Influx

While most categories demand obsolescence, perhaps too many corporations and brands are only too willing and eager to let their customers give up on the products too fast and send them to landfill. Clearly, there’s a long-term sustainability issue with this, but also there’s no real alternative, but what if there was?

I recently read about BMW’s Classic Car Center, that restores back to working condition old BMW’s and even Minis. It’s a nice added touch for a brand that’s manufactured a number of iconic models that it’s owners love and cherish and want to keep in working order. It’s likely to be a premium service and used by a tiny fraction of BMW owners.

What if brands could build up a scalable business re-furbishing their old products, and added a layer to this idea by making modular products that could easily be
updated and modernized at these centers?

Think of the categories that could be impacted beyond automobiles to fashion, furniture, computers, cellphones, gaming systems, etc…

This would be a radical change in the way we think about consumption and although a whole industry exists to refurbish, re-sell and repair old products, it’s not branded and at the forefront of the brand experience. if brands were to get behind it and support and create the infrastructure, it would create a whole new brand relationship.

From the onset, consumers would be looking for brands through a different lens; they would be thinking about a lifetime of experience, they would be looking for reliability, for service skills and for the technological know-how to update when required. It’s possible, that many of these updates will be done by software, but the area of hardware remains untapped.

While it would be a huge behavior shift to get people to value their old products over the shiny new ones, one big catalyst could be tax-based dis-incentives for disposal which might force people to value the old over the new.

It will be interesting to see what brands outside of automotive start offering re-furbishing services to customers and go out and actively push a whole new line of business.

Posted by Ed Cotton