Every product that makes its way into the market now is mostly via the influencer method. What we see on our screens usually makes its way into our wallet, costing us time, energy, money, and resources. Currently, 49% Gen Alphas trust influencers as much as their families in terms of purchasing options. But is this amount of influencer pervasiveness in the lives of consumers necessarily good? Let’s find out.
Diversity and Discovery of Products
Product diversity goes two ways:
- Influencers market a new product, imploring consumers to make the purchase
- Post-purchase consumers can raise questions about the diversity of the product for different sects of people.
This two-way street can determine the consumer purchasing intent way further than what just paid influencer marketing can achieve.
The FOMO of Purchasing
Let’s face it, influencers with their huge PR hauls, and aesthetic videos can make consumers definitely feel like they are missing out. This FOMO factor plays right into the hands of sellers who can capitalize on this emotion to make sure their product is the one that sells. FOMO works in different ways; it can help the seller penetrate a market easily, allow them to leverage price for the same product and so much more. An easy way to leverage this emotion is to send the product to many people in one sect and watch the rest of them feel left out and ultimately buy the product.
Engagement and Reach
A French philosopher by the name of Jean Baudrillard came up with a theory on hyperreality in our increasingly post-modern world. He states that the distinction between reality and simulations i.e. the internet and our virtual reality have been blurred. Now if this was true in the 1980s, then it is even more apparent now. The more we see influencers buying and promoting products that even remotely relate to a consumer’s existence, a certain level of trust is built. This trust translates into a quick payment on screens, and the arrival of the product thanks to one day deliveries.
But is the product actually credible? We cannot be sure of that.
Trust and Credibility
The products we see on our screens cannot be fully trusted because more often than not influencers are paid to talk positively about these products. In that sense, do you really need 10 shades of the same laptop cover because it matches your iPhone, or do you really think your Stanley cup needs different kinds of bags and mini pockets to hold your other stuff. That brings us to the final point of our retail ideology: how sustainable is this consumer behavior?
Sustainability vs Overconsumption
Since we now know how consumer behavior works, it’s easy to see why so many products get purchased constantly. The FOMO, the idea of desiring something just because someone you know has it, the feeling of owning something to fit in: it all checks out. But how conscious are we of our environment, of really considering if we need something or are we just buying it because of the hype? The retail should boom no doubt, and many products are now mindful of their carbon footprint and the labor it takes to create it, and if this process continues, then we have some hope of moving towards a sustainable retail chain. Essentially, consumption as much as needed, and a push towards sustainability is the key for retail to make it to long term.
