I was looking at my own purchasing habits last month and noticed something odd. I’d walked past three corner shops to get bread from the bakery that’s only open till 2pm. Not because their bread is revolutionary or massively superior. Because the person behind the counter remembers my order.
We’ve convinced ourselves that friction is the enemy. That if we just make checkout faster, delivery quicker, the buy button bigger, we’ll win. Meanwhile, Amazon has already won that game. They’ve got the infrastructure, the data, the everything.
But here’s what they can’t do. They can’t make someone drive across town for you.
That only happens when you’ve built something that matters beyond the transaction. When the product is genuinely better, yes, but also when the experience feels human. When there’s a reason to choose you that has nothing to do with speed or price.
The corner shop lost because it tried to be Tesco but smaller. The bakery wins because it stopped pretending convenience was the point.
Your customer will tolerate the extra click, the slightly longer wait, the having to actually remember your website exists instead of just defaulting to Amazon. But only if what you’re offering is actually worth the detour.
Most brands aren’t.
Research point. Studies show that 40-80% of our purchases are driven by emotional, not rational processes.
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