Hate the name, love the trend. TRYSUMERS are transient, experienced
consumers who are becoming more daring in how and what they consume,
thanks to a wide range of societal and technological changes. Here’s
our stab at defining the phenomenon:
TRYSUMERS: “Freed from the shackles of convention
and scarcity, immune to most advertising, and enjoying full access to
information, reviews, and navigation, experienced consumers are trying
out new appliances, new services, new flavors, new authors, new
destinations, new artists, new outfits, new relationships, new
*anything* with post mass-market gusto.”
To get you going, here’s a list of observations on what's encouraging a growing number of consumers to morph into TRYSUMERS:
- Living in a world of abundance means there’s loads to try out, and it doesn’t hurt that millions of members of GENERATION C(ONTENT) are adding to the pile of unique, original niche content and products. Niche of course being the new mass, as consumer societies are now about standing out, not conformity. Which in turn means an encouragement to explore one’s often broader-than-assumed taste
- As
saturated, experienced consumers can draw on plenty of past
experiences, and know that many more experiences will follow, it's easier to cope with possible disappointment stemming from trying out the unknown.
For example, a weekend spoilt by bad weather is more acceptable knowing
another three or four trips are planned for the rest of the year.
- Not only are more consumers making more money than ever before, lots of products and experiences have actually become cheap as hell.
From TVs (the price of televisions has fallen, on average, by 9 percent
each year since 1998, according to U.S. Labor Department data) to low
fare flights. It’s never been more affordable for consumers to try out
new products, or to travel and try out new destinations and experiences.
- Navigation is the new laissez faire.
Let’s stick with travel for a moment: it's less risky to try out new
destinations, paths, routes, and neighborhoods when equipped with a
Garmin or TomTom device. From 2005 to 2006, sales of personal
navigation devices (PNDs) in Europe and the US have doubled to 10
million units, and with the online world and GPS slowly converging,
anywhere/anytime navigation will eventually be a given for adventurous
TRYSUMERS. You figure out the ramifications for the world of leisure,
but may we humbly suggest that ‘off the beaten path’ will never be the
same?
- And how about the growing infrastructure of services that let TRANSUMERS rent instead of buy?
From handbag subscriptions to super car sharing, a myriad of schemes
make it possible for consumers to try out and sample (luxury) goodies,
while spending just a fraction of ownership costs.
Consider this statement by fellow trend watcher Kristina Dryza: "Trying
new things is the decadent alternative to ownership and permanency.
Nothing is stopping you. Experiment. We’re obsessed with new
experiences, especially those ‘first time’ ones. Our senses have been
dulled – things have become too easy and boring. We’re always asking,
‘What’s new?’ ‘What’s fresh?’ First experiences often have
self-transformation elements – try truffles for the first time and
experience a new taste sensation; try the first truffles of the season
and have the connoisseur experience."
Latest spotting in this field: British Fractional Life,
which offers consumers an extensive overview of companies that offer
asset sharing schemes. The website's categories read like a summary of
life's spendy pleasures: from fine wines and racehorses to classic cars
and helicopters, all of which are available in shares or time-slots.
Find plenty more TRYSUMER meets TRANSUMER examples in our TRANSUMER briefing.
- Quality is hygiene these days:
even TV sets and irons from obscure brands found at Wal-Mart work
flawlessly. Another incentive to try out the unknown. And yes, to be
less brand-loyal. A telling finding: only 26 percent of digital camera
buyers say they would purchase the same camera brand in the future --
down from 35 percent in 2005, according to the J.D. Power and
Associates 2006 Digital Camera Satisfaction Study.
"While price and picture quality remain strong purchase motivators,
competitive parity is making product features, functions and brand
reputation less important to consumers," said Steve Kirkeby, executive
director of telecommunications and technology research at J.D. Power
and Associates. "In a market where there is increasing product parity,
listening and effectively responding to the voice of the customer is
crucial to manufacturers in providing products that will improve
satisfaction and solidify loyalty."
- TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY is another engine behind the ascent of TRYSUMERS. Reviews on anything, anytime diminish the risk of disappointment, of buying a lemon,
and will empower and entice consumers to explore the Long Tail with
confidence. (Ha, and you thought the Long Tail had disappeared into
2006's chronicles.)
Expect reviews and inside info to
become even hotter than they already are: with 1+ billion consumers now
online, the army of reviewers is endless. (Just consider that travel
review site TripAdvisor.com
already has more than 20 million visitors each month, 4.3 million
registered users, and 7+million reviews and opinions, covering 23,000
cites, 175,000 hotels, not to mention 460,000 traveler photos covering
35,000 hotels). Expect reviews to increasingly become multimedia,
real-time, more trusted, and—thanks to sophisticated profile
matching—more accurate, too.
- More on avoiding possible disappointment when trying out the 'new': a
global C2C infrastructure is now in place, from eBay to classifieds,
enabling (or even encouraging) TRYSUMERS to quickly dispose of what's
no longer needed.
From Daniel Nissanoff, author of
FutureShop: "An interesting phenomenon that somebody shared with me was
that, as eBay began to grow, people began to buy musical instruments,
especially guitars, much more frequently, because they weren't as
worried about taking up the wrong instrument or buying the wrong
instrument and getting stuck with it. The auction culture is beginning
to empower the consumer to reach because they can afford better items
since they're not paying the whole ticket for them. They know there's
going to be residual value at the end of the day and they're willing to
take more chances because they know there's an exit if they made a
mistake." (Source: Daniel Nissanoff interviewed by Tom Peters.)
- Since advertising is as trusted (or
appreciated) as a certain president with two more years to go,
performance is once again becoming increasingly relevant. (Forrester
reports that only 13% of US consumers admit that they buy products
because of their ads, and a paltry 6% believe that companies generally
tell the truth in ads.) So trying out and sampling may well become the new advertising.
Two years ago, we dubbed this growing trend TRYVERTISING: "There's
not even a 'relationship' anymore; there's a cold, calculating,
experienced, and demanding consumer, and there are humble companies. So
introducing yourself and your products by letting people experience and
try them out first, is a very civilized and effective way to show some
respect.’’
Not surprisingly, an entire TRYVERTISING
infrastructure—from 30 second samples on iTunes to firms specializing
in relevant product placement—is now in place, enabling consumers to
try before they buy.
Here’s a list of (mostly recent) TRYVERTISING spottings that deserve attention if not copying, er….creative replication:
- Nike Trial Vans
are currently touring the UK/Ireland, France, Italy and Spain, stocking
1,000 pairs of shoes. It’s a free trial, no strings attached. To
deliver on the crucial element of TRYVERTISING, total relevance of
placement, the vans will pop up in places where people actually run.
From athletic events to well-known running spots.
- TRYVERTISING and real world product placements work particularly well in environments of 'voluntarily captive audiences'
like waiting areas, business lounges, and work spaces. So if hotels,
airports, offices, even cruise ships (easyCruise anyone?) are serving
as try-before-you-buy alternatives to advertising, who's going to
intermediate between venues and manufacturers, brokering placements and
audiences? One interesting example in this still pretty uncrowded field
is Brand Connections,
peddling an organized approach to in-hut, in-room product placement of
samples, everywhere from Carnival Cruise Lines to Las Vegas and South
Beach hotels, all targeted at vacationers.
In their
own words: "Give your target audience your product sample when they are
most likely to try it, and associate unforgettable memories with the
experience. Your target consumer is greeted with your product sample on
the first day of their vacation. At a time when they are without their
'stuff' from home and will have up to 7 days to form a new habit with
your brand.“ Absolut is already a client, as are Colgate-Palmolive,
Kraft Foods and Unilever Group. Planes, trains and rental cars to
follow? - And as everything is being upgraded, Premier Bags
is going after the niche of strategic product placement, targeting
affluent, luxury-minded men and women. Think goodie bags that are
filled exclusively with luxury samples (from Prada perfume to
Ghirardelli chocolates) and valuable gift certificates, placed in First
and Business Class cabins on Continental Airlines (US domestic
flights). Premier Bags are hand-delivered by First Class crew members
on flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle.
- Back on terra firma, Turkish diaper brand Evy Baby
is reaching out to parents by placing changing rooms in shopping malls.
The diaper manufacturer has already installed 22 BebekEvy’s in
Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Adana and Mersin, and is planning to
get to 100 in 2009. Each clean and cheerful room has a changing table
and comfortable chairs for nursing. And, of course, samples of Evy
Baby's products.
-
More on sanitary stops meeting TRANSUMERS, POP-UP RETAIL, BRAND SPACES and TRYSUMERS: Charmin restrooms.
From 20 November 2006 to 1 January 2007, Procter and Gamble's bathroom
tissue brand operated a 20-stall restroom in the heart of Times Square
at 1540 Broadway, between 45th and 46th Streets, calling the service
'Charmin's holiday gift to New York'. The facilities offered clean,
deluxe bathrooms, baby changing stations, stroller parking, seating
areas, and of course lots of luxury toilet paper. Cleanliness was
guaranteed by the presence of one bathroom attendant for every two
stalls, cleaning after each use. Close to 430,000 people made use of
the service. See NY1's brief video of the space.
- Experience stores, make way for try-out stores: Apple's retail stores,
with their elaborate try-out facilities, saw record sales during the
last quarter of 2006, posting revenues of USD 1.1 billion. The company
opened five new stores during the quarter, for a total of 170 retail
stores. Almost 28 million TRYSUMERS visited the Apple stores in those 3
months, which works out to 13,000 customers per store each week
(source: macNN). Time to add a bit of performance-testing to your own
stores or outlets?
The list of TRYSUMER observations goes on:
- As all things digital and virtual are
so much easier to sample, TRYSUMERS and the online space are a match
made in heaven. Expect a renewed interest in lifelike avatars, which
can try out and try on anything on behalf of their real world
alter-egos. Companies like My Virtual Model (which already partners with Sears, Land's End, H&M, Speedo and Adidas), and Gizmoz,
a Flash-based 3D avatar product made from a single picture of a person
plus their recorded voice. The company calls it 'bringing Pixar to the
people'. (Source: Techcrunch.)
The TRYSUMER pay-off?
According to My Virtual Model, shoppers using their solutions spend
more, buy more and return far fewer items—resulting in higher sales and
reduced shipping and handling costs.
Next will be 3D versions of the real world instead of just real people, turning everything into a TRYSUMER playground. Do keep an eye on Google SketchUp,
or better, help consumers and/or brands set up 3D versions of their
homes, offices, gardens, cars and more, then let them try out new
interiors, accessories, decorations, and so on.
- When looking at society as a whole, not
just consumption, the TRYSUMER trend yields more fun observations. How
about TRYSEXUALS? From match.com to AdultFriendFinder (24 million ‘active’ members worldwide), dozens of mega-dating sites offer both extensive 'try before you buy / rate before you date' and casual encounters
for those who want to try out as many other people as possible. Which
leads us to fear of commitment among TRYSUMERS, but we'll leave that
for a future update of this trend. The same goes for assuming (i.e.
trying out) multiple identities in virtual worlds. Or an entire
generation of gamers growing up with the belief that you can try, try
and try again until you find a solution and succeed (and in games,
there always IS a solution). But we're digressing.
So... Not every consumer is going to be a TRYSUMER. And not every
TRYSUMER will be trying out new things all of the time. The inevitable
counter trend (in this case: choice fatigue and lack of time) will see
to that. But it's a safe bet that more consumers will venture off the
beaten track in 2007, in 2008, in 2009 and beyond.
Which creates
excellent opportunities for niche-players and nimble Big Brands to
introduce more daring and more unusual goods, services and experiences.
Or to initiate more TRYVERTISING campaigns. (By the way, who's going to set up the first dedicated TRYVERTISING agency?)
Or to figure out which other product categories lend themselves to new-style rental concepts.
Or to introduce virtual versions of real-world products for avatars to try out.
Or to dive into the still wide-open market for intelligent review sites, opinion and rating sites. Surely books and hotels aren't the only products worth reviewing on a mass scale?
Time to try out some new brainstorming techniques and get going?
Source: www.trendwatching.com
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