Sometimes innovation is pretty simple stuff. In fact, Howard Belk, chief creative officer at Siegel+Gale, reckons that brands offering simpler customer experiences are rewarded with passionate customer loyalty, more innovative employees and greater revenue. Plus S+G’s latest Global Brand Simplicity Index research finds that almost two-thirds of consumers are willing to pay more for simpler experiences, while recent data demonstrates that a stock portfolio comprising the publicly traded simplest brands in the report’s global top 10 outperforms the major indexes by 213%.
And S+G asked UK and US consumers to come up with regionally relevant disrupters based on the simplicity of their products, services, interactions and comms. Here we’re talking about emerging brands which are ‘changing consumer expectations and reshaping industry category definitions’.
What are these disrupters doing to deliver simpler customer experiences?
Empowering people by side-stepping traditional industry protocols and shifting power to consumers
Reimagining experiences in turning underwhelming experiences into moments of delight
Removing friction by identifying pain points in everyday processes, and removing them
Saving time by providing services to people where and when they need them most
Providing utility by delivering services customers find useful.
The leading disruptor in the UK? That would be snack provider Grazebox, ahead of City Mapper and PayPal – self-styled disruptor par excellence Uber ranks only 13th. Over in the US, mail-order shaving delivery outfit Dollar Shave Club grabs the top disruption spot, with Warby Parker placing second and Seamless in third (Uber in seventh).
So, the world’s leading disruptors/innovators include postal delivery services of snacks and male grooming tools… that’s what all those VC millions are giving us, is it?