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The transformational consumer

According to the book "The Transformational Consumer" by Tara-Nicholle Nelson, 50% of U.S. consumers are considered "Transformational Consumers."

These are people who actively seek products, services, and experiences that can help them improve their lives in the areas of health, wealth, knowledge, and personal development.

Nelson defines Transformational Consumers as individuals who "see life as a never-ending series of projects to help themselves and their families become healthier, wealthier, and wiser"

This represents a significant segment of the consumer market, comprising half of all consumers in the United States. The book emphasizes that this is not a niche demographic, but rather a large and growing segment of consumers who are constantly looking for ways to transform and improve various aspects of their lives.

Transformational consumers heavily skew to college graduate, higher socioeconomic consumers who make up the vast majority of spending at location-based entertainment venues (LBEs). This makes it even more important in the highly competitive out-of-home entertainment market for LBEs to include transformational experiences in their offerings.

Research by Eventbrite found that more than half of event attendees are looking for transformational experiences:

• 79% of event attendees would pay more for entertaining or informative events that are also meaningful or transformative experiences.
• 72% of consumers feel positively toward events that offer a meaningful, transformative experience.

Transformational experiences are at the top level of the progression of economic value. The progression of economic value starts with raw commodities that are transformed into goods, which are then wrapped in services and finally transformed into experiences. Each level increases the total value to the customer and, accordingly, the total price the customer is willing to pay. Generally, price sensitivity decreases, profit margins increase, and competition decreases as you move up the progression of economic value.

In addition to the economic value and profitability at the different levels of the progression of economic value, there's another dimension on how people value each level - the progression of time. With only 24 hours a day and seven days a week, with 40+ hours a week for work and 8 hours a day for sleep, time is an immensely limited currency. Time wasted is to be avoided at all costs. Goods and services are about time well saved, so a person frees up their time for other things. Instead of spending time making an apple pie, you buy it at the farm market and save time. Experiences are about time well spent. At the 5^th level, transformational experiences, the progression of time takes on a greater value to time well invested; as transformational experiences, the improvement to either body or mind lasts.

For many people, leaving home and visiting a particular LBE is more about using discretionary leisure time than spending discretionary money. In our time-pressed culture, the last thing people want to do is waste their leisure time. For that reason, to ensure it is worth their time, we see a trend of people choosing premium, higher fidelity, and meaningful experiences that include transformational experiences.

LBEs can grow their businesses and profitability by making a paradigm shift by adding offerings with the highest economic and time value to their current offerings of services and experiences - transformational experiences.

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