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As India celebrates National Consumer Day on December 24, it is not just a ritualistic reminder of consumer rights, but rather an occasion to consider the extent to which consumer culture and consumption patterns have changed over the last several decades.
The shift of India into an aspiration-oriented marketplace as opposed to a needs-based one reflects the overall socio-economic change. Millions of people have expanded their choices owing to liberalisation, increased incomes, urbanisation, and digitalisation. However, this growth has also resulted in new weaknesses and balancing these two has been an important issue like never before.
The change concerns the very meaning of consumption. To previous generations, the issue of consumption was mainly about satisfying the key needs. Nowadays, it is also a pronouncement of lifestyle, identity, and social mobility. Branding and advertising are not only the reactions to demand, but also its formation. Through aspirational marketing, such as the luxurious smartphones or upscale grocery chains, the middle- and lower-income families are prompted to spend a lot of money in a discretionary manner. Consumption is now the new language, and people use it to communicate about their success and belonging in the world. It is easy to lose the distinction between what people need and what is imposed on them by society.
Digitalisation has increased this change at a tremendous rate. The online stores, social media personalities, and advertisements based on algorithms have restructured the way people learn, compare, and buy products and services. What used to take a conscious effort to go to the stores, check the prices, and consult is done in seconds. Yet these also pose a limitation to consumer selection, as they push users into specific commodities or brands. It is an environment in which the distinction between a conscious choice and a slight manipulation is blurred further.
The culture of convenience and instant gratification further enhances these dynamics. The immediacy has become a matter of course due to the presence of immediacy as the default expectation of quick e-commerce platforms that advertise delivery within minutes, subscription-based services, and on-demand access. On the one hand, these innovations facilitate comfort in life, and on the other hand, they stimulate over-consumption and insensitivity at the time of the purchase. The friction of effort and scarcity that used to be a natural pause time has been eliminated; thus, the impulsive consumption is becoming more accessible and common.
What is also important is the emergence of credit-driven consumption. Easy EMIs, digital payments, and buy now pay later (BNPL) have democratised purchasing power, especially among young consumers entering the workforce. However, once credit turns frictionless and poorly comprehended, this too increases the possibility of over-indebtedness. The hidden price of consuming products and services may result in vulnerable financial conditions in the long term, which are characteristic of first-time borrowers and people with lower incomes.
This gives rise to the main contradiction in today's marketplace, wherein consumers are empowered, and, at the same time, vulnerable. On the one hand, peer experiences and reviews, ratings, and social media discussions offer the most accessible information. Consumers, on the other hand, experience dark patterns in app design, deceptive advertisements, non-transparent pricing, and confusing terms and conditions. Consumer attention and personal data are monetised in a way that is least understood by the users themselves through data-driven business models. The abundance of information paradoxically does not always result in meaningful understanding.
Meanwhile, it is important to mention the emergence of mindful and moral consumption. Increasingly, consumers are asking questions about the origin of the products, how they are produced, and what they cost to the environment or society. The sustainability, ethical sourcing, and corporate responsibility aspects point to a new breed of consumer who is thinking in terms of responsibility rather than convenience. Such a change is not epochal, but it demonstrates that the consumer culture is not unchangeable.
In this case, regulatory systems and consumer rights are important. The caveat emptor, or buyer beware, that has been a time-honoured approach to the physical marketplace, is no longer relevant in complex digital markets. National Consumer Day reiterates that good legislation is one thing, but good implementation, transparency, and available remedies should exist, which are in line with the current innovation of the marketplace.
(Jisu Ketan Pattanaik is assistant professor of Sociology, and Sumit Kumar Singh is research assistant and student, at the National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.