Today’s consumer is evolving into a culturally infused being whose values dictate her decisions—and brands and businesses must now reflect a similar focus to earn her business. This growing segment of the population plans to vote with their wallet this holiday shopping season, favoring brands with strong corporate values over getting the best deal. First identified by MWWPR in 2017, these CorpSumers base their loyalty and purchasing decisions on companies’ reputations rather than just product features and price.
On the heels of its second annual CorpSumer study, MWWPR and Wakefield Research conducted a follow up survey about holiday shopping plans to determine if CorpSumer values and behaviors carry over into the traditionally discount and deal-centered holiday shopping season—and the results overwhelmingly indicate that brands’ shared values and stances on societal issues will be a litmus test for CorpSumers when they select holiday gifts, with more than 3 out of 4 (76 percent) indicating that they will select holiday gifts based on whether the brand or the retailer have values similar to their own.
“The results of this survey indicate a significant shift in the mindset of shoppers as they embark on the busiest shopping season of the year, with values and purpose eclipsing deals as a top priority,” said Carreen Winters, MWWPR’s chairman of reputation and chief strategy officer, in a news release. “While the general public is highly oriented around bargains during the holidays, CorpSumers, who represent more than one in three Americans, define value based on brand purpose—not dollars.”
“CorpSumers have consistently demonstrated a willingness to pay more for brands that share their values, and this study shows that this behavior applies to their gift-giving, not just personal purchases,” Winters added. “Whether shopping in stores on Black Friday or Small Business Saturday, or online on Cyber Monday, CorpSumers will reward the brands that have authentically demonstrated their purpose this holiday season.”
This holiday season, CorpSumers will shop for company core values, not price
- Over 3 in 4 (76 percent) CorpSumers will decide where they spend their money on gifts based on whether the company has similar values to themselves.
- When shopping for gifts, the majority of CorpSumers (57 percent) strongly consider whether a company has clear values and takes a stance on important societal issues to be more important than companies offering the best deals.
- An overwhelming 93 percent of CorpSumers will likely purchase their holiday gifts from companies that demonstrate their values and take a stance on societal issues.
MWWPR’s second annual CorpSumer study (October 2018) revealed that CorpSumers place a high premium on employee wellbeing, citing “treatment of employees” as its number one criteria for forming an opinion about a company. Not surprisingly, CorpSumers overwhelmingly indicate that they will reward companies who respect holidays and family as a priority, with 97 percent of CorpSumers indicating that they would be more interested in shopping with companies who are closed on holidays like Thanksgiving Day over those who open with great deals.
The MWWPR CorpSumer Research Study was conducted by Wakefield Research among 500 US CorpSumers ages 18+ between November 13, 2018 and November 15, 2018, using an email invitation and an online survey. The margin of error for US CorpSumers ages 18+ is +/- 4.4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
