• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, May 3, 2005

This week I was forwarded an article that ran in The Economist. The article dealt with the consumer and their position of power in the role of media development, but there was one element of the article I found to be very interesting as it sparked an idea in my head and seemed to mesh with a concept I had already been thinking about, but was having difficulty in expressing.

Mass marketing is dead, however mass retailing is alive and flourishing!

In today's cluttered media landscape, it is relatively close to impossible to speak to a mass audience utilizing one specific media vehicle, however we see mass retailing opportunities, or one-stop shopping, becoming prevalent.

The Super Bowl is the last remaining mass marketing vehicle available to advertisers, and its costs are destined to price itself out of the equation. Otherwise, marketing has shifted towards a one-to-many or a one-to-one model where a more intimate dialogue is undertaken with the consumer. Marketing is based on profiling groups of consumers and showing them messages that might speak to them on a more personal level. Marketing is focused on relevance. It offers the consumer only what they are looking for.

Conversely, we see stores like Wal-Mart and Target in the brick-and-mortar space thriving, and we see Amazon and eBay as similar efforts in the virtual click-and-mortar world. These destinations offer everything to everyone, all under one roof and at prices more reasonable than their competition. This seems to be a contradiction at first glance, but I offer an explanation that I think makes sense: time.

Time is a valuable commodity and anyone who could bottle and sell it would be king of the world, but since it's impossible to bottle time, the money-making opportunities are any of those that save time. The reason that mass marketing has become less effective on the surface is clutter, but the real reason is also time. We are busier and busier than we ever were before and we simply don't have the time to focus our attention on all the messages being thrown in our direction. We tend to focus on those that are most relevant to us at any given moment.

Many marketers understand this concept, and subsequently focus their messages on one or two products getting you into the store, all the while knowing once there you'll think of other purchases. If we are offered the opportunity to satisfy so many needs all in one place, saving time, we will.

This is a lesson that may become more important as time progresses. As we become an even more cluttered society, we will always look at the means of satisfying our needs quickly and easily and in the parameters of our busy days. As mass marketing continues to crumble, the bricks are being used to build one-stop shops all across the landscape. Superstores, especially those in the online world, that are able to build an image of credibility and reliability while offering competitive prices and easy-to-use interfaces, will become even more dominant.

Do you agree? Let me know what you think.