On Buying User Experience

In the age of consumerism, the Internet and word-of-mouth being stronger than ever, we stopped buying “products”. Instead, we are buying User Experience. We buy moments of pleasure and satisfaction. We also make trade-offs, but this is a topic for another post…

Just a few examples (while the complete list will take forever to read):

Our mobile phone batteries hold just enough to get us through the day… Well, in some cases of using them all the time, it would be safe to say that they will last just for the time you get to the office and plug them in… But we seem to care about the phone features, looks and status it gives us.
In Europe, we tend to buy our fruits and veggies from the market or the bio section of the local grocery shop – cause they taste (slightly) better than the regular, according to the EU directive all same-size-same-shape agricultural goods.
My friends are buying music online on iTunes, rather than going to the shop, because they can easily and quickly preview the songs… Oh, and in most of the cases, it is cheaper.
The world is buying less and less printed media and books. Instead, we are read articles on our computers, books on our tablets, and fill that wastebin next to the mailbox within seconds of the moment we have safely removed the important letters from the pile.
We use more and more online banking while dreading a possible visit to the physical bank office to wait in line.

We buy comfort, convenience, ease, choice and many other nouns associated with positive emotions.

For companies to “sell” more of their products (or any, for that matter), they need to offer the best user experience possible or at least significantly better than their closest competitors…

What’s your take on this topic? Shoot in the comments section below!