is reshaping marketing strategies and the ways businesses interact with their customers. The report concludes that consumers now hold more power and are becoming more involved in product development.

Running Head: MANAGEMENT 0
DIGITAL BUSINES

MANAGEMENT 1
Who has more power - Consumers or Marketers?
From the past several decades, the goal of marketing is to reach customers at the time that
most influence their decision and marketing has always sought those time or touch points
when customers are open to influence. As marketers have wide more access to information,
they have directed those information to capture various touch points and the key buying
factor associated to consumer (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). Taking an example of Amazon,
the company decade ago started offering targeted product recommendations to customers
already logged in and ready to shop. With increasing pace of globalisation, internet and
technology development, customer engagement required to go beyond the marketing function
as there is a rising expectations gap causing business a struggle in connecting with the more
informed and demanding consumer.
The increasing power of consumers is also changing the way consumer engage or
communicate with the brands when choosing to buy a product or service. With
transformations in digital technology and wide array of information sources, consumers can
choose how to interact they seek to be across the different touch points of their path to shop.
Hence, this has disrupted the traditional way of shopping. It is true that marketers have access
to the extensive information about the consumer behaviour and shopping patterns, however,
today's, consumer prefers to “pull” information rather than have business “push” it to them
(deloitte.com, 2014). For example, most of the consumers now seeking to look other
consumers on social media profiles and do not seek to have any expectation from the brand to
stimulate them to any sort of marketing or advertising. Hence, it can be said that - consumers
have more power than marketers and also becoming more involved in product development.

MANAGEMENT 2
References
deloitte.com. (2014) The Deloitee Consumer Review [ONLINE] Available from:
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consumer-business/consumer-review-
8-the-growing-power-of-consumers.pdf [Accessed 03/04/2020].
Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C. (2016) Understanding customer experience throughout the customer
journey. Journal of marketing, 80(6), pp.69-96.