“Un”-Commerce, a new term for enterprises adopting customer centric approach?

It’s now an age-old tale that the long-term success of any commercial offering lies on how closely it is centered around the end-user and related use cases. It is still a stretch goal for most enterprises to change their strategy to a customer-centric approach as this may mean giving up on short-medium term gains. The balancing act is often a tough one esp. while managing shareholder expectations.

But this approach is a given for any start-up trying to squeeze itself into a market filled with heavy-weights, or trying to create a new market. It is typical for it to be the mantra for selling to both consumers or companies (B2B, B2B or B2B2C). However, as enterprises don an “agile” avatar to show how they can rapidly adapt to a consumer’s demands, they are doing so by exhibiting a maverick personality. We all have seen shades of this in past, be it Richard Branson’s diabolic stunts or in many ways the bold moves of Steve Jobs, but these were generally restricted to the a central figure related to a company, and less so the company itself.

But that is changing where we can see companies taking up the maverick trait itself while proclaiming the change. T-Mobile USA may not be the first when it declared the “Un-Carrier” marketing campaign, but it is trying to make a big shift in how it does business in an industry that is used to doing business in a certain way. I also remember in early 90s TWA (Trans World Airline) did a major shift as part of a corporate restructuring, where it made great strides to increase passenger comfort in a manner that worked differently than rest of the industry. There were a number to case studies around it, and it too was bold for that time.

As time progresses, we will see more of the “Un”-commerce moves by enterprises forced upon by disrupters like Uber, Square, Nest and many more. All hail the consumers!