Introducing The "CorpSumer": Why Companies Need To Care About This 33% of Americans
Introducing The "CorpSumer": Why Companies Need To Care About This 33% of Americans https://csuiteold.c-suitenetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/introducing-the-corpsumer-why-companies-need-to-care-about-this-33-of-americans.jpg 960 503 C-Suite Network https://csuiteold.c-suitenetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/introducing-the-corpsumer-why-companies-need-to-care-about-this-33-of-americans.jpg
MWWPR
Corpumers: A new segment of the population based on research from MMWPR
In recent research, MWWPR identified a significant segment of the population that may force companies to rethink how they build brands and their relationships with consumers. This new segment, coined “CorpSumer,” is comprised of one in three Americans. They are unique in that they have a demonstrated track record of basing their behaviors on more than just product features, attributes and price. They tend to care more about who the brand is and the values that it represents, being willing to stick with a company whose products or services they are not completely satisfied with because they believe in the company’s values—or advocate against the brand when they don’t.
To understand more about the CorpSumer, I turned to Carreen Winters, Chairman of Reputation and Chief Strategy Officer, and Michelle Gordon, SVP, Research and Insights at MWWPR. Below are their thoughts.
Kimberly Whitler: There is one segment of the population that tends to care more about what companies say and do—beyond just what they sell—which you call the “CorpSumer”. Why does a company or brand’s values matter to consumers?
Carreen Winters: This segment of consumers want to put their money behind things that they believe in and they want to support companies that conduct themselves in ways in which this consumer respects. Interestingly, in our research, consumers are even willing to stay loyal to a company that it believes is trying to “do the right thing” even if the product has disappointed them. This demonstrates the importance of a brand or company’s values.
Whitler: Haven’t consumers always cared about “who” the brand is? What has changed?
Winters: A few things have changed. In the past, we defined as “good” in the absence of the company doing anything wrong. Today, CorpSumers actually investigate and seek out information, in a desire to see if the company is worth doing business with. And the information they seek isn’t just about the product, but their behavior. Consider Starbucks. They provide education and healthcare benefits to all of their employees and healthcare benefits in a way that is truly unique and defines them as…
