"Foreverism" Part 3: Creating Custom Cabinet Customers for Life With One Eye on “Nowism”!
Nowism
In previous posts, we have focused one eye on Foreverism, but if we expect to create custom cabinet customers for life, we must simultaneously focus the other eye on its counterpart, Nowism. A term like “Nowism” conjures up many possible interpretations, so let’s begin the discussion by establishing a workable definition provided by Trendwatching.com:
Nowism | “Consumers’ ingrained lust for instant gratification is being satisfied by a host of novel, important (offline and online) real-time products, services and experiences. Consumers are also feverishly contributing to the real-time content avalanche that’s building as we speak. As a result, expect your brand and company to have no choice but to finally mirror and join the ‘now’, in all its splendid realness and excitement”.
In an ever increasing affluent world where the time needed to secure the basics of life is ever being reduced and where goods are plentiful, the status derived from obtaining them is becoming less important. What has become more important than having the item itself is the experience of obtaining the item. Thus, this focus of obtaining the experience and the drive to collect as many experiences as possible—living in the now, so to speak—has become the game.
In our constantly accelerating online world, instant gratification is ever easier to obtain. For custom cabinets in particular, if the experience is less than satisfying the next is only a click away. More than any other single factor, the development of the internet has hastened this thirst and addiction for the next experience as quickly as possible. According to a business study by Deloitte LLP’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications, the need; no, the demand for instant gratification not only applies to individuals, but to entire communities. Companies are then obligated to go beyond their ‘customers for life’ mindset and by thinking what it will take for community success. In their report, they present the stark reality of this expanded playing field.
Some of the biggest obstacles to creating a successful community are getting people to:
• Join (24 percent)
• Stay engaged (30 percent)
• Keep returning (21 percent)
These statistics, particularly the attrition rate represent a whole new set of metrics that an organization must be aware of while learning to satisfy customer needs now. The perfect example of this now phenomenon is the social media world of Twitter. Millions of people, services, products world wide all connected and Tweeting in real time. It doesn’t get any more “now” than that. The conversation is visible in real-time and to everyone.
How is the Kitchen Cabinet Industry Responding to Nowism?
The kitchen cabinet industry is a significant part of the remodeling and home improvement industry. According to NAHB and the Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS), they estimate the remodeling market at $280 Billion in sales and is on pace to top $350-$400 Billion in market size over the next ten years.
Even with this industry size, the home improvement sector needs to speed up to the realization that as home improvement consumers embrace and even expect to receive what they desire now, they will highly utilize the Internet to browse, explore ‘lifestyle, design/architectural trends, shop, find the right ‘qualified professional’ who can help them realize their dream, etc. Additionally, they will:
1. Expect intelligent tools to help them minimize decisions that they would have to make at the showroom.
2. Want fast, quick responses “via personal contact” from every media including instant message, e-mail query, etc.
3. Rely on social networking as a dominant “qualifier.
4. Make decisions based on the fact that your: Reputation Online is Huge!
Note: This last point is worth reading twice as with consumer communities hooked on “Nowism”, instead of the old days where an unhappy customer would tell 10 of their friends, if a customer is happy with your service moving forward, their message spreads to more than thousands; instantly!
The brands that fail to grasp and engage this “Nowism” are doomed to a shrinking old world economy. Those that grasp the new opportunities this paradigm represents will flourish among this brave new real time world.
Stay tuned for next time as Nowism Goes Mobile!
What ways can you think of that companies and marketers can embrace and demonstrate this trend?