Equal focus on product, customers essential

With nothing to sell, there is no purpose in trading but equally what is a business without a customer?

Product centricity

• The business owner focusses all efforts into the development and growth of a product. With meticulous research into the market, competitors and the customers they are targeting, governing the direction that will be taken to ensure success.
  
• Being product-focused implies that the owner is continuously building on the improvement of the business offering to ensure the brand always stays ahead of the game.
  
• The danger lies in being so caught up with the 'bigger picture' that the owner loses track of the smaller details, such as the customers' in store experience of the product.

Customer centricity

• Customer centricity takes its lead from the consumer at all times. It's all about their wants, needs and preferences.
  
• While it involves a great deal of research into the target market, it also calls for taking an active role in managing relationships with customers - something that all team members in the business need to take part in as everyone contributes to the customer experience.
  
• In turn, the danger in being too customer centric can lead to the owner getting so caught up in pleasing the customer that important strategic decisions can be overlooked. At the end of the day, what works for the customer might not be best for the business.

While product and customer centricity each come with their own positives and negatives, success can only be ensured when a balance is struck. Both the product and the customer play a vital role in the success and survival of the business, which is why the focus of the owner needs to be placed on both, in equal measures.

In the end, one cannot function without the other. Without the product, the business has nothing that will entice the customer to purchase. Without the customer, there will never be a need for the product, making its development redundant.