THE CONSUMER IN THE ICE AGE

What is the ICE (Information, Communication and Entertainment) age consumer? How different is he in terms of behaviour, values and attitude? Who is he psychographically? Addressing Chennai's advertising fraternity at the recent international advertising convention, Future Shock, Rama Bijapurkar, Strategic Marketing Consultant and Visiting Professor, IIM, Ahmedabad, spoke about the guidelines to build relationship with the new age consumer.

The dominant mental model of the ICE age consumer is driven by the fact that he uses the internet, cellphone and is entertainment- oriented. But this bracket is just the tip of the iceberg, which is growing silently, shaping a new India. The main drivers of change are television and the telephone. The impact of television is widespread among women, children and the lower income groups. Television impacts the person's world view and shapes his or her identity. "It can work on your mind, even if you are not educated."

Awareness of infotech opportunities and IT-enabled services, along with the communication revolution and the connectivity leap have brought in an educational push. Education is now seen as a key to making life better. It is seen to provide "escape velocity", to a higher station in life. If you are educated, you have access to knowledge and information, thus you can make money. And if you are computer-educated, you can participate in new wealth-creating opportunities. Even an auto rickshaw driver knows today, that if you know 'windows' and you have learnt 'word', you can get a job. IT is seen as 'the brahmastra'. Its redefining the conventional parameters of who the elite are. This change can be measured in terms of the decreasing power distance, hunger for information (informed=empowered), rise of womanism and child education centricness.

Powered by these changes, consumer India has started taxiing to take off. Investing in this market now will yield higher multiple gains. However it continues to be a high pain - high gain market. In India the force of change is always measured as a huge mass, moving at a slow pace. But, has corporate India understood the needs of the changing consumer? Bringing in lessons from the "developed markets" will again address only the tip of the iceberg. The needs of the low income consumer group have to be addressed, as it constitutes the major part of the iceberg. Corporate India has to start yet another voyage of consumer discovery, develop new models and jettison old models about target consumers "psyche".

Speaking on the same topic, John Goodman, President, Ogilvy One, Asia Pacific, said, "Everything changes; even your spouse." Quoting his colleague, Martin Hayward, he spoke about six paradox alerts. Considering the fact that though consumer behaviour is changing to adapt to the changes in the economy, this change is not linear, straightforward and adaptive.

The six paradoxes

1.Have more wealth - Want more value
2.Have more choice - But less time to choose
3.Want more freedom - Also more services
4.Are more satisfied - Yet complain more
5.Want more attention - But resent intrusion
6.Are professional in consumption - But baffled by choice

These paradoxes explain the way consumers interact with the market; unpredictable and difficult to manage.The key point of the epidemic theory of change is that by the time you understand it, its too late. We understand change only in hindsight. This is one of the factors that makes it difficult to understand how consumer behaviour is changing.

This strangeness in consumer behaviour contributes to strangeness in corporate behaviour. Companies are now diversifying into totally unrelated areas and therefore focus areas are becoming blurred and difficult to pin down. The new competitor is everyone. And the internet has only magnified this blur (everybody sells everything). Faced with these confusions, the consumer becomes both too cautious and too adventurous. Adventurous, in breaking his usual purchasing habit, hunting for a bargain and doing business through the net. Cautious, by demanding the underwriting of a brand name he knows, and the competency of the seller, his ability to deliver and support what he sells.

People are not only changing whom they buy from, but are also changing how they buy. Due to the development of dynamic pricing on the internet, the very concept of price of goods has come under question. Development of digital TV and convergence of TV and the internet means huge opportunities and choices. This has changed the relationship from monlogue to a dialogue. Not only the urban consumer, but also the rural consumer is rapidly coming in contact with the new technology, which is beginning to change their lives. One of the benefits of internet is its ability to allow people to communicate over great distances to one another. This is the reason why the e-mail is the most used Internet application. However, on the one hand they welcome this opportunity to talk, to demand and question, and on the other they demand thre right not to talk and not to listen. Finally, people's relationship with their work is changing. Individuals are highly valued one minute, transferrable assets the next.

So today's "consumer is brave and adventurous, yet nervous and restrained, open and communicative, yet private and hidden. Willing to trade and barter, yet demanding high levels of service and commitment."

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