Companies are very, very good - better than consumers themselves - at knowing what consumers are actually craving.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Customers want good value, but they care more than ever how food and clothing products are made.
Consumers deserve the right to know what's in their food - and obviously, most people want that choice. It's hard to see how more knowledge about the products we eat every day can hurt us.
There's absolutely no doubt consumers have more choice than ever, and the standards of all that provide food have improved over time.
Let's face it: so much of what we consume is not driven by knowledge but by basic craving and impulse. The process of what we eat starts in our heads. And no one is more in our heads than a food industry that spends billions of dollars in marketing its message in every means possible.
If you think you know the consumer better than anyone, then you're in real trouble. So we take a close watch. You spend time in stores.
Today's consumers are eager to become loyal fans of companies that respect purposeful capitalism. They are not opposed to companies making a profit; indeed, they may even be investors in these companies - but at the core, they want more empathic, enlightened corporations that seek a balance between profit and purpose.
Consumers no longer want only a great product - they want to buy products from companies that align with their own character and values.
I think good companies can navigate being public and doing the right things for their customers.
Consumer habits are key to understanding how to launch a product.
When companies try to guess what consumers want, they essentially make the choice for consumers.