Thursday, January 11, 2007
GfK says Consumers want brands that provide consistent quality.
Consumers want brands that provide consistent quality. This is evident from the way they rank a list of factors related to brand purchase decisions. Past experience with a brand tops the list as most important in deciding whether to buy it or not, according to a recent GfK Roper Reports survey. In addition, other people’s experience as conveyed by personal recommendations is more important than it’s been since the late 1980s. And quality is getting more important, too. Taken together, the message is: “I will buy something that’s worked for me before, but if it stops working, I’ll notice.”
Past experience remains the top-ranked factor, as it has been in all ten readings taken since 1975. It lost ground during the experimental early years of the late 1990s and early 2000s but has returned to a level more typical of earlier years, with 83% saying it’s among the most important factors in their brand decisions.
Quality compared with other brands has become more important than price for the first time since quality was first measured in 1995, now at 63% versus 56% for “reasonably priced.” A manufacturer’s reputation for quality does not rate as highly, but it has hovered near the halfway mark in most years, currently at 46%. And word of mouth has become slowly but steadily more important in the 2000s after dipping during the more self-reliant 1990s – the current level of 48% just edges out the previous high of 47% measured in 1989.
Understanding how people choose brands is critical to any marketer, but certain elements have special relevance for specific consumer segments:
Past experience is especially critical for Northeasterners; 95% cite it compared with 79% of Midwesterners. This pattern emerged in 2004 and remains strong.
Reputation counts more with men and Baby Boomers. These two groups place more emphasis than average on a manufacturer’s reputation for quality. In fact, it just about ties with price for third place for both groups of shoppers, while ranking a decided fifth for women and younger adults.
Other GfK Roper Reports data suggest that Americans may be less experimental than they were a few years ago and more likely to stick with the familiar. This is less true for young adults, but it means that new brands hoping to appeal to a broader/older audience face a substantial challenge in getting that first experience under consumers’ belts. The second, and perpetual, challenge is to ‘nail’ it.
This analysis is largely based on a GfK Roper Reports® US in-person survey of 2,002 adult Americans conducted in August/September 2006. For more information go to www.gfkamerica.com.
GfK surveys.com marketing marketing research
Past experience remains the top-ranked factor, as it has been in all ten readings taken since 1975. It lost ground during the experimental early years of the late 1990s and early 2000s but has returned to a level more typical of earlier years, with 83% saying it’s among the most important factors in their brand decisions.
Quality compared with other brands has become more important than price for the first time since quality was first measured in 1995, now at 63% versus 56% for “reasonably priced.” A manufacturer’s reputation for quality does not rate as highly, but it has hovered near the halfway mark in most years, currently at 46%. And word of mouth has become slowly but steadily more important in the 2000s after dipping during the more self-reliant 1990s – the current level of 48% just edges out the previous high of 47% measured in 1989.
Understanding how people choose brands is critical to any marketer, but certain elements have special relevance for specific consumer segments:
Past experience is especially critical for Northeasterners; 95% cite it compared with 79% of Midwesterners. This pattern emerged in 2004 and remains strong.
Reputation counts more with men and Baby Boomers. These two groups place more emphasis than average on a manufacturer’s reputation for quality. In fact, it just about ties with price for third place for both groups of shoppers, while ranking a decided fifth for women and younger adults.
Other GfK Roper Reports data suggest that Americans may be less experimental than they were a few years ago and more likely to stick with the familiar. This is less true for young adults, but it means that new brands hoping to appeal to a broader/older audience face a substantial challenge in getting that first experience under consumers’ belts. The second, and perpetual, challenge is to ‘nail’ it.
This analysis is largely based on a GfK Roper Reports® US in-person survey of 2,002 adult Americans conducted in August/September 2006. For more information go to www.gfkamerica.com.
GfK surveys.com marketing marketing research
