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People will move from a consumption culture to a contribution culture, shifting attitudes away from acceptance of what is towards creation of what should be. |
Consumer contributions & expectations: "No mayo, pickles on the side"
“Have
it your way”
is to American and other western cultures a cornerstone of popular
psychology. We can have our Levis jeans made to fit our unique bodies and
our kids can design and build their own stuffed animals. And this trend is
spreading throughout eastern cultures as well. The truth is, young people
don´t want what is on the shelf today, they want to be part of the
creation process.
And they expect companies to listen and deliver.
Consumers today are more educated, confident and equipped to take
part in the end-to-end production of the good and services they purchase.
And the children today that are producing multi-media experiences instead
of book reports are the consumers of tomorrow. They won´t except what is
given to them, because very often rightfully, they will know better.
Many
industries are building more robust customer relationship management
systems and market intelligence systems, crunching numbers, trying to
identify the future needs and demands of current customers. But a
relationship is more than technology and statistics.
This is a communication issue.
It is the ability to truly listen and respond to real people with
real needs.
It is the ability to negotiate between consumer desires and
production capabilities.
It is about working together, enabling a new shopping, or
co-creation experience.
Consumers want to buy more, and companies want to sell more.
Prosumerism (evolution of producer-consumers) can be a win-win with the
right solutions.
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