The Next Economy : Will You Know Where Your Customers Are? [Hardcover]

Elliot Ettenberg (Author), Elliott Ettenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2001

A powerful new approach to building customer commitment, loyalty, and market share

Marketing guru Elliott Ettenberg has taken a close look inside scores of businesses, from traditional retail and manufacturing companies to sleek new dot-coms. What he has seen is an emerging trend that has many corporate strategists running scared. When baby boomers retire, the biggest spenders in history will dramatically cut back on spending, forcing retailers to duke it out that much harder for their shares of rapidly dwindling markets.

To survive this dramatic power shift, businesses must adopt a new marketing paradigm based not on merely satisfying the customer, but delighting the customer.

In The Next Economy, Ettenberg provides readers with just such a model and a set of powerful strategies that companies can use today to prepare themselves to thrive in the years ahead. With the help of many in-depth case studies, he schools readers in cutting-edge psychographic methods for identifying market segments in an economy driven by customer wants, rather than needs. He explains how to distinguish consumers from customers and describes proven techniques for forging long-term, highly profitable relationships with core customers. And he educates readers in the all-important "Four R's"­­Relationships, Retrenchment, Relevancy, and Reward­­powerful tools that can save any company.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Senior marketing executive Elliott Ettenberg argues that traditional marketing techniques are outdated relics from the far-off Old Economy and in this post-9/11 world, we've already left the New Economy behind. So with reaching its public still vital to any business's survival, what's a 21st-century company to do? In The Next Economy, Ettenberg sees the economy changing to one "that will be characterized by a huge withdrawal of customer spending, a polarization of North American demand, an exponential increase in demands for service and a consequent shift in business priorities from satisfying shareholders to delighting customers." To meet this new economic environment, Ettenberg proposes a four-pronged strategy that includes a commitment to "segment and target customers in terms of their values, associations and loyalties;" focus on the "fewer but better customers;" substitute the old four Ps of marketing, product, place, price, and promotion, with the four new Rs, relationships, retrenchment, relevancy, and reward; and develop innovative comarketing arrangements that help expand opportunities and lower costs. With his solid grasp of the past and credible vision for the future, Ettenberg lays out a thought-provoking vision of the 21st-century marketplace that any business executive would do well to consider. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly

Ettenberg may be the only Internet marketing sage who can deliver his message with a straight face now that most dot-com businesses have collapsed, since he always preached gloom and doom. The first sentence of his introduction says, "nothing works anymore," and Ettenberg (Bozell Retail's former CEO) proceeds to criticize every aspect of current marketing practice. In "Marketing Impotence," for example, he says, "I am frankly scared... I see the coming decade bringing a series of social and economic changes that will cause a business upheaval unlike any we have seen in generations." In "The Failure of the Four P's," he tells readers that corporations "have reinvented literally every aspect of their business except marketing" and that the tools with which all marketing strategy is built no longer work. He identifies demographic and cultural changes that will accelerate and make it almost impossible for any consumer business to deliver consistent profits. The second (and weaker) half of his book discusses solutions. Ettenberg urges businesses to "delight" customers with the four Rs Relationships, Retrenchment, Relevancy and Rewards and to be "proactive about delivering and fulfilling the customers' wants." However, he provides little useful advice about how to do these things consistently and on a budget, making this portion of the book more about cheerleading than coaching. (Feb.)Forecast: Ettenberg is a well-known marketing guru who is often quoted in the business press. McGraw-Hill has allocated $75,000 to a national promo campaign. The message, especially its downbeat side, is original and provocative. All this makes a solid contender for marketing bestseller of the year.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071379657
• ISBN-13: 978-0071379656
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,574,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Marketing Book for Students, January 29, 2002

By 

James Greenberg (Kingston, Ontario) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Next Economy : Will You Know Where Your Customers Are? (Hardcover)

I am a student in Marketing at Queens, and I have never read a more comprehensible and insightful book then "The Next Economy". Ettenberg writes in a fashion different from every other business book that I have read. The book is great because it is not boring or repetitive. The author has something to say, and he says it clearly and in a concise manner. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to understand what the future has in store for marketing, and it is a must-have for all marketing students.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended!, February 8, 2002

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Next Economy : Will You Know Where Your Customers Are? (Hardcover)

Elliott Ettenberg offers a wealth of new tools and strategies that you can apply to your business. His focus is on marketing, but not in any traditional sense. Instead, he analyzes how the technological advances of the 1990s have altered the competitive landscape and proposes an inventive and practical list of post-New Economy business practices. We [...] strongly recommend this book not only to marketing professionals, but also to anyone charged with developing business strategy.

5.0 out of 5 stars an amazing book for futuren economy!, March 13, 2005

By 

Kai-sheng Wang "Kai Wang" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Next Economy: Will You Know Where Your Customers Are? (Paperback)

This book clearly reveals the secret for the upcoming economy trend that most individuals and enterprises still cannot figure out. 4P concept is no longer effective for current global need.
As China is entering the game, global economy is becoming chaotic and more unpredictable, only 4R concept (relationship, relevancy, retrenchment and rewards) can help those wise bueinss entities to survive or growth. In fact, most of the old concept oriented businesses will soon fade and go into history.
I study I-Ching, the most treasurous ancient Chinese wisdom from 5000 years ago. If for me to adopt its concept, our economy is situated in the decending, downtrend, shrinking stage, same to our civilization, due to the worsening ethics, environment...etc. However, thing dies for the reborn, human being is heading towards this inevitable progress of life.
All people should start early and behave right to survive in this global economy turbulance and Mr. Ettenberg's wisdom can be one of the good references!