Brand Loyalty

                Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty is the positive feelings towards a brand and dedication to purchase the same product or service repeatedly, regardless of deficiencies, a competitor's actions or changes in the environment. It can also be demonstrated with other behaviors such as positive word-of-mouth advocacy.

Corporate Brand loyalty is where an individual buys products from the same manufacturer repeatedly and without wavering rather than from other suppliers.

Loyalty implies dedication and should not be confused with habit with its less than emotional engagement and commitment.

Businesses whose financial and ethical values, for example ESG responsibilities, rest in large part on their brand loyalty are said[by whom?] to use the loyalty business model.

 

Brand Loyalty is a scenario where the consumer fears purchasing and consuming product from another brand which he does not trust.

 It is measured through methods like word of mouth publicity, repetitive buying, price sensitivity, commitment, brand trust, customer satisfaction, etc.

 Brand loyalty is the extent to which a consumer constantly buys the same brand within a product category.

 The consumers remain loyal to a specific brand as long as it is available.

They do not buy from other suppliers within the product category.

Brand loyalty exists when the consumer feels that the brand consists of right product characteristics and quality at right price.

Even if the other brands are available at cheaper price or superior quality, the brand loyal consumer will stick to his brand.

 

Brand loyalty has shown to profit firms by saving them a lot of money. Benefits associated with loyal consumers include:

 

Acceptance of product extensions.

Defense from competitors cutting of prices.

Creating barriers to entry for firms looking to enter the market.

Competitive edge in market.

Customers willing to pay high prices.

Existing customers cost much less to serve.

Potential new customers.

 

Brand loyal consumers are the foundation of an organization. Greater loyalty levels lead to less marketing expenditure because the brand loyal customers promote the brand positively.

Also, it acts as a means of launching and introducing more products that are targeted at same customers at less expenditure.

It also restrains new competitors in the market. Brand loyalty is a key component of brand equity.

 

Brand loyalty can be developed through various measures such as quick service, ensuring quality products, continuous improvement, wide distribution network, etc.

 When consumers are brand loyal they love “you” for being “you”, and they will minutely consider any other alternative brand as a replacement.

Examples of brand loyalty can be seen in US where true Apple customers have the brand's logo tattooed onto their bodies.

Similarly in Finland, Nokia customers remained loyal to Nokia because they admired the design of the handsets or because of user- friendly menu system used by Nokia phones.

 

Brand loyalty can be defined as relative possibility of customer shifting to another brand in case there is a change in product’s features, price or quality.

 As brand loyalty increases, customers will respond less to competitive moves and actions.

Brand loyal customers remain committed to the brand, are willing to pay higher price for that brand, and will promote their brand always.

A company having brand loyal customers will have greater sales, less marketing and advertising costs, and best pricing.

This is because the brand loyal customers are less reluctant to shift to other brands, respond less to price changes and self- promote the brand as they perceive that their brand have unique value which is not provided by other competitive brands.

 

Brand loyalty is always developed post purchase.

To develop brand loyalty, an organization should know their niche market, target them, support their product, ensure easy access of their product, provide customer satisfaction, bring constant innovation in their product and offer schemes on their product so as to ensure that customers repeatedly purchase the product.

 

A second dimension, is whether the customer is committed to the brand. Philip Kotler, again, defines four status of loyalty:

 

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

Split 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). Again, research shows that customer commitment is a more nuanced a fine-grained construct than what was previously thought. Specifically, customer commitment has five dimensions, and some commitment dimensions (forced commitment may even negatively impact customer loyalty).