13 May 2009
Too Much Stuff
Posted by robgraham under: Engagement marketing; Media Musings .
The headlines are buzzing this morning because U.S. retail sales for the month of April fell unexpectedly for the second month in a row. In short, people aren’t returning to their former pre-bust buying habits as the economy is proposing to improve.
I can’t speak for most Americans, but I know that I am much more cautious today with how I spend my money because of concerns I have that in the future I may need whatever cash I have on hand to cover my basic living expenses and would rather not have it tied up in a new sofa or flat-screen TV. But is it my thriftiness, and that of most Americans, that is causing this decrease in retail sales?
I think the problem goes deeper than that. As a guy in his middle fortysomethings, my need to go out and acquire new “stuff” is diminishing rapidly. During the last four decades I’ve acquired pretty much everything that I want to acquire. Certainly from time to time the need for a new pair of jeans, a best-selling novel, and perhaps a new car will appear on my ‘needs radar’. But we’re talking maintenance here and not consumption. I don’t personally need a new device that will allow me to play music. I don’t need a computer. I don’t need new bedroom furniture, an outdoor grill or a white picket fence in front of my home. I already have all these things and the need to acquire new ones is very limited.
As the population continues to age, there are more people over the age of 50 with discretionary income than there are under 50. If, like me, most of these people are in a post-consumer mode of behavior, then that leaves a fairly limited portion of the population to cover the entire range of product consumption in order to keep all of these retail channels up and running. The bottom line is that there are too many stores that want to sell their stuff to too few customers who want to buy it.
It doesn’t make any sense to believe that any economy can sustain perpetual growth when it comes to the sale of things. What does make sense is that as consumers our habits are changing to better meet our desires. In the past decade consumers have gotten away from the desire for things and have had moved closer to products and services that offer us opportunities for experience and engagement. This opens a new door to companies who can provide interesting and meaningful experiences for consumers and it also means that these companies aren’t beholden to manufacturing products for sale.
I don’t have all the answers here. I only know that if I were to plan for the future as a business, I would focus on providing information products that would allow people to live a more fulfilling and interesting life and focus on those things that don’t necessarily need to be carried home in a shopping bag.
One Comment so far...
Joseph Doud Says:
13 May 2009 at 8:34 pm.
I agree. “Providing information products” is a good idea, especially when the user, as part of a social network, provides the content!