CEO, BrandXchange, Akonte Ekine, speaks about the impact of technology on consumers and their choices of selection, since the commencement of the Consumers Value Awards, which is now in its third year running. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts:
The Consumers Value Awards, which is an annual online award programme, organised by BrandXchange is in its third year. What has been the impact on consumers since inception?
The impact can be seen from the fact that consumer rights awareness is on the rise, today the words are common and conversations around consumer rights are increasing, and we can even conclude from the calls and references we are receiving from people about how to reach or engage on issues of poor service experiences.
Let me say that recently we got informed about a vehicle loaded with iced fish parked on the highway in Lagos for days due to a mechanical fault and we tried to reach regulators on it, we got informed about Ikeja Electricity mishandling of a consumer and we referred the consumer to both Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. So gradually, it’s safe to say that the awareness is on the rise. Brands are also responding to the fact that consumers are validating the claims they are making with a vote or otherwise.
Tell us more about the consumers value awards programme. What informed the initiative and what does it seek to address?
The consumers value awards is an attempt to raise the bar in the market about services and that is our advocacy for ensuring that manufacturers and service providers are doing their best to provide the right quality of service against the backdrop of what they are set out to do in the first place.
By voting for brands, consumers are validating the brands with badge of honours, which can be a symbol or testament of consumer satisfaction on the brand performance in the market. This is also a situation where consumers are guiding fellow consumers in choice making especially when we realise the issue of fake and adulteration in the market.
What informed the initiative is that we had series of market experiences from the airline industry to manufacturers of products and services that were so poor that attempting to reach regulators was also a challenge and there and then we said if we could continue to talk or engage the larger public, we might start getting the right institutions to be more active in addressing situations.
As at today, we can say that it is looking great as we embark on the journey with an online consumer forum for consumers to start an engaging conversation on market experience daily, which we think will greatly influence and shape brand activities on the subject of satisfaction.
How have you been able to leverage emerging technologies to enhance consumers’ experience in the last two years?
Interestingly, it is all within the technology space. Everything about the Consumers Value Awards is driven by technology. All consumers are expected to be part of the process from nomination to voting. It is happening on the website. It is the power of engaging with technology that we are using to raise the movement for better value offering.
In the last two years of identifying and validating brands with the badge of honours, we have stayed within the technology space from the concept to execution and we have grown in terms of the sample population strictly by driving traffic to the size to over 10,000 respondents.
What we are doing is to expand the conversation channels with the introduction of the social media platform like WhatsApp for nominations and voting when we get to that stage. Let me add that the only physical side to the initiative is the event where we present the badges to the Value-for- Money brands based on consumer votes.
Technology is fast evolving and consumers’ taste and desire are fast changing in line with technology trends. How has BrandXchange been able to blend consumer’s growing needs with evolving technologies?
So, we are a multi-disciplined organisation with strong bias for technology, hence we are consistently investing in research to understand the market dynamics along the line of the focus of the business of consumer engagement. This enables us to stay with trends and develop products along the line of technology evolution, which is one of the reasons we are also launching the first online consumer forum on the website as a melting pot for consumers interactions
In the last two editions, we have carried out data analysis to see the voting pattern and demographic responses showing the behaviour of consumers and where the market is moving to as well as the expectations of the consumers.
The reactions of regulators to issues in various sectors are also observed, which is the reason for creation of categories that will recognise performances in the area of advocacy and all these are happening through the technology watch.
The entire team of BrandXchange is also committed to consistent review and study of technology for the purpose of staying ahead of the market.
What are some of the new features introduced in this year’s online nomination and how will the features impact positively on brands?
The industry is big and dynamic, and we are seeing responses now with specifics such as ladies’ brands or women gender specific brands request for nomination and up for voting. We have the expansion in the health category from pharmaceuticals to medical equipment and even drugs.
As dynamic as possible, we are evolving due to consumers activities. This is purely the consumers speaking about the values they are enjoying from the brands.
What technology is doing to consumers preference is what we are enjoying on the platform, and brands that are getting the right level of mentions at the nomination stage are enjoying a testament of approvals.
What is the goal of BrandXchange in organisiing the yearly award programme and to what extent have the goals been achieved?
The first thing here is that we are part of a consumerism movement in the country and we are part of the movement including you as a reporter as you ensure that consumer related conversations are out in the public. So, we are daily achieving one set goal of enabling adequate conversations that is helping consumers to understand their rights and the possible experience
Also, the many calls and mails we are getting also point to the success of the programme, and the award presentation is one stage of the process and we are now making an online forum available for daily conversations on market experiences.
There is a growing perception that data is becoming expensive. Do you foresee a situation where the rising cost of data could affect consumers’ online participation and what is the way forward?
I think the first thing is to note that the advantage of participating is for the good of all consumers and therefore the cost is minimal. Honestly, I don’t think going online or opening a WhatsApp message is not an additional cost on a consumer of data. We also do hope that consumers will see the big picture of contributing to relevant conversation on what will ensure that the consumer gets a better service.
What are some of the benefits for brands and consumers that participate and what is the timeline that is open to all interested participants?
For brands, it is an opportunity and unsolicited feedback on the quality of service to the consumers. It shows the level of acceptance across all possible metrics such as trust, perception, and brand behaviour among others.
For consumer, it is an opportunity to know brands that are delivering values. Especially now that we are going through the economic challenges, consumers are the real keepers and advisers for consumers to follow in buying into their decisions making.
The nomination process is open till 10th March and voting starts from 15th March till June 15th. The voting is for three months period across all available platforms for consumer to express the interest in brands that qualifies for the badge of honours.
What are the available channels for the online participation and how easy are the channels for participants to navigate?
It is a technology driven initiative and everything is happening online. Once you are up on the link you can also click to use the WhatsApp platform. It is very easy for anyone that has a phone to be part of it and I am not sure anyone will have to stay on the platform for five minutes to complete nomination or voting process except he or she is interested in contributing to a topic on the forum.
Again, it is very easy for us all to come together at this time to nominate and vote for brands so that we can collectively manage our pockets through what we buy and use in the market. This one single action will make brands and manufacturer to be more responsible in the kind of products they put out.
What are some of the economic benefits of consumers value awards, especially at a time like this when the federal government is faced with faceted economic challenges?
The best person that can validate and advice consumers on decision making is the consumer, and from basic consumer engagement, the advantage of brand validation by consumer is miles better than the manufacturers or service provider advertising message asking for consumers to take action.
What the consumers are gaining now is that with the nomination and voting they know the products or services to stay with and where to get the right service and products at that price that is commiserate with the service.
At a time like this, consumers are in search of substitute brands and the coming together on the platform will educate consumers on market substitutes that are yet of significant value.
