Hyper-Localism; why everything is getting closer and closer to us.
The rise of supporting local is not showing any signs of slowing down, so businesses should seriously start taking a closer look at their models to ensure they are going to future-proof themselves. It’s no longer just a buzz phrase, ‘shop local’, ‘support local’, ‘buy local’, it’s now a major consideration that is pushing international brands out of favour.
Consumers are prepared to spend more on locally-sourced goods, the days of buying cheap shit based on price alone is slowly being replaced with investing in good quality items that will last. Of course, there is still plenty of commerce that relies on the ‘stack em high, sell em cheap’ strategy, but all trend reports, insights and data are clearly showing that this is a dying preference. Now, we tend to make decisions based on quality and ethical value, we really are starting to care a lot more about the origins of our products. We are paying closer attention to where things come from and how they are made.
Retailers are buying from suppliers that are local, giving the premium shelf-space and multiple facings to Australian Made suppliers and most packaging now screams it front and centre with a plethora of logos. We are starting to become more cynical as we question how products and ingredients that have come from so far away are somehow half the price of those created right on our doorstep.
Hyper-localism doesn’t stop at our consumption either, it’s now weaving into our lifestyles in every way. With the rise of remote working, we are spending an increasing amount of time in our local areas. The norm of commuting for up to an hour in a car or on public transport seems outdated. Now, we prefer to be able to walk or hop on a bike to get to our destinations.
Marketing is changing too. Local-Area Marketing campaigns are nothing new, these have been overtaken by Hyper-Local campaigns. But now, marketing is getting even more granular as the rise of Hyper-Hyper Local campaigns are created to target specific neighbourhoods, not just towns or cities. It’s a tactic that can put your brand right in the heart of a community, in an authentic way that resonates with people.
Even cities are being redesigned to create a more local appeal. The strategy is to build ‘everything you need within 800m’ and these city designs are called “20 minute neighbourhoods”. Melbourne is one of these cities that is undergoing a long-term transformation to build a more vibrant, inclusive and healthy community of locals, with the aim of adopting this into regular lifestyles by 2050. You can read more about this here;
It almost feels like our society is doing a complete 360 — back to the good old days where you would walk to the local store, grab some locally-made produce from someone in town and everything you needed was on your doorstep. This was before the internet came along and opened up the world to us all. It makes me think of the famous characters from the classic BBC comedy sketch show “The League of Gentleman”, where two local shop owners would only serve locals and refused to sell anything to anyone who was from out of town. These characters were invented back in 1999, the creators of the show certainly had the foresight to understand where the future of consumerism was heading.
