ANALISIS Y DISCUSION

Although we are expecting to see the emergence of more platforms with both high relational and transactional value in the near future, they are likely to coexist alongside the many platform types that occupy the different quadrants of our 2x2 matrix. Not every platform needs to do everything. Instead, the two dimensions and underlying value components can guide brands to ensure their platform “hits their intended sweet spot” and aligns with their marketing strategy. The classification assists managers in grasping the platform universe, setting suitable goals for their initiative, and taking appropriate action to achieve these goals. Depending on the share of transactional and relational elements, brands need to enhance and communicate the values that create competitive advantage on the respective playing field.

In particular, if the platform focuses on facilitating transactions, then the brand should intensify efforts to acquire third-party suppliers to broaden the assortment, refine algorithms and filters to optimize matchmaking outcomes, and implement a quality management system to ensure fulfillment standards. In doing so, these platforms need to account for the inherent hierarchy of value components, with assortment value as the sine-qua-non for all subsequent activities. That is, without a large assortment, benefits of finding matches, providing suitable information, and guaranteeing common fulfillment standards remain limited. As the assortment grows brands need to provide all value components simultaneously. Otherwise, they risk that consumers do not find what they are looking for and their platform experience suffers.

Priorities for RDPs differ substantially. Here, value components are not as co-dependent but address heterogeneous consumer needs. Some place high value on social interaction, others on hedonic elements, and again others on the possibility to customize. However, self- actualization constitutes the pinnacle of relational value creation and managers who want to build profound and perpetuated consumer relationships should seek to deliver on this front.

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Even simple features, such as an automobile platform giving feedback on how to adjust once driving to be more ecological, can contribute to self-actualization value.

Furthermore, perpetual value creation is key to achieve customer lock-in. Attention is limited and rival offerings are ubiquitous. To really become part of a person’s lifeworld and habitus, the platform must make itself indispensable. Brands can get there, for example, by occupying important, higher-level goal categories (e.g., fitness, lifestyle, food, DIY, pets, home, finances, etc.) and covering the entire range of activities, information, recommendations, products, and services related to these goals. Qualitative consumer research may help brands assess consumers’ higher-level goals. The point is that value creation must be holistic to blend with consumers’ lifeworlds. Limited applications that focus on a specific task might create repeat usage, but the corresponding brand remains in its own space, accessed from time to time by the user. At this level of integration, a seamless connection between the two will never be possible.

Once an RDP has entered a consumer’s lifeworld and habitus, the platform design elements depicted in the previous chapter can help optimize outcomes. For maximum impact, we propose to integrate elements of all four mechanisms while carefully balancing soft (gamification and nudging) and hard (behavioral engineering, openness, and control) levers so that consumers do not feel restricted or niggled but are not tempted to exploit any loopholes, either.

To achieve this, platforms with predominantly relational benefits need to build new competencies. These are, on the one hand, technical in nature: Providers need to be able to build a system that can handle the complexities of a platform architecture owing to the variety of interfaces, data sources, participants, and devices. Additionally, data management and analysis skills are crucial in leveraging machine learning to initiate automated value-creating interactions with consumers. On the other hand, the farther brands try to advance into

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consumers’ lifeworlds, the more delicately interactions should be orchestrated. This is because relationships can go south very quickly if consumers feel censored, manipulated, or patronized. Moreover, as shown in the previous chapters, platform mechanisms can easily lead to unintended and even discriminatory outcomes. Therefore, brands need to monitor the platform outcomes continuously from both, quantitative as well as qualitative, perspectives.

The integration of platforms into consumers’ lifeworlds and habitus gives brands tremendous (and sometimes terrifying) power over information flows and decision making. On RDPs, they can colonize many different aspects of everyday life such as sports, nutrition, lifestyle, social connections, products, and services so that consumers no longer notice let alone scrutinize the nature and source of information. The brand’s world becomes their own world. Therefore, it is crucial for brands to set up a team occupied with the behavioral and sociological implications of the platform architecture. It should include specialists from psychology, sociology, behavioral sciences, and marketing to ensure that platform features are socially and ethically acceptable and in line with the company’s core values. Not every feature that is technically feasible and potentially even profitable should be implemented. Thus, in an increasingly technology-dominated playing field CMOs continue to play a crucial role.

Given the lack of platforms high on transactional and relational value, brands may be tempted to launch this type of platform first. Indeed, this could be a game-changer because such platforms would provide a very broad and deep offering, making it a very versatile interface. However, we caution brands aiming to walk this path because combining highly relational and transactional aspects could be risky. Imagine Adidas pushing large-scale product recommendations on their Runtastic platform or Google using health data from the recently acquired Fitbit to feed its ad network. There is a good chance that these self-serving actions will provoke pushback. Therefore, we suggest to go at it gradually and iteratively to not overstep any boundaries. Commercializing too fast and too boldly, especially exploiting cross- and up-

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selling opportunities, alienates consumers. Offering competitor products alongside own products, however, may signal that the platform has indeed consumers’ best interests at heart.