One of the most popular mantras in modern business is “the customer is king”. Many companies feature it in their corporate advertising and websites. The basic idea is a good one. For any business, the needs of its customers must be paramount. What the customer wants, the customer must get. Customers demand that businesses respect and will punish businesses that fail to respond to their needs by taking their custom elsewhere.

Putting the customer at the centre of the business is only That much is common sense. But treating the customer as a monarch, whose views must always be listened to and whose orders must always be obeyed, is a different and more dangerous policy. Not only can customers’ own wishes and demands fluctuate radically – and often without apparent reason – but customers themselves do not always tell us what they think.