Consumer Loyalty

We all have certain products or brands that we constantly buy or see as 'superior' than others. The question is, why do we often see certain products or brands as 'superior' or better then others? What kind of products do you buy instead of others? For example, imagine yourself walking into subway and purchasing a sub with cookies and being asked if you would like a drink to make it a combo. What kind of drink would you purchase? Often, people are faced between the dilemma of 'Pepsi or Coke', 'Sprite or 7Up'; the thing is, is there really a difference? Many individuals state there is a big difference, but for those that state that there is a 'big difference', have you noticed those individuals only stick to one brand; either Pepsi or Coke. It is very uncommon for a Pepsi drinker to be ever caught buying a Coke or a Coke drinker buying a Pepsi-- but why is that? Do you ever think that exposure to advertisements initiates a 'Coke drinker' or 'Pepsi' drinker to be a consumer of one or the other?Well, alike education, consumer consumption also has 'a learning process; a relevant change in behaviour caused by experience. With this 'learning process' comes memory. For example, when you constantly learn about something, such as learning about consumer loyalty from your consumer behaviour class, a key word discussed or seen in class may trigger your memory about a certain topic. Often, memory is triggered by repetition, hearing or seeing some sort of stimulus over and over again. This is often seen in advertising, such as the Coke or Pepsi example. Think about it, for those that are Coke drinkers, have you seen more Coke commercials than Pepsi? For Pepsi drinkers, have you been more exposed to Pepsi commercials or products than Coke? How about your family or friends-- what do they drink? Your exposure to a specific topic or product can trigger a specific memory or feeling, which can initiate your consumption. 

At my house, everyone tends to drink Coke-- note the Coke box that is always a staple in my families fridge. Ever since I was young, my parents always purchased Coke and constantly offered it to me. So many of you must be thinking-- this girl must also be an avid Coke drinker, well actually, I prefer Pepsi. As talked about in class, along with my discussion above about how your environment usually can effect your tastes, perception and loyalty to a product, why do I have a preference for Pepsi? I mean, my family has constantly bought Coke all my life-- maybe I'm just rebellious? 

Although my family constantly buys Coke, I began to realize how most of my friends, including roommates, enjoy Pepsi. Although my family has influenced and inspired me throughout my whole life, maybe I have without realization, began to be a Pepsi lover based on my friends tastes and preferences? I'v equally been exposed to Coke and Pepsi commercials and find both appealing so the reason for me to prefer the taste of Pepsi still awes me-- maybe my environmental exposure hasn't effected my preferences?

I decided to do a little experiment when I was home for the break to see how someone in my family would react to me bringing home a Pepsi-- if there would be a positive, negative or no reaction at all. After purchasing a Pepsi from the corner store, I decided to test my experiment out by drinking a Pepsi in front of my parents to see if I would get any type of reaction. What was interesting about this experiment is that my mom looked at me with a funny look and reached into the fridge to ask if I wanted a Coke! I found this somewhat hilarious and interesting. 

A simple equation I recently learnt in my Consumer Behaviour class is: products + memory= brand loyalty (Solomon, 2013). Now, what is brand loyalty? For example, brand loyalty is what individuals do when they have become a constant Pepsi or Coke drinker for years. Generally, brand loyalty is when a consumer/individual buys a product from a specific brand/store etc repeatedly, compared to other brands/stores, etc.

Check out this video... it's a blind-folded soda challenge!

Source: Youtube.

Although I talked about the environment and how our perception can be trigged from that, 

a common 'tool' many marketers or companies use to obtain consumer loyalty from a customers is 'frequency marketing'. Frequency marketing is a technique that reinforces behaviour of regular purchasers, by giving them 'prizes' or 'freebies' that often increases with the amount being purchased (Solomon, 2013). Previously, being a Shoppers Drug-mart Cosmetics employee, I can relate very well to 'frequency marketing'. Often, during specific time periods in a year at Shoppers Cosmetics, we would offer promotions such as a 'free gift bag worth $110 of Clinique products' with a $40 Clinique purchase, however, if you make a $55 dollar purchase, you get the $110 worth free gift bag of products, PLUS a cute Clinique tote. This promotion occurred every few months of the year, and is something that kept frequent Clinique consumers, such as myself, to continue purchasing their products.

It is interesting being a marketing student and learning about different ways to attract consumer attention and loyalty, while also being an every-day-consumer. Being a marketing student does have its advantages; allowing me to be more aware of why I should buy certain products, or why certain brands are my constant 'go to', such as Clinique.

Next time you go shopping, or purchase your 'favourite product', stop and think what triggers  or have triggered you to be a loyal customer to that brand or product. 

So I mentioned how Clinique is one of my favourite skincare brands that I swear by! As a girl with very sensitive skin, Clinique has been my remedy and life-saviour. Here is a picture of my recent Clinique purchase-- a boxed set of Clinique facial cleansing products-- with this purchase came a cute make-up bag with over a $60 dollar value of makeup. Not only does it's amazing products keep me loyal, but I constantly receive gift with purchases that make me fall in love with the product even more!

_______________________________________________________________

Picture Sources:
http://10steps.sg/articles/advertising-wars-pepsi-vs-coca-cola/


Content Sources:

Solomon, M. R., Zaichkowsky, J. L. and Polegato, R. (2013) Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, and Being, Sixth Canadian Edition. Toronto: Prentice Hall Canada.

________________________________________________________________

Motivation

As you all may know, all of our consumer behaviour and consumer purchases derive from motivation. Why else do you devour your favourite chocolate bar, or buy a pair of unneeded cute shoes when your sad? Motivation is a process that leads people to behave as they do; it occurs when a need is aroused, that a consumer wishes to satisfy (Solomon, 2013). For example, last Tuesday was 'student discount' day at the grocery store, nonetheless, the only time I go. For those that actually do their own groceries, do you ever make a list of things to buy, and then end up buying everything on that list and more? Well that’s exactly what happened to me. Every time I go grocery shopping, even though I have a specific list of 'everything I need to buy', I always feel the need to walk down every aisle, especially down my favourite 'junk food' aisle, consisting of chocolate. The problem with walking down your 'favourite aisles' and seeing your 'favourite' items, is that it is very difficult not to buy your favourite chocolate bar, or favourite bag of chips. 

So I did it again.. this past Tuesday I was walking down my favourite aisle, the chocolate aisle, and for some reason found it 100% necessary to buy an entire box of chocolates all to myself. (Of course I bought Baci.. I mean I'm Italian)..

Walking down the chocolate aisle was not a great idea since that Tuesday I promised myself that I would stick to my grocery list and budget-- guess not! 

As stated in my consumer behaviour class, 'Once a need has been activated, a state tension exists that drives the consumer to eliminate or reduce that need' (Solomon, 2013). So, as you may be wondering, the only way I could have reduced my 'tension' between the Baci box of chocolates on the shelve and me staring and salivating, was to buy it. I'm sure many can relate to my grocery example-- we have all be tempted to buy our favourite foods, even if it’s not so healthy.

In relation to motivation, exists 'motivational strength'. Our 'motivational strength' is our degree of willingness to expand energy to reach a goal. We all have goals, many, many goals... the question is, which ones are you willing to work harder towards than others to obtain them? Many may have the goal to lose 40 pounds, in which an individual may expand, much energy to work hard to fulfill this goal. Other individuals may have a goal as simple as 'getting a good nights sleep'. Throughout my life, I have had a variation of goals. My goals have been both short and long term, some fulfilled, and others waiting to be fulfilled. But with each goal I have ever had, consisted of a drive to fulfil that goal. In other words, a drive is the desire to satisfy a biological need, to reduce a physiological arousal. An example of your biological need may be as simple as your stomach rumbling, while your physiological arousal would be reduced by fulfilling your hunger, such as having a home cooked meal at your parents house.


This week I am home for Thanksgiving break-- it was a perfect time to come home since I just finished completing a stressful week of assignments due and some midterms completed. The thought of coming home after a hard week of work truly was a reward to me and I used that as my motivation and goal to get me through. The day I was home, my Mom spoiled me and brought me for dinner where I totally devoured myself with wine, steak, veggies and potatoes and an amazing cheesecake! This was much better then some of the meals I was making myself during school! 

(Doesn't it look amazing?) 

Until the subject 'motivation' was brought up in my consumer behaviour class, I never really thought much about what motivates me to buy certain things. Being more aware of how motivation can trigger certain 'cravings', wants or needs at particular times, I can now understand why I tend to buy products such as junk food based on my mood or how it may be displayed in a store. 


So next time you walk into a store, such as a grocery store, stop and think... what motivates you to buy certain products; do you have certain goals in mind when buying them? 


Check out this link for further explanation of motivation!!

http://psychology.about.com/od/mindex/g/motivation-definition.htm
_______________________________________________________________
Picture Sources:
http://organicrunnermom.com/monday-motivation-a-little-late-setting-mini-goals-to-stay-motivated/


Content Sources:
Solomon, M. R., Zaichkowsky, J. L. and Polegato, R. (2013) Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, and Being, Sixth Canadian Edition. Toronto: Prentice Hall Canada.
________________________________________________________________