Putting your on-line shopper first

In today’s world, online shoppers are time poor and information-rich

The shopper is struggling to prioritise from New York to Moscow, Beijing to Sydney, Johannesburg to Tokyo. We are told that globally we have never had it so good, that the global population has never been so well off. Still, in this recession, household disposable income declines as essentials become more expensive.

Influence Circles

Equally, there have never been so many people on the edge of starvation, witness Somalia, Darfur, and Bangladesh. Climate control has never had such a devastating effect on our global outlook, and the speed at which we can access information has never been so fast. Regional wars reach our living rooms as countries fight to preserve valuable resources or expand into weaker political territories to secure more incredible mineral wealth.

The gap between the haves and have-nots is indeed increasing not only in my own country of the UK but also across all continents.

Poverty, Energy and Climate Control
Poverty, energy, and climate control are the three most debilitating factors for a world seeking stability. If we accept strength as being suitable for trade, an unstable economy or region does not bring prosperity to its inhabitants. The more the gap grows between the rich and developing nations, the more demands will be placed on the affluent consumer, and the more manufacturers will demand the attention of the affluent household. The poorer nations will demand more support from its wealthier neighbour and economic migration will be the order of the day, as the affluent consumer moves up the social ladder.

Every action has a positive reaction and as history will confirm it has always been like this. So what makes today’s events more critical, more exacting and more demanding?

Global Market…
The consumer must cut through the considerable market noise to find the right choice and in today’s world, the consumer has a wide choice in where to invest their time and money.
Is it a truism that the value of any product or service has a shorter shelf life today because the consumer has become more sophisticated?

To clarify this thought, ask yourself the following questions.

• Do shoppers have more power than ever before?
• Do multiple channels of information mean that it is almost impossible to live a grand lie?
• Is the ability to change fast the single best asset in a world that is changing fast?
• Do blogs matter? If you want to grow, you’ll need to touch the information-hungry, idea-sharing people who read (and write) them.
• Do you believe there are no side effects? Just effects.
• Does the brand need to indulge the short attention spans?
‘Small is the new big’ – Seth Godin.

Tomorrow we talk about Impact circles…