Good day folks, and thank you for returning back to the Woz Report. In this week’s edition I’ll be discussing;
The joys of spring
Subscription services
Consumer trends
Reasons to be cheerful: Spring is on the horizon
When I left work yesterday at 17:00 the sun was still shining, and it was a great feeling to see daylight. November through to January can seem like a drag, but Spring is on the horizon, and we can enjoy the fruits of longer days.
I’m looking forward to the spring, mainly but because my wife and I live a short walk from the north banks of the Thames Estuary. Thursday marked World Wetlands Day, and important event on the sustainability calendar. I wrote about why the event is important, you can read the article here. Please subscribe to my ESG Nerd channel using the button below.
What do you associate with spring? Is it the longer days, Easter, shedding the outdoor coat on your mid-morning walk, or a vibrant spring recipe. I have travelled far and wide, from Northern Canada, to the Falklands Islands in the south, and from San Diego in the west, to Brunei in the Far East. I also spent three months in Kenya, but in all my travels I never saw one of my most hated creatures, a snake.
Oddly, I’ve only ever seen three snakes in the wild, two in Rutland Water, and one on a bike ride around North Lincolnshire with my good buddy Wayne and the Kirton-in-Lindsey cycle club. I believe they were all grass snakes. The slithery creatures are active in spring, hunting for frogs among the long grass. Spring will never seem the same (chuckles). Don’t forget that Sunday 26th March marks Daylight Saving hours.
A great way to enjoy the spring is to get out and about in the ubiquity of National Trust parks. Rayleigh Mount is the closest National Trust site to where I live. For an annual subscription of £127.20, I can walk around the site, and enjoy free parking! That got me thinking.
We live in a subscription world
When Sky launched it’s new TV service in the early 1990s it revolutionised television. Households went from four channels to a seemingly unlimited choice of shows. Sky also got their claws into the newly formed Premier League, a bold vision of improving the English game, and the success of the national team.
Whether you watch football or not, Sky’s vision was the start of things to come. Subscriptions are common place, from coffee to car ownership. Closely following Sky’s TV subscription model came the explosion of the mobile phone market. Who remembers the Nokia 5110, with its everlasting battery, green screen and black PVC holder?
The early 2000s saw the launch of the text message campaign. The ads read “Subscribe now and receive 1,000 texts messages free, for only £19.99.” Well, I had a lot of fun with mobile retailers over those campaigns. Did you know the original purpose of text messages was for engineers to communicate over voice channels? In other words, it didn’t/doesn’t cost the network provider to send your messages. Of course, in 2023, there are many ways to send a message other than using the traditional text app.
Do you remember the old classic handheld games machine, known as the Game Boy? Many a child (and adult) spent hours playing Tetris, an addictive puzzle game. You can still play Tetris, it’s available on smart phone, but…there is always a but. The game is free to play if you’re happy to put up with adverts. For £8.99 you can go ad free for six months. Give me a break!
During my adolescence and into my late 20s, I would sit glued to a computer game called Championship Manager, later called Football Manager. For a one-off price of £24.99 you could appoint yourself to your favourite team, tweak the database and take the likes of York City to the heights of the Champions League.
Football Manager is going strong. The mobile version is available for £8.99, but it will cost you another £14.99 for the All Items Bundle. Today, I’d rather spend my time writing than playing video games. Experts believe the gaming industry will hit a total value of $326bn by 2026. A lot of that cash will come from your son or daughter subscribing to add ons. Bring back the Amiga 500!
The latest Royal Mail report forecasts the subscription market will grow a whopping 72% by the end of 2022, taking the value from £583 million in 2017 to just over £1 billion. 58% of retailers already offering subscription services are looking to increase product lines to keep up with demand, which also means more competition for consumer loyalty. Sagacity
I’ll admit there are some subscriptions service I can’t live without (Peloton, Audible, Adobe and Spotify). All platforms play a vital role in maintaining my mental and physical health.
Returning to Sky, my wife and I decided to scrap our subscription. Policy makers are obviously blind to the cost-of-living crisis, because Sky wants you to commit to an 18th month contract. Other media outlets also want to lock you in to long-term contracts.
The consumer landscape is forever changing, and hundreds make monies from this platform (Substack), but I enjoy writing and I believe shared knowledge and ideas should not come at a price. I get more satisfaction from subscriber shares and comments than I do from taking a few pounds out of your pocket.
Companies have long being offering you a personal consumer journey
We live in a world of 24 hour on demand consumerism. Supermarket loyalty cards are just one of many ways in which business can target consumers with personalised choices. Artificial intelligence will only ramp up the ability to create consumer moments that matter.
More and more marketing automations and management platforms are integrating AI to further data they provide. Marketing Insider Group.
Disney received lots of criticism in recent years for putting profit before the customer experience. Like Amazon and Netflix, the American giant has its own streaming service, Disney+. Subscription prices range depending on your appetite for adverts. When Disney acquired the rights to Star Wars, they knew what they were doing.
A change in consumer behaviour means our homes have become hubs for just about anything. This morning, I’ve written this edition of the Woz Report, spent 40 minutes interval training and shopped for a new phone cover without leaving my office.
20 years ago people were still visiting phone boxes, thumbing through the catalogue, and waiting for the shops to open. Our office ran out of milk this week, but nobody wanted to go out and buy some. There are apps for that, and the fridge was stocked within 20 minutes of placing the order. Whatever next?
Will your consumer habits changed this spring? Thank you for reading the Woz Report. I’ll be back next week.
Everybody wants your money - self-discipline will stop you giving it to them