Hey, I'm not knocking retailers of any type. Take your local supermarket, for example. It is - simply put - a miracle of modern civilization. But modern major retailers, just like all public companies, are compelled to maximize their sales and profits above anything else. That's just the way they are. Most retailers strive to provide value to their customers, too -- but it's always going to be the second priority:

STORE-SERVING PRIORITIES:	CUSTOMER-SERVING PRIORITIES:
1. Maximize sales and profits 2. Serve customers	1. Serve customers 2. Maximize sales and profits

It may look like a small difference, but it's all the difference in the world. Retailers always have a built-in "conflict of interest": their owners versus their customers. Sometimes it's "win-win" situation, but maximizing the returns to owners often means selling too much to consumers. An alliance of consumers can help retailers to give higher priority to the needs of their customers. They need our help to steer them in the right direction. We can't expect them do it on their own.

The Shopper's Treadmill

1. Stimulus. Advertisements, brands, marketing and sales pitches persuade us what to buy. No matter what problem we have, someone has a story that if we just purchase and consume what they have to offer, our problem will be solved, or our lives will be vastly improved by their new and improved version.
   
   
2. Shopping. We shop for what we need. While some shopping is enjoyable, a lot of our shopping is routine, boring, tedious, low-level, unrewarding, time-consuming re-stocking of our recurring needs for food, personal care, and other supplies.
   
   
3. Heavy consumption. We are often persuaded to buy the wrong things, more than we need, and things we don't need at all, so we suffer the effects of incorrect buying, impulse buying, emotional buying, and other irrational buying behavior.
   
   
4. More work, to buy more stuff. We all know what this is like. We have to make all those mortgage payments, lease payments, credit card payments, etc. It takes a lot of work. If work is unsatisfying at times, we listen to sales pitches about things to purchase that will make us happy. Either way, we're back to square 1, and the cycle continues.

Then there are few other aspects of this process that may or may not concern you:

5. Waste. The packaging, remains, junk, and other byproducts of these purchases are mostly cast off into landfills. Is this a problem?
   
   
6. Dissatisfaction and Un-fulfillment. Of course, some purchasing and consumption makes us happy - very happy. But we're not very happy when we deal with weight problems, health problems, consumer debt, envy of others' possessions, maintenance costs, insurance costs, storage costs, worries about theft, worries about loss of possessions or social status, job loss, etc.
   
   
7. Big Brother. The fact is that store scanners, web sites, and related technologies are collecting data about us at a faster and faster rate. Then, sophisticated "data mining" techniques are used to form conclusions about you and what you will buy.

How did we get into these strange shopping habits? Well, it's partly just a continuation of what we've done for centuries, before the information revolution, especially the personal information revolution. Our traditional shopping habits haven't caught up yet with what our personal computers and the internet can do for us. This is coupled with a continuation of traditional marketing, advertising, and branding methods that brilliantly and relentlessly encourage us to purchase and consume as many products as possible. Here we offer a few comments on some of these elements.

1. Stimulus

The practice of modern marketing is a triumph of applied psychology, and can't be done justice here. If you're interested in the evolution of the practice, you could start by searching the web to read about the genius of marketers like Ernest Dichter and Alfred P. Sloan. Unquestionably, these communications industries have done a lot to further the comfort of humankind. But ultimately they work for the merchants, and their goal is to maximize the merchants' interest. Whether or not you as a consumer actually benefit is less important.

What we want to do is restore a little balance to the relationship by letting us as consumers get a little more control. We do this simply by shedding light on some common marketing practices and by plainly presenting facts -- much in the form of products and prices -- to help you make unemotional decisions. For example, here are a couple of points that run throughout the MakeLifeEasy application:

• Branded products are a lot more alike than you would think. For example, your favorite cold remedy has exactly the same ingredients as about ten others, some of which may be much less expensive.
  
  
• Private label packaged goods are often of superior quality than heavily branded and advertised products. They are made by the same great companies.

4. More Work to Buy More Stuff

5. Disposal and Environmental Damage

1. When you buy larger quantities, you have less packaging per amount of product. These benefits can be significant: The total volume of packaging material for some 48 floz containers of shampoo is only 90% greater than that of a 16 floz bottle of shampoo. In other words, you can reduce the packaging you use for this product by over 100% by buying in larger sizes. If you don't like handling the larger sizes, it's very easy to keep only one smaller container for actual usage; that is, pour from the 48 floz bottle you purchased into the 16 floz bottle you use for using the shampoo. You're "re-using" right in your own home, with much bigger environmental benefits than recycling.
   
   
2. Products that spend time on retail shelves can suffer several possible bad fates including breakage, spoilage, theft, etc. Products that go directly from the distribution center to your house will not suffer any of these fates. It's just more efficient: it reduces the total amount of product needed to satisfy your needs, and reduces waste.
   
   
3. Less reliance on packaging for selling means less constraints on packaging design. This can only help to reduce the environmental impact of packaging:
   • packages can be smaller and use less material because they're not vying for shelf space
   • packages can be smaller because they do not have to carry big brand names or pictures to attract your attention,
   • packages need not become obsolete (and prematurely scrapped) because their branding message is obsolete,
   • packages can be smaller and simpler because they don't have to meet the demands of retail shelves: they can go directly from the distribution center to your house.

6. Dissatisfaction and Un-fulfillment

7. Big Brother

The point here is: merchants are gathering more and more data about you, and processing it in more and more sophisticated ways. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do the same thing? How about us getting some data about them.

The Vision of Expert Shopping

Did you know that large retailers spend millions of dollars annually on software systems for inventory control? In 2001-2002, K-Mart alone spent over $1 billion to upgrade its inventory controls and distribution systems. Merchants spend extravagantly on inventory control systems because they know that these systems pay for themselves many times over. They are all part of a planned, rational, expert product purchasing and management system So let's look at a way that we as consumers could get the same benefits.

1. Define Your Needs & Priorities. The idea here is to raise your "level of involvement" up one level: Instead of constantly buying the same (or similar) products over and over again, you specify what you need (your shopping list) and let the merchant help you pick the product(s) for you.
   
   
2. Select Merchants or Auctions. You'll be able to select merchants to fulfill your needs, or put your needs up for bid at auction.
   
   
3. Approve & Receive Shipments. Merchants contact you to let you know that you need replenishment. You make whatever changes you like, then approve the shipment. When you receive the shipment, you make sure the receipt is logged in MakeLifeEasy.
   
   
4. Consume/Use Assets. Just do what you do!
   
   
5. Update Assets in MLE. You occasionally check in and update the status of your assets: specifically, what you have left. MakeLifeEasy makes it simple, and usually you can do this step while you're approving your next shipment.
   
   
6. Get Smarter. Improve your knowledge and wisdom. MakeLifeEasy provides you with some great knowledge, including:
   
   
   • Items that you're spending too much on, based on what other members are paying (and where to get these deals)
   • Items that you're spending too much on, because you're overusing them (based on how other members use them and on general statistics)
   • Items that you're spending too much on because they're lower in your priorities than other items you're spending less on.
   • Items offered at great prices that you should buy now because YOU need them.

Here we offer a few comments on some of these steps.

2. Select Merchants or Auctions

3. Approve & Receive Shipments

This system works well when you realize that many products are commodities -- more or less equivalent -- despite what the ads tell you. When you start understanding that so many products are commodities, the whole process of shopping becomes a lot easier. Take long distance service, for example. You don't keep shopping for new long distance service each month. Long distance service is long distance service, except for the price and terms (like calling plans and times). You either have a telephone connection or you don't, and one isn't any better than the other. Or even if one is a little better than the other, it's not worth going through the bother of switching each time. So then, why is it worth your time and trouble to pick Tide off the shelf each month? It isn't. You're just doing it out of habit, and you need a better way. That's what MakeLifeEasy provides.

But the fact is, this system works well even if some products are not equivalent to you, and you want a specific brand. That's because you can tell your merchants exactly what matters to you; whether you want:

• The lowest cost heavy-duty laundry detergent (any brand)
• Surf, Tide, or Wisk laundry detergent (the lowest price of these three)
• Tide laundry detergent (only)

Your merchants can provide all the candidates that are important to you, then you select the one(s) you want, and receive the shipment.

6. Get Smarter

You'll improve your shopping knowledge and develop wisdom over time. MakeLifeEasy provides you with some great intelligence, including:

• Items that you're spending too much on, based on what other members are paying (and where to get these deals).
• Items that you're spending too much on, because you're overusing them (based on how other members use them and on what the manufacturers recommend).
• Items that you're spending too much on because they're lower in your priorities than other items you're spending less on.
• Items offered at great prices that you should buy now because YOU need them.

How to Get Started

The specific steps to get going are defined in a sister article: Seven Steps To Freedom From Shopping. Here is the process in brief:

• Step 1: Decide If You're Ready For Freedom From Shopping
• Step 2: Decide Which Shopping You Want Freedom From
• Step 3: Select Merchants And Get Them Into the Alliance
• Step 4: Design Your Shopping Lists For the Store Types You've Selected
• Step 5: Build Your Database of Shopping and Usage Data
• Step 6: Link Up With Your Preferred Merchants
• Step 7: Use MakeLifeEasy To Purchase and Track Your Assets

Links

• Join Now!
  
  
• About MakeLifeEasy
  
  
• The MakeLifeEasy System -- Step-by-step screen shots
  
  
• The Ten Reasons To Record A Purchase

Coming in future months:

• Big Brother in the Stores
  
  
• Big Brother in the Back Room