Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As a business owner, you must consider the presence of consciousness on the part of the consumer. Consumers who once supported your business may divest, if they feel as though you’re practices are fair or ethical. The following contributed post is entitled, Why You Can’t Afford Not To Practice What You Preach In This Age Of The Conscious Consumer.
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Being seen as a business that cares is non-negotiable in the age of the conscious consumer. No longer are customers willing to put their money towards companies that don’t align with their goals. What’s more, the booming online market means they don’t have to.
This has been the case for a few years now, and it’s led to fantastic ethical shifts in company processes. More businesses than ever now donate to charity, and even major corporations are implementing environmental focuses. If you’re to stand any chance at competing, the chances are you’re doing the same.
The trouble is that, as the internet allows consumers to delve deeper into business processes than ever, surface appearances are no longer enough. In fact, the reputational damage of customers learning that you don’t practice what you preach behind closed doors could see you struggling or even having to shut shop.
Ethics really do matter that much, and you should be implementing focuses like these at every level to ensure results. For proof, consider the following company failures that have left consumers questioning whether brands care at all.
Partnerships that go against ethics
Once, consumers had idea what companies were partnering or selling. Now, this information is online for everyone to see, and it can be damaging if you make agreements with businesses that don’t share your upfront ethics.
In recent years, this has most notably been the case for cruelty-free makeup brands, many of whom are owned by some of the worst culprits for animal testing. As can be seen on https://ethicalelephant.com, such consumer discoveries in recent years have led to boycotts on even front-running ‘cruelty-free’ brands.
The moral of the story is simple. Don’t preach one thing, then let money sway you to the opposite. Or, in other words – never partner with a company that doesn’t share the same outlook.
Only making an effort where people can see
Companies have also been caught out for only prioritizing ethics in the public eye. For instance, countless brands claim to care about recycling yet come out as the worst contenders for landfill under the surface.
Again, remember that nothing goes under the radar anymore. In an age where consumers can access recycling reports and more, even something seemingly small like pouring vegetable fat down the drain could throw your ethical makeup into question.
Companies should, therefore, be making an effort to maintain ethical focuses, even behind scenes, either by turning to companies like https://gfcommodities.com/our-services/used-cooking-oils-recycling/ to recycle fat instead of draining it, or making sure to separate warehouse plastics ready for recycling. And, all of this should be standard even when no one’s looking.
Conclusion
Presentation matters in modern business but, make no mistake, so does what you do behind closed doors. In fact, given that claiming an ethical focus and being found to go against it is worse than making no effort at all, you could say that sticking to your supposed ethics business-wide is vital for staying on top in 2020 and beyond.
