Brand loyalty...... Is it for real ???

It is very difficult to say if a brand loyal customer will switch brand due to money crunch, it is the matter of consumer behavior which really cannot be determined, as each and every customer is different and so is his approach towards brand loyalty.

Brand loyalty as per me is different for different product segments.

Consider a dine-in experience, the person may avoid having there for sometime but if his loyalty is too high he will not compromise on it. Even if he eats someplace else he may not get that level of satisfaction which he would get otherwise.

Consider another situation of a person making a onetime purchase of a car, he will think twice before making a decision as his job or business may fail whichever the case may be. In this case the recession may impact his decision based on his status. The person may prefer buying a low range car than what he had planned to buy earlier towards which he was brand loyal. He may also postpone his purchase decision if he is too loyal towards a particular brand until he can afford it.

If it is a FMCG product, switching brands may or may not be very common. A person who is brand loyal towards using colgate toothpaste, will still use colgate as it would not make a difference in his standard of living.

This I can conclude saying that a customer’s loyalty towards a brand depends on his own belief towards a brand and his own behavior, approach towards the level of satisfaction he attains from the brand. The level of loyalty which means if the person is brand fanatic he will not compromise on his favorite brand. The person will rather not buy the product than compromising on it.