What are Consumers Buying?

I posted a blog last week called Who Are You?  In it, I talked about what consumers are REALLY buying:  consumers aren’t buying a mattress, they are buying a good night’s sleep; they aren’t buying home owners insurance, they are buying peace of mind in the event of damage or loss to their property. Smart business owners understand they are not selling a commodity (mattress or insurance) as much as they are solving a problem or enhancing our lifestyle in some way.  I ran onto a couple more examples this weekend 

1)      Shake Shack is the newest jewel in the crown of Restaurateur, Danny Meyer.  A casual, burger joint he placed, roughly seven years ago, in busy Manhattan.  When asked about the big success of Shake Shack, Meyer said he believes that restaurants are as much about creating a gathering place “to make people happy” as about serving food.  Shake Shack is opening another half-dozen restaurants in this year.

2)      Nestle Hot Cocoa Mix is another.  I picked up the box to find a couple of pictures of a young family ice skating and then having hot chocolate together.  The caption beside the pictures read:  “The pond finally froze…we skated until dark, nobody forgets those days.”  And then, in large letters it reads:  Over 100 years of making chocolaty memories.

Think about the product(s) and services you offer from the consumer’s point of view.   What does that product or service DO for the consumer?  Successful brands don’t sell products or services, they sell what that product or service does for the consumer. 

One final thought I’d like to share from successful business owner and restaurateur, Danny Meyer, because it really sums this up nicely, he said  “the burger is only the starting point, the magic is how we make people feel.”

What are you doing to make your customers feel “happy?”