Careen Winters, Chairman of Reputation and Chief Strategy Office with MWWPR, sits down with Americus to discuss the results of a recent survey defining the corpsumer. A corpsumer is a consumer that makes purchase decisions based on company reputation rather than product attributes. MWW’s survey has identified that 33%, one in three of us, are corpsumers in that we have taken action, whether we’ve changed our purchase behavior, switched to a new brand, or advocated others to do the same.
Per Careen this corpsumer trend is definitely on the rise. 78% of the survey respondents noted that corporate reputation does matter, and between 2017 and 2018, the number of corpsumers did increase 2%. While this rise seems insignificant, it’s important to note the corpsumer demographic exceeds both the moms and millienial demographics. It covers all generations and does lean slightly towards people with higher education and higher incomes, those with more purchasing power.
When it comes to issues most important to corpsumers, 81% say the perception of how a company treats its employees is number one. Careen sites Starbucks, as all employees get healthcare no matter how many hours they work, and all employees have access to college courses for free. When purchasing from Starbucks, corpsumers may feel like they are contributing to the greater good, opting for that $6 latte over alternatives down the road that are way cheaper. The second most important issue to corpsumers is trust and admiration for the CEO. Careen references Starbucks again, noting their former CEO Howard Schultz was very visible to the public eye. Today social media can play a huge role in making a large group of people feel like they know you. CEOs such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos were very active in social media and gained celebrity-like status. The cautionary tale Careen tells is that CEOs need to demonstrate, not discuss. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do in a company town hall, be consistent with your culture and values, and don’t perform-just be genuine.
“Doing the right thing is always the right thing” seems to be the motto of corpsumers. When asked about holiday shopping, 93% of corpsumers would purchase gifts for others from brands that have clear values, and 97% are more interesting in shopping with retailers that close on Thanksgiving. Corpsumers definitely let their behaviors speak for their values, putting their money where their mouth is.
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