Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption

by Thales S. Teixeira

Rather, you see lemonade entrepreneurs who give away lemonade for below-cost prices so they can get long lines of captive customers lingering around their yards, like Costco does. Then these entrepreneurs might entertain customers while they wait and, like Ryanair, sell them “add-ons” like snacks or bathroom privileges. That’s where the real profit now resides. Or lemonade entrepreneurs might engage a band to entertain their customers and require the band to pay them for the chance to promote themselves to their captive audience, like new media companies do. Or entrepreneurs might make money selling their captive customers insurance and warranty contracts that provide for “thirst quenching guaranteed,” like car dealers do. It all sounds outlandish, yet a glance around your industry will show that this is precisely what’s happening.