Brand loyalty -- on the way out
By Jason Buckland, Sympatico / MSN Finance
“I’ve done commercials for Coke and Pepsi … If you wanna know the truth, can’t even taste the difference. Surprise! All I know is Pepsi paid me most recently, so … tastes better. That’s pretty much how it goes.” – Dave Chappelle, For What It’s Worth
I can remember, not long ago, grocery shopping at various supermarkets and watching the no-name products all but collect dust on the shelves.
Yeah, they had their market share, but for the masses doing their food runs at any store other than Price Chopper, no-name products – whether we’ll admit it or not – often felt the mighty swat of Lipton, Ruffles, General Mills or whoever.
Yet (and I swear I’m not making this up) there’s appeared to be a seismic shift in consumer choice since the economy tanked, and now we finally have proof.
Recent studies now show conclusively that brand loyalty is on the way out as shoppers try to stretch every buck further.
* Check out some Top rebranding hits and misses
A survey by the Chief Marketing Officer Council has found that of “highly loyal” customers (those who make 70% of their category purchases with one brand), less than half remained devoted to that same company in 2008. What’s more, about 33% “completely defected to another brand in the same category” that year, according to Reuters.
The study also traces the downfall in loyalty to iron-clad brand names like Advil (down 7%), Coca-Cola (down 25%) and Procter & Gamble (down 59%), banging home the point no one is safe in the modern recession.
Of course, the major retailers are hip to this development, leading to chains like Wal-Mart expanding their own private labels. We discussed how a crummy economy was going to result in more no-name brand business back in February, but now that it’s measurably here, the same question stands:
“We’re not exactly blowing your hair back by telling you this shift is a result of an economic nightmare we’re not quite out of, but we do wonder what this trend will mean looking forward.
“But when things rebound – and Heinz and Quaker Oats and Nestle are all back in full force – where will we go?
“Do we learn from the recession and carry on with our smarter shopping, or go right back to our regular visits with Toucan Sam and that creepy Hamburger Helper mitt?”
Posted by: jojo | Jun 26, 2021 9:54:43 AM
chappelle must of been drunk prior to comparing pepsi and coke, there is a difference in tatse, no name brands have no taste,,they are poor qaulity and I woundnt buy them.
Posted by: Shelley | Jun 26, 2021 10:12:51 AM
I agree Jojo, there is a marked diff b/w pepsi & coke. As far as generic brands being tasteless, I disagee. In fact a good portion of no- name brands are made by the same co.'s as the name brand. They are just packaged in the stores own label. I heard PC coke is Coca Cola... There are a few bad ones out there, I find cereals to be the most lacking in flavour. I regularly by the store brands and in some cases prefer them over the big names. Having said that there are some items that I just won't compromise on, such as Tide, and Heinz soups & ketchup.
Posted by: Peter | Jun 26, 2021 10:23:01 AM
I've worked for a food company that produced both their own brand name + the private label brands for Zellers, Walmart, Shoppers Drug Mart, Giant Tiger, Loblaws, A&P, Safeway, etc. The only differential between all these brands was that the packing line was only stopped to make a label change. Quality was identical in all brands. Private label has come a long way since the early days in the 70's. I have no worry about PL now. Producing companies have had to charge more for their brands to cover the marketing costs. Private label costs quotes are low to the retailer to secure the business......usually only one supplier produces for each of the store's private label products in a food category.
Posted by: Dan Thordarson | Jun 26, 2021 10:39:24 AM
Hey Dave : Ever wonder why Coke is called "The real thing". It has to be French's Mustard, and Heinz Ketchup. Levi jeans and a GM car. If all you have is Pepsi , then I'll have wtaer.
Posted by: Minnie | Jun 26, 2021 11:25:39 AM
Why should the consumer be loyal to a brand when the brand is not loyal to the consumer? Customer service seems to harder and harder to find. Does the consumer expect too much? As a consumer, I expect quality when purchasing a product. I've seen brands put less and less into quality, and the price seems to keep going up.
Posted by: Cindi | Jun 26, 2021 11:25:51 AM
I agree re Heinz Ketchup, French's Mustard...I have bravely tried the PL of those items, but no way. I still prefer Tide, but only when its on sale. I absolutely will not by PL or NN pop. It is not true that the Name Brand and PL items are identical except for for labelling in all cases. Read the ingredient list. The NN stuff will often have more preservatives and cheaper ingredients. A good way to balance quality and price is to buy name brand for items that have to stand on their own, or are a main ingredient. Items that will be mixed in or be in the background of a receipe can be NN. For example, when I make CHiLI,all the canned components are no name and it comes out great.
Posted by: Mike | Jun 26, 2021 12:53:00 PM
Re; Dan Thordarson, I agreed with you all the until you said GM! Sorry but I am a Ford fan!
Posted by: andrew | Jun 26, 2021 8:32:30 PM
Generic named pop is made for the supermarkets by Cott beverages,,Coke is too busy making Coke.
Posted by: John Steed | Jun 26, 2021 9:04:47 PM
Thanks Mike for you comment on Ford. I have owned Ford's since I was 16. I am now 50. I still have all of them. One of my favourites is my '66 Mustang. I also bought the 2004 Mustang SVT Cobra. I ordered this car without ever seeing it or sitting in it to test drive. I was absolutely amazed. I have also had Chrysler (absolute crap), GM (some crap, some OK) and Honda (OK) in my family, but my Ford's are just an absolute pleasure. Virtually no maintenance, super reliable, and I can drive the absolute living snot out of them and not worry about "breaking" them. The 66 'Stang has the 289 engine. What a piece of work. Doesn't compare with my Cobra in terms of fuel efficiency and power, but it is still original and just keeps on going... and going... and going. Can't break it!
Posted by: DrVex007 | Jun 30, 2021 1:37:28 AM
Brands, Brands, Brands. Okay I am well aware of the PL offerings and I have tried many of them in an attempt to save money. Are they the same? No way. Yes the same companies make them in alot of cases, but Coke tastes nothing like Pepsi and neither taste like PC cola. Heinz ketchup tastes nothing like the PL versions, cereal is just gross in PL form and in almost every case, there is a drop off in quality from the name brand to PL
There are excepitons however. Tide is one of them. Stop using tide and start using the Environmentally friendly PC versions. They do work just as well and they do NOT cause so much damage to the environment.
The biggest issue that people should have is with Bottled water. Let's take Dasani for example. It comes from your tap, knuckleheads and then you pay for it. Almost all bottled water comes from a municipal tap and then is filtered or reverse osmosis'd into the bottle. Why are you buying plastic bottle after plastic bottle of tap water????
First, a brita filter does the very same thing.
Second, you are paying more for that bottled tap water than you are for gas and yet which do you complain about????
Want to save money and you are willing to give up quality, buy PL products. Want quality, stick with the name brands.
When the name brand companies make PL products, they use similar formulas, but they always add water or filler. That is where the savings comes from....
Posted by: gg | Jul 3, 2021 1:45:51 AM
jo jo it was a joke