Out of the Box

What Does it Take to Gain Consumer Confidence?

By Menachem Lubinsky on June 15 2007

Driving along some of the country roads in Upstate New York, my wife and I occasionally stop at a roadside stand selling fresh fruit and produce. A “Fresh Corn” stand looked particularly enticing since it really did look fresh. The apples you can pick yourself just seem to taste better. Americans in growing numbers, say marketers, are looking for the “genuine” experience, whether foods or other consumer goods.

The whole movement towards natural and organic is in part due to the quest for food that is grown naturally and not treated with chemicals. The success of supermarket chains like Whole Foods reflects a desire by customers to shop a store that by and large carries only the natural products. People still patronize bakeries, rather then buy all their baked goods at a supermarket, because they are convinced that the pastries and breads in a bakery are fresher, and they are.

Marketers say that consumers are constantly striving to have confidence in the products they buy. They want to feel that what they buy is genuine, good for them, and that it will meet their expectations, a key word in the consumer confidence mix. Buying at a farm stand raises the expectation that the products represent ultimate freshness. After all, they were grown in the fields that are often visible just beyond the stand, did not have to endure long truck trips, and are being sold by people they can relate to as being local.

Buying local is yet another trend that marketers say is taking hold all over the country. Sure, you can shop at Wal-Mart’s and the price may certainly be right, but somehow the local small store exudes more confidence. The truth is that we are suspicious of the products we buy. Even when there is an expiration date, we wonder whether the product will really be good in the end. Some studies suggest that when it comes to perishable goods, people will not buy products that are close to the expiration date. We are worried that perhaps the product might go bad prematurely or that we may not get to use the item before its expiation date.

Winning consumer confidence is a challenge that marketers do not take lightly. They recognized that people are by nature skeptical but that they also want to be comfortable with their environment and the things they buy to enhance their quality of life. Consumer confidence means consistency in that the customer finds that a product or service lives up to or exceeds their expectation.

Jack manufactures jackets for several well known brands. Several years ago, he decided to launch his own label and in several cases ended up in the same stores as his private label clients. He would watch as customers looked at his jackets, tried them on, but ultimately settled on the brand which was a full 50% more expensive. Jack recognized the obvious: shoppers did not have the confidence in his label as they did with the major brands.

In one store, Jack noticed a woman holding a jacket in each hand, carefully examining the material and the workmanship. After several minutes she returned the brand and proceeded to the checkout counter with Jack’s brand. She had obviously concluded that the jackets were identical and that only the label was different, so why pay more. If only he could convince other shoppers of what that woman had discovered.

The clothing chain Syms had long ago coined the phrase “an educated consumer is our best customer”. Founder Sy Syms appealed directly to the customer who has confidence in brand names but appreciates the savings that Syms offers. The educated consumer then is a customer who knows brands and is thrilled to be able to buy the product at a significant savings. The success of Syms is that it had gained the confidence of the customer who has high expectations of the quality of a brand, albeit at a reduced price.

A good deal of a branding effort is to ultimately gain consumer confidence. The expectation of customers is that a brand will stand behind its product as opposed to the unknown label. Even customers who recognized that Jack’s jackets are similar to the brands, are concerned about the unknown. “Will the jacket fall apart as soon as I bring it home?” might be a question that a shopper raises.

Restaurants know a thing or two about consumer confidence. The food has to be consistently good for diners to feel comfortable about a restaurant. If the fare is off for even one day, diners may not come back. There is very little room for error, which is an enormous challenge.

It is important that people in business understand the dimensions and scope of consumer confidence, since it is frequently not articulated. It may be a sub-conscious “feeling” about a product. I have seen surveys where respondents simply cannot explain their “feelings” about a product or service. That does not mean that marketers cannot strive for perfection. Somehow if there is quality, consistency, and a clear link to how the product will benefit a customer, the “feeling” comes along with, and so does the ultimate coveted “consumer confidence”.

Out of the Box is a collection of strategic marketing articles that Lubicom has published on various topics, trends and ideas in the marketing world. The articles have been published in the Hamodia weekly newspaper circulated on three continents to a readership of well over 100,000.

The name, "Out of the Box" is a term used frequently in business nowadays to describe creative thinking that is not the norm. It is meant to help a business pull away from the pack or separate oneself from the competition. It is to some extent fraught with risk, simply because it is not the run of the mill thinking, but it is at the same time the key to reaching the next opportunity.