“Customer value – the customer’s assessment of the product’s overall capacity to satisfy his or her needs” (P. Kotler, 2005 p. 10)
In other words, customers do not buy products; they are more interested in the solution the product will bring to an existing problem. For example, one trend in retail marketing in grocery business is category management, implying the challenge to manufacturers to prove to the retailers that brands add to the value of the category. If to put it very simple: the manufacturer makes potato crisps; the retailer merchandises salty snacks, when the customer just buys lunch. (G. Hooley, 2004 p. 24)
This leads us to the next point: customer satisfaction – the personal opinion of the product’s performance in comparison to the expectations. If the experience from the product is below the stated expectations, a customer feels dissatisfaction and the other way round. The perceiving of the product performance is very subjective, but if the customer is satisfied, he is more likely to repeat the purchase and tell others about the good experience. (P. Kotler, 2005 p. 10)
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