The new 2012 post-recession consumer
Posted: Monday 30 January, 2012
Ben Leuty
We’ve done a lot of research recently into the ‘new-breed’ of post-recession consumer and how brands and businesses are going to have to adapt to meet their list of growing demands to ensure they maintain a healthy and profitable turnover.
Trends forecasts predict that the new consumer is going to demand high-quality products for less, a seamless purchase and aftercare, service and the ability to engage with the brand thereafter - which can be achieved through various social media platforms.
Fairly dry as the subject is, no pun intended, my washing machine broke last week after years of loyal service. Not what you want at the best of times, let alone at the end of January. So, being a price conscious post-recession consumer I went online and researched various sites with price at the forefront of my mind.
The price differences were in some cases incomparable but one site stood out in particular so I added the chosen washing machine to the basket and went through the, in this case simple, purchasing procedure. Literally two minutes after the order had gone through I received a text message confirming the order and delivery date. Fairly impressive but I didn’t think any more of it until I received a reminder message and email the day before delivery and then another on the day confirming the delivery time within the time gap of one and a half hours – which I also found impressive.
The machine arrived on time and was installed with relative ease given my low level of domestic skills. Later that day I received a call from the customer service team to ensure that I was happy with the service and if I had any problems to give them a call or post a message on their Facebook profile and they would get back to me immediately.
I was incredibly satisfied with the whole experience so it seems that some businesses at least are already ready to deal with the new-breed of post-recession consumer. Other businesses need to follow this example because in a time when brand loyalty is being pulled into question, it made them stand out from the crowd and I will definitely use and recommend OnlineAppliances.co.uk again.
