The Durable Use of Consumer Products : New Options for Business and Consumption

Do we need a new car or a new refrigerator every ten years? What happens to our PC which is exchanged for a new model every three years? Why do our shoes last only a year or so, while those of our great grandfather served for a genera­ tion? Are businesses deliberately marketing products in a way which encourages sub-optimal use and induces consumers to buy new products? More and more consumers respond ''yes'' objecting to the business practices which reduce the life span of a product or pay no attention to efficiency in con­ sumption. The growing concem with sub-optimal use of consumer durables arises as a response to the volume of waste, as wen as to the growing conviction that over-consumption is encouraged by marketing techniques and approaches that favor lesser durability and sub-optimal use. There are signs that those things will have to change. Firstly, client orientation - a condition sine qua non of marketing success in the saturated markets of rich countries - is gaining popularity. Consumers are better informed and more influential and "intelligent consumption" is on the rise. Buyers are becoming more and more hostile towards marketing manipulation, inducing them to consume faster, more and at higher prices. The public increas­ ingly resists messages in advertisements (preventive resistance) which are pre­ dominantly persuasive (rather than educational or informative) and conceived to stimulate demand for the "new", the superficial and the fashionable. The optimal use of products is a growing concern of consumers worldwide and businesses have to respond to these trends. The Durable Use of Consumer Products is the first book-length study of the marketing aspects of product durability and the optimal use of consumer durables. It is aimed at managers, academics, government specialists and consumer lobbyists concerned with efficient consumption, client orientation, and waste avoidance. Do our products last long enough? Is mass consumption biased towards sub-optimal and unsustainable consumption patterns? What should be done to improve the use of consumer durables? What can be learned from innovative firms in this increasingly important area of sustainable consumption? This volume offers both analytical insights and hands-on advice on how to move towards the goal of the optimal use of consumer products Front Matter....Pages i-xix Marketing and Durable Use of Consumer Products....Pages 1-28 Product Durability and Re-Take after Use....Pages 29-39 Product Durability and Marketing Strategies....Pages 41-49 Product Stewardship and Useful Life Concepts....Pages 51-55 Sustainable Product Design....Pages 57-68 Product Responsibility in the US Electronics Industry....Pages 69-81 Kodak’s Product Optimization Program....Pages 83-88 Rank Xerox Product Stewardship....Pages 89-96 Product Stewardship: The Case of Digital Equipment Corporation....Pages 97-104 Determinants of the Line Span of Household Equipment....Pages 105-112 Collector’s Car and Marketing of New Vehicles....Pages 113-118 Conclusions....Pages 119-129 Back Matter....Pages 131-146 The optimal use of products is a growing concern of consumers worldwide and businesses have to respond to these trends. This book studies the marketing aspects of product durability and and the optimal use of consumer durables