U.S. Consumers Focusing On Price Point, Forgoing Brand Loyalty

Americans, adapting to the current economic conditions not only have changed their shopping habits, but their notion of brand loyalty has been all but eliminated. A new study finds that given a wide variety of products, instead of choosing the brands shoppers feel they know and trust, many are choosing the brand with the lowest price point and greatest value, Reuters said.

Almost all industries find that retaining customers in any economy is hard enough, but keeping them in a weak economy is even more difficult. The study found that 48% of highly loyal consumers didn’t buy their key brands during the study period. Nineteen percent reduced their loyalty and 33% completely defected to another, cheaper, brand in the same category, the research showed.

The study defined highly-loyal consumers as individuals who made 70% or more of their purchases with a single brand, in a given product category. The study was based on an analysis of the purchasing behavior of more than 32 million shoppers in 2007 and 2008 across 685 leading brands in the U.S.