Identifying Underlying Dimensions of Customer Needs

Abstract

One main reason that the firms design and implement various kinds of give-and-take marketing exchange activities with target customers is to meet multiple unmet needs mostly driven by the presence of their body system. Given that, the firms have utilized various types of marketing research techniques in order to identify unmet needs of target customers. As an example, the customer roadmapping method has been used to identify and select key customer needs as the input for the firms’ product development activities. However, an implicit assumption for the success of this task is the requirement of a theoretical framework which describes the existence of universal customer needs dimensions as a reference point for comparison and starting point. In this regard, the goal of this study is to identify a set of underlying dimensions of universal customer needs as the critical input for the subsequent planning activities of the firms. For this matter, this study utilizes two methodological approaches: the review of literature in relevant disciplines to identify a set of customer needs and the application of our theoretical framework into selected cases to exhibit how the firms create their products, services, or retail stores. Our findings indicate that this study casts marketing insights into the design of various products, services, or retail settings for the firms.