Strong Markets, Strained Households

Only 15% of consumers say price alone defines value.

In a year of economic unease, that’s a surprising number, and it changes how companies should talk about what they’re worth.

RepTrak’s 2026 Trends report highlighted economic complexity as a top trend for the year, and, now, with our latest Q2 data release, there are some signs as to how companies can begin handling a world that feels increasingly bifurcated into strong markets and strained households.

In RepTrak’s Q2 2026 research, people asked to define value beyond price pointed not to cost, but to whether a product meets their needs (54%), whether it’s easy to access (38%), and whether the company behind it looks strong enough to still be there tomorrow (33%). Consumers aren’t asking companies to be the cheapest. They’re asking them to be worth the money.

That demand comes from a divided economy. Our own research from Q3 2025 signaled that consumers are fairly bullish on their own finances, with 32% expecting them to improve, yet around 45% expect both the national and global economy to get worse. When people brace for harder times, they judge companies more closely on what they deliver for the money, and value becomes reputation’s hardest test.

Value is defined broadly, but three things rise to the top

When people judge value beyond price, they weigh a wide range of attributes, and three of them carry the most weight. RepTrak’s Q2 2026 data shows the public prioritising:

• Delivery: whether the product meets their needs (54%)

• Access: whether it’s easy to find and get (38%)

• Dependability: whether the company looks strong enough to last (33%)

Other attributes that companies often lead with stay relevant but rank lower. Shared values (25%), supporting causes (22%), and being the most innovative (22%) all sit below the three above. Because people can select several attributes at once, the ranking reflects priority among many things they value. People define value broadly; delivery, access, and dependability simply rise to the top. The pattern is also stable rather than a one-quarter blip, moving only slightly since Q3 2025, when meeting needs sat at 57%.

Delivery and access do most of the work

Value starts with the product doing its job and being easy to get. Meeting needs well (54%) is the largest single component of value in every wave RepTrak has run, and ease of access is a consistent second. Together they lead every other attribute by a wide margin.

That focus on fundamentals shows up elsewhere in the research. In RepTrak’s Q1 2026 study of corporate priorities, the public wanted companies to improve the customer experience (36%), second only to data privacy at 37%. Managing the wider economy (inflation, interest rates, supply chains) ranked near the bottom at 23%. People expect companies to deliver reliably inside a difficult economy, not to fix the economy itself.

For communicators, the takeaway is practical. Value-for-money messaging works best when it’s about the product working and being easy to get, rather than about a company’s role in the macro picture.

Financial staying power now belongs in the value conversation

A company’s dependability has become part of how people judge value. A third of the public (33%) say value includes whether the company is financially strong and will be there for them long term. In a calm economy that might look minor. Against 2026’s backdrop, with households bracing for national and global decline, it deserves attention.

It helps to separate what the data shows from how we read it: the Q2 2026 figure tells us 33% count long-term financial strength as part of value. It doesn’t tell us that economic anxiety created that view, and one data point isn’t a trend. Our interpretation, drawn from years of watching reputation move, is that people who expect conditions to worsen lean toward companies they trust to endure. That would shift financial stability from an investor story toward a consumer one. We’d present it as reasoning rather than proof, and the practical point holds either way: dependability is something people now weigh, and companies can speak to it in terms customers care about.

Purpose and sponsorship come after the fundamentals

In a cost-conscious year, purpose and sponsorship are less likely to define value on their own unless strong delivery sits underneath them. The Q2 2026 data places them below the fundamentals across three separate questions.

• Values and causes register, but rank lower. Shared values (25%) and supporting causes (22%) sit below delivery, access, and dependability as parts of value. They still count for something, though less than the fundamentals of value.

• Sponsorship is admired, and affordability is watched. Olympic and Paralympic sponsorship reads positively, with 40% calling it authentic and 39% seeing a genuine contribution to society. At the same time, nearly four in ten (37%) say companies should skip the sponsorship and keep prices as low as possible. These were separate survey statements, so both attitudes can hold at once. Someone can admire the gesture and still want lower prices.

• AI research is a shopping behaviour. When people use AI to research a company, they mostly want practical purchase information. Prices, fees, and cost comparisons lead at 22%, followed by products and services at 15%. A company’s values, ethics, or purpose (8%) and its environmental or social impact (5%) sit well below. The honest read is about the job people hire AI to do, which is purchase research, rather than a verdict on everything they care about.

The pattern across all three is consistent. Purpose and sponsorship are less likely to carry value by themselves, and they work best once delivery and dependability are already in place.

Responsible business still matters, once delivery is credible

For responsible business, the mandate still holds; what’s changed is the order of operations. RepTrak’s 2026 trends research asked what convinces people a company genuinely contributes to society. Being an employer of choice (good wages, decent conditions, training) topped the list at 52%, ahead of equal opportunity (45%) and support for local communities (44%). Doing right by people reads as a form of value in itself. Contribution shows up best in everyday practice; purpose layered on top of a product people can’t afford does little for reputation.

There’s a regional wrinkle worth planning around. APAC over-indexes on wanting companies to manage the macroeconomic environment, while the Americas and EMEA lean more toward customer experience and sustainability. The value message travels globally, though its emphasis should flex by market.

This pattern ties directly to the RepTrak model. The three tests map onto two of its drivers: meeting needs and easy access sit within Products & Services, while financial staying power sits within Performance. In 2026, stakeholders judge value through a combination of those two drivers. The model makes that visible, which is why Good Value Products & Services remains one of the strongest contributors to reputation. For stakeholders, value has become a measure of whether a company consistently delivers what it promises.

Markets may be strong, but reputation in 2026 is being settled in strained households. The surprising figure is that only 15% reduce value to price. Everyone else is weighing a harder question: is this worth the money?

Companies answer it by passing three plain tests: the product meets my needs, I can get it easily, and the company looks like it will last. The businesses that build reputation from here will be the ones that remove friction, meet needs, and prove they’re dependable, not the ones that discount hardest or signal loudest. In 2026, reputation follows the companies that prove value before they promise purpose.