Collaborative Consumption is Coming

Yesterday, Facebook officially implemented their new Profile Page format. Some commentators think Facebook’s true agenda is to tease out increasing amounts of information from consumers that Facebook can then transform into profitability. However, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been insisting the primary purpose of the change is to facilitate social interchange.
     In either case, a primary message for retailers is that an abundance of the people in your target markets want to share. One aspect noted by a recent Time Magazine article is “collaborative consumption.” This name for sharing merchandise is a cut above equipment rental: Collaborative consumption is supercharged by the opportunity to learn about others.
     The author of the Time article talks about how, when he “borrowed” an iPad via SnapGoods for $15 a day, he was able to see the owner’s mental fingerprints on the machine by noting the apps the owner had downloaded. He rhapsodizes that he could even see the owner’s actual fingerprints. Not too grimy, one would hope.

• If you don’t currently rent out merchandise, consider introducing rentals as a service to the community and as a source of income for your business. If you do currently rent out merchandise, rethink the most profitable ways to use that rental center as a place shoppers can try out products and then have an opportunity to purchase a used or new version.
• Encourage each customer to share product ratings with others on your store’s Internet site, via the customer’s social media services, and through the old-fashioned, but highly powerful, medium of talking with their friends and family.
• For high-ticket items that might be used less than frequently, invite people to make a group purchase. Yes, you’d prefer to sell three items rather than sell one. But with consumers’ current price sensitivity and anti-waste commitment, it might be a matter of you preferring to sell one item rather than sell none.

     Driving this sort of sharing is more than a wish to save money. There’s compelling research evidence it’s a way to achieve thoroughly-grounded happiness. I’m impressed with how well this point is documented in an upcoming movie titled “Happy.” I watched “Happy” last weekend at a pre-release event in Vallejo, California. An article in the Vallejo Times Herald quotes filmmaker Roko Belic as saying, “The happiest people tend to be those [who] feel part of something bigger than themselves….”

Click below for more:
Attend to Face-to-Face Word of Mouth
See Through Anti-Waste Consumers
Protect Customers from Dangerous Decisions