Your current customer is on the brink of extinction! Don’t be surprised; indeed, your customer base is dwindling, and you have yet to learn about your future customers, who will dominate purchasing behavior in the coming years.
They exhibit different behaviors and erratic habits. They are the Mercury Customers, as I like to call them, but McKinsey refers to them as the Zero Customers.
A new term emerged in the field of entrepreneurship recently, introduced by McKinsey based on a study that identified a new category of customers known as the “Zero Customer.”
You may have heard of them, or maybe not, but it’s certain that you will hear about them frequently in the coming years.
So, let us enlighten you about them. Who is the Zero Customer?
The Zero Customer is a customer who shops through multiple channels and from various sources, shows no loyalty to any brand, and constantly expects more.
They are frugal and hard to tempt, desiring to own things but unwilling to pay for them. They care about sustainability and health but hesitate to pay for it.
Influenced by what they see on social media, they love to flaunt and show off despite their continuous efforts to reduce their expenses.
Most of these customers belong to Generation Z, specifically born between the late 1990s and the early 2000s. This type began to appear in Asia, particularly in Korea and China, but it is spreading worldwide, with the pace of increase in the numbers of these customers expected to accelerate hysterically. This group is expected to dominate the targeted customer base very soon.
Since Generation Z is the primary generation where the Zero Customer has emerged, they cannot differentiate between their professional and digital lives because they were born in an era of exceptional technological advancement.
Companies have recently started to pay attention to this through a focus on effective digital presence. This may solve the problem for a Generation Z customer, but it certainly does not provide a correct path for specifically targeting the Zero Customer.
What are the characteristics of the Zero Customer?
You are surely curious to know where the term “Zero Customer” came from and what zeros this customer has earned.
The truth is that this customer has earned his title from several characteristics, all of which deserve a “zero.”
Unlimited aspirations = zero
The Zero Customer always aspires for more, with no limits to their expectations and sources. They shop online and from physical stores, constantly comparing prices and value to win the most profitable deals regardless of the source. They don’t care where they buy from, but rather what they will get.
This behavior is a result of their exposure to multiple social media channels, constantly expecting the best they can get.
Moderation in choices = zero
You cannot predict the choices of the Zero Customer. Psychological traits, social environment, personal qualities, and other means of identifying target groups of the past are not effective with them. This customer might be frugal in some areas while being extravagant in others. For example, a study conducted by McKinsey in China showed that 81% of customers planned to reduce their spending and turn to medium or low-priced alternatives for products such as household tools and furniture. However, 69% of them planned to increase their spending on travel, trips, food, clothing, and fitness items.
The purchasing habits of the Zero Customer are extremely extreme, from one extreme to another.
Loyalty to a specific brand = zero
A distinguished professor at Harvard Business School and editor of the prestigious Harvard Business Review, Ted Levitt, spent 40 years of his life emphasizing his famous theory that acquiring and retaining customers is the core task of companies.
But it seems that the era of this theory is coming to an end, as the Zero Customer no longer cares about buying from a specific brand as was the case with previous customer categories. Instead, they shop from multiple brands and look for quality, value, and the right price in more than one place, regardless of a preferred brand. This trend was clear in India, where 87% of customers are inclined towards this behavior, and in South Korea, where the percentage is 76%.
Consumerism = zero
The Zero Customer is more interested in sustainability, health, and environmental conservation than any other customer, even if they are reluctant to pay for it. They prefer durable or recyclable goods and are sometimes interested in value and sometimes in flaunting.
Contradiction, isn’t it? This is one of the characteristics of the Zero Customer.
Patience = zero
The Zero Customer does not know patience. Since e-commerce companies compete on the speed of communication and delivery, there is no longer room for patience in the personality of this customer. Provide the service as fast as possible, or someone else will.
Why should you care about the Zero Customer?
As an entrepreneur, a startup, or even an established company, why should you care about this customer category?
The fact is that, as mentioned before, this category is continuously growing and evolving to dominate an entire generation of customers, Generation Z. This means that regardless of the current percentage of Zero Customers, they will form the most important and influential category in the coming years, given the modern technologies, vast marketing and communication tools supporting the spread of this customer category.
To ensure the continuous growth and profits of your business in the future era dominated by the Zero Customer, you must consider and deal with them seriously.
So, how can you contain and deal with this type of customer? This is what we will tell you in the following lines.
How can you deal with the Zero Customer?
Despite the challenging and confusing characteristics of this customer that disturb startups and established companies, neglecting them is no longer a luxury for entrepreneurs in the coming period.
There is no option but to find the optimal way to deal with the Zero Customers to ensure the growth and profits of your business in the coming era.
This can be done through several specific points:
- Develop your presence in the market continuously
The Zero Customer is not the only reason to continuously develop your business presence, but rather, it is the rapid technological developments that urge you to do so. Developing your interaction channels and reaching out to the Zero Customers puts you at the forefront of their choices. Don’t limit yourself to one type of shopping; expand your channels between online stores and physical stores. Try to be present with this category in all their purchasing movements.
Use modern technologies to develop your advertising style, communication, and services for the Zero Customer.
- Keep renewing your offers
Try to renew your offers on prices and value, break the routine, and try to offer stunning additions each time to expand the goals of your brand and its services.
- Give the customer a special status
A study conducted by McKinsey on this subject indicates that 3 out of 4 people considered changing their brand after receiving personal contacts from competing brands. This means that addressing the Zero Customer personally, in light of their weak brand loyalty, gives you a golden opportunity to attract their attention.
- Make your social imprint
While the Zero Customer is more interested in environmental sustainability, health, and well-being than any other customer, even if they are frugal in paying for them, applying these social activities will push your company to be the perfect choice for the Zero Customer to meet their needs.
Business market challenges never end, and now you have become acquainted with a new challenge among them. You can be prepared to face the Zero Customers in the business market with confidence and stability to achieve continuous growth for your business.\
