For as long as we can remember, business has been built around a simple model. Create demand, service this demand, and reap the profits. As a result, we’ve created a society that sees mass-consumption as second nature, chasing the next dopamine hit in their online shopping cart.
But what happens when the consumers stop consuming? In recent years, we’ve seen the tide begin to shift away from mindless purchasing in favour of mindful buying, second-hand shopping, or sharing. With environmental factors front of mind for many, this shift is no bad thing, but it will be game changing for the world of business as we know it.
One company who has been at the forefront of this transformation is Patagonia, a company that has challenged the retail industry’s norms with its anti-consumption stance. Their “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign, launched during Black Friday in 2011 highlighted the environmental costs of overconsumption. They also focus on product longevity offering free repairs on their products, and encourage customers to value and maintain their gear longer, reducing the need for new purchases.
For a more sustainable society we need more examples of this trend than Patagonia. To better understand the need for a shift in consumption philosophy and how we can get there, I had the recent pleasure of speaking to Alex Bee, project manager and semiotician at cultural and creative consultancy Space Doctors, about how she has seen attitudes change in the last few years, and how she thinks businesses can fit into this new landscape that will interrogate the value they actually bring.
Christopher Marquis: What are the main issues surrounding our current production and consumption model?
Alex Bee: We know we are exceeding most of the planetary boundaries that are needed for life on earth to survive and thrive. Our current production and consumption model is contributing to this excess: throwaway culture, fast fashion, soil degradation from over-cultivation and the normalised expectation of basically being able to order anything you could ever want and have it delivered the next day to your doorstep!
If we’re to have a future on this planet, we’re going to have to make changes to most aspects of our lives. Whether that’s how we travel, what we buy, how we work. In the not-too-distant future, we won’t be able to just jump on a plane; we won’t be able to see everything we need or want on supermarket shelves. So, to put it simply, we have no option but to change.
We’re already seeing examples of this shift in action, just look to the recent success of many rental and sharing services. We can see that the concept of ‘need’ in relation to transaction and ownership is beginning to pivot. People are asking themselves and weighing up what they actually need to own. We might want to feel great at a party, but do we need to own a new outfit to feel happy and confident? Not really. We can rent or borrow an outfit and still get that feeling.
As most roles, targets and objectives in business are centred around growth, it can feel like a daunting task to implement this thinking. But this doesn’t mean sacrificing expansion or profits, it means reframing ‘growth’ to be about the long-term and asking what we can do today that will ensure our organisations exist for years to come, not only to make it to the next quarter.
Marquis: Have you noticed this kind of shift in attitudes from the general public?
Bee: Definitely. The behavioural shift has been driven by the added value that comes from sharing, rather than it feeling like a sacrifice. Vinted, for example, is convenient, money-saving, and offers an exploration that feels even better than shopping first hand. It marries convenience with buying second-hand in a way that just makes sense, while also tapping into a craving for unique or vintage pieces from a younger generation trying to carve out hyper-individual visual identities post-pandemic. It’s not about belief systems or lifestyle, it’s about what makes sense logically and fulfils a need for consumers.
Culturally-speaking, we’re seeing people build more connections that facilitate sharing. This could be through hyperlocal WhatsApp groups, Facebook Marketplace, or organisations like GoodGym, which pairs people who want to exercise with people who need help with manual labour tasks like gardening, moving furniture or sorting food at a foodbank.
The cost-of-living crisis has played no small part, with communities finding ways to share resources with those around them – it’s a shift in attitude but also a very tangible need. People are taking actions into their own hands as they lose faith in governments and local authorities to care for those around them.
Marquis: If sharing is increasing and our relationship to ownership is shifting, how do businesses fit into this? Is there room for profitable businesses in this new future of consumption?
Bee: It’s understandable that brands see this as a threat to sales and profit, but looking beyond the point of purchase, there is opportunity for ongoing contact and relationship with people – repair, renewal services, modifications and updates, parts, innovation, etc. When products have longevity or more users or uses, there are more opportunities for brands and organisations to form a deeper connection, and partner with people to provide what they truly need. This relationship is increasingly important to nurture for business longevity, especially at a time when trust is in short supply.
It’s also worth reframing our thinking from business profit to business survival, here. Businesses need to remember that it doesn’t take much for a competitor to reframe the narrative completely and create a new baseline expectation from people. Many of the industries we work with at Space Doctors are highly saturated so, while these changes can feel disruptive and uncomfortable at first, they’re necessary to ensure a calmer future and keep ahead of innovative up-and-comers. It’s arguably not only an environmental imperative, but a business imperative, too.
Marquis: What are the main things businesses need to learn about this mindset shift?
Bee: When you shift your thinking to focus on the human need at the core of the decisions people are making – what they are prioritizing and what they’re discarding – innovation becomes clearer and more interesting.
For businesses, this is about seeking out and welcoming opportunities to form a deeper connection with their customers. More than ever, people are looking for meaning in their everyday life and expect brands to understand them on a more nuanced and emotional level. It’s not just about trying to get them to buy more and more, but fostering this reciprocal relationship that benefits both sides.
Marquis: Why should they be thinking about this now?
Bee: As well as the pressure on and from the planet due to the climate crisis, we are seeing supply chains collapse, access to materials being disrupted and, perhaps most importantly, the growing fear from people (especially Gen-Z and Gen Alpha) about their future.
We will be facing a number of ‘shocks’ in the coming years due to climate breakdown, where innovation and changes will be fast-tracked, like the working from home transition that came due to COVID-19. There is a phrase we refer to in our work: ‘Emergencies create emergences.’ However, waiting until we have to let go of certain ways of being often leaves us on the back foot, when we could be thinking, planning ahead and preventing or reducing some of the fallout and reverberations of what’s likely to come.
As well as this we have seen some clear examples of regulation that will force brands to transition, like the UK’s ban on single-use e-cigarettes, or France’s move to add a tax-per-item on fast-fashion to reflect the true cost on the environment. Whether it’s demand from people, a climate ‘shock’ or government regulation, we need to learn to lead these transitions ourselves, or they may be taken out of our hands completely.
Marquis: What positive steps have you seen from businesses responding to this? What can we learn from them?
Bee: Brands being responsible for the whole life of a product is something that we are seeing a shift towards. That means from the creation/growing of materials right up until the product has been used to its full potential and is ready to be recycled or broken down and disposed of. For certain industries specifically, there is a movement towards brands taking their recycling schemes in-house, with the idea that they should not be able to label their product as recyclable or circular unless they are truly providing that service themselves.
Brands like Patagonia have led the way on offering lifetime repair of their items, meaning not only is there added value for customers, but an imperative on the brand to create well-made products in the first instance. We also see community-led programmes emerging like the Library of Things, a hyper-local appliance and tool sharing system where people can affordably rent items they use less frequently – think DIY tools, sewing machines, or camping equipment.
The overall learning that businesses can take is that this is becoming a key consideration for people pre-purchase, not an afterthought when an item is at the end of its life.
Marquis: How is Space Doctors working with companies to help them be aware and prepared for this new consumption mindset?
Bee: We use a culture-first approach to show how organisations are being shaped by people. Whether this is through decentralising networks, finding ways to creatively avoid buying more than needed, sharing waste, sharing information, or democratising things that previously required expert knowledge, our layered understanding of culture allows us to advise companies on where they stand now – and where they could be.
A lot of our clients want to make positive transformation, but they don’t always know how to tackle this transition. Our work encourages them to consider their business as part of the wider ecosystem in which it exists.
Our What Matters 2024 Report explored the types of change that brands, businesses and organisations are making in this space – detailing the how as well the why. Reframing ownership is a key theme than we uncovered throughout our analysis from this: people are looking for more meaning and less stuff.
