Energy Costs Naturally Change Consumer Behavior. Globally.
The majority of people, no matter in which part of the world they are living, are not going to earn more than the rising energy costs. This does not inevitably have to lead to a decrease in consumption. In our opinion, consumers are going to change their behavior.
The process of purchasing decisions is subject to changed criteria. We are assuming that impulse buying in regard to satisfaction of needs is going to decrease for most people in the broadest sense and every purchase is going to be pondered with greater thoroughness and the actual necessity of the purchase.
The satisfaction of wants is going to increase considerably. The small and big wants are going to increase, especially in tougher times. The majority of people are going to ask the question of value more often and more intensively when it comes to the satisfaction of wants. Material values are playing the decisive role here. Premium and Luxury products have their high times especially in times when the disposable money is worth more, because there is less of it. Purchases are made purposeful and selective. True Premium and Luxury products are bought, maybe even more than ever, but only if they are “true” Premium and Luxury products.
Growing awareness during purchasing and consumer behavior is surely one of the consequences that arise from the development of energy costs. What does this mean for industry and retail? Advertising, sales conversation and service agreements for customers have to be of a better quality. Naïve advertising, half truths, deceiving appearances all of this is not going to be enough for promotion. The sales conversation has to have a content directly related to the product and its qualities. A profound knowledge of the product would be such content. For the longest time the maintenance of such sales conversations has been grossly neglected. Self service in retail, order charges and online ordering systems in wholesale and in B2B business have disregarded the vocation of sales personnel. It is imperative to do a lot of persuading here.
Quality is above quantity. This principle applies especially to those products meant for satisfaction of wants. Less is going to be more in the future. Bulk goods are going to be hard to sell even at reduced prices. People are going to live more consciously. A lot of things that might have been viewed as old-fashioned are going to be held in esteem again. What’s natural is going to be rediscovered again. Life is going to become more humane again and as such get back a new “old” quality. In a certain way the development of the energy costs is helping us to get a new relation to consumption, as paradox as this may sound.
The fear that high energy costs endanger the consumer’s wealth or keep the people in the Second and Third World in poverty is only one of many positions one could take and one we do not really believe in. When it comes to the people of the Second and Third World one could see one ray of hope in this development that consists of the ability to achieve higher prices for the natural resources, oil, gas, food, and other materials that they produce and thus have one immediate advantage to the higher energy costs. Let’s think of Africa. We have pointed out the future of Africa years ago and have touched exactly on what we experience today. A new Africa that is slowly finding its feet on solid ground again thanks to its natural resources.
High energy costs slow down uninhibited globalization. In turn, this is going to ease the fear of the future in many people.
Restrained and conscious consumption, quality above quantity are decision criteria that allow for a positive outlook into the future. And there is one other thing we should consider, it is energy in the form we know it today that has enriched our lives. Often we have not even noticed it anymore, at least in the First World, because energy was relatively cheap until recently.
For the development of new strategies it is important that the above mentioned other side of energy cost development attracts interest, because it contains a great deal of possibilities which have been overlooked in the recent past.
Sphere: Related Content
