The World Transitions to a New Business Model
The most important factors that consumers pay attention to when choosing between brands are the company’s innovative tendencies and social benefit-oriented approaches.
After the Industrial Revolution, a process was entered in which the producer won first and then quality production took a step forward. As the steps came one after the other, businesses that stood behind the product they produced, provided technical support and cost quality cheaply, started to develop marketing models in the 2000s, both costing quality cheaply and accompanied by extra services. For some time now, this new business model has taken on a completely different face. Brands started to look for ways to meet producers with emotional marketing models.
Consumers no longer like projects that have become advertising material and are produced just to stimulate their buying tendencies.
Today, the trinity of quality, price and service is equalized in almost every brand. For this very reason, it has become imperative for brands to create a policy where they can differentiate themselves and lead the customer to purchase.
If consumers find a brand’s approach to social responsibility and the intangible benefits of the product in question valuable, they may overlook some flaws in the service.
SOCIAL GOOD BECOMES A SALES STRATEGY
As a result of changes in marketing models and differences in purchasing trends, consumers now have to choose between brands that are very close to each other in terms of quality, price and service. The most important factors that consumers pay attention to at this point are the innovative tendencies and social benefit-oriented approaches of the company. Because current problems enable consumers to organize among themselves through social media and create collective consciousness towards these problems. In this case, brands that tend to provide social benefit and engage in social responsibility projects imply that they go beyond quality, price and even service queries and support the elimination of situations that hurt their consumers and disturb them emotionally. Then, by saying that if they are preferred, they can both purchase products and make donations, they influence the consumer and make the purchase.
CONSUMERS DEMAND MORE FROM BRANDS
Although everything seems normal so far, there are actually some situations that are not normal. Because now, the consumer is looking for qualities such as the production process, packaging preference, how the raw material is provided and whether the product contributes to recycling, and at the same time prefers products that meet these conditions. Of course, saturation will be reached in this process one day. In this way, these qualities will become normalized for producers and customers, and consumers will start to demand more from brands.
SOCIAL BENEFIT-ORIENTED PRODUCTS STAND OUT
Consumers no longer like projects that have become advertising material and are produced solely to stimulate their buying tendencies. They expect the brand they are or will be a customer of to be able to produce solutions to certain problems within the framework of a social commitment. In fact, this approach has become so prominent that if the consumer finds a brand’s approach to social responsibility and the moral benefit of the product in question valuable, they can overlook some flaws in the service. In this way, they sometimes tend to buy the existing product without even questioning the price and quality. This may sound like a rather ambitious statement. However, when we explain this situation with two examples specific to our country, the issue becomes clear. Kizilay mineral water, which enters almost all of our homes, and Mehmetcik Foundation gas stations, which we use when we buy gasoline for our vehicles, are the brands preferred in exactly this manner. This is because when consumers buy from these brands, they know the purpose for which the income is used and create an emotional bond with the brand in question because they provide social benefits to other people.
INDUSTRY 4.0 AIMS TO BRING BACK FORGOTTEN VALUES
Following all these changes and the latest trends in purchasing trends, it seems that the state of dedication to social good will also be on the agenda of brands in the coming period. Because as it becomes easier to produce with Industry 4.0, the emotional values we have forgotten will re-enter the agenda of brands and humanity. In other words, in the future, in addition to being pushed by consumers, brands will also act sensually and focus on social benefit instead of being production-oriented. Thus, the problems that brands embrace in their value measurements will be evaluated as a unit of measurement and priced accordingly. This process is not likely to take decades. These are not prophecies; they are already being implemented step by step in other parts of the world.
THE WORLD HAS STARTED TO TAKE STEPS FOR SOCIAL BENEFIT-BASED PRODUCTION
Last August, the CEOs of 181 companies, representing 30 percent of the US economy, issued a declaration. According to the declaration, the companies pledged to invest in their employees and customers, to treat their suppliers fairly and ethically, and to transition from pure profit-oriented corporate governance to social benefit-oriented corporate governance for the future of the US economy and companies, and to be pioneers in this regard. Of course, the premises that led to this declaration did not come out of nowhere. So change is not new. It was Bill Gates’ call for “creative capitalism” at Davos in 2008, in the final years of his full-time service at Microsoft. In his speech there, Gates said that “the genius of capitalism lies in harnessing self-interest in beneficial and sustainable ways. But its benefits are inevitably skewed towards those who can pay.” He also said that for markets to thrive, we need an innovative system that quickly brings businesses into the production and consumption system. According to Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, “shared value” capitalism will increase over the next few years. In a nutshell, capitalism is being updated, and this is being characterized by social good. We need to keep up with this innovation as soon as possible. At the same time, we should start taking steps in the new order that we think we are lagging behind. Global benefit and success will surely be achieved in this way.
Following the latest trends in purchasing trends, it seems that dedication to social good will also be on the agenda of brands.
–Social Entrepreneur Ismail Hilmi Adiguzel
Source: https://businessdiplomacy.net/tr/dunya-yeni-bir-is-modeline-geciyor/