Tag Archives: reputation

Italians and sustainability in the retail business: the buzz is online!

Italians speak about sustainability online.This is the result of a recent survey led by Blogmeter from October 1st, 2010 to January 31st, 2011 recording approximately more than 9 thousand post about environmental sustainability related to the major retail chains. Social media proved to be the ideal and most followed communication tool  to promote eco- initiatives, facilitating the construction of  a real “green image” for the retail business sector.

Retailers mentioned by Italians on online conversations about sustainability

When it comes to environmental sustainability Coop and Ikea and are the most discussed with over 40% of the citations. This happened for example with the Sportello Ambiente initiative,  a collaboration between Ikea and Legambiente to offer advice to consumers about home energy efficiency, and with the Coop campaign to promote the consumption of tap water in place of the bottled one.

In general, web users are showing an increaside sensitivity to organic and low-
environmental impact products:  in the online communities dedicated to women, users positively report about the presence of automatic distributors to refill detergents inside the supermarket. Retailers brands are the most mentioned ones, most widely quoted and commented by users because always available on the shelf – like Esselunga Bio, Bio of Auchan, Coop Viviverde. Lidl, for example, is particularly discussed for its range of ecological detergents W5 (on 42 over 199 posts mentioning the retailer) considered to be of good quality and highly recommended among users.

The network also tells us that attention to a more responsible consumption is steadily increasing and influencing the purchase process in different ways: users are more sensitive to labels and the presence of the Ecolabel certification is considered increasingly important for those who are looking for products with a low environmental impact.

The research also showed that a balanced relationship between quality and price of organic and /or eco products is a key criterion in the buying process: very often consumers who are interested in green products do desist because selling prices are too high. (Source: GDO Week)

Brand Reputation: Italy’s best ones are Ferrero, BMW and Barilla

Ferrero, followed by BMW, and Barilla, are the company whose brand reputation has been rated the best one in Italy by the last “Reputation Pulse 2011″survey, the most important and extensive national research about company reputation conducted by the Reputation Institute in partnership with Doxa. The Reputation Institute, the main structure at a worldwide level dealing with issues such as corporate branding and reputation management, has been helping in the last 15 years more than 200 companies to measure, understand and enhance their potential in terms of reputation.

Every year the Institute carries out a research at a global level about company reputation and the factors affecting it, surveying more than 1500 companies from 32 countries. The Reputation Pulse Italy is produced in partnership with Doxa and examines more than 120 companies operating in Italy ranking them following a reputation criteria, with a score ranging from 1 to 100. The survey had been carried during the first three months of 2011, with more than 3,000 people interviewed.

So this year is Ferrero standing at the top step of the podium (with a score of 81.68), closely followed by BMW (81.19) and Barilla (81.16), with only three companies achieving a score of ” reputation of excellence “(over 80). Further down the rankings there are companies like Armani (78.90) ranked fifth, Luxottica (75.56) eight, Coop (73.54) fifteenth, Pirelli (72.55) 17th, followed immediately by Benetton (72.42), 18th. The “top 20” companies outweigh the positive threshold of 70 points, the remaining companies are hardly reaching that level: of the 124 firms surveyed, only 30% are showing a score higher than 70.

The 2011 survey considered only the companies amont the 100 rated in Mediobanca’s annual report about the “Leading Italian Companies”. The Pulse Reputation Italy survey has also expressed an evaluation in terms of gain or loss of reputation as compared to year 2010: Alitalia sees the highest score reputation increase (+12.8 points), followed by Intesa Sanpaolo (+ 7.1) and Unipol (+6.5). Mediaset (-10.7) with Lottomatica (-10.6) and Mediolanum (-10.2) are the protagonists of the worst loss of reputation, with a drop of about 10 points compared to 2010.

“Corporate reputation – said Michele Tesoro-Tess, head of the Reputation Institute in Italy (Advice dept.) – has a primary strategic importance for companies: when positive, can be a source of value, but if it is weak or negative it can make the company vulnerable. ” “We analyzed – adds Guido Argieri responsible for the Reputation Institute in Italy (Research dept.) – that in Italy more than 50% of the public has a favorable attitude toward the first three companies in our ranking, leading to consumers to be more willing to accept any increase in prices or tariffs applied to these three companies products.” (Source: Purpleandnoise)