The Age of the Conscious Consumer

We’ve come through a period in history with the polarisation of political views being hard right or hard left with not much in the middle. At the same time, we’ve had the economic and cost of living challenges so many people are facing, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that values and purpose and what a brand stands for were not so important these days.?

If you’re thinking like that, then I recommend you think again.

Take a look at Gen Z, as they will be the core customers for most brands for the next 40 years. If you understand them, you’ll realise that what you stand for and what you do matters as much or even more than what you say.

They will be the quickest of any generation to abandon a brand if they behave badly or in any way, shape or form, lack authenticity and transparency or are disingenuous. In contrast, they will be incredibly loyal to those they feel genuine empathy for and an emotional connection with.??

That is why addressing the desire of consumers to be more conscious of their consumption is so important.

There is a tremendous opportunity for brands who really understand this to empower customers to make better choices and, in doing so, build customer lifetime value.

We are all becoming increasingly conscious of our consumption. We are all racked with guilt to some degree about the potential impact on the climate of what we buy and from whom we buy it. Retailers can get ahead of this by offering more choice to consumers where buying a new item is not the only option. Renting, and purchasing recycled products or those that are preloved, will encourage consumers to engage. It’s also an increasing opportunity to enable customers to trade in or donate their old items to your business for a discount off a new purchase or for these items to be donated to someone else in need. All of which will help increase frequency and build customer lifetime value.

A few retailers have already embraced this, with Decathlon even reversing their brand on the signage on four of their stores in Belgium to promote ‘reverse shopping’, where customers can resell old or unused sporting goods back to the store so they can repair and resell the items.?

There is no question that retailers can create more loyalty with new initiatives such as rental models or trading in your old fashion, furniture, or electrical products against purchases of new ones. Again, this will be a driver of frequency and loyalty.

Embracing the circular economy and proving you are walking the talk will endear retailers to a broad set of customers.

Empowering consumers with more choices, including second-hand/preloved products or renting, will increase retention. That should be the core objective of any business. After all, there are so many benefits to driving more loyal customers.

It is so much more cost-effective to keep an existing customer than acquire a new one.

Existing customers are a great asset in terms of soliciting feedback that can help to improve your offering and overall performance.

They convert better as they already know you.

They are less price focussed and therefore are more profitable.

You save marketing budget as they already know you and spend more than many one-off customers you currently acquire.

They become advocates and help you to recruit new customers.

I know from first-hand experience that too many businesses are still paying lip service to this. And yes, I know the cynics amongst you would have us believe that consumers say one thing and do another. They say they care about the environment but still buy fast fashion. Well, that is changing and quickly. Mark my words, sadly, some brands will go to the wall for being too slow to embrace this change in behaviour.?

Offering more options to consumers will enable them to shop more consciously, and, by default, that is empowering them to make decisions. And that is at the heart of driving customer lifetime value.

Conscious consumption and being kind to the environment is not only morally the right thing to do but also 100% commercially the right thing to do.

In the latest episode of my Consumer Focus podcast, I talk to Andy Rubin from Trove, and my trusted panel of consumers about how buying habits have changed and conscious consumerism is on the up. You can listen here.