Management at Spa World is having trouble understanding the concept of

QUESTION

Management at Spa World is having trouble understanding the concept of meeting underlying customer needs instead of simply selling the products it makes.

Doing this effectively requires marketers to think about possibilities that are outside of the customers’ current experiences. To illustrate the idea, Stephanie explains that years ago the earliest camera manufacturers typically failed to predict that camera customers would do what?
A) balance quality and price before making purchasing decisions
B) be interested in recording sound as well as images
C) trust recommendations from friends more than advertisements
D) prefer to try out new products before they buy them
E) seek volume discounts when making large orders

ANSWER

Answer: B
Explanation: B) The correct answer is the one that describes a possibility that was outside of the experience of the earliest camera customers. Those customers would have known about balancing quality and price (Choice A), trusting recommendations more than ads (Choice C), trying out products (Choice D), and seeking volume discounts (Choice E). But the camera customer experience at the time would not have included recording sound as well as images. That would have been new. So while failing to predict any of these would be a bad thing, failing to predict the desire to record sound is the only choice that illustrates an inability to think about possibilities outside of customers’ current experiences.