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Consumers are Willing to Pay More for Products Made by Employee-Owners

ESOP

Consumers are Willing to Pay More for Products Made by Employee-Owners

By , May 15, 2017
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A recent article published by Forbes stated that ‘Consumers are Willing to Pay More for Products Made by Employee-Owners’.

The Forbes report refers to the latest survey conducted by Thomas Dudley, co-founder of Certified EO, a new social enterprise that helps promote employee owned companies through its Employee Ownership Certification Program.

The research findings showed that out of the 2,000 consumers who were surveyed online in the United States, 40% said that they are more likely to purchase products from employee owned companies. The 40% rating matches with USDA Organic, which is a more popular label, and is higher compared with two other labels Fair Trade Certified and Great Place to Work, which scored 32% and 20% respectively. Moreover, out of these 2,000 respondents, 28% would be eager to pay at least 10% more for the same product.

The results strongly indicate that, by comparison, products associated with employee ownership could very well compete with other more reputable marks such as USDA Organic or Fair Trade.

This recent study also signifies that employee ownership matters to consumers, and that employee owned brands could have more impact on buyer preference.

Visit our Employee Engagement page or watch our webinar to learn more about Employee Share Ownership Plans.

Click here to view the original article.

Craig West

Craig West

Executive Chairman | Succession Plus

Craig West is a strategic accountant with over 20 years of experience advising business owners. His background as a CPA in public practice has provided invaluable experience in the key issues of concern to business owners.

In March 2014, Craig was appointed Executive Chairman of the SME Association of Australia, Australia’s largest small business organisation representing over 300,000 business owners.

In October 2014, he was awarded the Exit Planner of the Year at the Exit Planning Institute Annual Conference in Texas, USA, due to his innovative development of an exit planning process to help business owners maximise business value and achieve a successful exit.

Craig’s proprietary structure - a Peak Performance Trust - has won the Australia-wide award for the Employee Share Ownership Plan of the year twice in four years.

In November 2018, Craig launched SME Experts in partnership with Mark Bouris’ Mentored on Podcast One and quickly grew the monthly podcast audience to over 26,500 downloads; in October 2019, he released a new podcast focused on medium-sized businesses - Mid-Market Matters.

In July 2021, Craig joined the NSW Committee for STEP (Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners) – focusing on advising families across generations.

Craig has also launched a SaaS platform, Capitaliz (which captures the 21-step process), to assist other advisers internationally deliver advisory services at scale.

In November 2021, Craig was appointed Executive Chairman of NSW Leaders, a business mentoring group for leading NSW businesses.

In July 2022, Craig West received the award of Doctor of Business Administration for his research thesis titled “Examination of the key factors driving business exit options in Australian Small and Medium Enterprises.”

Craig is passionate about encouraging business owners to think strategically, maximise the value of their business and achieve a successful exit.

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