A peek into your future – by Martijn Linssen
Today’s consumer lives in a rapidly evolving world full of other hyper-connected human beings and data-driven companies. Currently, more than ever, accumulating and essentially utilizing this customer data is crucial to thrive as a firm (Google, 2018). Adding to that, customer data is not just used for being successful in the present, but these customer insights can effectively be used to predict the future. We are surrounded by information that can help predict how consumer behavior will change over time. Through the analysis of two interesting market research reports (Google,2018; Mintel,2019), this blog provides an evidence-based peek into your future.
Technological advances are at the forefront of determining how we will consume within the next 10 years (Google, 2018). A report by Mintel (2019) predicts 5G and mobile technology to play a big role in blurring lines between time, travel, learning and leisure. With an expected 125 billion devices connected to the 5G network by 2030, it is expected that virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) will create a dominant role in various industries like tourism and entertainment. The rising popularity for augmented travels will only be boosted as the rising climate change awareness makes customers rethink their carbon footprint whence booking a plane (Google, 2018). However, I am in doubt whether the mass-consumer will be open to virtual/augmented travelling and whether it has the potential of dominating the travel industry. An identical real-life experience of a country’s ambiance and people will be extremely hard to re-create using technology. It is the need to see, taste and experience new things that keeps people travelling isn’t it? Technology will still not be able to replicate and fulfill the needs for tasting and creating real-life experiences in my opinion.
The paper by Mintel (2019) describes another interesting development in the sports industry that is likely to happen due to the fast technological advances. It is expected that 5G enabled virtual esports will create an enormous boost and eventually overtake physical sports in popularity. Virtual esports allows the tech-savvy consumer to work-out seamlessly on an international stage. Personally, I definitely see the potential of esports becoming a popular alternative besides physical sports. Being able to choose your league effectively through the internet, and being able to compete with fellows a competitive international stage, are definitely great value propositions that I do believe tomorrow’s consumer would hold on to. However, I am not quite sure whether it has the potential to overtake the physical sports industry.
References
Schmidt, S. L., & Stoneham, K. (2020). Beyond 2030: What Sports Will Look like for the Athletes, Consumers, and Managers. In 21st Century Sports (pp. 293-301). Springer, Cham.
Google. (2018). A peek into your consumer’s future. California: Google.
Crabbe, M. (2019). Consumer Trends 2030. London: Mintel.
Well written, Martijn! It is interesting that the report by Mintel predicts that technology such as AR/VR along with environmental consciousness raising in consumers will replace the travel and entertainment industry. I agree with you that this might be a far-fetched idea. It is unlikely that someone with a must-see destination on their plan would replace an in-person experience with mixed reality. However, it might help those that want to check off a popular destination off their list that requires a pricey ticket, long lines, or just a quite photo op in museums such as the Mona Lisa painting. VR can fight the FOMO factor and reduce the cost of traveling and experiences wherein people can choose what they want to experience in person and more organically. Similarly, it can benefit the educational opportunities presented to students and those who want to see visual and get the ‘experience’ of being there and the knowledge that comes with it without spending the money and the time to travel there, especially if it is geographically far. I can also see it as a means for our family and friends to connect to the experiences of our trip afterwards. This “remote travel” can guide our loved ones to experience an aspect our trip alongside us. It builds a shared collective experience in that way. However, all said and done I cannot imagine giving up on the experience of exploring a culture and its nuances in person to view it in VR because after all it is just a mirage- it is so close you can ALMOST touch it but not really.
Yess I completely agree with you Jhanvi. I can also see the potential of AR/VR in booking travels and discovering where to go next. However, as you mentioned, replacing real-life experiences with some sort of mixed reality seems unrealistic. I can definitely see the benefit of using AR to discover more of a country before heading on a trip. It could for example replace websites such as traveladvisor.com so that people can actually experience what the Eiffeltower is like in 3d without having to look at a 2D screen or reading endless forums/blogs.