The value of ‘no frills chic
Now that the national homebuilders are on the urban homebuilding bandwagon, let’s hope they don’t take the Walmart, GM, Safeway, United Airlines approach of mass-production. While it’s unlikely, there is hope that one of them will indeed come to a true understanding of what no-frills chic is, defined by Trendwatching.com as “low cost goods and services that add design, third-party high quality elements and/or exceptional customer service to create top quality experiences at bottom prices.
What can future homebuilders learn from Southwest Air, Target and Trader Joe’s? For starters…
– totally understanding what your target market (no pun intended) wants, since urban buyers are nothing like suburban buyers.
– not charging them for anything they can live without, like reserved seating, unlimited selection and junk food, or perhaps units twice the size as needed.
– focusing on the products with the greatest value and quality at the lowest prices rather than crappy products at low prices or premium prices on premium products. Think Ikea.
Quality doesn’t have to come at significant prices, it can come with significant intuition.
Experienced no-frills chic? Speak your mind below…
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funny thing is, Grand Poobah of the Squelchers, Joel Kotkin is refuting this downtown urban trend:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-loftbust14aug14,0,5228297.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Wow – good points, Neil. The whole point is looking at what’s successful and finding a definite pattern. But I do have my concerns about your 2nd bullet point. Companies can’t afford so many freebees today. I guess with the time it was written – 2005 – the tip makes sense. In fact, it might have been one of the things that is saving these companies during the 2009 recession. And who knows how long this will last?
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OliviaB.
San Diego DUI lawyer
Thanks Olivia,
Actually, the second point is about not providing things that people can live without, therefore not having to charge them for it. There’s an extra cost involved in reserved seating, and Southwest does away with it. There’s an extra cost in building a 2000 s.f. home instead of a 1000 s.f. home (or a 500 s.f. home), so why not build smaller? There are so many car features that we expect as standard rather than optional, that many can’t afford a new car anymore.