Consumer Confidence Game

Nobody will ever mistake me for someone who sees the glass as half full. And when it comes to our economy, anybody who sees anything left in the glass at all could reasonably be classified as half fool. So imagine my embarrassment: I detect a few drops in the bottom.

Believe it or not, it has to do with the precipitous drop in retail spending. Obviously, spending is one of the main underpinnings of a successful economy...conversely less buying, means reduced manufacturing, layoffs, less money, less buying, the downward spiral goes 'round and 'round.

Sales are in the crapper (too technical for you?). The lack of consumer confidence becomes self-fulfilling prophecy. We know all that.

But here comes the faint glimmer of hope from Mr. Pollyanna: While most, for good reason, will see our economy as a disaster, maybe...just maybe...there's some opportunity here.

In the last decades of spend, spend, spend, the customer has usually been treated like what you find in the aforementioned crapper. What if the routine adversarial relationship was replaced? What if, in the new frantic scramble for business, retailers, manufacturers, you name it, competed by showing their customers respect. Now THAT would be "change you can believe in".

Wouldn't it be revolutionary if suddenly the service industries would actually give service? Can you imagine a world where products worked like they were supposed to, installers showed up when they were scheduled, telephone support people were responsive and spoke intelligible English? Sounds like a fantasy, doesn't it?

However, now that just about all of us have gotten downright miserly, what with our financial well-being crashing around us, maybe this is an idea whose time has come.

Imagine how successful the merchant will be who simply adopts the slogan "WE WON'T CHEAT YOU ANYMORE!!" Consider how the crowds might flock to his store or web site if he really doesn't cheat. What if advertising was honest?

What if the customer was treated like a person, instead of a nuisance? Think of a world without Audix. The possibilities simply boggle the mind. What a marketing approach: Give people what they pay for. I doubt if they teach that at the MBA schools.

Admittedly, this is such a radical departure from the way things are done today that it won't happen right away. Ingrained bad habits of routine deceit are really hard to break. But as the world of commerce continues to implode the merchants will get so frantic they will have no choice but to attract reluctant customers by being straight with them. As we've seen by all the bankruptcies, and pending failures, shoddy products and service just aren't cutting it anymore. This might be the time for an alternative.

So amidst all the despair, there is that molecule of hope. A new strategy could evolve: Honesty. If consumers regain confidence, they will gravitate to the companies that keep their promises.

It's even something the politicians might consider. Although THAT'S a little too far out.

Follow Bob Franken on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frankenb

Comments

[tomas0808]

I've been waiting for people to wake up and see that when a company advertises a product or service there is always another company that doesn't advertise that has a better product or service.

I dreamt of opening a coffee shop and calling it

ANOTHER COFFEE HOLE

It probably would have been a huge success

[William1950]

Imagine a world where employees were treated like assets and paid a decent wage and provided health care insurance... A world where they then would have the requisite funds to continue consuming... or buying crap. Imagine a world where employees were valued and not treated like disposable overhead, a world where employers did not fire them at the drop of a hat, or the drop of a line on a graph. Imagine a world where crap is manufactured where it will be consumed, by those who will consume it.
We cannot buy stuff to fuel the economy when our jobs are being outsourced to canada or mexico or vietnam.

[tomas0808]

You're describing Norway. I've lived there. I always thought it was one of the biggest crimes that the richest country on earth insisted on this backwards darwinist social and economic philosophy. Now we see it for what it is, keep the dems and repubs fighting amongst each other with the occasional shock to instill fear so the rich could line their pockets. As with any crime, you follow the money and find the culprit/s

[kodon]

Amen. I have long resented the fact that consumer goods were of such low quality, and the purchase experience so awful. It seems like "products" were more like the front end of a scam: 1. pay for overpriced, foreign-produced junk (with great advertising that makes you think it's good), 2. buy a warranty because that fabulous new item will break, 3. when it breaks, it costs too much to repair, so you go back to buying new junk. I saved me some money by avoiding shopping!

The modern business model is all about extracting as much from the "consumer" as possible, not about providing a fair value. And it's about foisting as much on the taxpayer as possible in externalities. No wonder things are a mess.

I look forward to being courted with quality and service and goods made by well-paid workers. Here's hoping...

[nomo555]

I'm not sure if it happens everywhere, but lately in Los Angeles many stores have guards posted at the exit to examine purchase contents. I now refuse to shop at such places. I hate that they have no problem taking my money ( although now I have to check myself out) but the insinuation that I am a some sort of untrustworthy person. Screw Home Depot ( to name only one)

[January]

"Take the money and run" was not always the dominant strategy in commerce. The foundation was "good" consumers, people who kept producers honest by shunning shoddy goods and services.

But as things get more complex, consumers depend more on brokers and advertisers. In our current culture of anonymity, you can do business today and get a 7 year warranty with a business that will be gone in 7 months. That is to say, competition does not work because it is easier to get into and out of business than to stay in business.

The liar can always make a profit, so long as he is willing to run from the consequences. So long as profit replaces honesty and it always will but not always will it be the only choice, the big dogs will rule. We could tolerate that and still survive in a world of vast unused resources. That world no longer exists. All we have is the hangover from it. Maybe we will learn.

[Sundialsvc4]

How about this, Bob?

(1) We won't cheat you any more.

(2) We won't charge you 35% (and higher) interest rates. We'll divest ourselves of our interests in "pawn your title" loan-sharks. We'll shut those places down.

(3) We MAKE IT HERE. We're hiring. The local factory is open again.

"Service" is nice, Bob, but let's face it: you gotta MAKE THINGS, too. When money gets shipped thousands of miles, well, "it spoils," I guess.

[tomas0808]

Ah the good ole days when the only criminals we had to worry about were Capone and Luciano. They only charged 15% interest