In which I prophesise with my pen about what’s coming down the line for Irish consumers

American consumer trends tend to find their way across the Atlantic Ocean, whether it’s via roll-out by a global corporation, word-of-mouth from your cousin in Philadelphia or whatever we’re seeing on TV. The trends that aren’t yet established in Ireland or Europe are most like on their way, and this week I’m going to discuss a few of them – much like a modern-day prophet, if you will (don’t). Cross my palm folks, because here’s my three predictions. Firstly, goods and services will come to the consumer, but on a scale way bigger than the odd purchase from Amazon or getting a takeaway. Second, the efforts of tech companies to persuade us that we’re too busy all the time, will become all-pervasive – and will engender a sense of entitlement that blinds us to the social price of such conveniences. And lastly, in the midst of all that choice, consumers will yearn for the sameness offered by retail or corporate giants, which will be detrimental for independent stores and coffee shops. However, my prophecies are to be taken with the assurance that forewarned is forearmed and this doesn’t need to be our future.

Apps are designed to make money, and money is made from maximising user engagement. It’s why apps have notifications; they secure user engagement. However, in doing so, they interrupt concentration, break focus and ultimately lessen productivity. Such distractions lessen the likelihood of getting the day’s tasks done, leaving users at the (literal) end of the day stressed about all that’s to be done. Fear not, because for every app that makes a fortune off messing up your day with pings, dings, rings and things, there are another ten making a fortune from promising to get you that time back. Such apps profit from convincing users they’re too busy to cook, too busy to buy moisturiser, too busy to go to the store for toilet paper, too busy to read books. No, for reals; there’s an app that gives you a fifteen minute version of a book with all the important points to save you reading it. GrubHub, Uber Eats. Seamless, DoorDash, Eat24, Beyond Menu, Skip the Dishes, PostMates, GoPuff are all apps that will deliver food to your door. And for those who do cook, supermarkets are jam-packed with pre-packaged food to grab on-the-go; there’s a whole load of processed onions to get by in a US supermarket before getting to an actual onion. The most mundane tasks are portrayed as arduous and honestly, who could expect you to upload your own photos to Dropbox? In Ireland there hasn’t yet been that widespread or universal buy-in to the idea we’re all simply ‘too busy’. Tech has not gotten us yet! This is evident at home in the patience with which people deal with each other, the more relaxed demeanour and a less egocentric approach to the provision of goods and services.    

Which brings me to my next point….

In America, way more than in Ireland, the product goes to the consumer rather than the consumer going to the product or service. There’s no question of waiting on the road to hail down a taxi; Lyft and Uber rule supreme. A taxi at your door, when you want it? Sounds good. The downside is that Uber and Lyft drivers are famously paid shit; an Uber driver in Albuquerque told me that they get half the fare (a fare that was already pretty cheap) and Lyft is ‘less worse’ – as opposed to ‘better’ – but not much. Then there’s the whole food thing and the million apps that will bring cuisine from every corner of the globe to your door (here’s an article from the New York Times from a journalist who did a day in the life of a ‘cab-dodging, tip-chasing food app deliveryman’) which of course isn’t unique to America, but so much more prolific here. But of all the companies, Amazon is king here. My experience of Amazon at home was using it to get items that could not be sourced or purchased locally. Here though, Amazon Prime is used to purchase the day-to-day stuff that’s in every Tesco, Dunnes or SuperValu; cleaning products, shampoos and personal hygiene goods – rather than the particular book that cannot be found anywhere else. You can even set up a standing order for toilet or kitchen paper so it just arrives! (Here’s Jon Oliver’s piece on Amazon’s treatment of its workers). There are eight apartments in my building and on any given day, ten packages will be at the door or in the lobby. The world is truly at America’s fingertips, and virtually nothing is unattainable.

And yet, in this feast of individual preference where the world is presented on a plate (or in a brown box with a distinct smiley arrow), the demands for sameness is astonishing. If one is set against buying coffee in Starbucks or Dunkin’ they’ll likely face a long walk to find an independent coffee shop. The advantage to Starbucks is that consumers know exactly what to expect; reliable wifi, the familiar armchairs and the set menu. There is a reluctance to chance the independent one down the road, or even make the effort to keep money local rather than handing it over to corporate, soulless Starbucks. The yearning for sameness trumps all. It must be the same with fast food; there are no chippers here, only Burger King et al where the consumer knows exactly what to expect. I’ve never seen an independent pharmacy or drugstore in Chicago: they’re all CVS and Walgreens (though, to be fair, it’s nearly the same in the UK now with Boots and Superdrug). Independent delis aren’t big here in Chicago but there are Subways everywhere. Independent bookshops are rare but not extinct (shout-out to Women and Children First in Andersonville) though Barnes and Noble are all over the place.  

Them’s my predictions. A right little Merlin amn’t I? But this doesn’t need to be our future in Ireland. We can all be the change we want to see, and the more we purchase products, goods and services within the community, the more we’re investing in the small businesses (or even the big ones; Lidl’s not perfect but it employs a lot of people locally) that power our communities. We can also stand up for the proper treatment of workers. It is only the tech companies that benefit from the blithe acceptance of the idea that we’re all too busy, and they’re the ones who sold us the line in the first place. It’s no harm to be wary of it.

And now I can’t stop thinking about a doughnut from Dunkin’.