“Overall, the number of people with a tablet or an e-book reader over the age of 16 now stands at 43 percent. That’s up from just 25 percent last year.” [1]

During the summer of last year, my parents bought me a Kobo Vox eReader tablet that fulfills my functional need to have a portable device where all my books are stored digitally. At that time, there were not many touch screen eReader tablets in the market, so I was quite pleased that I had got something relatively “new.” I continued to be satisfied with it in the first couple of months, but of course, the inevitable happened – better, faster, slicker, or more inexpensive eReader tablets came out, such as the Kindle Fire and Kobo Aura. With the constant announcements of new technology, it is more important than ever for Kobo to reduce buyer’s remorse in order to keep customers satisfied, which is undoubtedly a very difficult task. This made me think of the time when retailer, Best Buy introduced its Buy Back program in 2011 for consumers who get frustrated when a recently bought electronic device quickly becomes obsolete. The slogan of the campaign was:

“You buy it now, we buy it back when the new thing comes out!”

In my experience, Kobo regularly sends me coupons via email for eBooks, which could to some degree reduce buyer’s remorse, as the company continues to extend out to its customers after making the sale. However, more effective strategies need to be undertaken to further address this issue, whether it may or may not be a strategy sharing similar concepts with Best Buy’s. Reading reviews of the tablet on pcmag.com, I have been quite disappointed with the negative experiences that other customers have received from the product – the device earned a lowly average rating of 2 out of 5 stars. This also illuminates the fact that there is a greater likeness for consumers to spread a bad word of the product that they are dissatisfied with (especially on social media platforms), as opposed to when they are content or ecstatic with their purchase.

Source: [1] http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112979080/tablet-and-e-reader-market-still-growing-101813/

Best Buy’s “Outdated World” Commercial

Very intrigued with the discussion that instructor Silva facilitated in lecture surrounding the customer excellence of Singapore Airlines and its success in retaining loyal customers, I wondered about other examples in the airline industry. When travelling to Asian countries, I am  loyal to China Airlines, because of the very positive customer service experiences that I recall from when travelling as a child. Added onto the exceptional service that my family consistently received, I remember that they would also provide my siblings and I with playing cards, drawing books, and even a small stuffed animal on one occasion.

Due to the increasing competition in the airline industry, especially with the increase in airbuses offered at significantly lower prices, it has become tremendously important for airline companies to ensure a sustainable competitive advantage. Clearly, the 93- year old airline has been able to achieve customer excellence through various savvy campaigns, such as a social media powered “Meet and Seat” matchmaker and a Sims-like “mobile aviation game.” The post that instantly caught my eye when browsing through BrandChannel’s blog was its most recent campaign when I noticed that it involved direct interaction with children. Forming a partnership with Disney, KLM invited a handful of lucky kids to a pre-screening of Disney’s new film, Planes. But instead of it taking place at a local cinema, the children watched the movie on one of KLM’s planes parked in a hangar.

“While the movie played on the airline’s seat-back entertainment system, airline crew got busy outside the aircraft launching smoke machines, blasting streamers and even creating a rain storm. Essentially, the tiny passengers experienced everything that the film’s main character Dusty did.” [1]

From the reciprocity principle, the company may hope that providing this brilliant experience for the children will result in them choosing KLM over other airlines in the future. Whether one believes that the campaign was just a marketing ploy, one thing that most of us can agree on, is that KLM has invested a great deal of its resources into increasing its brand awareness among consumers of all ages, and certainly has achieved customer excellence.

Blog Source: [1] http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2013/10/11/KLM-Disney-Planes-101113.aspx

Disney’s Planes: spectacular pre-screening on board of a KLM plane