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
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 >Are we there yet? Have people finally cottoned on to the idea that maybe, things aren’t going so well for the planet and our place in it? Storms, up; floods, up; fires, up; droughts, up; people being displaced by climate events, up. The signals are all around us. And yet, as a species we struggle…
Read More >One of the most challenges aspects for owners of businesses, and also for Boards charged with running businesses, is how to allow for the impact of a decision to unfold over time. Many listed company Boards will be delaying with a CEO on a limited tenure. The Board will have set expectations for performance and…
Read More >Local Governments in Australia face an emerging risk space that many seem unaware of. Brought on by rising costs, especially in business premises rentals, compliance needs and registration costs, research we’ve identified as part of work with a Local Government client is indicating a significant increase in businesses popping up in residential areas. What seems…
Read More >It’s been a rather hectic few months here at Looking Up Feeling Good in between getting a complete site rebuild, multiple interstate travel commitments and assisting an assortment of clients trying to deal with one rather interesting challenge – what to do when we’re supposed to be done and dusted with a pandemic, yet we…
Read More >Interesting emerging dynamic about to land on the shop fronts of Australian retailers that pose serious risks to their staff. And few retailers are ready With moderate level of vaccinations targets achieved, the NSW Government has decided to open up from a #Covid19 lockdown. It does so, relying on compliance enforcement to be undertaken by…
Read More >There’s a lot not to like about the latest spike in Victoria’s #Covid19 numbers. And the most culpable are mainstream media companies who created the social response The latest spike in #Covid19 infections can be directly attributed to Channel 7, Channel 9 and the ABC with lesser blame attributed to Channel 10 and SBS. In…
Read More >