Brand Loyalty At Whole Foods Market
1 Brand Loyalty
Simplified brand loyalty describes a status in which consumers determine their selves in; out of it they become committed to a brand. Thereby they continue purchasing products or services of a specific brand. At this point consumers rather spent more money on a product of a specific brand than buying from multiple suppliers within the same category. Mainly brand loyalty is a result of consumer’s behavior, which is enforced through a company’s measurements regarding branding. Branding is a process that a company runs through in order to establish a new brand. The ambition here is to strengthen a unique name and image for a product in the consumer’s mind. If branding proceeds successfully customers retain as loyal customers. The American Marketing Association defines brand loyalty in two ways:
a.) "The situation in which a consumer generally buys the same manufacturer-originated product or service repeatedly over time rather than buying from multiple suppliers within the category" (sales promotion definition).
b.) "The degree to which a consumer consistently purchases the same brand within a product class" (consumer behavior definition).
Brand loyalty generally can also be considered an attitude. Furthermore a person’s attitude towards a certain brand can be broken down in 3 categories: The Cognitive, the Affective and the Behavioral. The cognitive aspect represents the knowledge and associations that are linked to a brand, whereas the affective aspect means the sympathy and emotions in general that a person has about it. Simplified, it determines whether someone likes or dislikes the brand. Besides that, the behavioral aspect, which means if the person actually acts and buys the brand’s products, is the most important aspect for the company. But generally speaking, ideally all three components must be complied over a longer period in order to create true and