VArumärkeslojalitet och växlingsbeteende inom dagligvarumarknaden
Management of enterprisesVarumärkeslojalitet:varumärkesväxling:dagligvarumarknad:brand managementkonsumentbeteende:FöretagsledningManagementBusiness and Economics
Title: Brand loyalty and switching behavior ? A case study of the Swedish ketchup market Authors: Marcus Andersson Mattias Hedblad Tutors: Björn Bergenståhl, (Professor) Department of Food Technology, Engineering and nutrition, Division of Food Technology, Lund University Frans Melin (MBA PhD) Department of Business and administration, Lund University Ragnar Sjögren Johansen, (Marketing Manager Sauces) Procordia Food AB Problem: The market for daily groceries is mature and the competition has become tough. For the manufacturers to be able to grow they have to compete for the existing consumers. The problem is for the manufacturer to protect its consumers and still be able to gain consumers from its competitors. Purpose: Our ambition is to study consumers brand loyalty for daily groceries, with the purpose to understand how loyalty starts, how it can be strengthened, and how it can be broken. Method: We have used a qualitative inductive method. Our data has mainly been collected by focus group interviews but also by a mail based survey. We have also conducted an analysis of the product, Felix ketchup. Conclusions: How loyalty starts Most of the loyal consumers? loyalties start early; they inherit their parents? values and brand loyalties. There are however a few consumers who become loyal to a brand of their own choice. These consumers are often attracted to a brand specific product attribute. How loyalty can be strengthened The strength of the loyalty is seemingly determined by how large difference the consumer perceive between brands. Hence the manufacturers should try to develop their product to be as good as it can be by benchmarking their product with their competitors? products. Furthermore they should try to make the perceived differences to seem larger. Brand switching The interviews have resulted in seven situations when a brand switch might occur. For some of the situations the manufacturers can try to affect the consumers directly and for some situations they can affect them indirectly. Key words: Brand loyalty, brand switching, brand management, consumer behavior, grocery market.