At a time when the dashboards manage each decision, a truth remains unchanged: the marks that last are those that remain connected to their client. Not through abstract personas or quarterly NPS reports, but via a physical, continuous and direct presence in the field.
The land is not a channel, it is a foundation
In an ecosystem dominated by data and the indicators of engagement, the terrain sometimes appears as a relic. It is a strategic error. Physical contact with the customer – in store, in point of sale, in everyday exchanges – constitutes a source of understanding that no API can match.
👉 Decathlon Understanding it for a long time: each product manager spends time in store or on the sports field, in direct contact of customers. This principle irrigates the entire organization. It is not a symbolic gesture, but a pillar of product development. The brand has thus been able to design iconic ranges (Quechua 2 seconds, Kalenji running shoes) based on direct observation of uses.
Some DNVB adopt this posture from onboarding: any new collaborator starts with a day in store. Whatever his post. The objective is to train teams capable of acting with a produced consciousness, not only a functional competence.
Reduce the distance between the brand and the customer
This return to the field is not a nostalgia for traditional trade. It is a rational response to the fragmentation of the customer journey. Between the e-commerce site, points of sale, resellers, marketplaces and social networks, the perceived experience becomes unstable. To master it, brands must recreate a unit. This involves a fine understanding of uses, objections, friction points-so many elements that do not go back in a dashboard but are observed opposite.
👉 Lushthe cosmetics manufacturer, forms all of its employees – including those of the head office – for sale in stores. Result: each product launch is based on intimate knowledge of client behavior on the shelves. The formulations are adapted to the returns of the land, often raised via the sellers themselves.
👉 For his part, French Slip Regularly organizes “field tours” with its communication, product and logistics teams to meet the resellers, observe the shelves, collect customer feedback, and adapt its messages or product sheets.
A strategic lever for the product as well as for the brand
This direct link nourishes two essential dimensions: the right product and brand credibility. A product designed since the real use will be more relevant, more durable, and therefore more profitable. A brand that speaks with the words of its customers – and not with those of its marketing department – gains in authenticity.
👉 Patagoniaemblematic American brand, systematically integrates the feedback from the field (athletes, mountaineers, climbers) in its R&D cycles. This constant link with the user communities has shaped a rare fidelity and a high reassuring rate, without marketing overbidding.
The brands that strengthen in time are those who know how to combine the rigor of execution and listening capacity. Listening is not passive, it is methodical: regular field visits, analysis of after -sales service, immersion in commercial tours. This takes time, but reduces the cost of errors.
A full -fledged culture
Beyond the method, it is a culture. The one who considers that the customer is a source, not a target. That the product is not a logical deduction, but a concrete response to a use. This culture on the ground is opposed to an abstract vision of the strategy: it links the brand to its market, the team to its mission, management to reality.
👉 Lego embodies this balance: each product innovation is tested with groups of children, in real environments. The direct observation of their interaction with the bricks allows invisible but decisive adjustments: parts size, clarity of instructions, design of universes.
In a world saturated with branding promises, customer contact becomes a differentiating. Not the one we display in a banner. The one that is systematically incorporated into decision -making processes.
