I recently read an interview with the CEO of HalloweenCostumes.com, a costume store that operates on an e-commerce platform. As I read the interview, I considered what it would take to operate an online costume store, and immediately my mind went to issues such as cost structure, distribution and the seasonality of the business.

As I read on however, the CEO, Tom Fallenstein, discussed how important it is for his business to “Maintain a very personal experience for [their] customers”, citing the fact that “It’s not uncommon for a customer service representative to continue chatting with customers about a show, a movie, or a superhero long after the transaction is complete”

I was quite surprised about the level of importance customer relationships held for the company; at first, to me, it didn’t intrinsically seem like creating personal relationships with customers is important to a business like Tom’s.

In class, one of the tools we learned about was the business model canvas, which includes a “customer relationships” segment. Although we were taught that every section of the canvas is applicable in some way to all businesses, I still thought that customer relationships were only really relevant for service based companies that are built off forming strong, loyal relationships with customers.

I found it interesting to see that even online companies that deal with huge demand at certain times of year prioritize customer relationships, reaffirming the fact that all types of business’ have endless opportunities to create value for customers.