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Consumer prioritiesAutumn/winter 2014/15
By the turn of the 20th century, the industrial revolution had delivered a dramatic rise in machines and factory-made products. As we continue into the 21st century, the relationship between humans and machines is evolving into something new and this is changing the face of consumerism, how we work and what we do for a living.
The way we purchase and even acquire products is changing and people are becoming more aware that their role in the consumption equation is trans-forming. Rather than passive end-users, consumers are becoming makers themselves.
Consumer priority: redefining consumerism & work
In addition, consumers are challenging accepted notions of planned obsolescence and the traditional chain of production.
Consumer priority: redefining consumerism & work
The way we work and the types of jobs we will have in the future are also undergoing fundamental changes as the role of the machine takes on yet another industrial incarnation, with man and robot working together side by side.
Consumer priority: redefining consumerism & work
Research & Reference
Customer not consumer
Consumer makers The age of entrepreneurs
Mutually beneficial
Research & Reference
Small-scale, local production
Humans & machines Superhumans
New vocations
Apps and services are being set up to assist people as customers in a community social channel. Networks facilitate the passing on of products to friends – both virtual and real - rather than just “consuming” them and consigning them to landfill. "Yerdle enables people to share durable goods with their friends and their friends' friends. By limiting it to a close community of people who already know each other and have some level of trust, Yerdle automatically eliminates many of the problems inherent to other sharing marketplaces. There are no strangers, so it's easy to move goods between members, and there's a good chance you'll find what you need in the sort of style you want since you're looking at items from people in your social circle. ‘Starting with already established friend groups makes Yerdle different from the way other people have approached this,' founder Adam Werbach says. ‘We don’t have to spend a lot of time on trust-building. You know your friends, right?’" www.good.is, November 2012
Customer not consumer
In addition, consumers are challenging accepted notions of planned obsolescence and the traditional chain of production.
“William McDonough, the architect and designer who, with Michael Braungart, launched the Cradle to Cradle product design and lifecycle system, says Yerdle recasts the notion of what a consumer is and is not. ‘How do you consume a baby carriage, or a crock pot, a polyester fleece? You can’t. You’re a customer of these things and you want the service they provide.’” Mary Catherine O’Connor. www.smartplanet.com, November 2012
Customer not consumer
The way we work and the types of jobs we will have in the future are also undergoing fundamental changes as the role of the machine takes on yet another industrial incarnation, with man and robot working together side by side.
People will expect to get what they want based on their comments and feedback. “The new customer engagement strategy should feel less like a marketing and sales campaign, contest, or tool, and more like a well-developed friendship founded on the basis of interdependent needs and mutual respect. The feedback you get from your customers isn't just important for you, it's important for them, as well. If you can listen to what your customers are saying and improve the product and their experience, everybody wins.” Wendy Lea. www.inc.com, April 2012
Mutually beneficial
“The relationship you build is a two-way street. On one hand, your customers feel heard, and they can see the ways they're actually contributing to your company. At the same time, you get free feedback, and have the opportunity to improve your business, thereby attracting more customers.” Wendy Lea. www.inc.com, April 2012
Mutually beneficial
Investors are betting that domestic 3D printers will become as popular as today’s laser printers creating a culture of makers, rather than consumer purchasers. “Brad Feld, managing director of Foundry Group, a firm that led [3D printer company] MakerBot's venture-capital round and has also invested in Zynga... insists it will happen within a decade. ‘It's kind of like the early days of America: people came and just did things and found out if they worked or not,’ says MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis. ‘Empires were built.’” Rob Walker. www.fastcompany.com, January 2012
Consumer makers
“Yet he’s [Pettis] equally evangelical about the competitive advantage of sharing: His company not only makes public the full technical specs and details of its 3D printers, but it also collects designs for MakerBottable objects on a site called Thingiverse... But if everybody can just produce their own stuff, with no limits, doesn't it completely alter the nature of capitalism? ‘Yeah,’ he replies, not missing a beat. ‘We are a disruptive, anti-consumerist company.’ One that just happens to be profitable too.” Rob Walker. www.fastcompany.com, January 201
Consumer makers
Consumers are emerging as self-sufficient, confident entrepreneurs. “What we’ve been hearing a lot about recently is the ‘emerging market mentality’ – particularly in the BRIC nations – Brazil, Russia, India and China – plus in African markets. By emerging market mentality we mean a street-smartness and an ever-growing confidence from these consumers about their place in the world. And emerging from this confidence is the idea of self-sufficiency – being a self-starter – and entrepreneurship. It’s a mentality that has become fairly typical in developing economies as the whole country develops at a rapid pace. But the underlying economic problems of more developed economies mean it will become a powerful influence on consumers elsewhere and push the feeling that we are all emerging markets now.” Angela Rumsey, Head of Business & Marketing, WGSN
“William McDonough, the architect and designer who, with Michael Braungart, launched the Cradle to Cradle product design and lifecycle system, says Yerdle recasts the notion of what a consumer is and is not. ‘How do you consume a baby carriage, or a crock pot, a polyester fleece? You can’t. You’re a customer of these things and you want the service they provide.’” Mary Catherine O’Connor. www.smartplanet.com, November 2012
The age of entrepreneurs
In the UK, there is a huge government push to encourage self-starters after the recession. StartUp Britain has recently received backing to expand. “The government is providing more than £80m of start-up loans for young entrepreneurs, which could create more than 30,000 new businesses. Last year, 450,000 people set up new businesses. Emma Jones, co-founder of StartUp Britain, said: ‘We're seeing record numbers of people setting up businesses, and they are starting out small and online. They are the driving force of the economy.’” Charlie Thomas. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk, December 2012
The age of entrepreneurs
“The relationship you build is a two-way street. On one hand, your customers feel heard, and they can see the ways they're actually contributing to your company. At the same time, you get free feedback, and have the opportunity to improve your business, thereby attracting more customers.” Wendy Lea. www.inc.com, April 2012
Robots and 3D printing will shift manufacturing in ways equal to the last industrial revolution. As more people are able to start producing goods, we will see an increase of small-scale, batch-making facilities and a more local solution to the supply chain.
Small-scale local production
Investors are betting that domestic 3D printers will become as popular as today’s laser printers creating a culture of makers, rather than consumer purchasers. “Brad Feld, managing director of Foundry Group, a firm that led [3D printer company] MakerBot's venture-capital round and has also invested in Zynga... insists it will happen within a decade. ‘It's kind of like the early days of America: people came and just did things and found out if they worked or not,’ says MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis. ‘Empires were built.’” Rob Walker. www.fastcompany.com, January 2012
“Right now we think of manufacturing as happening in China. But as manufacturing costs sink because of robots, the costs of transportation become a far greater factor than the cost of production. Nearby will be cheap. So we’ll get this network of locally franchised factories, where most things will be made within five miles of where they are needed.” Rodney Brooks, founder of iRobot, which makes the bestselling Roomba vacuum cleaner, quoted by Kevin Kelly. www.wired.com
Small-scale local production
181270% 1% 70%
21002012
OF AMERICAN WORKERS LIVE ON A FARM OF OCCUPATIONS REPLACEDBY AUTOMATION
OF JOBS ELIMINATED BY AUTOMATION
100,000,000
“Yet he’s [Pettis] equally evangelical about the competitive advantage of sharing: His company not only makes public the full technical specs and details of its 3D printers, but it also collects designs for MakerBottable objects on a site called Thingiverse... But if everybody can just produce their own stuff, with no limits, doesn't it completely alter the nature of capitalism? ‘Yeah,’ he replies, not missing a beat. ‘We are a disruptive, anti-consumerist company.’ One that just happens to be profitable too.” Rob Walker. www.fastcompany.com, January 201
The way we purchase and consume goods is undergoing a revolution, but so are the very ways we make a living to pay for them. “Two hundred years ago, 70% of American workers lived on the farm. Today automation has eliminated all but 1% of their jobs, replacing them (and their work animals) with machines. But the displaced workers did not sit idle. Instead, automation created hundreds of millions of jobs in entirely new fields. It may be hard to believe, but before the end of this century, 70% of today’s occupations will likewise be replaced by automation.” Kevin Kelly. www.wired.com, December 2012
New vocations
“In the coming years robot-driven cars and trucks will become ubiquitous; this automation will spawn the new human occupation of trip optimiser, a person who tweaks the traffic system for optimal energy and time usage. Routine robo-surgery will necessitate the new skills of keeping machines sterile. When automatic self-tracking of all your activities becomes the normal thing to do, a new breed of professional analysts will arise to help you make sense of the data. And of course we will need a whole army of robot nannies, dedicated to keeping your personal bots up and running…You’ll be paid in the future based on how well you work with robots. Ninety percent of your co-workers will be unseen machines.” Kevin Kelly, www.wired.com, December 2012
New vocations
Humans and machines are moving ever closer. “David Hanson, CEO of Hanson Robotics, is trying to build the perfect robot. He says that ‘robots are increasingly autonomous in the way they interact with people socially’... His goal is to create robots with ‘character identity’ that will form ‘true relationships with people’.” Zac Unger. www.theatlantic.com, October 2012
Humans & machines
Robots and 3D printing will shift manufacturing in ways equal to the last industrial revolution. As more people are able to start producing goods, we will see an increase of small-scale, batch-making facilities and a more local solution to the supply chain.
Nexi, a robot from MIT’s media lab, nods when it’s saying yes – a subtle movement that reduces human stress levels. It is these types of non-verbal signs that make us feel comfortable with robots.
Humans & machines
“In the coming years robot-driven cars and trucks will become ubiquitous; this automation will spawn the new human occupation of trip optimiser, a person who tweaks the traffic system for optimal energy and time usage. Routine robo-surgery will necessitate the new skills of keeping machines sterile. When automatic self-tracking of all your activities becomes the normal thing to do, a new breed of professional analysts will arise to help you make sense of the data. And of course we will need a whole army of robot nannies, dedicated to keeping your personal bots up and running…You’ll be paid in the future based on how well you work with robots. Ninety percent of your co-workers will be unseen machines.” Kevin Kelly, www.wired.com, December 2012
Key takeaways
The idea of being a temporary user or customer of a product or service, rather than a
“consumer”
Customers expecting to get what they want, when they want it, based on their feedback to brands and retailers
Consumers who make products using 3D printers
A growth in the number of entrepreneurs
Small-scale local production
New vocations
The fusing of man and machine
The emergence of “superhumans”
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Consumers are in the process of redefining consumerism and work. In line with this we see: