It’s no secret that today’s customer is much more demanding than those of just a few years ago. Perhaps it’s not accurate to say “more demanding.” Perhaps today’s consumer just has many more options available and has come to expect those options when preparing to buy.

Let’s test that theory. Go to your computer and open two windows in your browser. Open Home Depot in one and Amazon in the other. Type bookcase in each of their search boxes. What type of bookcase do you want? Perhaps a wood or wood composite five-shelf model in an oak color and a traditional style fits your needs. You will find that Amazon is your only buying choice if you want to narrow your search options. Continue to search both sites. Which is easier? Which is less frustrating? Which is quicker? Most of us would quickly agree that the Amazon site is far more customer friendly than is the Home Depot site. In marketing parlance, Home Depot is product-centric while Amazon is customer-centric. Amazon focuses more on the customer and the customer experience while Home Depot focuses almost exclusively on the product.

Why should you care about this comparison? You probably don’t compete with Home Depot. You may compete against Amazon, either directly or indirectly. But that’s not the point. The more important consideration is where do you place your focus – on the product or on the customer? If we ask that question of Home Depot, I suspect company officials would reply that, of course, they focus on the customer. However, the perception of their prospective customer would almost certainly be different. The prospect might ask, “If I am your focus, why do you make it so difficult to find what I’m looking for?”

Peter Faber, marketing professor at Wharton University of Pennsylvania, has spent a lot of time thinking about and researching effective ways to reach the customer. He concludes that while product-centric thinking served business well in the past, that is no longer true for most businesses. He has found that customer-centric businesses are more profitable and more likely to survive in today’s world.

Customer centricity and how to achieve it is a complex subject. For the purpose of this column, we will oversimplify the topic by describing it as a process of putting the customer first in every phase of the investigation, buying and after-market aspects of a purchase. If you are motivated to learn more (and I hope you are), Google “customer centricity.”

Some may think today’s column applies only to online businesses. That is not so. Some may think it applies only if you sell a product. That is also not so. Competition is fierce today. Your customers have many choices about what product or service to buy and where to buy it. They will seldom tolerate a difficult buying experience.

By the way, you may be wondering how I came up with the example used in this column. Unable to find the kind of bookcase I wanted locally, I went online. I actually favored Home Depot because there is a store nearby, and I thought I could take delivery there. However, the effort to find what I was looking for was so difficult, and I became so frustrated that I moved to the Amazon site and made my selection in minutes.

Don’t make buying difficult for your customer. Think about customer-centricity.

Dan Bowser is president of Value Insights Inc. of Durango, Chandler, Ariz., and Summerville, Pa. Reach him at Bowser@BusinessValueInsights.com.