Starbucks and Wal-Mart are two of the giants in their respective industries but had rather different experiences with customer engagement. It worked well with Starbucks but did not for Wal-Mart. The former understood its customers perfectly well and thus offered services accordingly. The latter had a disconnect and thus got pushed away in this regard. Starbucks understood that customers flocked to their stores to procure premium coffee. Wal-Mart instead of sticking to its core strengths diversified into grocery and pharmacy. Understanding the customer is extremely important for brand building. Thus while framing the corporate strategy, it is essential to integrate customer inputs.

Source: http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/tip/Customer-engagement-strategy-helps-to-usher-in-business-change