Customers are increasingly demanding transparency from the products and services that they buy in the market today.

And a great deal of consumers today are thinking about not only the item or service that they might be interested in, but also about the company itself that they are giving their money to. Customers want to know that those companies are engaged in ethical practices and that they are authentic and trustworthy; engaged in practices that they agree with.

Numerous surveys have demonstrated that consumers around the world are concerned about where their products are coming from and not only that, but that they'd even be willing to pay a little be more (roughly 5 percent more) if they knew there were ethical practices involved in the process. In North America alone, this shopping segment is estimated to be worth billions of dollars. This involves anything from eco-cleaning products to organic goods, ethically-raised food products, and more.

It's not just our consumption habits either that this trend applies to, it's also been spilling over into our work choices too for many it seems.

One previous study from Stanford, suggests that a great deal of graduates in Europe and North America today are concerned about working for a company that has concern for the community and environment as a part of its overall business model.

In response to this trend, we have seen many businesses start to incorporate more “green tactics” into their operations. They might start to recycle more, upcycle products, make a donation for every X pair of items that is sold, build a water well in another country for every X of something sold etc. There are many different initiatives that creative entrepreneurs have come up with, to try and relay to the market that they are interested in more than just making a good product and a profit, but that they also want to give back voluntarily in a myriad of ways.

Thousands of companies globally have demonstrated a commitment to sustainability, and this is a trend that market experts suggest will only continue in the coming years. More corporations and entrepreneurs are going to step up as problem solvers to the variety of issues that we deal with today.

One characteristic that consumers are overwhelmingly concerned about today in the market is authenticity when it comes to the brands that they deal with. And one survey that's been analyzing the authenticity of brands in the market over the past several years is the Cohn & Wolfe Authentic Brands study.

Over the last 5 years they've analyzed consumer perceptions of thousands of different brands.

And their most recent study involved over 15,000 consumers from at least 15 different markets. After collecting their data from the participants, they were able to compile a list of global brands that are ranked according to their authenticity with consumers.

Top 10 Globally

Worst 10 Globally

Are you surprised to see any brands fall on the list where they have?

When it comes to the attributes that consumers rated these brands on, they were focusing on things like reliability, respectfulness, honesty, and more. They ask questions like whether or not participants view a certain brand as being open and honest, trustworthy about the information they claim, whether they act with integrity, if they are concerned with more than only trying to make money, and so on.

You can also adjust the findings on their site to view the top and worst brands, as far as authenticity, by way of country. They have data available that's specific to areas like the US, Sweden, India, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. With other areas that are going to be available soon.

When you adjust for the US, you see that the brand placement alters slightly. For the US specifically, the top 10 most authentic brands: Amazon, PayPal, Burt's Bees, Crayola, M&Ms, Lego, Hershey's, Newman's Own, AAA, and UPS. With the Worst 10 being Ben & Jerry's, Hanes, Harley Davidson, Levi's, Hallmark, Gerber, Google, Ghirardelli, Apple, and Intel. Some might be surprised to see Google and Apple fall in the bottom 10 with the US, whereas they are seen in the top 10 globally.

Consumers are more likely to make a purchase from someone that they trust, who they view to be authentic and reliable. And many consumers today are skeptical of the brands that they deal with, as they should be. And thanks to technology today, they are able to do their own research to find out the truth about a company and its claims. It's important for companies in the market today to consider their reputation in this manner if they want to see support from consumers; they need to take their values into account.

Pics:
Pixabay

Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2015/apr/02/the-rise-of-the-conscious-consumer-why-businesses-need-to-open-up
http://www.cohnwolfe.com/en/wolfetracking/2014-authentic-brands-study-age-authenticity
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/danielle-sabrina/rising-trend-social-respo_b_14578380.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanmcpherson/2017/01/19/6-csr-trends-to-watch-in-2017/#2ef3d7dfb1cc
http://authentic100.com/
http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/cohn-wolfes-authentic-100-reveals-global-brand-trust/1445935

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