When considering a wise consumer, they have to be very conscious of what they are buying and what the impact of what they buy. Thinking through what to buy is critical, and usually is a high involvement purchase. You don’t want to buy a product or service that you will regret in the future, and you don’t want a product or service that would be a low involvement purchase. Wise consumers do not usually purchase those. Therefore, there are three products that came to mind when considering what a wise consumer would be willing to spend money on. Those three are any appliances, like a washing machine, technology, and education.
Appliances are a highly involved purchase. When considering a type of appliance, people are always showing caution or restraint and focus on the relevant value of a product. This is an example of intentionality in personal resource management. These appliances are critical to show caution for because they are so expensive. Therefore, showing restraint on spending and taking your time to purchase it are critical to getting the right one. These appliances are something that are usually very expensive, so you want to research what the right value of a washing machine would be. That is a type of contemplation for a wise consumer. This wise consumer would be focused on the value, rather than the cheapest option. In the same idea, the consumer would focus on products that are energy efficient and fit their values when it comes to appliances. For example, with washing machines, there are ones today that are more efficient when it comes to the amount of water you are using. That would be something that would fall in the transcendence category, and be important to this wise consumer.
Another product that would be worth buying for a wise consumer is any type of technology. Some examples for this are gaming systems, phones, and many others. Everyone needs technology in their lives because it has become so ingrained in what we do. So, a wise consumer would recognize this need and intentionally buy a piece of technology, but not before doing their research. They would learn from their past experiences and look at new features that the piece of technology has. For example, when looking at iPhone vs. Android, maybe you like the iPhones ability to use iMessage, or Android’s screen display. It depends on the features that you value the most, and what you learn from your past experiences. Lastly, and probably the most important, people always are testing out other technology products. They are not necessarily borrowing it, but you see what is important in a product and make your decisions based off of other’s products. For a gaming system, you may play it and realize you want it because you played it at a friend’s house. That is a totally valid reason, and would be a normal step in a wise consumer’s decision-making.
The last service that a wise consumer would buy is education. Education is probably the most important of all of these listed. When considering where you want to go to school, you look at value, not at cost or education alone. If it was just education alone, everyone would apply to Harvard. You pick your school based on the best value and whichever one would give you the best experiences. That would be intentionality and emotional mastery because you are considering value and your experiences that you think are the best for your education. Additionally, you go into a state of contemplation when looking at a school where you look at reviews, you visit the school, learn from past experiences, and then make your final decision. It is not just solely how the school makes you feel. You want new skills from the school and a new way of thinking, which is an example of openness. Education is supposed to open your mind to new ideas, not just teach you mindlessly. Lastly, you want to go to a school where you can focus on the topics you want. That is the point of school is to enjoy your education. Same goes for your values. If the school does not have your values or your understanding at heart, then that is not a good fit for you. This would be the most involved purchase for a wise consumer, but they would absolutely spend their money on it.
After focusing on the products and services for a wise consumer, it is important to look at what the consumer would want in their product/service. There are three important factors, which are perceived value, design, and use of environmentally friendly resources. Perceived value would be defined as how well the product/service is made and how much use you can get out of it. Using the example of education, how much can you get out of your education in the future? Usually, it is a lot of value since it is used in your job. You also must consider if you can gain more from that service or product. The benefits should always outweigh the costs of a product/service. If the costs are more than the benefits, a wise consumer should never buy it. Secondly, the design of the product should be appealing to the wise consumer. How well can you use this that you find it appealing overall? It applies to both the products and services. For a product, it can be just if the product is visually appealing. For a service, it would mean that the set up of the service is useful and will not be a burden in the future. You want to get something out of the service basically. Lastly, use of environmentally friendly resources is critical. For a product, that is easy to identify. If you buy a product, you don’t want to have it using resources in excess. The product should be using resources that are most efficient and effective. If it is not environmentally responsible, there is not point to buying it because it would aiding to the problem. For a service, you want the service to be focused on the environment and fixing the world around it. With the education example, going into a school where they do not have a plan in place to combat non-environmentally friendly habits is a bad idea. These school should be focused on trying to better their students, while also looking out for the world around them. A wise consumer would want to focus on these three design principles and would eventually be able to better their understanding in the marketplace.