Technology has always been a force of change. What appears to me to be the most significant impact of the technological development acceleration of our time is the increased power of the consumer: technology has created consumers with collective power, perseveringly looking for what they want, when they want, faster and generally at the lowest possible price.
Author Catherine da Silveira | Reading time 2 minutes
This trend covers (or will soon cover) all consumers. If until recently this behavior was mainly characteristic of millennials it now involves all types of consumers including the new seniors and the generation of "just not". The latter is described as a segment without stable profit, “to whom is being denied the lifestyle of their predecessor generation which was promised to them” (C - the consumer intelligence lab, 2014).
This revolution unnoticed by many is changing the balance of power between consumers and retailers/suppliers. Said differently, the sharing of power between the several economic actors is radically changing: in less than five years, we migrated from a market situation where the consumer was generally passive and dependent on retailer and supplier initiatives to a situation where the consumer requires at least reciprocity and at most active involvement in the products, services, and brands creation and management.
Examples of this new power are multiple and span all sectors, from the TV series whose fans can inflict the scene - the last episode of the American series "How I Met Your Mother" (9 seasons and 208 episodes) had to be rewritten under the public's pressure that didn't like the epilogue initially shown (Le Monde, July 2017) - to the mobile phones features. In Distribution, consumer and farmer pressure has forced Tesco to adjust the launch of its new fresh product self-brands described as 'fictitious farm names that sound British to sell imported food' (Tesco's fake farm brands 'mislead' shoppers, Ben Webster, Environment Editor, The Times, March 2016).
The power of the consumer is amplified by the fact that they believe more in the messages of peers who are part of their communities (family, friends, members of the same football team, former classmates…) than in retail brand and suppliers communications. This is because our civilization is entering (or re-entering) an era where “the link [the connection with others] is more important than the thing [products or brand]” (Cova & Cova, 2002). Thus, more than 1 billion consumers rely on their communities' opinions to decide which products/brands to buy before/instead of seeking information from the brands (McKinsey Quarterly, 2016).
There are those who anticipate an even more challenging future: consumers can become more powerful and the main instigators of product and brand development. In this new context, retailers and suppliers would play the “facilitator” role.
