Comments on: Durability – is it losing power as a customer driver?

By: Putting people first » Durability – is it losing power as a customer driver?

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:31:27 +0000

[...] article: part 1 | part 2 | part [...]

By: Durability – is it losing power as a customer driver – Part 3

Durability – is it losing power as a customer driver – Part 3 — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 05:42:31 +0000

[...] post from Manu Prasad that broadens the discussion on Durability and takes it forward in new directions. Brand equity is something that falls naturally into the [...]

By: In duress | b r a n t s

In duress | b r a n t s — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 05:01:32 +0000

[...] wrote a couple of good posts (Part One, Two) recently on durability,and whether it is losing its power as a consumer driver. The plethora [...]

By: The Transition to Durable Relationships | Pretzel Logic - Enterprise 2.0

The Transition to Durable Relationships | Pretzel Logic - Enterprise 2.0 — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:07:08 +0000

[...] good friend (and fellow competitive swimmer, back in the day), Dina Mehta, wrote an insightful post based on her research work around the topic of product durability. Though she refers to her [...]

By: Dina

Dina — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:45:43 +0000

Thank you all for such wonderful thoughtful comments!! I’ve attempted to synthesize them, (and I hope I’m not killing the wonderful nuances they’ve shared), as each thought adds a unique and new facet to the many dimensions and interpretations of durability, in a rapidly-changing market like India. Thanks again! Here’s the synthesis – http://dinamehta.com/blog/2010/03/31/durability-is-it-losing-power-as-a-customer-driver-part-2/

By: Durability – is it losing power as a customer driver [part 2]

Durability – is it losing power as a customer driver [part 2] — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:37:51 +0000

[...] of my blog readers have left really thoughtful comments at my last post on Durability. I’m attempting to synthesize them here, (and I hope I’m not killing the wonderful [...]

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:31:11 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by kuppurao: RT @dina: Blogged: Durability – is it losing power as a consumer driver? http://bit.ly/cXMDnH...

By: Sameer Patel

Sameer Patel — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:30:57 +0000

Great stuff, Dina
My sense is that you cant fight the trend since its customer driven. As I commented on twitter, this highlights the need for organizations to focus on durable ‘relationships’ with customers that can outlast their seemingly shorter experiences with a single product they purchase.
Inspiring me to write up a post on this

By: Anita Lobo

Anita Lobo — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 08:12:29 +0000

Hi Dina
Durability has got into bed with a fancier friend – resale value
While we may replace cars and other high-value purchases faster, we usually buy something that delivers ‘give-away’ value, when we decide to sell/ exchange/ recycle/ give away.
Cheers,
Anita Lobo

By: Syamant

Syamant — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 06:30:12 +0000

The first thought was that durability was earlier referred to in the context of quality. Now that quality is given or at-least expected, there are perhaps other contexts..

1. In the context of relationship with the brand – More products from the brand portfolio being sold to the same customer.

2. It has now been built into tenure of use – Use xyz product for some number of days is an example. Another related example is Extended Service Packs. These provide extended relationships as well as assurance, but in a sense are related to the durability of experience.

3. Another example is in the context of consumption of fuel. Products are sold on the basis of how much more one can extract out of the fuel. So is this durability as you consume?

By: Reading Links for March 29th | Stuart Henshall

Reading Links for March 29th | Stuart Henshall — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 05:01:29 +0000

[...] Durability – is it losing power as a customer driver? @dina ’s thoughts re India – This is a great post about how our perspective of durability is changing or more locally in the US long ago changed. In India this shift really has an impact on the mobile phone market where many will now trade-of the tradition of "drop-it many times", dirt dust proof, and long battery life. I suggested a few comments to Dina too and she picked them up. I argued for efficacy as an internal distinction. So what do you think? Is durability losing its power as a consumer driver? [...]

By: Karthik

Karthik — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:42:01 +0000

What a fascinating topic! Going a level or two above durability, aren’t we also collectively losing our attention span? I mean, even our attention span is not ‘durable’ these days. Is it to do with the overdose of information? Possibly.

Back in the 80s, I remember waiting all week for a 15 minute episode of Spiderman cartoon on Doordarshan, on Saturday noon. Now, I can see as many spidermans as I want.

So, is the loss of durability a factor of increased choice? Another example! When I started my music blog, Milliblog, people pounced on me for belittling Indian music soundtracks by doing a 100 word review. They said I was doing a disservice to all those musicians who toil to bring out a soundtrack. My blog is 5+ years old and going strong and now people say it helps them glance the soundtrack’s flavor fast and simple!

That said, do you recall the tag line, ‘Lasts long. Really long’? I don’t recall the brand, but I think it is Amaron car batteries. So, if people want car batteries to be durable, does that say anything about select products/ product categories that we still want the ‘durability’ factor? It is not decided by cost, for sure, but could it possibly be decided by the effort it takes to replace?

A car sure takes time and effort to replace, but the pay-off is showoff value and status symbol. But a battery? Who cares what battery I’m using in my car or mp3 player? I just want it to last as much as possible!

I’m sure this is a random ramble, but some food for thought, I suppose.

By: Vinuth

Vinuth — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:32:21 +0000

Interesting Topic !!

I think it is a function of two things:

1. inversely proportional to Price of the Product.
2. Directly proportional to the Rate of change of the Product or range of available options/varieties.

1. Lower priced products tend to be changed more frequently than higher priced. Mobiles tend to be more frequently changed than cars. And dress materials and makeup materials even more than mobiles.

2. Products which rapidly change or have a very large option set to choose from also tend to be changed more frequently. There must be a justifiable difference between old and the new, for almost the same price point… either through better technology or a very different variety…

Based on these two factors each product has it’s own usage duration. Between this duration of discarding old to new, if the product goes broke, it really is frowned upon… no matter which product… so it is implicitly expected that the product lasts for at least this duration.

What say?

By: Tweets that mention Durability – is it losing power as a consumer driver? -- Topsy.com

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:12:48 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Dina Mehta, RK. RK said: RT @dina: Blogged: Durability – is it losing power as a consumer driver? http://bit.ly/cXMDnH [...]