Decoding the New Consumer Mind: How and Why We Shop and Buy

5

The Real Deal

Today's consumers are defensive and distrustful. They're disengaging from relationships with brands because those relationships lack the foundational ingredient of trust. Previous generations of marketers had it easier: their job was to maintain a trust that was assumed. For all the reasons covered in Part One of this book, today the consumer fallback position is distrust. Today, marketers are working from a deficit.

“They're just trying to sell me things” is what I typically hear from consumers who are concerned about retailer tactics. The implication is that retailers are employing trickery or manipulation that tilts the scales away from a fair and equitable exchange of money for wanted products. It's a protective mentality ...