Stable context – higher repurchasing
The most basic manifestation of brand loyalty is repurchasing – making the same choice on the next category occasion. A study in the Journal of Retailing tests to which extent the stability of contextual cues across purchase occasions affects repurchasing. The authors analyze a total of 1.6 million brand choice pairs (i.e., two consecutive choices) of more than 20,000 shoppers in both Germany and the UK in three FMCG categories.
Stable contextual cues (same retailer, basket size or weekday as on previous occasions) increase repurchasing whereas unstable contextual cues (different retailer, basket size or weekday as on previous occasions, a promotion chosen on one of the occasions or a different assortment size) hinder repurchasing.
The findings stress the importance of inertia and suggest a new metric to benchmark brand performance across multiple retail outlets; that is, the likelihood that my brand is purchased again on the next category occasion.
This metric is also one which aligns retailer and manufacturer interests and could provide a mutually beneficial objective to focus on.
Source: Oliver Koll, Andreas Plank (2022): Do Shoppers Choose the Same Brand on the Next Trip when Facing the Same Context? An Empirical Investigation in FMCG Retailing. Forthcoming in the Journal of Retailing
