Brand Loyalty: What Do You Buy?

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When I studied abroad in Europe this past fall, I was consistently pestered by street venders. Whether I was in Paris, Rome, Brussels, I constantly either saw a vender peddling something to a tourist, or was trying the shy away from one offering a Louis Vuitton purse for just 30 Euros, a steal right? Of course this was not a legitimate purse (as if I really wanted it in the first place), it was a counterfeit. Amazingly however, I saw these counterfeit goods in so many locations, not just with street venders, but in small business stores. Some were so closely detailed, it was really hard to tell the difference between a real and a fake. Further, their relatively high levels of supply gave me the guess that there is some form of demand from either locals or tourists for these items. These items are so close to the real thing that the average passerby just would think a person carrying one, may have in fact just really purchased one at a legitimate dealership. But then I asked myself, why would someone be willing to carry around a counterfeit bag, knowing its diminished workmanship, and the threat of having a friend expose one's great plan to disguise yourself as one able to purchase such an item?

To me its much more than just having a good looking Louis Vuitton purse, I think its the idea of having one that makes people willing to buy these items. That may seem rather easy to guess, but what about people who are absolutely obsessed with brands? We all have our favorite brands, for me I love Apple, North Face, REI to name a few, others may love other very specific brands, and their willingness to try another item from another brand is minimal. Those of us with our favorite brands spend considerably larger sums of money to continue our habits, all the while there may be a good on the market from another competitor of even higher quality and utility. Just think of the economic benefits of being one of these brands that people are obsessed with.

This is all very well known in marketing as brand loyalty. The concept of the consumer to subconsciously or consciously repurchase goods of the same brand. Big brands like Apple, North Face, Coca Cola, they hold a considerable value just with their brand name. It has taken a lot of advertising costs and or production costs to reach this value, but once this point is reached, the long run benefits are substantially higher.

That all makes sense, but now think about how you purchase goods? Go into your home, your closets, backpacks, wherever you keep your stuff, count up your items that have the same brand. I am willing to bet, that you'll really start to see a pattern. As I said above, I have a ton of North Face gear and Apple devices, and my willingness to try another brand is pretty low. I'll admit it. For me though it has a lot to do with my personal preference on usefulness, quality, and among of use value over a period of time. Try asking yourself why you buy what you buy. Do you buy goods because of their quality, looks, feel, etc.?Are you a person who likes to allocate your purchases based on your income and their respective price?

I am curious if you do have brands that you have a distinct loyalty towards and why do you have such a loyalty? Try to think deeper into your purchases and eventually you may see a pattern, and from that pattern you can understand your demand for goods. Economists use indifference curves, budge constraints, and all the tools of rational consumer choice to determine your habits, but try it out for yourself, it may be interesting to see what you find out... The results may shock you..

Join the discussion, leave a comment bellow, share what you like to purchase, what motivations do you have to purchase these items, and do you find it interesting why you have the same items? What do you think this says about you as a consumer?