Who are you serving?

Customers are the vital sign of our business, they keep us alive out there, we as business owners exist because of them, so choose wisely who you gonna serve!

Newly up and coming businesses should reflect on the various types of customers, that is if you choose wisely, you will better understand their needs.

Your products serve customers, you don't do it the other way around!

So, what are the types of customers? Well, according to Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur we could group them as follows:

1. MASS MARKET

"Business models focused on mass markets don’t distinguish between diferent Customer Segments. The Value Propositions, Distribution Channels, and Customer Relationships all focus on one large group of customers with broadly similar needs and problems. This type of business model is often found in the consumer electronics sector."

2. NICHE

"Business models targeting niche markets cater to specific, specialized Customer Segments. The Value propositions, Distribution Channels, and Customer Relationships are all tailored to the specific requirements of a niche market. For example, many car part manufacturers depend heavily on purchases from major automobile manufacturers."

3. SEGMENTED

"Some business models distinguish between market segments with slightly di"erent needs and problems. The retail arm of a bank like Credit Suisse, for example, may distinguish between a large group of customers, each possessing assets of up to U.S. $100,000, and a smaller group of a"luent clients, each of whose net worth exceeds U.S. $500,000. Both segments have similar but varying needs and problems."

4. DIVERSIFIED

"An organization with a diversified customer business model serves two unrelated Customer Segments with very di"erent needs and problems. For example, in 2006 Amazon.com decided to diversify its retail business by selling “cloud computing” services: online storage space and on-demand server usage. Thus it started catering to a totally diferent Customer Segment—Web companies—with a totally diferentValue Proposition."

5. MULTI SIDED

"Some organizations serve two or more interdependent Customer Segments. A credit card company, for example, needs a large base of credit card holders and a large base of merchants who accept those credit cards. Similarly, an enterprise ofering a free newspaper needs a large reader base to attract advertisers. On the other hand, it also needs advertisers to finance production and distribution."

So, there it is, 5 types of customers we build in our business canvas, which one is yours?

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Much more to come so thanks for giving me a read! Sandra