“Wise”Consumer: Are they really that wise?

Based off this reading, my five key takeaways on what makes a wise consumer are:

1. The consumer remains calm and level headed when it comes to planning and managing their resources in order to create their aspired lifestyle.
2. They save for unanticipated expenditures.
   1. Example: car accident
3. They are reluctant to rely on or purchase items that cause debt.
   1. Exceptions: house, car, education
   2. Although debt by education was not mention in the journal, I would argue the wise consumer would take on such debt because it furthers their intellect and supports their aspired lifestyle.
4. The wise consumer avoids negative emotions.
   1. I perceived these “negative emotions” to refer to sales, promotional advertising and the retail/online shopping experience in general. Negative emotion is an energized product desire. This consumer would prefer to purchase well known products instead of engaging in the purchase environment.
5. This consumer prioritizes what the items provide them.
   1. Is it worth it to me to purchase a parking pass to park at the school vs taking a bus/walking? Yes, because the money spent saves me time and energy. Similar to Brent when he decided to spend more on a machine instead of saving $12 a year because it kept breaking.

 

Based off these takeaways, I believe a wise consumer would purchase:

1. A long term product that would contribute to their lifestyle. Personally, this would be my backpack. I am a student and your backpack says a lot about who you are. I have had my backpack for five years and it contributes to my beliefs because it is sustainably made, well made, the company is transparent in their operations and it is professional looking. I decided to invest capital into a well known, well made product because I did not want this to be a routine purchase. It gives me a sense of satisfaction knowing that my purchase decision had a positive impact on the environment and working conditions of those who made the product due to HP’s sustainable standards.
2. The wise consumer would purchase a premium product at a premium price for quality and longevity purposes. Take a bed for an example. There are many different pricing options when mattresses. A wise consumer takes their comfort into consideration knowing that they spend approximately 8 hours sleeping on the mattress each night. A wise consumer would rather put out the initial expense in order to have the comfort and longevity of the mattress. High quality mattresses usually last longer than lower end brands which will save money in the long run.
3. A wise consumer would invest in education. I use the term education in a broad sense. I believe education refers to university classes all the way to Soulcycle classes, basically any avenue that could be a learning experience and valued by wise consumers.

 

The attributes and features I believe would be important or appealing to the wise consumers are:

 

• Quality
  • I believe quality is one of the most important attributes to wise consumers because they value the quality of a product. They do not wish to frequently replace lower quality items. The wise consumer saves money to make purchases that require additional upfront funding. When the quality of a product is high it leads to customer loyalty and brand recognition. Wise consumers do not want to spend time researching various products and often purchase based on reputation and brand recognition.

 

 

• Transparency
  • A transparent company allows consumers to build trust with the brand. Particularly the wise consumer prioritizes transparency because they want to resonate with products that mirror their lifestyle and ethics. They are able to build a connection with the brand by analyzing their sustainability procedures, supply chain, working conditions etc.

 

 

• Time Efficiency
  • The wise consumer values their time. They would rather spend time with family and friends than working with or researching a product. They want a product that is high quality, going to do its job and has strong brand recognition behind it, but they want all of this information at the snap of their fingertips. How should companies successfully market their products to these consumers if they do not have the brand recognition and would require the consumer to do a little bit a research?
    • Is the wise consumer missing out of innovative products by not making time to do research?