For the first time, customers dictated the shape of an industry, much to the displeasure of the big record labels that had maintained control for years. Customers wanted to create their own music compilations, choosing songs from different artists and different albums. Digitized music, along with the communications network of the Internet, made it possible for customers to choose how they would acquire, trade, and listen to music. Napster is just one example of a revolution going on across all industries. In her second book, The Customer Revolution, Seybold uses the Napster phenomenon as a launching point to discuss how the Internet has changed industry in a profound way and how businesses must change their focus to thrive in this new age.
Customers have so much more information at their fingertips.
In the past, companies could vary the pricing of products and services dramatically from one country to another, Seybold points out. Back then, customers had a hard time comparing the costs of doing business with one company over another. Today the situation has changed, Seybold says, because customers are demanding equal prices around the globe and can easily compare them. Seybold, in The Customer Revolution, identifies three principle rules in the customer economy. Customers are in control and are reshaping businesses and transforming industries.