Consumer trends
03/ Convenience Culture

CONSUMER TRENDS
03/ Convenience culture

We like to challenge ourselves as brand specialists and keep our finger on the pulse of this rapidly changing world. That is why in this series of 'consumer trends' we are examining a few subjects that will shape the branding world in the coming years.

With constant mobile access to services, product deliveries, and experiences, consumers expect everything to be available at the touch of a button. And brands are working hard to deliver on these expectations. Playing on convenience seems like a necessity nowadays. But is it only a matter of service and marketing?

What defines convenience in the B2C market? For a customer, it can have several dimensions: speed of delivery, personalisation, ease of use and access, reduction of hassle… Different people will see convenience differently, depending on the product or service a brand offers. In the end, it all boils down to how their lives can be made easier or... better. And here it gets a bit more complex. Because easier and better do not always mean the same things. When we talk about the betterment of a consumer’s life, we enter a conversation related to values rather than marketing or service design. Let us explore different sides of convenience.

For many, convenience is synonymous with speed. Next day deliveries, one-click purchases, food deliveries, responsive customer service… The need to get ‘everything now’ is strongly present. Many brands do their best to adapt their service to these expectations. Some, just like the British 15-minute supermarket delivery service Weezy, make it their unique selling point from day one. On the other end of the spectrum, we see players like the interior retailer made.com. Their delivery times extend to 10, 14, 18 weeks. Sounds like a suicidal move in the age of convenience? Not if there is a good reason for that. With made.com you wait this long because the purchased product still has to be... made. Here lies the essence of this brand and business: making good design available at decent prices while keeping it sustainable by avoiding over-production. Consumers who put love for quality and environment first are ready to give up on convenience.

Let’s now consider personalisation for a moment. Thanks to digital tools and channels, brands can create messages tailored to their audiences. When this logic applies to marketing and advertising, you get your local Aldi in a YouTube pre-roll ad, your name on a bottle of Coke, ad banners with products you checked online the day before… But there is more to that. When you know that a growing trend in Google searches is to look for things ‘near me’, it’s plausible to think that this will quickly become ‘for me’. Soon, brands will need to know their customers even better to offer them relevant solutions. This is an essential part of unburdening. A big task for brands will be to design their communication and service in a way that shapes a very personal, tailored relationship with the consumer that is not only product- and sales-driven. How can it look exactly? Read our report to discover possible scenarios.

Of course, in life, you can’t have the cake and eat it too. So, what’s the trade-off for personalisation? Giving away data. With an increasing awareness about privacy and abuse thereof, consumers start focusing on the purpose of sharing their data. According to an Accenture report, 83% of consumers will share their detailed data if they can get a personalised experience in exchange. The key here is to remain honest about how the brand uses the information.

Driving a meaningful conversation and designing language and experiences that foster truly personal, unburdening relationships is one of the most compelling challenges for the future of branding.

Trends like 'convenience culture' already reshape the branding landscape. But what influence will they have in the long run? Go ahead and download your crystal ball: the “Superhuman” report that contains six scenarios on the future of brands and branding.

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