Engagement
A business trend that I’ve noticed F&B establishments using lately has been the concept of gambling. Perhaps the word “gambling” is a tad extreme? Gambling-like? I’m not sure. It’s the way that they skirt the grey-area of the definition that makes it hard to pin down. Activities like selling branded blind boxes, “spin the wheel” or win a carnival game to be eligible for a discount. If you’ve never heard of them before, carnival games are the kind of games that are deceptively simple where you can win prizes. But the way these games are set up are so stacked against the player that they might as well be unfair. One example is stopping a clock exactly at ten seconds to get 50% off your bill. The potential to win seems high but the chance to do so is highly unlikely.
Personally, I have no issue with these activities. They are fun and potentially I can save money eating at that restaurant. It is, however, a sad state of affairs that these F&B establishments need to resort to these tactics to keep their businesses memorable to the consumer and hope for return business. It is also a damning indictment of our attention spans that businesses need to resort to one final dopamine hit as we leave their businesses so that we’re compelled to return.
Not going to get into the weeds about how we’re all so dopamine saturated from our constant use of social media and businesses trying to incorporate that same cycle of pleasure-seeking into our spending habits as well. But it just feels so tiring, like a child having a shiny bauble dangle in front of our eyes to direct us to spend. 10.10 sale! Lunch promotion! PWP promos! Blind box merchandise! Lootboxes! Card pack opening! Ads on social media! Birthday promotions! Summer sale! Autumn sale! Bright colors! Lower prices!
In some ways, it’s fun right? As a consumer, we get to one-up the businesses and get a good deal. But it’s starting to feel more like a second or third job trying to stay on top of all these promos and what’s worse is having these companies themselves knowing fully that these promotions are too good to be true make them so annoyingly obtuse and potentially forcing consumers to buy more than they actually need to hit the requirements needed to get the one thing that you want.
I feel like a cow being milked for what I’m worth. Some might argue it’s a symbiotic relationship. I get cheap products and the businesses get their money. And these days with parasocial relationships and influencers using their position as someone whom you “love” or “trust” to sell you their wares or “courses”. It feels out of control to me and I long for the mom-and-pop store of the past where the person who owns the shop is a person with genuine interest and not just a side-hustle.
Perhaps the cynic in me thinks that those days are gone. That a truly altruistic desire to create or run a simple business is no longer feasible without all these tricks to keep customers coming back. With the world in our palms, we no longer desire to form connections with the businesses in our neighborhood and all they are are just faceless services that can be easily replaced. Maybe that’s why we’re so keen to replace everything with AI? When a bunch of code gets shut down, we won’t feel the guilt of a person losing their jobs. The ironic part… we’ll rather leave a comment.
