While there are plenty of movements devoted to slow living, slow cooking and slow travel, there’s no getting away from the fact that in our modern world, speed is the ultimate luxury. Whether we are shopping, streaming or simply getting from A to B, we want to do it fast. Ordering a dress and waiting three weeks for it to arrive is simply not an option.
Let’s take a look at the key features of this growing trend and what it means for bigger life decisions.
Instant gratification drives consumer behaviour
Have you ever found yourself getting as far as the checkout with an online order, realising delivery is five days and giving up? You’re not alone. A recent study found that a whopping 70% of us now expect same-day or next-day delivery as standard. Two-thirds of online shoppers say that fast delivery directly influences their purchase decisions.
For businesses, this means that streamlining dispatch and delivery systems is absolutely key. Unless you’re a high-end, bespoke manufacturer, with long lead times built into expectations, you have to be able to get your product into people’s hands at lightning-quick speed to stay competitive.
We’re surrounded by examples of this. Tesco, for example, has expanded its home delivery and click and collect offerings to include Whoosh. Whoosh is a new rapid delivery service that promises groceries to your door in less than 30 minutes. It operates from hundreds of stores across the UK.
The information superhighway speeds up
Our need for speed isn’t confined to tangible things like bread and milk. We expect our digital highways to be moving faster and faster. Ofcom’s Connected Nations report shows average UK home broadband speeds now exceed 70 Mbps. Many urban areas are accessing ultrafast full-fibre services exceeding 300 Mbps. Gigabit-capable broadband is available to more than 75% of UK premises.
It’s a far cry from having to kick your mum off the phone to be able to log on to the dial-up broadband, but over the space of a few decades it’s become standard. People aren’t upgrading their broadband because their existing service doesn’t work; they’ve simply become intolerant of any amount of loading or buffering.
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Big life decisions follow suit
Not content with fast streaming and shopping services, we want this same level of efficiency within big decisions too – everything from booking a holiday and changing a career to buying and selling homes. The traditional housing market is an interesting one, as it’s one example where speed is lagging behind.
The average house sale in the UK takes over 18 weeks, and even then it’s subject to a lot of unpredictability. In an effort to speed things up and add a layer of certainty, people looking for a fast house sale are looking at alternative routes. Cash buying services, for example, can provide free cash offers in minutes and funds in as little as seven days.
The next time you make any kind of decision, from where you to get your shopping to how you sell your house, stop a minute to think about how important speed is to you. If you can spare the time, that is.
