Liquid Consumption

The way people differentiate themselves and gain social status within the society has been undergoing a transformation, bringing implications to a wide variety of business fields, including but not limited to marketing. In this regard, a new dimension of consumption can be observed, namely solid and liquid one (Bardhi & Eckhardt, 2017). In view of this, the paper will first differentiate these two types of consumption, which will be followed by the explanation of the process of social status and distinction gaining in the current marketplace. The final part will then examine in what way liquid consumption influences specifically the field of service marketing.

The previous era was shaped by solid consumption with social status and wealth being provided by well-defined and long-lasting indicators, such as conspicuous consumption or the possession of real estate property, luxury branded products and cars (Veblen, 1899/2005; Bauman, 2000; Eckhardt & Bardhi, 2020). Solid consumption was hence depicted by Bardhi and Eckhardt (2017) as ‘enduring, ownership based, and material’ (p.582). Contrary to that, liquid consumption can be seen as ‘ephemeral, access based, and dematerialized‘ (p.582) and while it exists alongside solid consumption, it has been becoming increasingly substantial in times characterized by global mobility, digitalization, and access-based practices (Bardhi & Eckhardt, 2017). Liquid consumption hence focuses on flexibility, mobility, and acceptance to change (Bardhi &Eckhardt, 2017; Bardhi, Eckhardt & Arnould, 2012), with novel opportunities and challenges arising in relation to origins and types of power and inequality (Elliott, 2007).

Building upon that, owing to an increasing importance of liquid consumption, the process of gaining social status and distinction in the marketplace has significantly changed (Eckhardt & Bardhi, 2020). While in the past was social status usually tightly connected to social class, the two concepts have recently been visibly disconnecting and social class is nowadays not the only aspect that would explain the way status is acquired and lost within societies (Dion & Borraz, 2017; Heath & Potter, 2005; Pakulski & Waters, 1996). This reflects the shift in values connected to core areas of life, where liquidity has increased on importance in relation to solidity (Bauman, 2000; 2007), consequently also making social hierarchy and status rather temporary and prone to change (Eckhardt & Bardhi, 2020). In this regard, two new means for attaining social status and distinction in contemporary marketplace shaped by liquid consumption are flexibility and attention, which are established on domains of access-based, urban, and digital consumption (Eckhardt & Bardhi, 2020).

Firstly, flexibility is defined as ‘the ability to embrace and adapt to new possibilities’ (Eckhardt & Bardhi, 2020, p.90). Individuals who have this particular resource are able to quickly adapt to change and have no problems undertaking new identity projects related to both private and work life without being restrained by their past social and emotional ties. Connected to this is the notion that an important means of maintaining flexibility is the adoption of a mobile consumer lifestyle (Bardhi & Eckhardt, 2017; Eckhardt & Bardhi, 2020). Secondly, attention is a form of social capital that has increased on importance with the advent and expansion of social media and emergence microcelebrities connected to them (Eckhardt & Bardhi, 2020). Bearing this in mind, attention can be acquired and measured through social media platforms’ likes, shares, and followers (Gerlitz &Helmond, 2013; Marwick, 2015; Rokka & Canniford, 2016).

Moreover, both aforementioned forms of attaining social status and distinction in the contemporary marketplace related to liquid consumption come with implications for the field of service marketing (Eckhardt & Bardhi, 2020). Marketers working in this area thus need be aware of new markers of status, which concern inconspicuous consumption and taste. In this regard, experiences are playing an increasingly important role, especially when they are connected to self-enhancement or work projects (Eckhardt & Bardhi, 2020). Therefore, it is in the interests of suppliers to endorse their services by means of focusing on the above-mentioned new markers of status in their marketing activities. Arguably, they cannot merely promote their service offers in the same way it was done in the previous era. Nowadays, they need to show how the offers can facilitate extraordinary experiences that would enable consumers work on their social capital, consequently enhancing their status within society. Nevertheless, as trends and tastes of people in liquid modernity frequently change, service marketers need to stay up-to-date and tailor their offers and promotional activities swiftly and accordingly.

To sum up, owing to emergence of liquid consumption, the rationale for controlling social status and hierarchies has undergone a transformation. Compared to previous era, high status can be nowadays achieved through flexibility and mobility, consequently allowing for new forms of luxury and prestige to emerge. This brings implications not only to consumers themselves, but also to companies, which need to embrace the new paradigm in order to ensure their relevancy and competitiveness in current marketplace.

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