Commerce used to be easy. You sold a t-shirt, then you delivered t-shirt.
Business is not that simple anymore. Companies sell complex solutions that are combinations of physical and digital goods and services. In that environment, what your customer bought and received could be quite different.
Let’s say a customer is buying a subscription to a video-streaming service. What he receives is the access to movies. Another example is a customer who buys a mobile phone and a plan from a telco. In this case, the customer receives a phone and right to 300 minutes per month and unlimited SMS.
Entitlement: Definition and meaning
The concept of entitlements could greatly help to make sense out of this. Let’s start with the definition:
ENTITLEMENT IS A RIGHT TO ACCESS A BENEFIT OR SERVICE
Entitlement can be Metered (20G of storage) or Non-Metered (access to premium content)
The best way to look at entitlements is as a link between products you sell and services you deliver. Armed with the concept of entitlements, it is easy to start recognizing them in different commerce contexts. Software products usually have many associated entitlements:
You are selling kitchen appliances and want to differentiate your offer from competition? Give customers access to recipe site when they buy a mixer.
Want to up-sell additional services to gym members? Give new members metered entitlements for sessions with fitness specialists.
Ability to associate entitlements with products you sell and controlling & tracking their usage will bring multiple benefits to your business:
- Differentiation from competition
- Innovative ways to bundle your products and services
- Ability to provide non-monetary promotions
- Metering and tracking access to services will give you new insights on how your products are used. And that, would lead to new business opportunities.
Start-ups, mid-market, enterprise:
No matter the business, today you need e-commerce to grow.
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