When we were children, one of the favorite activities for many was being able to do on our own what adults did. Games and toys aimed at this type of learning are not usually lacking in spaces and toy stores, even in these days of high demand for digital devices. It is not for less: there are elements of daily life that cannot be replaced by virtual substitutes such as food and clothing.
Today, an increasing volume of the world’s population lives in urban environments. Life in the cities is dictated by a fast-paced lifestyle and this prevents one from performing several of the most basic tasks by oneself. Although the degree of dependence on third parties to cover needs such as cooking or cleaning the house depends on many factors, it is also true that the recent pandemic forced us to rediscover some type of self-sufficiency.
The inability to resort to providers of services and products and the availability of free time encouraged thousands of people to learn or dust off skills that allowed them to use the hours of confinement in productive activities and rediscover the virtues of doing for oneself the things that are within our reach. Likewise, performing tasks by oneself feeds one of the most well-known biases by insiders and outsiders.
Without going into objective evaluations of the quality of what people do for themselves, it is a fact that our mind overvalues what we do with our own hands and effort. It is easy to go to social video networks and search for content about this bias. However, the question we pose in this blog is if more people are encouraged to stop depending on third parties to meet their needs, how is it possible to add added value?
Another very clear example is obvious to answer this question in the first instance. The famous Swedish home furniture brand «do it yourself» is already a success story and study for many people who immerse themselves in the world of Marketing. The company designs furniture with attractive shapes and colors and sells them as if they were toys from our childhood. Its use can be summed up as: unpacking the pieces, reading the instructions (many of us actually put it aside for overvaluing our intuition), putting our hands to work and in the end being disappointed or proud of the result.
However, it is not the only way to add value to the sector that actively seeks to be enough in some areas of its daily life. Courses to learn different techniques and skills have gained weight in recent years. We must also not lose sight of the brands that have always specialized in providing materials and utensils: haberdashery, hardware and kitchen equipment stores, etc. It is not uncommon to find workshops on these sites aimed at those who have already bought the materials, but do not know how to apply them.
The satisfaction of doing it yourself is an emotion that brands will hardly be able to emulate when giving the consumer ready-made things. The closest thing to this is personalization, but it tends to overlap with already predefined products and services. On the other hand, being empathetic and attentive to the needs of that sector of people who want to take a little longer to bake bread or install their mirror in the living room are other ways of adding value when what is sold is finished by the person who consumes it.
Of course, this behavior shows differences in each time and place. Market Research helps to know if this habit is in vogue or in decline among your customers. Make sure you have all the necessary elements for your next project with our help. At Acertiva we put at your disposal our more than 18 years of experience in Latin America.
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