Press a button. Get Doritos delivered right to your door.
When Amazon released its Dash Button last year around April 1, many thought it was a joke. More than just the timing, it almost poked fun at how ingrained Amazon is in our daily lives. But it was real, and now you can get everything from potato chips to detergent simply by clicking a button on the wall … no computer required.
The Dash Button is just one of the latest examples of technology making consumption easier and easier. As Amazon and Google promise near instant delivery on millions of products, more of us use our phones to make purchases anytime from anywhere.
So consumerism is not just alive and well: It’s thriving. And it’s expanding into places and times traditionally off-limits: We spent over $1.7 billion online this past Thanksgiving Day alone. And despite slower growth, 2015 ended the biggest year in retail ever.
But today’s consumers are different.
They want to buy things, but they are also very sensitive to the environmental impact of their purchases. A recent Nielsen study found that three in four millennials would be willing to pay more for goods that are sustainable. They want less packaging waste – Amazon has received over 33 million comments, ratings, and photographs on how to improve packaging alone! More recently, they want to make sure all the stuff they are ordering doesn’t end up in a landfill.
Simply put, they want to reconcile their growing appetite for consumption with their strong belief in sustainability. That’s where the “circular economy” comes in.