Brand loyalty consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase or otherwise continue using the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy. However, it is more than simply repurchasing. Customers may repurchase a brand due to situational constraints (such as vendor lock-in), a lack of viable alternatives, or out of convenience. Are e-marketing or lowering prices effective strategies for brand loyalty?
E-marketing has great power to affect brand awareness and other elements in the hierarchy of brand loyalty but I do not believe it is powerful enough to affect brand loyalty itself. E-marketing promotes a business for online users whether it be through online advertising, or blogs or social sites, but to actually get customers to keep buying products over and over, e-marketing would not really work. I buy goods online but a firm promoting its products online is not going to make me repeat my purchases. The product quality is what keeps me buying repeatedly of any product or service. Even if their online customer service and support is exceptional, I am not going to buy that product again if it was not of good quality or gave me the benefit I wanted.
Very similar to the e-marketing strategy that some firms use is the lowering of prices to try to create brand loyalty of products and services. Cheaper prices work for some customers but it does not work for that many. Some people simply cannot afford the prices of other brands of a product and would remain loyal to a particular brand because they are not able to do any better or increase their choice range. However, most people are loyal to brands because of the quality they receive from that particular brand rather than the price.
Some people claim well Walmart has very low prices compared to its competitors and they have a large market share, so why lower prices are not effective? But I believe that Walmart is one of the few firms where low prices work for them. I also think that its not jus lower prices but also their convenience and product variety that helps their increase in market share and brand loyalty. Additionally, Walmart is able to survive with low prices because of their low cost due to economies of scale and other low cost techniques that other firms are unable to take advantage of.
Many people seem to believe that e-marketing and lower prices are effective tools nowadays to increase brand loyalty but I do not believe they are. E-marketing is now one of businesses biggest fads and people believe they can use it to get the world to buy and keep buying their product. Many people also feel that lower prices will help their firms but that is not always the case because it can come across as poor quality sometimes and deter brand loyalty especially if the product is really not of good qaulity. Here is a link that give some further insites about brand loyalty.
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/pdf/c5-54.pdf
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Assuring low prices definatly encourages brand loyalty. Yet, I'm questioning the fact that e marketing directly incentivates brand loyalty. In my perspective, e marketing assures a presense and a top of mind for consumers, but if the price and accessibilty of the brand is not right then consumers can ignore the online presense of the brand and buy one that is at lower cost or its easily available.
ReplyDeleteInother words, I would prefer stating that e marketing is effective in brand loyality if its backed up with a low cost and fast and easy accesibilty.
Too much of anything is not a good thing. If a brand tries to lower its prices too much, it might turn away those already-loyal customers in fear that the brand is being "cheapened". Also, if a brand tries to delve into too many forms of e-marketing at once without truly perfecting any one kind, it might be at risk of losing existing loyal customers. My thoughts are that a brand should choose one form of e-marketing and get really good at it before taking on another form.
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