MadisonSoho seminar identifies the consumer of the future
Published: 25 November, 2009
MadisonSoho managing partner John White delivered a piece of research arguing that brands – and by extension shopping centres – are going to have to change the way they communicate with their audiences, who will no longer be receptive to the old messages.
“We’re in a period of fear, uncertainty and doubt, reflecting the collapse of the ‘turbo-capitalism’ of the past 10 years.” White says. And he identifies the run on Northern Rock in September 2007 as a seminal moment in UK consumer psychology. “It brought home to people that their money wasn’t necessarily safe. That changed the way shoppers behave and we’re going to be paying for it for many years to come,” he warns.
Mondeo Man – the typical UK consumer – is a thing of the past according to White, and he’s been replaced by Peugeot Person (and it’s probably a second-hand Peugeot at that). “Dinner parties have replaced dining out; convenience meals are out and scratch cooking is in. Peugeot Person has a compost bin in the garden and aspires to solar panels on the roof,” White asserts.
He continues: “Value is now very important. Consumers are aware of social responsibility, but not necessarily fanatical about it. They’re sympathetic to green products although they won’t necessarily pay a premium for them.”
And he cited research by the Future Foundation that found that 70 per cent of UK consumers rated green issues as ‘very important.’ The same research found that 75 per cent of households now have a PC and 90 per cent have digital TV. “The way we communicate has changed” notes White.
But the increasing fragmentation of society means that consumer groups are increasingly hard to identify. “The Generation Jones family might have three kids, but on some weekends that rises to five and others it falls to one,” White says.
One clear trend which is emerging, though, is the rise of a new austerity as a reaction to the consumer bingeing of the past decade. “There’s a phenomenal decline in finance-deficient lifestyles,” says White. “People are finding they enjoy budgeting again.”
As a result design quality is increasingly important to consumers. “There’s a rise in the quality of goods being purchased – what we call ‘controlled consumption’,” says White. “But it’s an age of ‘what works’ rather than ‘what looks good’.”
And he identifies a return to post-war values with Ikea about to reintroduce home larders and the UK government planning to remove best-before dates from some product categories in order to cut waste.
White also sees a big rise in GIY – grow it yourself – with seed sales up by a third in 2009 . Already 750,000 UK families keep chickens and next year B&Q will start stocking pigsties – and provide the pig.
But for those who don’t want to become smallholders this is merely a subset of an expected uplift in homewares and DIY sales as consumers focus on creating a haven for their families.
Another trend, perhaps more psychological than economic, is the rise of what White calls ‘prohibition culture.’ “There’s the prospect of increased council taxes on energy inefficient homes, and some US cities are introducing junk food taxes,” he says. “We’ve become socially normed and this is a tolerance issue as individuals become more prohibitative of each other.” And he muses: “Does the loss of the ‘me’ culture and the rise of the ‘we’ culture reflect the growth of social media?” So what does all this mean for marketing? “It changes the way brands talk to us,” says White. “It’s about cutting out the fluff: consumers just want the facts.”
And he adds: “We’re seeing the emergence of new brands and this is reflected in the language they use. They’re inclusive not exclusive, and they use conversational not corporate language.” As an example, he cites Starbucks’ move back to locally-branded coffee shops. With this will come a bigger focus on experiential marketing and events as brands seek to develop a fan base, rather than a client base, White believes.
How are shopping centres reacting to this changed consumer environment? Shopping Centre asked a panel of industry experts.
Stephen Court
head of retail marketing and commercialisation
Hammerson:
“It’s tough being a marketer in shopping centres today, trying to understand a fragmented customer base. Our view is that changes are happening quickly, not just on a decade-by-decade basis.
“But inevitably the shopping centre product isn’t changing that quickly – they take 10 years-plus to develop and by definition they’re in danger of being out of date the day they open. And every mall now has a new competitor in its catchment although over the next few years that will settle down with fewer new schemes coming through.
“Perhaps because there’s a lot of fragmentation in society, people want to socialise. So if by design or by policy you can create a place to socialise, people will come. The music industry’s already seeing that and now it’s making more money from live events than it does from recordings. As people become more isolated in their lives there’s a greater desire to commune, so we’re seeing a new focus on local and regional events.
“A few years ago shopping centre events were pretty sub-par. Many were poorly executed partly because the mall environment isn’t actually designed for that sort of thing. But perhaps the public is now more accepting. We can all dial up and see amazing things, and places like the O2 have opened up different events to people’s consciousness.
“Suddenly, though, we’re finding that local’s cool. For example we held a science-based event recently at Brent Cross and nobody criticised it because it was on a trestle table.
“It’s increasingly a pay-per-view member-get-member society. People want to be included but they want to opt out when they want to.”
Martina Sloan
National retail and marketing manager
Westfield:
“Westfield London is exactly one year old which makes it an interesting time for us because for the first time we have year-on-year comparisons. And internally, with Stratford City coming in 2011 our brand needs to evolve, but there are global considerations to bear in mind as well.
“The biggest change we’ve noticed in marketing terms is the growth of social media. We’re finding the whole purchasing process is becoming a much more considered thing: people think and research more before they buy. As mall operators we all have to give people a reason to come to our destinations.
“For example we put a note on Facebook asking ‘What does Westfield mean to you?’ and got 100 responses within an hour. Digital media requires people to be honest, and it requires people who are on it all the time, so that means it’s a significant investment. But even so it’s going to be a key part of our strategy going forward.
“But it’s important not to ignore traditional media as well. Mothers with young kids are always a key audience in all our centres and we put on Mummy Mornings and other events aimed at that group in some of our regional centres. We wanted to communicate with them online but we found 80 per cent of those mothers didn’t have email addresses so we’ve had to continue using direct mail.
“If I had to identify two key trends in marketing the first would be collaboration fuelled by social media. That demands honesty and integrity in everything you do. And the other would be the growth of experiential marketing. Some brands are really pushing the boundaries. For instance we had a Lindt maze at Easter and this Christmas we’re having a giant Ferrero Rocher tree.”
Shannon Luxford
Regional marketing manager – UK
McArthgurGlen:
“Our destinations are about the whole experience of finding the bargain. People come a long way to visit a designer outlet and they won’t leave until they’ve bought something.
“More and more people see a shopping trip as an opportunity to share in something. At McArthurGlen we’ve moved away from fashion shows. We’re replacing them with week-long style workshops, which have really caught the imagination. In the course of a week as many as 1,000 people can have a makeover. We’ve also introduced a free personal shopping service at three of our centres this year.
“I agree with this new emphasis on the family, but you have to be careful how you define it: it’s not just about relatives, it can just as much be groups of friends. Togetherness can be found in all sorts of different ways.
Lidia De Luca
Marketing manager
Grand Arcade, Cambridge:
“Cambridge has an unusual catchment with a big student population. We noticed a surge in spending when the grants and student loans came in.
But other parts of the market are doing well, too. Beauty and womenswear are strong performers, and we use out Fashion Elite club to target that area. It’s proving very successful: they’re very opinionated and they want to be involved.
“For me personalisation is going to be the big thing – creating the experience for the customer, not the shopping centre. But I agree it’s too early for everything to migrate online. We still get a fantastic response from door drops and from competitions in our magazine.”
