Selling time
The one thing we never have enough of. Time.
If you could 'actually' sell time imagine how the World would change....! You'd never be late for work. Never miss a plane. Always hand in your home work on time. Never be late to your own wedding!
Unfortunately we haven't come up with this world changing technology but some brands are doing the next best thing - saving us time. More time to spend with the family, to get fit, to see the world, or simply to take time out for yourself.
One brand doing this just this is Slowly by Da Dolce in Hong Kong. This cafe-come-bookshop-come-live Radio station invites people to slow down and take time to enjoy a moments rest from the craziness of HK living. Offering a programme for emerging musicians and creative forums on design, advertising, books and films, Slowly gives back to its customers offering a haven whilst becoming an authority in its own right.
Back here in the UK, a new German chain of Italian fast food has touched down in London. The Vapiano concept is a totally self-serve restaurant where staff are only really on hand to keep the place clean and answer any questions you may have. Thus making it quicker to get your food and more time to spend eating. The innovative part of Vapiano is the use of a chip card to order your food from the 'food station points' and then your Barclay swipe card to pay. Their aim, to change the way restaurants do business whilst saving their customers time.
The Barclay contactless swipe cards is a new innovative that is allowing retailers to think differently about payments and we will see more clever uses of this technology over the next year to make our lives easier and quicker.
Possibly one of the biggest, most successful product innovations to have hit the high streets over the last few years, the iPhone, has been a great example of selling time. The biggest benefit of an iPhone is the ability to do things on the move, easily, that would otherwise take up precious time through the wonders of apps.
Fed up of shopping the aisles, standing in queues and finding your car has a huge trolley scratch down the side of it? Then get the Ocado app and do your food shop on the train home. A great app that is easy to use and saves you travel expenses and journey time.
But it doesn't stop there, oh no! Social media junkies can twitter and facebook till their hearts content with their respective apps allowing one to keep up with the virtual world without forgetting those in the real world.
It is this type of time-saving that brands have realised that, although in the grand scheme of things is so relatively small, it makes a difference in a positive way and helps build strong connections with their customers.
On a different scale, we have seen a huge increase of self-check-in and self-check-outs. One actual saves you time, the other just saves brands money...
Self-check-in at home or at the airport have helped companies like BA dramatically reduce their queuing times making it possible to get through a terminal to your gates within 15 minutes! OK, so others haven't got it quite right (ie Easyjet) but if a brand can do it in the right way it helps improve their customers journey ten fold! More time to relax, shop and eat - all great for retailers on the other side.
A new introduction by Transport For London in 2003 called the 'Oyster card' would allow customers to touch-in-touch-out without having to insert an actual ticket moving people through the system quicker. Now, over 80% of all TFL journeys use the Oyster card and it has become part of London life. The developments such as topping up online have continued to save us all time by avoiding queues on a Monday morning and I'm sure we'll see it develop further by allowing us to make smaller purchases with joint venture-retailers in the coming months.
And lastly there are the retailers who just make us stop and take five. Brands like Princi in Soho, just have that special magic which makes us forget about rushing back to our desk for lunch and just stop to catch up with friends and enjoy some great food. It's hard to put your finger on what makes this happen but clearly, with the right mix of product, location, staff and design, anything is possible.
So how can you save your customers time? Is it by adding new technology? Is it by giving something back? Is it a totally new business model? Or simply by finding that special magic....?! A good starting place is 'be the customer'. Live their life. Understand them and what they go through. This way you'll gain a view of your product or service through new eyes and you may find the answer if very obvious.
However you tackle this challenge be sure that, if you get it right and save your customers time, you'll be on to a winner.
Just don't get it wrong!
PS To see the Design Week article, click this link and scroll down to the news article '12/09 TYC predicts the shop of the future' and download the PDF. Happy reading!
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