No one knows for sure what 2010 will bring. Most economists say the global recession has probably peaked, but what will the recovery look like? In some sectors, consumer spending is on the rise, and we're spotting more and more post-recession flowers blooming. Whether their pocketbooks were squeezed or not, many affluents are now transformed. They want value, quality, and products with a "moral conscience."
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Make every brand representative a concierge. Thanks to now-widespread and powerful social media, consumers - not merchants - increasingly control brands and messaging. In the viral online world, every complaint is amplified, every customer a potential consumer terrorist, able to trash carefully built reputations with a few mouse clicks. Staffs must be empowered to resolve issues on the spot, in person or online. To protect their company brands and reputations, managers can no longer afford to pass the complaint buck to service agents or public relations reps, losing time in the process. Slow response can be just as bad as no response. More than mere "service like it used to be," companies must learn to offer service that seldom was. They must create customer loyalty in the toughest of times. To generate brand devotees, management priorities this year must be service delivery and reputation control. Nordstrom, the luxury chain retailer, literally wrote the book on employee empowerment:
Quality, at the right price, will once again drive buying decisions. Low prices are still seductive to battered consumers, but the lure of quality is growing stronger. Affluent consumers may be feeling better about their portfolios after last year's 65 percent S&P 500 gain, but many remain value conscious. Even so, an audience is building for brand stories of craftsmanship, top materials and exquisite artistic design. In one recent poll of affluents by The Luxury Institute, 83% cited "superior quality" as essential to a luxury brand, while 78% cited "superior craftsmanship."
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This year, we expect to see haute couture purveyors devise new, intelligent ways, via technology, of linking their product to real world experiences. As digital strategist Vikram Alexei Kansara wrote last summer: "Hermès riding saddles might help discover scenic horse trails across France. Cartier watches could connect like-minded people within a time zone and offer access to shared knowledge, expertise and influence."
Consumers will help create what they buy. Do-it-yourself retailing - personalized to the max - is coming into its own. Among the most clever, recent product launches: A la Carte Maps for Barcelona, Munich, Zurich, Shanghai, Tokyo and Washington D.C. These are gorgeous, hand-drawn maps of insider tips consumers can personalize with their own finds and picks. LEGO, the toymaker, lets consumers create their own building block masterpieces with online company software. Fendi, after success with last year's $1300 Artist Baguette Bag, launched its second design-it-yourself purse, Baguette Mezzo Punto, in limited release just before the holidays.
What's next? Under pressure to do more with less, marketing will be led by social media strategies. Many brands are turning to a new model of consumer involvement:
As these trends pick up steam, expect to see traditional corporate ladders begin shaking. Big and small companies will look for newer ways of doing business via unexpected collaborations with other industries, artists, you name it. Overseeing it all, a new position is leading the charge, be it a "chief creative officer" or some other facsimile.
Going back to real simple. Product fatigue: we all suffer from it. Marketplace choice is mind-boggling:
Overwhelmed buyers will more and more make ease-of-use the gold standard for a product's success. Witness Apple Inc.'s iPhone, whose intuitive design appeals to everyone from teens to seniors. Never mind that pricey designer table lamp. We want the best reading light that easily turns on. Taking a cue from Netherlands-
We want authenticity in our consumption. Today's more cynical consumers, burned by pre-meltdown glitz and hype, are demanding proof of the genuine. Their skepticism is fueled by a litany of product recalls, unsafe toys, unhealthy Chinese dry wall, tainted Chilean salmon, and hormone-infused dairy and beef, among many other concerns.
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As a safeguard against unpleasant surprises, the importance of provenance is growing. Menus, for example, are starting to read beyond the name and location of the food purveyor, or whether a fish was wild or farmed. Here's an illustration of things-to-come. Our friend and fellow foodie, Anita Iaconangelo of Italian Connection Walking and Culinary Tours, dined recently at the Wine Bar & Grill in the Rosa Alpina Hotel & Spa, a Relais & Châteaux hotel in the Italian Dolomites. Its menus celebrate local specialties, such as grilled meat, vegetables and home-made pasta. There, she ordered a veal chop. It arrived, accompanied by a "Calf Identity Card," detailing the breed, town and farm where it was raised, its diet (mostly mother's milk & forage), name of the slaughterhouse, and more.
