Why wait when the competition can deliver faster? Francesca Mifsud explains how the rise of on-demand culture is completely changing the game for businesses all around the world, including Malta.

In the age of technology, everything from healthcare practices to travel, and from dating to childrearing has changed. Our perception of the world and the way we interact with it and each other is different to anything that had come before the technological revolution – and consumer behaviour was not left behind in this evolution. 

The most significant impact on consumers’ relationship with businesses has undoubtedly come from the rise of the internet and the smartphone, as well as from the widespread influence of social media. Indeed, together, these tools have empowered the customer and made them in control of what they see and when. But they have also given businesses the opportunity to grow their markets exponentially, from regional or national to global.

Nevertheless, these changes – coupled with today’s fast-paced lifestyle – have also made customers expect something that would have been incomprehensible or downright impossible for many industries to provide in the past: on-demand access to their services and products. 

People don’t want to pre-book their Uber, they just want to tap their screen and have it roll up where they’re at a few moments later. They don’t want to wait till 8pm to watch a film chosen by someone else on TV, they want a whole catalogue at their fingertips in the shape of Netflix. They also hate waiting for their online shopping, which is why Amazon is working on flying parcels straight to people’s porches by drone. And they definitely expect information to be handed out speedily, which is why part of Google’s success comes from being fast and why Facebook business pages tell you how long the company or entity normally takes to answer back.

Because these companies picked up on the changes in customer behaviour and went to town with them, they have fuelled the rise of the on-demand economy – and no business is immune to it. On-demand transcends all boundaries and, from banking to restaurants, and retail to automobile, the idea that immediate provision is possible and, indeed, something that is, to a certain extent standard, has become as important to a business’s strategy as much as having great customer service is.

On-demand transcends all boundaries and the idea that immediate provision is possible has become as important to a business’s strategy as having great customer service

But how does all this impact Maltese businesses? Well, in two ways, actually. The first is that local businesses need to keep up with foreign companies that may be able to deliver faster, easier and, in some cases, for less, and which have now become their direct competitors. And, secondly, by the fact that local companies could also stand to gain customers from across the globe if they offer the right service or product in the time customers are willing to wait for it. 

Don’t be alarmed, though. You don’t have to make a complete overhaul of your business strategy to up your competitiveness in this on-demand economy. In fact, as a start, just take a look at all your customer-facing areas and highlight anything that may be making life harder for your customer. Filling out multiple forms on a website, waiting two days – or a week – to get an answer to a query on Facebook, or waiting for an hour and a half to get take-out delivered definitely aren’t working to your advantage. Neither is having customers wait hours to speak to a customer service representative, or not being able to buy tickets for an event online or expecting them to pre-book for certain services such as taxis.

In other words, your products and services are now not only expected to fulfil a need or want, but to also save customers time and hassle. In a way, we could add a seventh P to the six Ps of marketing: product, price, place, promotion, people, performance and, now, promptness.

Therefore, if you’re a business that wants to excel, putting your customer’s new need for a quick solution to their problems is a sure way of becoming more appreciated, respected and, in the long-run, invaluable to their lifestyle. This will also help drive brand loyalty, which has long since stopped being built on imagery and image alone.

Francesca Mifsud is a marketing strategist and entrepreneur who runs Infiltrend. Agency, a company that creates marketing strategies with a focus on social media and influencer marketing. She also runs a marketing-tech platform at https://infiltrend.agency/