Consumers and markets - tane

1.4: DO CONSUMERS DRIVE THE MARKETS OR DO THE MARKETS DRIVE CONSUMERS?

– tane richardson

Okay i'm going to set it out like this.
First i'll say what i think about this, then I will do some research and finally come to a fact-based conclusion. Those are always fun.

WHAT ME THINKS
At this point I believe that it's the markets that are driven by consumers. It's the businesses that can't do without you. It's the businesses that desperately research consumer patterns and trends in a bid to trade with you. Businesses are completely driven by the consumers and without us they die and turn into adult bookshops. Consumers driven by markets? I don't think so. I think we are heavily influenced by advertising, but this doesn't drive us, we still have the conscious choice.
What the consumer is driven by is quality. By word of mouth, if a garage hairdresser is said to be better than a professional parlour, then the consumer will be driven by that knowledge to use the better one. But advertising is not as credible as word of mouth. A Current Affair may be nearly as effective when they point out the 'best brands', but that show is crap.

THE RESEARCH
Here are the juiciest bits from a few sites on the subject.
(A) EXAMPLES OF MARKETS DRIVEN BY CONSUMERS
1. "http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Supply-Chain/Consumers-drive-market-says-book"
Consumers Drive Market, says book
A new book has been published examining how consumer desires shape the way that food manufacturers develop and market their product lines.
(The book says) it is usually the consumers who drive product changes because of their own expectations, forcing manufacturers to make changes to existing lines. Greater personal wealth has given consumers a lot of power in the second half of the 20th century, and globalisation means that they demand a wider level of choice as well as good quality products.
Companies have also had to seriously change due to the current fad for health and wellness products. Consumers are increasingly worried about health problems such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes, and so are turning away from fatty or unhealthy foods.
Other controlling factors discussed in the book include consumer opinion on animal cruelty, the environment and ethics.

2.http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Products-Markets/Female-consumers-drive-nutricosmetics-market
Female consumers drive nutricosmetics market
The report states that the current body obsessed society looks set to drive the nutricosmetics industry, with manufacturers feeling the pressure to develop new product lines to meet increasing consumer demands for 'beauty from within'.
Rising disposable incomes are also encouraging the female consumer to spend more on becoming body confident with the emphasis being placed on Chinese and Indian markets, as consumers are becoming more affluent and 'can spend more money on self improvement'.
Many cosmetics giants such as L'Oreal, Procter & Gamble and Shiseido have already capitalised on the trend and created nutricosmetic ranges, with some endorsing their products by collaborating with celebrity doctors such as Howard Murad and Nicholas Perricone.
However, despite nutricosmetics being further driven into the spotlight, there are still some doubts regarding their efficacy with Werner Voss, who heads the Dermatest Institute in Muenster, Germany, described them as 'simply worthless'.
The head of the Dogwell Research Institute For Dogs, T. Richardson, also described nutricosmetics as 'absolute shit. Just absolute fucking shit. Pathetic.'

(B) EXAMPLES OF CONSUMERS DRIVEN BY MARKETS

http://www.marketingmag.com.au/around_the_table/view/230/
HAS ANXIETY BECOME THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR?
"If we get more interest rate rises and things continue to get worse, I will definitely buy more home brand. There is no matter of choice."
IFM research shows that across the spectrum people are becoming increasingly anxious about their budgets and spending. Even the higher income brackets (who suffer the least mortgage stress) are showing caution. Even they have reined in spending on little things and are purchasing cheaper day-to-day alternatives. Middle Australia is also finding cheaper alternatives, but the hardest hit, as we read in the papers virtually every day, are young families with mortgages.
People take action (mostly) based on one of three emotions:
Fear
Hope, and
Love.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is in the fear business. Every time it gets you take off your shoes, it’s using fear (of the unknown or perhaps of missing your plane) to get you to take action.
Doctors selling check-ups, of course, are in the fear business (while oncologists certainly sell hope). Restaurants have had a hard time selling fear (healthy places don't do so well). Singles bars certainly thrive on selling hope.
The easiest way to build a brand is to sell fear. The best way, though, may be to deliver on hope while aiming for love.
Like most creatures, people are stressed out. Almost all the time. We get stressed about money, reputation, safety, relationships and whether we have to move our seat on the plane after we get on.Terrorism, global warming, food scares, the credit crunch etc. are all 21st century epidemics that make everyday life not just faster, but also far more worrying than ever before. Not necessarily because life is more dangerous, but because, through the advent of global media, life just seems more dangerous. As a five-year-old child I walked a mile to school every day without parental supervision. Today in Japan GPS is wired into school blazers to ensure the child has got to school safely!
So, there is no doubt that anxiety is an issue and an issue that needs an antidote. For clever marketers that antidote can be their brand. Brands that make you smile and help you forget today’s worries will do well as will brands that take you back to halcyon days when life was somehow safer and simpler. This is why brands like Adidas, Puma and Nike have reintroduced retro designs with such great success and why you are seeing the renewal of brands like Mini, which remind you of a time when things were – perceptually at least – just so much more innocent!
So, has anxiety been the driving force behind today’s successful brands?Absolutely.

THE FACT-BASED CONCLUSION
Aha, yes. The research has confirmed half of my previous opinion, the pretty frigging obvious part, the part that proclaimed businesses need us so badly they are driven to measures. Of course that's all true. We as graphic designers ARE those measures.
But on the otherwise, the article about consumers being driven by fear, hope and love, that certainly struck a chord. I was previously of the opinion that we were influenced and not driven, but fear campaigns, yep, they certainly drive the consumer once they catch them. And of course with all the 'war on terror' and credit crunch crap we're fed every day, anxiety is a big driving force.
So to sum on up, I say that both statements are true but i think that markets are more driven by consumers than consumers are driven by markets. This is because we have more power of choice due to globalisation.