Todays modern world provides companies with the ability to market products to you on a daily basis. This means everyday, every hour, you are most likely being targeted by an advertisement. Now this is subject to debate by all, however I wanted to speak of the constant updating of products to which they market to us. For example, phone companies release a new phone every year. This can be validated by the fact that technology is changing so fast that these new versions are so much different. However they are not that different and the unsaid pressure of having the newest phone is the majority of the reason for individuals to purchase the newest editions.
Now Im all about the latest and greatest technology. Of course I would also like the newest and latest phone. Although, if I am about to spend a whack of dough and I am committing to the contract for 2 years then I want to the differences to be much more noticeable. Also, people do not need to continuously buy these products if theirs are working fine. Modern Consumerism.
MY proposal: Biannual releases. Apple develops the iPhone for 2 years and puts more into each new release. The consumer system of constant purchasing can be left behind and the natural release of the contract would coincide with the release of the new phone.
This isn’t just true for iPhones. The same goes for the car industry, professional soccer jerseys, sports equipment etc.
I think that (similarly to my last post which mentioned “changing consumer attitudes”) major corporations have the opportunity to force change in a positive way.
Obviously the implications of changing the release structure of major products creates major issues with revenue inflow consistencies and the corporations might see this as revenue loss. However, total demand would should not waiver, it would just be timed to the release date. I mean maybe, just maybe, a loss of total revenues might exist, but its for the better. Take one for the better of society, or take one for the team.
Great Local Company: http://www.befresh.ca/
References:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/amitai-etzioni/the-crisis-of-american-co_b_1855390.html
https://www.lifewire.com/when-does-new-iphone-come-out-1999740
Hi Tyler!
Yes! Having a brother that continuously fights to get the newest iPhone every year, I can totally relate to this post. My brother does not even take advantage of the apparent “updates” such as better camera or whatever fingerprint/face recognition technology. He simply uses his phone for calls, messages, and e-mails. I consider that Modern Consumerism is not only dangerous, but manipulative as well. It is not only about the yearly releases, but also the pricing strategies that Apple is implementing. For the typical everyday consumer, there really isn’t much of a difference between the iPhone X and the previous iPhone in terms of usage. It is also ridiculous how the cheapest iPhone X starts at $1319 CAD before tax. Your proposal of biannual releases makes total sense to me. There might be a longer interval between purchases, but the absolute volume should be relatively the same!
You made some great points about our purchasing behaviors as a society today. Consumerism is out of control.
Look at China, for example, their transforming society has created a counterpart to valentines day in China. They call it singles day, and people are supposed to buy something to treat themselves on this day. This resulted in massive record-breaking sales for many businesses there. So we know this mentality is global and needs to be kept under watch. Read more about it here-
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2017/11/10/chinas-singles-day-will-hit-around-25-billion-heres-a-fund-that-benefits-bigly/#36f1f6c57253
I also agree with the bi-annual releases, that’s how I usually make my phone purchases as well.