Kasz216 said:
Ah your talking about rich vs poor... I got it now. I'm talking Middle class vs Poor. The extreme rich aren't as high in number so really don't matter as much in this case. A lot of them likely would of got PS3's already. One of the main reasons of brand loyalty is lack of time to research said things. Those that are very wealthy, like those who are poor have less time to research. What?? Are you saying then that if consumers researched products, the said consumers would never become brand loyal? The main reason for brand loyalty is not because people have "a lack of time to research things". A 'lack of time' is not even an issue. Brand loyalty exists for a variety of reasons. In order to become hard core loyals, consumers must feel that a brand is offering them the right features, the right price, and the right level of quality. Consumers make a concious decision to focus their purchases on a particular brand because they percieve that brand to be superior to others. This is done through advertising, the company sucessfully achieving the company-consumer bond etc. If a consumer doesn't pay attention to other brands, and has simply slipped into a habit of purchasing the same brand again and again and cannot be bothered to switch, the consumer cannot be said to be brand loyal at all. Also, the Airlines and Cars thing isn't brand loyalty.
I understand the definition of brand loyalty. In the situation I'm talking about there are no deals with the airline. It's simply a case where the consumer feels that the service/product is superior to others, and continualy purchases the product, and is willing to pay a higher price becuase of it. Brand value? If a consumer repeatadly purchases a brand because of the 'image' it gives them, this is considered brand loyalty. You go on the same Airline because repeated visits give you extra perks. You get an expensive car because it's an expensive car with a fancy name attached to it. A fancy brand name? If a consumer repeatadly purchases the same brand of cars, because they believe the cars to be superior to others, (because of image/attention etc.) they are said to be brand loyal. Still the money lost is an important factor as well. Which will still likely make it more prominant among those who can't afford to lose the money. Those who don't have time to do research, and who are also spending a large portion of their income on said products are most brand loyal is the point i'm making. Though people who just don't have the time to do research will also be fairly brand loyal. Arguably yes, poor consumers are the most 'loyal' of hard core loyals. If they're brand loyal despite having lots of time on their hands... then they're just lazy. You seem to have made the assumption that brand loyalty is blind loyalty. And that the very wealthy and the poor are guilty of it becuase they don't have the time/research to find out about different products. This is simply not true. However of course it has to cross their price threshold first. Hence why you need to have a price near to your competitors to cash in on said brand loyalty. The middle class are the most likely to do things like read up about said consoles, look up games about them, talk to people about them and just make a decision based on which they actually think they'll like best on a well rounded informed decision. You seem to be trying to express this notion that brand loyalty is biased and narrow-minded, and that because the middle class are well informed they will be least likely to participate in it. Brand loyalty is not entirely blind or narrow-minded. It's built from human desires, satisfaction and personal preference. It can take a long time to build, or it can take a matter of days. The company essentially builds a relationship with the consumer, through appealing advertising, appealing products and appealing pricing. A basic human response to something they like is to try it again. Humans build loyalty to many things, other humans, favourite places, their home town, a football team etc. Brand loyalty is essentially human nature. |
The thing about Sony is that hard core Sony loyals will not be detered by price. The company offers premium products at a premium price almost across the board. It's the "switchers" or the "shifting loyals" who will be most detered by a high price.
As for brand loyalty most prevalent amongst the poor:
"A new survey conducted for GMA by the polling company(TM) showed that 76 percent of Americans in all demographic groups consider a product's brand before making a final product selection."
http://retailindustry.about.com/library/bl/02q2/bl_gma061302.htm
Richeld and Schefter: "A large group of customers are influenced by brand...these customers are looking for long term relationships [with a company] customers need to feel that they are part of a brands crusade".
