Target’s once-envied reputation may never fully recover from the massive data breach that affected more than 100 million customers during the holiday shopping season.
Public perception of Target fell off a cliff after the breach and remains at historic lows, according to data provided to The Huffington Post by YouGov BrandIndex, which has tracked the perception of brands over the past six and a half years.
If any further problems crop up while the data breach is still in the public consciousness, Target may never return to its previous heights, warns Ted Marzilli, chief executive and global director of YouGov BrandIndex.
The real danger for the company lies ahead as investigations and lawsuits progress. “It takes repeated episodes for the reputation to change,” Marzilli said, adding that the brand could recover its stature in a few months, barring any further setbacks.
“I don’t think this is a life-threatening problem for Target, but it is going to have a financial impact,” he said. “Maybe they aren’t the poster child for everything nice.”
Read more at Huffington Post.
…sounds like somebody is trying to find a reason to attack Target…after all, Neiman Marcus, Michaels, Macys, the state of Texas, the state of Utah, etc. have all brushed up against this problem at one time or another during the last few years…this is the way it is in this new age of digitized data and I don’t think Target (nor Nieman Marcus, nor Texas, nor Utah) will be stopped by this problem.
As a long time Target fan, I will say that I think that their reputation and trust are perhaps reasons why they were targeted (really no pun intended). Not a conspiracy theory kind of person in general – but I think the success of this effort will do nothing but spur others. It’s long term impact could be bigger than we think today because as such large scale attacks become more commonplace – laws and our rights as a consumer will be impacted.
NDG staff;
…those are truly important points to consider…