People just like stuff! At the end of the day, why do we all get bigger houses, more vehicles, newer phones? People like to have things, they always have.
Corporations spend billions of dollars on product design. There’s a reason Packaging Design is a hot degree for students right now. Consumer behavior is driven by human psychology. Obviously, science is behind why people choose one product over another.
However, I see this changing today with the amount of time and money consumers spend on apps and gaming. There is certainly a shift in the consumer’s perception of value. Nowadays, customers are placing more value on how much entertainment they receive and how much time an app can save them.
The best way to appeal to today’s consumer is to do it both ways—by offering digital products in a physical form and physical products in a digital format.