Will Emirates Airlines Sell House Mortgages? 

Brick-and-mortar companies were eaten up by online startups and now companies with large customer base are eating up conventional providers. Read to find out if your business is endangered by poachers.

Customer is king is a phrase we have heard many times. It means that you must treat your customer like a king. Your customer’s satisfaction is the key to your success. In the digital age that we live in this term has altogether a new meaning. Let me explain.

We have always been fascinated by the huge valuation of startups that run losses but boast about a large customer base. And some of these companies don’t even charge any money for their services. When asked to explain, these companies talk about future revenues from their large and captive customer base.

And this future revenue is happening now. We have started to see the loss making companies are making profits by offering additional services to their customers. Customers who were buying services from other places are finding it more convenient to buy from a more trustable source. This particular trend was mentioned by many bankers at a recent banking innovation summit I attended.

While banks are worried about fintech companies poaching their customers, the real threat is coming from other companies such as supermarket chains, telecom companies, and even taxi companies.

Any company with a large and loyal customer base can add new lines of business that competes directly with more established providers. A grocery chain like Lulu can easily start offering ‘money-exchange’ services by attracting regular shoppers. A telecom company like Etisalat (e&) has already started selling not just mobile phones, but also delivering groceries to consumers.

An airline like Emirates has the undivided attention of passengers while flying. Duty-free shopping onboard is already a practice for long but imagine the opportunity to sell credit cards and house mortgages or even prime real estate plots. The opportunities are limitless as long as you have a captive customer.

As a businessmen you have to be aware of this trend. If you have a large and captive customer base you can also exploit the opportunities of adding new services to your basket. On the other hand you may have to devise ways to hold on to your customers.

The customer is truly a king in more than one way now. You have to create the value differentiator to save them from the competition. You need to proactively invest in customer retention and at the same time keep harvesting the life-time-value of the customer.

Revisit the quality versus quantity equation. Consider building a larger customer base by adding more customers even at a lower initial revenue. Keep the customer hooked to you and then find ways to get a higher revenue over a longer period. Think about the customer as a king who will reward you all through your years in business.

Mohammed Sutarwala, Managing Director, emQube