As world systems increase in multiplicity and complexity, there has arisen an ever more increasing need to simplify things, especially for end users. The German furniture manufacturer after discovering that there were a possible four million variations to the basic model that customers could make to its famous customizable Aeron chair even though only a few thousands get ordered, has been looking to streamline the whole system. Cisco also learned from its corporate customers that the new features that came with its networking products were causing instability in the customers’ networks because they could not integrate properly thus, necessitating a second look at these features and a possible simplification (Ashkenas, 2011). This essay will discuss simplicity as a competitive advantage, the factors (apart from simplicity) that consumers consider (in terms of value) when buying a product and finally the authors own experiences with products that have added value to the author as a customer.
It is the information age and the human mind is under siege of constant bombardment with information from all angles. According to Bohn & Short (2012), the human mind gets inundated with the equivalent of 34 gigabytes of information per day which is enough to overload the average laptop PC within a week. Yet, the mind can only process a handful of incoming information at a time. With this in mind, it would be wise to make products and associated materials in marketing and advertising as simple and easy to use as possible.
Take Apple Inc., for example. Apple has been known to focus on simplicity in designing its iPhones, Mac books and other products. It has been the hallmark of the company for a very long time. On Apple’s first marketing brochure in 1977, it proclaimed: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Apple set itself apart from other hardware and software companies by partnering with Hartmut Esslinger in 1980s and then Jony Ive in 1997 leading to the creation of engineering and aesthetic designs that emphasized simplicity at every step of the design process (Isaacson, 2012). Apple was mocked when it decided to enter the mobile phone market. For example, Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft said: [Apple] will have the most expensive phone, by far, in the marketplace. There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” One other reason was: “Apple's design-centric approach [will] ultimately limit its appeal by sacrificing needed enterprise functionality. I think over-focus on one blinds you to the value of the other. [...] Apple's approach produced devices that inevitably sacrificed advanced features for aesthetics,” according to Mike Lazaridis, former CEO of RIM (now BlackBerry) (Ritchie, 2018).
Eleven years after entering the market with the first iPhone in 2007, it is now the company with the largest market share in that market, outcompeting Samsung, Blackberry, Nokia, and others. Apple Founder, Steve Job’s obsession with simplicity in design is well-documented and is credited with its success which analysts have confessed is largely due to this focus on simplicity in design (Segall, 2012). Today, Apple is the world’s most valuable company and the first to reach a US$1 trillion valuation (Ritchie, 2018). Apple’s success which analysts have attributed mainly to its simplicity in design is all the example one needs to look at to understand how simplicity gives a competitive advantage.
In the famous 1943 paper titled “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Abraham Maslow wrote: “It is quite true that man lives by bread alone — when there is no bread. But what happens to man’s desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled? At once other (and ‘higher’) needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hunger, dominate the organism. And when these, in turn, are satisfied, again new needs emerge and so on.” (Maslow, 1943; Legaspi, 2018).
Humans have needs, which Maslow identified as physiological (food, water, cloth shelter, sex), safety needs, self-esteem needs, affirmation and self-actualization needs. The quest to fulfill these needs leads to value creation which is tied into the production of goods and service (Maslow, 1943). Primarily, people buy products to solve problems and so look for efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and durability. When these are met by a product offering and a following purchase and use, then consumers start looking to see if these products can boost their self-esteem or even offer them a sense of fulfillment. Here we answer the question: Why do people spend US$58,000 on a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona or US$1.5 million on a Bugatti Veyron when there are alternatives that perform the same core functions just as well or even better? Because consumers see these products as extensions of themselves and so if these products cost a lot (which is taken as an indication of high value), then they – the consumers – are valuable too. These products also serve as marks of achievement and thus, provide a sense of fulfillment for buyers. As mundane as this sounds, this is the truth of human nature and on this truth stands the whole marketing and advertising industry.
When I was entering the University of Ghana as a freshman, my uncle bought me a Compaq laptop PC. With this PC, I was able to learn how to type, use Microsoft Office Word and Excel. These skills fed into my being able to work on my end of program dissertation. On that same PC, I learned how to use the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and take a course in the Spanish language. Lastly, this PC afforded me some entertainment in the form of movies. We never had a TV growing up. This brings me to my second product, my first LG flat screen TV and sound system I bought after I got my first job. With my experience with this TV and sound system, I concur unreservedly with Abraham Maslow’s assertion that “It is quite true that man lives by bread alone — when there is no bread.” This LG TV and sound system were my most valuable possessions not so much for their intrinsic value but what they represented – a sense of achievement and fulfillment.
So, in the end, it can be said that although products bring with them certain intrinsic value (based on their efficiency, durability, design, cost-effectiveness, among others), consumers bring with them experiences prior to the purchase of the product that inevitably determines how much value they accord to every purchase. So for one person, the purchase of a new Range Rover Evoque may just be an upgrade on less luxurious means of transportation (like a Toyota Corolla) while the next consumer who purchases this Toyota Corolla from its previous owner, coming from a less fortunate background may feel a sense of great achievement and fulfillment although the possessor of the Range Rover may have similar inklings albeit to a lesser degree.
CONCLUSION
The characteristics of every product and even how those characteristics are marketed afford said product a certain sphere of value which we call intrinsic value. However, every consumer who purchases the product experiences the product differently partly due to the experiences prior to the purchase of the product which colors their actual experience of said product. This can be termed extrinsic value.
REFERENCES
Ashkenas, R. (2011, February 16). Simplicity Sells. Forbes Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronashkenas/2011/02/16/simplicity-sells/#749bf7786a67
Bohn, R. & Short, S. (2012). Measuring consumer information. International Journal of Communication 6 (2012), 980 –1000.
Isaacson, W. (2012). How Steve Jobs’ love of simplicity fueled a design revolution. Smithsonian.com Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-steve-jobs-love-of-simplicity-fueled-a-design-revolution-23868877/
Legaspi, J. L. C. (2018, March 07). Why do consumers buy? Business World Retrieved from https://www.bworldonline.com/why-do-consumers-buy/
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.
Retrieved from: https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm
Ritchie, R. (2018, January 09). 11 years ago today, Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. iMore. Retrieved from: https://www.imore.com/history-iphone-original
Segall, K. (2012, June 15). The secret of Apple's success: simplicity The Guardian Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/jun/15/secret-apple-success-simplicity
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