Brand Loyalty's Influence on Automobile Purchases

A brief evaluation of brand loyalty reveals that today, this particular business discipline has been transformed into one of the most sought after areas by small and large organizations alike. Take the name of Japanese automobile names of Toyota, Honda or even the German made Mercedes vehicles, one may observe that each has successfully gained a significant market share of the global automobile industry, simply because of the efforts and endeavors put in to make their brands customer friendly, efficient, economically viable and perhaps most important of all the safety element.

Introduction

The object of creating brand loyalty, as of recent studies, is to build a relationship with the customers, as well as to instill in ideas within their minds as to the nature of the organization, their category of customer, and how the respective organization extends its relationship with the customers at large. In addition, brand loyalty also transcends the respective products, as is the case of our present paper, which will discuss brand loyalty's influence on automobile purchases.

This transcending element emerges from the brand communication which not only strives to bring in an entire culture both from within an organization as well as the organization's customers, the same also effectively influences the external audience, otherwise commonly known to all of us as customers. Yet another important aspect in today's competitive business environment is the factor of profitability and the customer expectations regarding category values. Thus, one may observe that consumer values are shifting at a relatively faster pace than the name of the brands. In this context, if the respective organization fails to take into account the changing customer values, it may probably end up with loosing its customer base to a competitor, hence the value and importance of maintaining brand loyalty and its due influence on the customer's purchase choice (Rebecca and Robinson, 2002; USA Today, 2002).

Brand Loyalty's Influence on Purchase of Automobiles

Though Internet usage seems to be the savvy choice of millions of consumers across the globe for practically every product, the purchase of automobile too was not far behind, a fact confirmed by a survey titled "Automotive Internet Activity Analysis" by a private firm. This particular mail survey revealed that during the period of October 1998 and September 1999, there was a sharp increase of online sales between those with new vehicles and those who previously owned a vehicle (USA Today, 2002).

Though Internet usage amongst the purchasers of automobiles also increased significantly, from 51.6 percent to 57.7 percent during the years of 1998 and 1999 respectively, the Online purchases only showed a 27 percent rise over the same period. Another significant factor to influence Online purchases was the designated market areas, according to which the buyers in Washington D.C. were found to rank 1st in vehicle shopping. The same survey found that 75 percent of the purchasers of new vehicles in Washington D.C. chose the Internet as the medium for purchasing new vehicles. The reasons for Washington D.C.'s top ranking was attributed to the technically savvy category of residents of the nation's capital.

In a similar survey, Los Angeles, more commonly famous as the "car capital" of the United States showed that its residents actually purchased vehicles Online more than any other city including Washington D.C. Statistics to that respect revealed that the final count of Online buyers of automobiles in Washington D.C. was only 5.7 percent of all new vehicles buyers, compared to 6 percent for Los Angeles. Though the rise in online purchase of automobiles was attributed to the technical savvy nature of the residents of both the cities, the actual reasons have however remained a mystery with decision factors limited to facility of test-driving a new vehicle, prior experience of particular brands and advertising campaigns of consumer magazines (Rebecca and Robinson, 2002).

Yet another important factor for the rise of online purchases of automobiles was the marketing and other endeavors of automobile manufacturers. A comparison with a number of manufacturers revealed that European brands remained ahead of their American counterparts in Online purchases with Sweden's SAAB and Germany's BMW topping the list. Surprisingly there wasn't a single American automobile manufacturer in the top five companies (Fridman, 2000).

Factors Attributed for Retaining and Eroding Brand Loyalty

Though loyalty was perceived as an all American icon with fidelity and obligation following the same path, the turn of the century has however overturned the scales and there are fewer people who would like to remain with the same organization, purchase the same type of automobile, and vote for the same party candidate. Similar trends can be observed in the changing attitudes and falling standards of relations between employees and their employers, salesmen and their customers, so much so that even relations between the government and citizens are observed to show a continuous decline. These trends then leads one to deduce and evaluate some of the factors which have played a significant role in retaining and those responsible for the eroding loyalty, particularly for our case study of brand loyalty in automobile purchasers in the United States (Fridman, 2000).

A brief at some of the factors responsible for the declining brand loyalty include the choice, an element that is ever on the rise with newer models, increased number of accessories, safety features and increasing similarity between different manufacturers. This is followed by the availability of information on the range of models, and the extent of advertising that is found on both the print and electronic media, with Internet as the leading potential for sales and purchases alike. Another important factor is the instilled notion of some of the rights or entitlements, which most Americans have come to accept as a norm; such as the notion of buyers as to "what have you done for me lately, or what extras do you have in your model?" (USA Today, 2002).

In such an environment of individualism, it is hardly possible for traits including loyalty 'to take root and thrive'. Then there is the ever important and equally unnoticeable aspect of increased demand for higher quality, enhanced features, competitive prices and discounts that have a stunning effect on the choice of the brand. This has resulted in manufacturing of similar brands with similar features, as well as similar and look alike shapes of automobiles all of which serve to distract rather than retain brand loyalty amongst the potential automobile buyers.

With some of the factors for the failure to retain loyalty mentioned briefly in the preceding paragraph, one can observe the results of this declining trend. These include the shifting trends in brands or make of the automobiles, as the buyers are on look out for cheaper models yet with enhanced features and accessories; the rising number of complaints as against the age old practices of keeping silent rather than complaining about their vehicles, an evidence of behavioral shift; increased tendencies of cynicism as against the pursuit of the old American Dream accompanied with loosing faith in institutions hence the fall in loyalty (Shriver, 2000).