Brand loyalty

Brand loyalty

Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy.Dick, Alan S. and Kunal Basu (1994), "Customer Loyalty: Toward an Integrated Conceptual Framework," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 22 (2), 99-113.] True brand loyalty implies that the consumer is willing, at least on occasion, to put aside their own desires in the interest of the brand. [Oliver, Richard L. (1999), "Whence Customer Loyalty?," Journal of Marketing, 63 (3), 33-44.] Brand loyalty has been proclaimed by some to be the ultimate goal of marketing.Reichheld, Frederick F. and W. Earl Jr. Sasser (1990), "Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Services," Harvard Business Review (September-October), 105-11.]

Brand loyalty is more than simple repurchasing, however. Customers may repurchase a brand due to situational constraints, a lack of viable alternatives, or out of convenience. [Jones, Michael A., David L. Mothersbaugh, and Sharon E. Beatty (2002), "Why Customers Stay: Measuring the Underlying Dimensions of Services Switching Costs and Managing Their Differential Strategic Outcomes," Journal of Business Research, 55, 441-50.] Such loyalty is referred to as "spurious loyalty". True brand loyalty exists when customers have a high relative attitude toward the brand which is then exhibited through repurchase behavior. This type of loyalty can be a great asset to the firm: customers are willing to pay higher prices, they may cost less to serve, and can bring new customers to the firm. [Reichheld, Frederick F. (1993), "Loyalty-Based Management," Harvard Business Review, 71 (2), 64-73.] For example, if Joe has brand loyalty to Company A he will purchase Company A's products even if Company B's are cheaper and/or of a higher quality.

An example of a major brand loyalty program that extended for several years and spread worldwide is Pepsi Stuff. Perhaps the most significant contemporary example of brand loyalty is the fervent devotion of many Mac users to the Apple company and its products.

From the point of view of many marketers, loyalty to the brand - in terms of consumer usage - is a key factor:

Usage rate

Most important of all, in this context, is usually the 'rate ' of usage, to which the Pareto 80:20 Rule applies. Kotler's `heavy users' are likely to be disproportionately important to the brand (typically, 20 percent of users accounting for 80 percent of usage -- and of suppliers' profit). As a result, suppliers often segment their customers into `heavy', `medium' and `light' users; as far as they can, they target `heavy users'.

Loyalty

A second dimension, however, is whether the customer is committed to the brand. Philip Kotler, again, defines four patterns of behaviour:

Hard Core Loyals - who buy the brand all the time.

Soft Core Loyals - loyal to two or three brands.

Shifting Loyals - moving from one brand to another.

Switchers - with no loyalty (possibly `deal-prone', constantly looking for bargains or `vanity prone', looking for something different).

Factors Influencing Brand Loyalty

It has been suggested that loyalty includes some degree of pre-dispositional commitment toward a brand.Brand loyalty is viewed as multidimensional construct. It is determined by several distinct psychological processes and it entails multivariate measurements. Customers' Perceived value,Brand trust,Customers' satisfaction,Repeat purchase behaviour and Commitment are found to be the key influencing factors of brand loyalty.Commitment and Repeated purchase behaviour are considered as necessary conditions for brand loyalty followed by Perceived value ,satisfaction and brand trust .-" [Punniyamoorthy, M and Prasanna Mohan Raj,"An empirical model for brand loyalty measurement ",Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, Volume 15, Number 4, September 2007 , pp. 222-233(12)] =

Industrial Markets

In industrial markets, organizations will regard the `heavy users' as `major accounts', to be handled by senior sales personnel and even managers; whereas the `light users' may be handled by the general salesforce or by a dealer.

Portfolios of Brands

Andrew Ehrenberg, then of the London Business School said that consumers buy 'portfolios of brands'.Fact|date=August 2007 They switch regularly between brands, often because they simply want a change. Thus, 'brand penetration' or 'brand share' reflects only a statistical chance that the majority of customers will buy that brand next time as part of a portfolio of brands they favour. It does not guarantee that they will stay loyal.

Influencing the statistical probabilities facing a consumer choosing from a portfolio of preferred brands, which is required in this context, is a very different role for a brand manager; compared with the - much simpler - one traditionally described, of recruiting and holding dedicated customers. The concept also emphasises the need for managing continuity.

Market Inertia

On the other hand, one of the most prominent features of many markets is their overall stability - or inertia. Thus, in their essential characteristics they change very slowly, often over decades - sometimes centuries - rather than over months. This stability has two very important implications. The first is that if you are a clear brand leader you are especially well placed in relation to your competitors, and should want to further the inertia which lies behind that stable position. This will, however, still demand a continuing pattern of minor changes, to keep up with the marginal changes in consumer taste (which may be minor to the theorist, but will still be crucial in terms of those consumers' purchasing patterns - markets do not favour the over-complacent.). But these minor investments are a small price to pay for the long term profits which brand leaders usually enjoy. Only farm-hands make a career out of milking cows, and only fools jeopardise the investment contained in an established brand leader.

The second, and more important is that if you want to overturn this stability, and change the market (or significantly change your position in it), then you must expect to make massive investments to succeed. Even though stability is the natural state of markets, however, sudden changes can still occur and the environment must be constantly scanned for signs of these.

Examples of Brand Loyalty Promotions

* Pepsi Stuff

Loyalty For Life - The Consumer View

It is interesting to get the customer or consumer view on brand loyalty. Is it possible? An achievable goal? Or is it a forlorn aspiration for a brand? The following website poses the same question and has managed to draw in contributions from folk around the globe. http://www.loyaltyforlife.co.uk. On the face of it it seems we want brands that change and grow with us. Brands that offer us something at every step. Younger audiences talk about this a lot. They also want to feel that they or their tribe are getting something back from the brand.

People talk about football teams as the ultimate in loyalty. You pin your colours to your chest early on in life and you do not change. No matter how badly they might let you down. Can brands in other catageories match that? It's difficult but you can draw similarities between other high commitment brands, brands that take you from prospect to customer and to advocate in the blink of an eye - take Skoda for example.

For the older audiences the basics have to be in place. The product or service has to live up to the brand promise. Always. And then people want to feel valued. A simple letter will do. A thank-you. When was the last time your bank wrote to you just to say thanks for being a customer?

So is Loyalty for Life possible? Some think so and to get there one contributor says: '"Tune into my aspirations and values; change with me through my life; be easy to find; give me something back; don’t ever assume I will come back to you and when I have a problem, surprise me with how easy you are to deal with. Simple really."

ee also

* Affective marketing
* Brand architecture
* Brand aversion
* Brand equity
* Brand management
* Customer engagement
* Employer branding
* Evangelism marketing

References

*P. Kotler, 'Marketing Management ' (Prentice-Hall, 7th edn, 1991)
* [http://futureobservatory.dyndns.org/9430.htm D. Mercer, ‘Marketing’ (Blackwell, 1996)]
*Jacoby, J. and Chestnut, R.W., 1978, Brand Loyalty: Measurement Management (John Wiley & Sons, New York).Arindam ghosh(MBA ,iipm)

External links

* [http://futureobservatory.dyndns.org/9432.htm D. Mercer, ‘Marketing’ (Blackwell, 1996)]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • brand loyalty — ➔ loyalty * * * brand loyalty UK US noun [U] ► MARKETING, COMMERCE the habit of always choosing to buy a particular product or brand: build/create/develop brand loyalty »The company should focus on delivering the best product at the cheapest… …   Financial and business terms

  • brand loyalty — noun Continued support by consumers of a particular brand rather than its competitors • • • Main Entry: ↑brand * * * brand loyalty see ↑brand, 1 • • • Main Entry: ↑loyalty …   Useful english dictionary

  • brand loyalty — noun count or uncount the tendency of customers to keep buying the same BRAND of a particular product instead of trying other brands …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • brand loyalty — Support by consumers for a particular brand or product. Brand loyalty is usually the result of continued satisfaction with a product or its price and is reinforced by effective and heavy advertising. Strong brand loyalty, which is often… …   Big dictionary of business and management

  • Brand Loyalty — When consumers become committed to your brand and make repeat purchases over time. Brand loyalty is a result of consumer behavior and is affected by a person’s preferences. Loyal customers will consistently purchase products from their… …   Investment dictionary

  • brand loyalty — UK / US noun [countable/uncountable] Word forms brand loyalty : singular brand loyalty plural brand loyalties business the tendency of customers to keep buying the same brand of a particular product instead of trying other brands …   English dictionary

  • brand loyalty — /brænd ˈlɔɪəti/ (say brand loyuhtee) noun Commerce the tendency of a consumer to buy products sold under a brand which they know as being of good value …  

  • brand loyalty — /brænd lɔɪəlti/ noun the feeling of trust and satisfaction that makes a customer always buy the same brand of product …   Marketing dictionary in english

  • brand loyalty — /brænd lɔɪəlti/ noun the feeling of trust and satisfaction that makes a customer always buy the same brand of product …   Dictionary of banking and finance

  • loyalty — loy‧al‧ty [ˈlɔɪəlti] noun [uncountable] MARKETING the fact of being loyal to a particular product: loyalty to • He has noticed a falloff in loyalty to particular brands of car. ˈbrand ˌloyalty MARKETING the degree to which people regularly buy a… …   Financial and business terms

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”