About The Author
Dr David Bosshart is the CEO of the Gottlieb-Duttweiler Institute in Switzerland and an international lecturer on consumer trends, retail analysis and social change. He is also the author of Cult Marketing and The Future of the consumer society.
What The Book Talks About
In most developed countries in almost every trade sector, prices have decreased considerably over the last few years-in some cases, by more than 20 percent. The choice of products on offer is immense, and customers are inundated with a vast range of goods, costing very little money.
In this compelling, powerful and shocking account of society's greedy over-consumption, David Bosshart paints a bleak picture of our increasing obsession with cheap goods. He exposes the darker side of some of our favourite organizations such as easyJet, Wal-Mart, Aldi, Hennes and Mauritz, and Disney and reveals some substantial paradoxes in their business strategies.
David Bosshart leads us to question our pursuit of unbridled consumer choice and low prices, and the effect that it is having on the world's economies and societies. Can we rise to the challenge and overcome this obsession for cheap goods before its too late ?
The Author Concludes By Writing
We are approaching an age where, thanks to the Age of Cheap, we are learning a new normality. On the one hand, this 'new morality' means increasing price consciousness. An insecure economic climate and fewer certainties with respect to our own future render a certain basic caution advisable. It is clear that this in itself can lead to paradox and paradoxical behaviour-we buy too much of things we don't need just because the price is low at the moment and are too afraid to take even reasonable risks.
On the other hand, increasing price consciousness means a greater need for simplicity. We only feel that we decide our own fate, have everything under control and are not simply being steamrollered by things if we can make quick, uncomplicated decisions. Too much complexity, too many products on offer and too much information produce customer confusion-it doesn't make us inclined to buy more. These are a few of the main reasons why discounting as a business model-even if, as is the case in Germany, the discounters will soon be jostling for position among themselves-can still be a pioneering example.
And lastly, more than ever before, customers need an emotional bond-they need to feel connected. The price is the most important instrument. But anyone who uses this instrument will in the end be forced to come up with something new at ever-shorter intervals. No other instrument is perceived with such acuity by the customer as the price. And no other instrument is more exciting when it is wielded as a weapon.
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