Soon your customers will not distinguish between online and offline environment
It is beginning, but it is a beginning that has no end. Every day it spreads faster and threatens to continue taking more sectors and companies that do not know how to see. The emergence of the Internet and ZMOT led to the appearance of a new consumer and marked a before and after in the relations between brands and consumers. As Charles Darwin put it, “the species that survive are not the strongest, not the fastest, not the smartest, but those that are best suited to change.” The same thing happens on the Internet. Soon, your customers will not distinguish between online and offline. There will be a new generation of users who live and develop in the digital environment and move it to the offline world (and will be exponentiated with “Internet of Things”).
The Boiled Frog Syndrome or The Routine Window Theory has happened and will continue to manifest itself. The later you look at it, the harder it will be for you to react or maybe it will become too late. We live in a new era (Juan Carlos Cubeiro calls it “Talentismo”), where a new talent is needed to help us out of the new challenges that lie ahead. The rapids will eat the slow, because they will also offer better experiences to the consumers. Perfectly, you can appear a more agile company, with professionals willing to have an open mind and begin a process of disruption that leaves you out of the game. Quality and efficiency are no longer enough to succeed. It needs something more. An adequate presence on the Internet adapted to the needs of each one. The sectors of tourism, encyclopedias, the press, music, television, Etc, they ignored it in a way and they lived it drastically. Disruptive innovation is the new standard in these new times. We live in change. We are part of the change.
I understand there is “a lot of digital vertigo” about it. Fear of the unknown, to expose ourselves, to screw up, not to live up to, what they will say and, therefore, to be able to lose income. A fear that paralyzes many and leads them to do nothing. But that is not the way. It’s hard to keep up, but the first step is to take on the change and the next one is to get down to work designing an online strategy. Perhaps for very small and local businesses an online presence is not so necessary today, but many opportunities can be missed. But look at the case of “Casa Ana?”, A small business in Java that was losing opportunities and, with a change of mentality, managed to double their sales in snacks when receiving their orders through WhatsApp.
In the future, I think it will affect all kinds of businesses. If you do not believe it, imagine what could happen when the environment is more evolved and presents more tools, is more interconnected, has more access to the Internet, etc. A life full of continuous challenges awaits us. Is not it exciting? Sometimes, the easy thing can become boring.
