And the larger phone companies' size AT&T, the biggest, has 62 million wireless customers–has helped them land handset, entertainment and content deals that smaller Alltel hasn't been able to win.
The millions of members of its Prime annual subscription service, Amazon's most frequent customers, have helped feed the surge.
The introduction of a two-speed letter service and an increase in stamp prices for basic postage and for business and government customers have helped reduce the losses in the traditional "snail mail" business.
Oddly, though, the Rover unit says its troubles, by spurring a burst of patriotic buying by British customers, have helped to produce the very effect that eluded BMW's six-year, multibillion-dollar investment in the British company.
Just before the revolution that his former customers had helped spawn got underway, Copley relocated to England, where, in a puzzling career shift, he threw in the towel on the bourgeoisie and started painting sharks, damsels in distress and dragons.
"They're absolutely getting better," said Mark Vidalin, marketing director for Hostelling International USA, a nonprofit hostel organization based in Silver Spring, Md. "There's been a recognition that hosteling had reached critical mass and gone beyond just cheap places to stay". Customers have helped push hostel standards higher, industry executives said.
A weak euro has helped make imports cheaper and local factors such as distribution channels, and a strong base of knowledgeable sommeliers able to educate customers have helped too.
One, recruited from a famous hotel chain in Asia known for excellent customer care, has helped a prominent Richemont brand train store staffers to play the role of hosts and treat customers as guests.
The more consultative approach to customer relations has helped Tokyo Star increase revenue by 25percentt in the last year.
The rise and rise of online shopping, with its speedy delivery and (usually) excellent customer service, has helped us a lot in one way and very much not helped us in another.
