Unboxing the revenge shopper

This brand of customer is waiting with bated breath for the lockdown to ease so she can head out to the nearest luxury products store

The lockdown has been going on and on. When it started some thought that this will be over in a few weeks. But now, at least in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. One group of consumers are struggling with the challenges of meeting their monthly budgets. Calls are going to landlords for a humanitarian reduction in rent payments for a few months. Banks are approached for a postponement of the EMI on the new car.

While all this is going on, a friend who works in the luxury watch segment alerted me to the unusual level of activity on their website. He was shocked that people were visiting the website in never before numbers. And some of them were even placing orders for expensive watches, knowing fully well that delivery will happen only after the full lockdown is lifted.

What drives these consumers and what is the thrill they are looking for?

Revenge shopper. This interesting term was coined first for the pent-up demand that was unleashed in the 1980s in China. The term has found favour again with the way Chinese consumers are thronging back to luxury brand stores.

The revenge shopper will emerge in India too. The numbers may not be anywhere near what we are seeing in China, but believe you me, there is a revenge shopper segment waiting to be tapped in India too.

What drives these revenge shoppers?

For one, they have the money and they enjoy the process of shopping for luxury goods. In India there are ladies who make it a habit to buy a “gold set” every year. The shopping for the set is an elaborate affair. Planning happens months in ad­vance. And on the final day, it is a day of celebration.

Brands have understood the fine art of tantalising the revenge shopper. One such phenomenon is the “unboxing” ceremo­ny. Brands like Apple have turned unboxing into a fine art. An Economist 2019 article spoke about how Apple has a packaging room where for months packaging designers are holed up performing what could be the most mundane of tasks, endlessly opening boxes. The end goal is to create the perfect drag and friction on opening. To create the enticing pause before the big unveil.

Take any electronic product. Have you at times wondered why it is so difficult to open the sealed box. You need an industrial grade scissors to cut through the plastic. I wondered why the manufacturer of a hard drive had to pack a not-so-fragile product in such a super-protective way. Why trouble the consumer? We understand that the package serves several important roles. They protect the product from damage and pilferage. But still, why do you make the plastic encasing the pack so tough?

There seems to be a method in the madness. Research has revealed that consumers who find the box or blister pack too easy to open, find the end product less attractive. Of lower quality. If I struggled to cut the box open, I end up rating the product inside a lot better.

So the unboxing ceremony can take two forms. The first is the almost poetic fashion in which an Apple product is packed. You need to figure out how to gently price open the box. The box itself is a work of art, so you keep it around. (By the way I found an iPad box lying around during the lockdown cleaning, seven years after I had bought my first iPad. I could not throw it away after opening it.)

The other unboxing is the battle to open the box of a hard drive. A tough blister pack. That calls its own version of perseverance and agility.

The revenge shopper is missing all this. And is waiting for doing his or her bit to stimulate the economy. Chances are they will first flood the online merchants with their instant requirements. Then will follow the visit to the stores.

I suspect that for the shopaholic, the joy of shopping is further enhanced by the joy of unboxing. Just check out the nu­mber of unboxing videos on Youtube. There is even a Youtube channel called Unbox Therapy with 16.6 million, yes 16.6 million subscribers.

The author is a brand coach and strategist & founder, Brand-Building.com
 

ambimgp@brand-Building.com