Shopping is now a leisure activity
Published January 15th, 2007 in GeneralMichael Silverstein explains in his book, “Treasure Hunt - Inside the Mind of the New Consumer“, that today’s shoppers can seem impossible to understand. In Ireland you can spot a well-to-do mother of two from the Southside parked in Aldi after a shopping spree in BTs. As Silverstein points out:
Consumers will happily pay a steep premium for goods and services that are emotionally satisfying…and they often get the same satisfaction in the discount stores as in the luxury stores.
With increased competition from online retailers also, a number of companies are at sixes and sevens as they struggle to position themselves in their marketplace. So where do they go from here? In terms of consumer behaviour, Pamela Danziger picks out a key trend when she talks about how consumers are moving from buying things to experience In her book, “Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need“:
Ultimately, all emotionally driven purchasing is about buying a thing to achieve a feeling, enhance an experience, or get an emotional lift.
I’ve talked about the era of the educated consumer before. We have an abundance of information at our fingertips. As a result, companies need to sell differently. Some industries have realised this. The auto industry is a good example, but they still have to change some parts of their sales pitch to reflect the new purchasing decision process.
The effects of the Internet on the auto industry are quite interesting. When purchasing a new car, the consumer only visits 1.6 dealerships on average as opposed to 7 a number of years ago. They read reviews in the paper, surf the web and chat with their peers before even stepping foot on a car dealer’s premise. The consumer comes armed with an idea of what price they should be paying, a list of demands that puts them on a par with any diva and they want to be treated like royalty.
The Economist’s Intelligent Life supplement describes where retail is moving. Unfortunately the content is hidden on their website, but here are some of the key points:
“The magic of the best retail outlets lies as much in the sensory experiences and instant gratification they peddle as in the goods and services on offer. There are opportunities for cutomers to handle and compare merchandise; to reconnoitre the goods before making the final commitment; and to seek support thereafter. At its best, shopping becomes entertainment.
As a result, more and more retail spaces are becoming ‘experiential destinations’ - offering fun, food and pampering, as well as things to take home. Their purpose is as much about converting visitors into customers over time as it is about moving the merchandise on a day-to-day basis.”
USA Today reports on how luxury dealerships in the States are souping themselves up to become ‘experiential destinations’:
At Fletcher Jones Motorcars, customers stroll through a gallery of Mercedes-Benzes, linger at the cappuccino bar, tap balls on the putting green or go for a pedicure.
In Ireland, dealerships have begun to upgrade their premises to become ‘experiential destinations’ also in a bid to get the customer to stay on the premises longer. However, dealerships in the States and in Ireland both have some way to go in changing their sales process as they neglect to realise that women more often than not have the final say on car purchases.
Kay McCarthy, deputy managing director of McCann Erikson Ireland, in an opinion piece for the Sunday Business Post earlier this month points out that the culture and composition of the consumer market in Ireland has changed radically. Shopping is now viewed as a leisure activity. If retailers want to stave off the online threat then they have to differentiate themselves and the way to do that is to offer consumers an experience. As the article in the Economist points out, the focus of retail should be on converting visitors instead of simply shifting merchandise. By educating visitors over time, they will be able to identify the ultimate benefits of your product over rival brands.
Technorati Tags: Marketing, Michael Silverstein, Pamela Danziger, Piaras Kelly, Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need
9 Responses to “Shopping is now a leisure activity”
Leave a Reply
Search
Categories
- Books (4)
- Buzz (6)
- E-PR (208)
- General (415)
- Ideas (8)
- Personal (109)
- PR in Ireland (160)
- Resources (12)
- Technology & PR (8)
Archives
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
There certainly is a long way for physical retailers to go. I would view browsing online as a pleasurable activity, mostly because of the fantasyland I enter where I can afford everything I’m looking at!
Shopping in town, or in the local shopping centre, is a chore, and I can’t remember the last time I went shopping without knowing exactly what I want, where I was going to go and how quickly I could expect to get out of there.
Great post.
Where do you get the time to read everything
shopping is now being branded as a leisure activity? oh god, the world is going too fast for me. i still have shopping flagged as a therapy thing. and i’m only just getting used to trying to get my head around the notion that gambling is being marketed as entertainment (how losing a wad of cash on the roulette wheel is classed as entertainment is sooo beyond me, but i’ll work on it).
Richard - You should see the size of my reading list, I can tell you what I’ll be flicking through for the next six months probably. Scary stuff.
fmk - I agree with you on the gambling. 5 euors on a match does get you to pay attention to the result though
Piaras really well written post, thanks
Piaras,
Agree with the other posters - well thought through and researched posting on your part. Your observations on car dealerships struck a note with me. i think the evidence for the ‘experiential’ nature of retailing is to be seen in the way that sector has evolved - as you say in terms of the showrooms - but also in terms of how they have had to create destinations such as entire car retial parks such as at Airside where there are about a dozen dealerships in one car buyers nirvana location.
For me shopping will never be a leisure pursuit - I can’t think of anything worse than spending a Sunday entombed in these temples to consumerism. I’m with Tom on this - a gender thing? Perhaps you have some thoughts on this?
I wouldn’t say it’s a gender thing. There’s examples of some great stores out there like the flagship Apple store in New York. In fact every Apple store I’ve been to in the States is slick and I’d happily spend time there. There’s also the flagship Nokia store in NYC and NikeTown in London.
They just haven’t made the transition to Ireland yet. I was in the 3 store on Grafton Street the other week and pretty much walked in and then straight out again. There’s a big difference between looking pretty and being an experience.
Funnily enough I wasn’t thinking about Apple writing the original post, but I’m after setting up a digital picture frame for a neighbour and it suddenly dawned on me that companies should try to be more like Apple. Not only are their stores fantastic (in a large part due to the Genius bar), but that sense of magic goes through everything they do rgith down to their packaging. Opening an iPod is a bit like sitting down on Christmas morning and tearing off the packaging under the Christmas tree.
Hey
I’m just in the middle of my disseration and wondered what views you had on my title?
Dissertation
Are we dominated by our relationship with consumer goods? How far are we in control of this relationship?
I am going to consider the following:
1. What is our relationship with consumer goods?
2. What does it mean: ‘to be in control of our relationship’
3. What suggests were not in control?
4. What suggests we are in control?
gemma
Thanks for this. No doubt consumer behaviours are changing, and we go more and more to a push selling to a more smart way of reaching consumers with online activities.