Hey bloggers and bloggees,
After reading Professor Luch’s research article on consumer wisdom, I was prompted to question the “wise consumer”. How would the wise consumer spend their money and how would we identify their choice through the lens of this 5-faceted projected framework. Examples in the article included shoes, homes, and modes transportation. As readers, we were able to read through their decision making process, learning whether the individual decided to make the purchase or not and why; what was the deciding factor? In many cases the deciding factor was a combination of the following five facets: contemplation, emotional mastery, openness, intentionality and transcendence.
Based on these facets, it is pretty clear that the wise consumer is going to make a good decision. Almost all of the interviewees identified in the article claimed to be happy with most of their purchases, relaying to the interviewer that it was rare for them to regret a purchase decision, and this is because they think about the purchase through most of the aforementioned facets. Wise consumers are going to purchase items that are practical, that adds something to their daily life that wasn’t previously there. Wise consumers are not necessarily going to be concerned with price as long as the premium product is going to be significantly better than its cheaper counterpart. The wise consumer likes to invest in products and services that are going to last them a long time and pay for themselves in a way through your enjoyment of them. Consequently, the wise consumer would invest in things like education, leather goods, cars, homes – items that will last them a long time, items that can be repaired after years of use and items that will give them some kind of enjoyment and practicality.
In this way, selling features of items that the wise consumer might invest in would be the item’s quality. Wise consumer buy high quality products because they can trust and rely on the product for a long period of time. Another selling point would be the lifetime of the product. Longer lifetimes mean ease of mind for the user as well as this idea of use and disposability. If you are going to be able to use a product over the course of many years, you will not be needing to purchase an additional item and the item itself will be utilized without being thrown away and wasted. This ties in to the quality aspect as well in that when the product has lived its life and gotten worn down, it can be fixed for a lesser cost and impact than it would be to simply replace it.
The wise consumer also looks for things that can be personalized or customized, fitting into their life and preferences. This can be seen with the motorcycle purchase dictated in the article. This man is very happy with his purchase because it has lasted him so long, he enjoys it and it is almost a point of pride for me. Another example would be the woman who fixed her mortgage from the beginning with her monthly budget as opposed to asking how much they could borrow. In this way, she is able to protect her monetary flexibility and general ability to spend money and travel how she wants without over extending her budget. In this way, the wise consumer looks for products or services that lend to their lifestyle and will provide a certain flexibility.
Let’s get wise!
xoxo Lana