• by Steve Ellwanger , April 26, 2023

With 80% of 2,000 consumers believing that brands are using inflation as an excuse to raise prices, 88% would switch from their preferred brands to save money—with grocery items at the top of the list.

The same survey by consumer research platform Attest indicated that more than half (55%) of respondents want brands to be honest when they are engulfed in a controversy and clearly outline how they intend to solve it.

Conducted in mid-February, the survey found that having a “negative experience” with a brand’s product or service ranks slightly ahead of price increases for the main reason someone would ditch a brand—at 33% and 32%, respectively.

Food and beverage brands were cited as the types of products consumers are most likely to switch to save money (71%) followed by clothing/shoes (40%). Lower down on the list were alcohol and tobacco products, at 16%.

Among the 80% of respondents who believed brands were involved in “greedflation”—defined as using inflation as an excuse to hike prices—nearly 60% felt “more needs to be done” to protect consumers and stop brands from doing so.

Consumers also weighed in on the topic of public controversy, which has a direct effect on brand loyalty, the study found.

“When a brand is involved in controversy, like Anheuser-Busch recently, our research finds that Americans value transparency and an honest apology more than anything else,” Attest founder and CEO Jeremy King tells MarketingDaily.

He was referring to A-B’s partnership with transgender advocate Dylan Mulvaney that generated social media backlash and resulted in two company executives being placed on leaves of absence in the past week.

“Americans want brands to hold their hands up. It doesn’t need to be complicated,” says King.

Just the issuance of a public apology would make 42% of the survey respondents happy, while removing the person responsible (32%), offering a discount/refund (29%) and providing services to lodge complaints (18%) “also matter to consumers.”

Speed of response is important, but only to some consumers, as 35% “are happy to give a brand time to issue a statement before making up their mind on a response. By contrast, 26% are much less patient and will "boycott/stop buying a brand’s products and services immediately" due to a controversy.

“It’s in that 26% where we see big, splashy actions and reactions,” King adds.