If there is one thing for sure, Business isn’t just business anymore. They have been momentous shifts in the way people shop and choose their products and services. It is no longer about the “price of milk.” Consumers want to know the whole story. Nothing shouts this out more than the current controversy about the price the milk, in Australia.
Consumers have been enjoying a ridiculously low price without giving it any thought or consideration of how milk could be available at this price and farmers still receiving an income. When the whole situation blew up and one particular company was telling farmers they had been paid too much for the year and demanded they return the so call “extra”, consumers suddenly became outraged.
The truth that had been there all along was suddenly staring them in the face and they could no longer ignore it. The farmers had been so screwed down on price that they could hardly survive. Now that consumers were conscious of what was happening, it was no longer acceptable to buy “cheap” milk. Everyone was suddenly willing to pay that extra 50cents – $1 to buy “branded” milk instead of the cheap supermarket labelled milk; because they knew that in doing this they are supporting the farmers and making a stand against the questionable ethics of the big supermarkets. Now, they can’t seem to give away the cheaper milk.
I look at this whole situation as a perfect example of the demand of consumers these days. Consumers are far more conscious and want the products and services they buy to reflect their own beliefs in fairness and sustainability. They will go out of their way, they will pay more and they will “evangelise” more for brands that meet their ethics and speak to their emotions.
This is not something any business can afford to ignore. It goes right to core. You can’t just be “green” on the surface, it needs to be from the heart and the soul of everything your business does and stands for. If it isn’t maybe it’s time to considering restumping your foundations.
When a business works from the heart and soul, it reaches right in there to communicate with heart and soul with its customers. Being a business that makes a stand and create a solid set of values that it adheres to, without wavering is a business that people want to do business with.