Understanding Markets, Business Models, and Customers

The video for 3CO01 AC 1.3 centres on three interconnected areas: what a market is, how different business models operate, and how organisations identify and understand their customers. It covers the distinction between types of markets, including how they can be defined geographically or by customer characteristics, and explains why that context shapes an organisation's strategic choices. The business models examined include direct, wholesale, retail, agency, e-commerce, and subscription models, with attention to how organisations sometimes operate across more than one of these simultaneously.

A significant portion of the video addresses customer relationships, distinguishing between end users, purchasers, and influencers, and extending that thinking to the concept of internal customers within an HR context. The video also introduces customer needs analysis as a structured approach, covering functional, emotional, social, and latent needs. Methods such as surveys, focus groups, complaint analysis, behavioural observation, and purchasing data are named as ways organisations gather this insight.

The video connects market segmentation and customer needs analysis directly to workforce planning, examining how shifts in what customers value — whether personalised service or operational speed — translate into specific people priorities. The features-versus-benefits distinction is woven into how organisations communicate what they offer, and the discussion of agency and e-commerce models highlights the different workforce capabilities each business type demands. Throughout, the framing remains relevant to a people professional operating at Level 3, tying commercial awareness back to the day-to-day work of HR functions.