Getting more value out!

Our lives are an amalgamation of our choices - good and bad. Sometimes our bad choices are right in front of us, other times they are hidden in the closet or the kitchen. Since I love trying out new products, especially in the food category, my kitchen tends to have many tried and disliked products.

A rational person would get rid of them, such a person would even give away clothes that don't fit. But instead, we hold on. Deep in our cupboards lies the hope that we will lose weight and fit into those again.

There is also hope that maybe I will eat this product again. In reality, I will wait for the expiry date to hit, before I allow myself to throw it away. The journey from the purchase to the expiry allows me to mentally depreciate the product and write it off. I get enough time to forgive myself for the poor decision.

The mental write-off for clothes also happens in tranches when you move up from one slab to another to another. The first one clearly has no chances anymore, the hope is shifted to the second slab, and the first set is discarded.

But when you are able to recover value from the products that you buy, it positively affects your experience of the brand. How can brands also think about usage and not just purchase? Because usage drives repeat.

In India, it was fairly common to stitch larger sizes of blouses/uniforms and alter them to meet your current needs. As you added weight or became taller, you opened up the stitches and continued to derive utility out of clothes. But in the world of "fast" fashion, clothes are supposed to be changed faster than the changes in your body. But the brands whose proposition is sustainability should at least help increase the life of products by providing some room to grow. The brand Damensch helps consumers get more value out through durability with their 500-day collection.

When it comes to food, the taste is paramount, but can also be subjective. Providing options for experimenting can help. I once bought a garlic caper spread but didn't like it. It died its slow death in my fridge. Maybe I could have made a yogurt dip out of it had I been educated. I will surely not buy that product again, but at least my perception of the brand wouldn't be tainted.

Another category where there is an opportunity to focus on usage as much as purchase is watches. Often analog watches run out of battery and end up on the side, waiting to be rejuvenated. But I fail to overcome the friction of finding a shop and getting this done. When it is so easy to change sim cards, can't we design watches where it is simple to change the battery ourselves and actually use the product longer?

Many of the new age brands offer "No question asked returns", this helps in two ways, it reduces the risk associated with the purchase, and second in case you are unhappy post-purchase you can return it taking away the guilt of bad decision making. The interaction with customer service is also a great place to understand the needs of the consumer and help them make a better decision

#marketing #consumerbehavior #consumerbehaviour #insights