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Q1 2018 saw Alibaba’s Hema supermarket launch an adult section in its app. Billed He Er Meng (literally Hormone), the service lists around 700 products including condoms, pregnancy test kits and sex toys. Consumers can make purchases inside the app, with a selection of items available for super-express 30-minute delivery. It is currently only available in Shanghai.

Okay, stop laughing at the back 😉 It’s all too easy to dismiss this innovation as frivolous. In fact, it taps into core truths about the nature of trends and how they spread. New consumer trends emerge thanks to innovations that serve basic needs in new ways. Why? Because those innovations rewire consumers, changing what they expect of every business. This example is a case in point. We all know that on-demand services are nothing new: a host of innovations – including smartphone-fueled ride-sharing services such as DiDi  â€“ have fuel widespread expectations of near-instant, one touch service in recent years. Now we see Alibaba innovating around those expectations to launch on-demand condoms (talk about basic human needs). Meanwhile, this innovation will itself further heighten expectations around on-demand; other innovators will respond. And so the cycle – expectations, new innovations, heightened expectations – continues.

Users of He Er Meng can now get condoms delivered to their door faster than many of us can get pizza delivered to ours. If that’s not a terrifying signal of how ruthlessly the expectation cycle operates to raise standards, we don’t know what is. So today ask yourself: who is raising the bar when it comes to the basic needs you serve? And how will you respond?

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