Customer centricity – From transactions to relationships
A few months ago, while completing the content for one of the Customer Journey Management courses we are organising, I searched for a chronological path on how Marketing developed from the dominant marketing paradigm, namely transactional, to customer- and human-centric and beyond, including society and the planet.
When I was still at the university, I remember reading the book ‘Strategische Marketingplanning’ (Strategic Marketing Planning), written by Dr. Karel Jan Alsem, which described marketing’s evolutionary process. At that time scholars were talking about Marketing 2.0. Marketing shifted from, simply put, ‘products and competition’ towards ‘relationships, emotions, experiences, and brands’.
Christian Grönroos’ 1994 publication ‘From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Shift in Marketing’, reinforced this perspective. He argued that marketing was not primarily about discrete transactions but about establishing, maintaining, and enhancing relationships with customers. The idea that marketing should shift from push (campaigning) and pull (content/messaging), towards truly building relationships with the users of your products and services resonated with me and shaped my understanding of the field.
But, when I entered the workforce, I came to the understanding that in many organisations customers were still called ‘targets’, as if the push strategy had never disappeared. Of ‘building relationships’ was no sign, and in line with their transactional thinking it was all about ‘positioning’. However, this was not understood as a value proposition (the answer to the value defined by the customer), but rather as the “place a brand or product occupies in the mind of the target customer relative to competitors”. This market-oriented logic showed an inside-out focus based on the question “What do we want to be known for?”, where positioning is largely a communication challenge. The question “What value do our customers truly seek?” wasn’t asked yet.
Talking about customers, at that time, marketers focused on market segments in which customers were considered relatively similar, based on demographic, age, income, etc. Which is the opposite of what designers recognised, namely that individuals within the same demographic could have vastly different needs and contexts.
But that was then. What about now? Are we still talking about (push-driven) funnels, target groups and static customer profiles? Are the customers’ experiences we want to positively influence, truly what our customers need and are looking for, or instead: what we want them to experience in order to sell more or let them stay hooked in an unhealthy way? Are touchpoints designed based on their journeys, or determined by the organisation to gain efficiency or control? And now, with technology and AI all around us, what about the relationships we aim to build and maintain?
Fast forward to 2022, Nobel et al., citing Haesevoets et al., predicted that consumers, employees, and companies together would soon realise a future in which “humans and machines act synergistically”. After the 4th industrial revolution that focused predominantly on achieving efficiencies using technology, the fifth industrial revolution, they argued, would focus on harmonious human-machine collaboration, with well-being at its core for all stakeholders: society, companies, employees, and customers.
One year later, Coelho et al. expanded on this, stating that “this new era will offer a vision of industry that goes beyond efficiency and productivity as the only objectives, as it will strengthen the role and contribution of industry to society, placing the well-being of the worker at the center of the production process and using new technologies to provide prosperity beyond employment and growth, while respecting the production limits of the planet.”
But, this shift brings with it a challenge, as organisations may confuse a customer-focused strategy with efficient customer service, which have different definitions. A customer-oriented strategy aligns products and services with customer needs to maximise perceived benefits, generating a long-term value relationship with the organisation. Customer service, by contrast, integrates and manages the elements that allow for an interface between the customer and the company and may not reflect the benefits perceived by the customer (Silva-Atencio, 2025).
Although predicted by Nobel et al. that the fifth industrial revolution is centred on the human being and the effective interconnection between processes, systems, and machines, the constant evolution of technologies and fluctuating changes in consumer behaviour plus the still dominant focus for efficiency, have led organisations to struggle with the ‘weight’ their customers’ needs have in their business models. Especially when looking at decision makers feeling the urge to join the AI bandwagon (read: invest heavily in AI), I am wondering if decisions are technology-led or customer-needs-led, without me passing any judgement on that. Of course, a volatile world asks for the ability to adapt quickly to customer needs and expectations, but technology may not always be the answer. Why would, for instance, AI-driven customer service offer a better experience than human-to-human contact?
Have a look at the three customer-centric business strategies Silva-Atencio is describing in ‘The Success of Customer-Centric Companies in the Global Context on the Road to Industry 5.0’ and decide for yourself.
With Amazon implementing technological functions to collect and analyse customer reviews, helping the company identify buying patterns based on recommendations from other customers, search history, and previous purchases; 3M’s Marketing department continuing to drive sales by helping potential new customers understand the value of its new products; and SAP ensuring it is considered an essential part of customers’ strategic decision-making with e-commerce as one of the key pillars, I still miss the relationship aspect of their so-called customer-first strategies. Considering them only as examples, the question remains: What does customer centricity truly mean these days? And is being customer centric (or what ever terminology you use) really the hole grail?
In B2B, the stakes are even higher than B2C. The complexity of multi-actor environments, long-term relationships, and interconnected journeys demands a deeper, more strategic view on the customer and their needs, contexts, etc. If Marketing 2.0 was about relationships, then for sure B2B in the current 5th industrial revolution must be about co-creation and ecosystem-wide value.
I’ve observed this firsthand in our Customer Journey Management courses. Leaders in B2B and B2C environments shared with me that they often struggle to move beyond transactional thinking and equivalent KPIs. The commercial question “How do we sell more?” should be challenged by “How do we create value that resonates across the entire network, from suppliers to end-users?” The latter will (ultimately) lead to lasting relationships, or in marketing terms ‘loyalty’.
As we are in a transitional phase between the 4th and 5th industrial revolution, we may need to redefine customer relationships and think about how this (r)evolution will shape the way we think about customer centricity in the years to come.