Cover -- Contents -- About the Author -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 01 Put the customer first: if you don't, someone else will -- The web changed everything, for ever -- Always start with the customer. Otherwise, how can you possibly know what you need to do to be successful? -- If you can't beat them, join them: it's okay to mimic successful businesses -- Think of yourself as a customer service business that just happens to sell stuff -- Think customer empowerment: what can you do at every step of the way to truly empower your customers? -- Always empower your staff to deliver the right experience for customers -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 02 Marketplaces and disruptors are eating your lunch (taking your market share) -- Let's start with the threat element -- How not to respond to the threat of Amazon and other marketplaces -- FMCG and CPG brands find new routes to market -- Exclusive products can help you to defend your position -- Listen to the voice of the customer -- Don't cut off your nose to spite your face: marketplaces are an effective route to market -- Deliver a seamless multichannel experience -- Consider offering an Amazon Prime-type delivery proposition -- Keep your friends close and your enemies closer -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 03 Removing friction from the customer's journey: getting the basics right in travel, retail, food and beverage, leisure and financial services -- The pace of change and disruption is astonishing -- Let's start with the travel and holiday sector -- Automotive sector -- Health and leisure sector -- Food and beverage sector -- Newspaper and media sector -- Utilities and telco sectors - the next to be disrupted? -- Walk through the customer's journey - regularly -- Rethink your customer value proposition -- Adopt customer-facing KPIs.

Learn from other verticals -- Train your colleagues to remove friction from the customer's path to purchase -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 04 How to be disruptive in your own business -- Disrupt to improve -- Always start with ensuring you get the basics right -- Let customers help define how you might improve things for them -- Leverage disruptive thinking to drive innovation -- Become an agile business -- Create a culture of innovation -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 05 The role of the store and its new footprint -- The role of the store -- From Apple to M&S: instore experiences are polarizing -- Stores: to be or not to be, that is the question -- Think acquisition, conversion and retention -- Continually review how you might remove friction for the customer through all channels and touchpoints -- Think about how you merchandise and provide discovery and access to products -- Leverage digital technology in the changing room to drive sales -- Use mobile tills to remove friction and drive engagement at the point of sale -- Capture Net Promoter Scores instore (and through all channels) -- Drive product and brand immersion -- Extend your range and offer through the endless aisle -- Add more benefits to customers above simple points-based loyalty -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 06 We live in a hyper-local world where mobile is key -- Always think mobile first -- Balance the approach to apps versus mobile web -- Leverage iBeacons and free Wi-Fi to drive engagement instore -- Review our best-practice checklist for apps -- Plan for conversational commerce -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 07 Organizational design to put the customer first -- So, who actually owns the customer? -- The case for change -- How embedded in the business does digital need to become?.

Digital transformation of the organization -- Prioritizing teams for digital upskilling -- The siloed state of play -- The roles required to drive change -- Develop new roles that can help drive customer-centricity -- Give someone ownership of the customer and their experience, and crucially the mandate to deliver the change required to become a customer-first business -- Create a customer-first culture throughout the entire business -- Create a cross-functional team with accountability for delivering customer first -- Adopt a two-tier organizational structure in areas such as IT - one focused on BAU, one on the road map for new developments -- Ensure you have a leader who understands what putting the customer first really means -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 08 Cultural change - must be top down and bottom up -- The importance of culture -- Defining culture -- The cultural shift from a digital perspective -- A truly customer-centric culture and ethos -- Use the 6Vs framework to develop your customer-first business culture -- Surprise and delight customers -- Lead by example: culture comes from the top -- Create a cross-functional team to ensure your culture is maintained -- Always be fully transparent with customers -- Develop a marketing plan to communicate your culture to both external and internal customers -- Culture eats strategy for breakfast - never forget that -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 09 Less about corporate, more about social responsibility -- Retailers must get their act together -- Millennials' priorities and how big brands are meeting them -- It's not all about profit -- Leverage your community -- Create a long-term plan and clear objectives -- Inauthenticity can destroy a brand -- Drop the word corporate and focus on social responsibility.

Implement a code of conduct for colleagues, suppliers and partners -- Make purchasing decisions that put sustainable products first -- Support your local community -- Encourage your customers to take part in your CSR initiatives -- Implement an EP&L - be clear about the value of being socially responsible -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 10 Retail as a service -- Why become a service provider? -- Maintain your relevance by providing services -- Subscription is delivering a service -- Which service would work best for you? -- Can you make customers' lives easier by enabling them to pay a subscription or for auto-replenishment of big, bulky or frequently used products? -- Enable customers to interact with a live chat service online -- What services can you offer that enhance the experience of the customer buying from you? Can you help them build, install and maintain what they have purchased? -- Ensure that there is clear 'shop my way' messaging in all channels and touchpoints -- Use the service framework created -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 11 Winning the hearts and minds of customers in international markets -- Consumers are happy to buy across borders -- What are the opportunities offered up by internationalization? -- Current approaches to internationalization -- Key drivers for success -- The great mall of China -- US brands need to travel better -- Key blockers -- The 11Cs of internationalization -- Choose the right country to expand into -- Understand local market consumer behaviour -- Localize customer communication -- Localize for culture and climate -- Offer localized customer service -- Understand the value chain and proposition of your competitors -- Offer the appropriate currency and payment types -- Know what good conversion looks like and how to deliver it.

Consider the most appropriate channels to market -- Think localized content -- Crew: consider staff resourcing and structure for internationalization -- Determine how you will gain trust in new markets -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 12 Customer-centric marketing communications -- Growth hacking in more detail -- Capabilities and skills required in modern-day marketing -- Don't underestimate the value of viral marketing -- Proximity marketing: get closer to your customers at the 'moment of intent' -- 'See now, buy now' fuels instant gratification -- Attribution should lead to integration of teams and activity -- Ensure you have the right mix of digital and brand-building and awareness activity -- Drive the attribution of all marketing activity: ensure that you have the right mix of skills, and ideally in a more integrated and less siloed structure -- Make sure to focus on customer retention as well as acquisition -- Be clear about the customer's journey and where the owned, bought and earned touchpoints with the customer come into play and what your approach will be for each -- Think about growth hacking and how you can leverage viral marketing to more cost-effectively spread the word -- Look at leveraging proximity marketing to provide a better instore experience for customers -- Focus on experiential marketing as this will drive the engagement and involvement with your brand, products and services -- Over to Professor Malcolm McDonald -- References -- 13 A new framework for the marketing mix: the Customer Mix or 6Ws -- The '6Ws' framework -- Is the Marketing Mix still meaningful? -- Be a victim or a victor - you decide -- Introducing the Customer Mix -- Adopt the Customer Mix - live it, breathe it, integrate its approach into all that you do -- Throw away the Marketing Mix, it is 20 years past its sell-by date.

Focus on 'what's next' for the customer.