{"id":20817,"date":"2018-11-15T04:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T09:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/?p=20817"},"modified":"2019-11-28T07:37:43","modified_gmt":"2019-11-28T12:37:43","slug":"from-axes-to-handbags-why-customer-like-conspicuous-consumption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/from-axes-to-handbags-why-customer-like-conspicuous-consumption\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Customers Want You To See What They Consume"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just bought a new Mont Blanc pen. I like writing with it. I have a couple more, too; one is a pencil, and the other is a rollerball-type. However, the reality is, I sometimes look at my fancy pen and think, \u201cIt\u2019s writing; I could write this stuff with a Bic or a regular pencil.\u201d<\/p>\n

It occurs to me that what I am really saying to people when writing with my swanky pen is that I am the type of bloke that can afford an expensive pen. It\u2019s called Conspicuous Consumption, and we all do it all the time.<\/p>\n

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Now, you might be thinking, \u201cI don\u2019t show off with my pen, Colin. That\u2019s just you.\u201d You might be right about that. However, I would counter that while you don\u2019t show off with your pen, you probably participate in Conspicuous Consumption in another way. It could be your car or your house or your watch. Maybe it\u2019s not material goods. Perhaps you are conspicuous about your environmentalism with your hybrid vehicle logo on the vehicle or the exercise program in which you participate.<\/p>\n

Conspicuous Consumption<\/u>\u00a0is when people buy something because they want people to see they are buying it<\/a>. It\u2019s an old idea that goes back to 1899 when the economist Thorsten Veblen published his book,\u00a0The Theory of the Leisure Class.<\/em>\u00a0In essence, Veblen says, people buy expensive items to display their wealth, whether they need the things or not.<\/p>\n

We discussed Conspicuous Consumption on a\u00a0recent podcast.<\/u><\/a>\u00a0In it, I learned two things about my podcast partner, Professor Ryan Hamilton of Emory University. First of all, he does his own yard work. Secondly, he has an ax collection that he uses for it.<\/p>\n

Ryan has names for all these axes, and they each do different jobs. He is an ax expert. He and all his ax expert buddies appreciate the differences in the handle lengths and usefulness of each of them.<\/p>\n

Okay, I am joking. However, I bring it up because Professor Hamilton shared it on social media. He said he did it to let his friends know he was manly enough to do his own yard work, which leads to my point: social media is a channel for our Conspicuous Consumption activity.<\/p>\n

Consider the photos of dinner you see. People share their pictures because they think the presentation is beautiful or they love that dinner, or they want to tell people about a restaurant, or whatever. It is a form of Conspicuous Consumption, i.e., \u201cThis is what I had for dinner! Isn\u2019t it [beautiful, healthy, expensive]?\u201d<\/p>\n

However, what we post on social media is heavily filtered. It is what you want people to see about you. It isn\u2019t necessarily an accurate or fair representation of your life, but it\u2019s what you want people to see. Not many people post the photos of the cold cereal they ate for dinner because they couldn\u2019t be bothered to go to a restaurant, were too exhausted after work to cook or don\u2019t have grocery money until payday.<\/p>\n

What Does it Have to Do with Customer Experience?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Another example of Conspicuous Consumption is the handbag. Now, I don\u2019t carry a purse, nor do I know anything about bags besides what they are and whether my wife has a new one. However, I recognize that there are some super-brand handbags that someone who is passionate about handbags could spot at 20 paces.<\/p>\n

Here are the ten most expensive handbags in the world:<\/p>\n