Customers can easily switch vendors in the transparent and often global digital marketplace. They are often hunting for the best deal and whichever vendor can offer this best deal will get the business (spot market).

The best deal is not necessarily the one with the best price, there are other values as well (e.g. convenience). And sometimes network effects are important and platforms are developing.

My thesis is that owning the customer is the central success factor in the digital economy. Whatever the specific situation looks like, vendors should not compromise on keeping their customer relationships. Otherwise they may end up as interchangeable subcontractors to dominating platforms.

This is just a first exploration into a plethora of topics. More elaborate thoughts will follow.