Crutchfield's customer-centered culture

Jun 15, 2007

Nice profile of Crutchfield, an electronics seller that was a finalist in our 2006 Copernican Awards. The article also quotes my friend Douglas Rushkoff (Gel :'06: speaker), too. Thought-provoking stuff.

From How Crutchfield has turned its own people-friendly culture into a customer magnet:

Friendliness may very well be the most marketable product in the Crutchfield inventory. "Everybody says they have good customer service," Souder said, "but it's a religion here."

Religion is actually a popular metaphor in retail marketing circles today, with some industry watchers saying that stores are fulfilling the community-building roles that churches, political groups and extended families used to in America. ...

... Douglas Rushkoff, a technology and culture commentator and author of Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out, agreed. "Brands and companies have quite effectively replaced our social bonds with economic ones," he said. "We pay each other for things that used to be favors before. I know it sounds weird, but people used to do things together for fun, or do favors for each other for no money. Now, we have professionals and companies to do all these things for us. But the basic human need for fellowship has remained. So we fulfill our need for fellowship in the only places left where there are other humans to meet: within stores or branded environments."

See also: Pogue on Crutchfield (August 7, 2006)

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