time

A few weeks ago, I participated as a panelist to provide my thoughts on brand and digital marketing, and their role in the customer journey in today's retail environment. I was amongst a group of smart, professional women who all fit different demographics (age, marital status and life stage) and came from various backgrounds.

Fitting the "Parent" demographic in our group, the retailers at the conference were keenly interested in my point of view as the primary purchaser, hoping to unlock the mystery of what marketing tactics appeal to me, and get a glimpse of how I maneuver through all the messages and products that we are bombarded with, to make the best (purchasing) decisions for our family. 

I think as a society, we are so bombarded with messages everywhere we turn, that it is even difficult for those who are sending these messages, to decipher.

As I listened to each panelist speak about their experiences in their role as a "consumer",  there was one common theme that seemed to resonate with all of us (a notion not relegated to only females).  We are all seeking BALANCE within the constraints of time. Time can be measured within a work week, trying to complete a project.  Or a school year, trying to accomplish specific academic achievements.  Or just trying to balance all the errands of the day before you tuck your kids into bed.

Listening to everyone's familiar sentiment confirmed what I've been seeking and sharing here on this blog, and made me realize that more than ever, we are seeking answers of simplicity.  To simplify our lives.  

Mobile devices are designed to save us time but as a society, we are quickly discovering that these same devices are the very culprit that distracts us from what we need to do to stay on task. We are constantly distracted with whatever interesting headline appears in our Twitter/Instagram/Facebook scroll.  Let me preface by saying this is not a scientific study (so I'm not 100% sure on it's accuracy), but according to someone (who did the math) on Reddit, we scroll on our devices on average 250km over a two year period. (That's about 125 km a year of strenuous thumb workouts!).  Even if we only do half of this amount of scrolling, that's a monumental amount of time and energy searching for/consuming information.

I think the need to find ways to save time resonated with the retailers but I think there is still disconnect...retailers want to know how to make it faster for me to buy something but often work in a bubble when it comes to customer service and not understanding other factors in that are in our lives that influence and help us make more informed decisions. There was so much to discuss beyond the 45 minutes of stage time we had.  It is a discussion that could be moved further to a wider audience as more and more access to more global brands than we've ever had, sifting through can become increasingly difficult.  As someone who spends most of my time researching on finding the best products for my family as well as myself, trying to balance between economics and time as well as many other factors such as environment, health, and goodwill is a full time task.

As many of my readers know, I have on occasion, written posts on products and services that have worked well with our family.  And earlier this year, I introduced mySimple Five series~ a series focusing on how to simplify a few of our our daily tasks, starting with recipes that are easy to make. With the many recent requests to speak further about what works for our busy household (and inspired by many of those who seek my advice), I will launch a spin off to my blog, starting with my Simple Five  series, showcasing my top five picks of various products, apps, services, how-to's and even companies (charity ones too!) that are SIMPLE, BEAUTIFUL and can help balance the need for NOW.

Stay tuned!