I’m nominating 2016 as The International Year for Consumer Fightback
Those of you that have been tracking this website for a while will know that towards the end of each year, I nominate the following year’s area of focus. For instance I declared that 2015 would be the International Year of Battery Technology, and as the news stories, product research and renewables push shows, it was a pretty good call to make. So next year I’m sensing a driving focus on Consumers standing up to the rubbish service, faulty products and price gouging that’s they’ve endured in many areas for too long
My thoughts are sharpened by a number of things that have occured of recent times, but also the rise in technology trends that enable consumers to talk to each other.
Right now you can go to Ripe Near Me and get an app that allows you to find fresh food (for free or even no cost). In this way consumers can fight back against the price gouging in some food stuffs and begin to reject their reliance on big box stores. The rise of the Utilisation Economy which sees organisations like AirBnB and Lyft using spare capacity are other examples. Incidentally we are starting to see similar ideas forming in manufacturing and warehousing (watch this space!)
The rise of 3D Printing is about to give consumers control over how and where products are made. It won’t be a cure all but it will give choice where little now exists.
But the 2016 International Year for Consumer Fightback is also driven by poor quality servicing and price gouging. In Australia the telecommunications sector continues to be beset by problems with the industry ombudsman flooded with complaints, and the banking sector (a recent target for class action law suit) is ripe for the picking with alternative financing and currency models currently undermining their existence (not that they are paying too much attention at the minute). Recent poor servicing with telecoms provider Vodafone saw me drop my business spend with them by over 300%. And another player that picked up much of that business, Virgin Mobile, has proven to be a recent disaster despite me having had another service with them with no problems for over four years. In years gone by I’d have just put up with it, but now, with social media and emerging choices, I don’t have to. McDonalds recently ran a competition here in Australia, but if the condition to entry is not fulfilled (prize tickets not given out for products purchased), then the days of just putting up with it are no more and I can take my business elsewhere.
With Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn and the like arming consumers in ways that didn’t previously exist, in the 21C, hell hath no fury like a supporter scorned. This is targeted bottom line impact action that consumers now bring to the table.
And I’d expect to see the first class action lawsuit against Universities and For-Profit tertiary institutions for selling products that are not ‘fit for purpose’ – either poor content, substandard delivery or degrees for jobs that do not exist with knowledge that has no inherent value makes them a prize target for Consumers standing up where they may have once put up with it.
So I’m calling next year 2016 The International Year for Consumer Fightback
If you followed my numerous posts over the years you know I like jumping in early on new products or services – not all have been successful, especially on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but you roll the dice sometimes and see what happens. Over the years Looking Up Feeling Good was an early community investor in…
Read More >In the 1760s Josiah Wedgwood changed forever the nature of workplaces. He expanded his pottery business and constructed a new large scale factory that required two critical elements: a) Systemisation of processes to ensure consistent high-quality outcomes b) Skilled workers on site The systemisation required experimentation, observation, trials, failures and recording of data – what…
Read More >We’re delighted to announce that Neuro-Psychologist Dr. Kim Hazendonk of Positive Brain has accepted our offer to join our elite speaker’s group. We’re looking forward to bringing her to more groups across Australasia as she discusses effective workplaces, positive mind management, and managing busy lives. If you have a need for an engaging and passionate…
Read More >I flag my bias towards the need for a vastly improved approach to managing staff in the work environments. V A S T L Y improved. I’m still surprised at how clunky, disorganised or naive some senior managers are when it comes to that part of the business that considers ‘people’. And rather than cover…
Read More >An interesting public workshop in Perth in the first week of October introducing a varied group to the Organisational Evolution model. The Org-Ev is the model I developed for the start up of The Australian Strategic Planning Institute in conjunction with Steven Bowman. Given the diversity of the group, there were a number of surprises…
Read More >A note for those of you in Perth that there are just 4 spaces left for the Introduction to the Organisational Evolution Model workshop at Adina Apartments in Perth. The Org Ev model has been designed to enhance Strategic Planning and decision making and this introductory workshop is aimed at those looking to attend the…
Read More >Later this month I’ll be facilitating a scenario session looking at the potential impact of a long standing heatwave event for the City of Greater Dandenong here in Australia. Heatwaves kill more people than any other weather event. By a long way. Importantly they also have a ‘fat tail’ with physical impairments to individuals often…
Read More >Looking Up Feeling Good will be running an workshop on the Organisational Evolution Model in Perth. The Org-Ev model has been used by a wide number of agencies across almost all industry sectors, and was originally developed for the Australian Strategic Planning Institute. The workshop is limited to 25 people and will take place at…
Read More >Looking Up Feeling Good are delighted to be associated with the Victorian over 55 2s at the National Masters Championship coming up in Perth in a few month’s time across September and October. We wish all players well
Read More >If you’re involved with setting policy, allocating funding, designing products or services and delivering on them, then one book you simply must have read is the absolutely astounding ‘Invisible Women’ by Caroline Criado Perez. What Perez has done with this book is ALL OF THE RESEARCH you need to have available to you when you…
Read More >