2020: Thank you Amazon – For The Death of Brands.

Welcome back everyone – For part 2:37 of the 37Archives! Today is a topic that is near and dear to me: the death of brands.

Skip the read! We have a podcast:

Are you an established brand? Do you work for an established brand? 2020 and beyond is going to be an interesting decade for you.

What do Amazon, Aldi, and Costco all have in common?

They all worked together to end brands.

They are all successful. They won – and you can too.

10 years ago if I told you to choose between a Duracell battery or some cheap looking off-brand, you’d choose the Duracell. Today many of you have Amazon basic batteries rolling around in your desk drawer. Crazy right? Did Duracell get worse? No. So what happened?

Millennials have less spending income? True – but no

Economic crash sent everyone buying off brands? True – But this is one of the best economic times ever – so that can’t be true anymore.

The truth is found in Costco. Consumers don’t want more choices. They just want the right ones. In today’s economy, if the market decides your product is good – you’re a winner. Welcome to the decade of low margins and high efficiency. Brands were the ultimate cash grab for decades. Make a group of people feel a certain way about a product – charge more – and cash in. Trust was given to brands because a decade ago, there was no real way to fact check a product or know if said product was good.

Now introduce the smartphone. Now we have information at scale. Now we can pull our phone out of our pockets and check before we buy – both on price and on quality. The internet, once again, is the great equalizer.

Do you enjoy high margins? The time is now to ensure your product and services are of the upmost quality. Because if they’re not – You’re done for.

Industries ripe for disruption over the next decade:

Real Estate / Brokers

Education

Healthcare

Like a great storm, the internet is the ultimate equalizer. If your products or services suck – you’ll know. If you are charging too much for the market – you’ll know too.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Remember, a book store took out Sears.

A TV company (Samsung) now makes more appliances than the “Trusty” Kenmore.

When was the last time you cared about a Craftsman wrench?

When was the last time you went out of your way to grab Skippy peanut butter?

What does this mean for you? – Easy. Build. Build the best product. If your product is great. You’ll win. No longer will consumers disregard your product because it’s “Off-brand” or “new”. Get as close as you can to the customer, offer the best product and you’ll win. Ultimate formula for success.

I’ll see you guys tomorrow!

T