Since these consumers buy brands and sometimes not even the products or their attributes it is not wrong to deduce that such consumers buy the name , the reputation or the pride that comes by owning or being associated with that brand . The providers for these brands , should never take the opportunity to become greedy in the market by tampering with the traditional or the fundamental characteristics for that brand as they risk losing the “ brand shareholders ” but rather , continuously strive to improve it .
The providers , retailers or wholesalers must also guard the name of the brand such that when producing any other product or offering service out of the scope of their current mix , they must ensure that it conforms to the quality of the product in the market as tampering with it may send a signal to the brand loyalists that even their preferred brand has a probability of quality or performance being manipulated .
Price Loyalists
Price loyalist consumers are also termed as super bargainers . This consumer segment seeks to derive satisfaction to the maximum subject to budget constraints . These can also be consumers whose disposable income has reduced or is on the verge of reduction and they seek to downgrade their consumption . Their consumption behavior is not dictated by taste nor other parameters like social setting say culture or religion but by economic times .
When inflation occurs , such consumers seek to buy more for less and their basket value is controlled by the price points . These consumers are not price takers but price seekers as they are the kind of consumers , the manufacturers , retails , and other providers are flexing their pricing muscles to retain or acquire . Such consumers switch from retailer A to B , wholesaler C to D or from channel A say modern trade to channel B say general trade in search of price deals . This kind of consumer segment can be termed as deal seekers . All they want is to save a coin here and there ; and they would not mind incurring costs such as time and transportation to move from one point to the other in search of better , cheaper and competitive prices .
Deal seekers in the market do not have brand preferences nor sometimes do they take time to check quality of the products or process towards which the production for a particular product was achieved . Their taste for products is motivated by the
price point at which you price the product and the quantity . When these consumers are subjected to draconian relationship of choosing “ Less for High ” or “ More for Less ”, they become indifferent in the market and where one operates hand to mouth or has low disposable income , they prefer the expensive route that is “ Less for High ” - where one throws herself into computations , they end up going for the cheaper route that is , “ More for High ”.
Once you identify this kind of consumer segment , the price sensitive ones , one needs to get into the market to negotiate on behalf of his / her consumers , get the best and right pricing deals in the market to continuously attract , acquire and retain this segment . The retailers or wholesalers or traders must place themselves as the “ To-Go-To ” providers for cheaper and fair prices . The provider becomes the deal breaker in the market for nearly all onboarding products and unknown products or brands . The trader reduces both operation , marketing and production costs and invests heavily on price discounting .
Conclusion
The market players - retailers , wholesalers , manufacturers and vendors must run a research and analysis to categorize their customers into these two segments and identify the indifferent consumers , those that today are brand loyalists and tomorrow may become price sensitive then pick the appropriate strategies that align with different segments .
The indifferent ones have a particular brand of choice that they prefer but sometimes keep on reacting to prices . They are unpredictable . At one point , despite you offering them with what you think is a market deal , they will rush to choose a highly priced brand of their choice and one point if you happen to miss promotions then they react by moving to other retailers or channels that are offering cheaper prices .
To sort this kind of consumers , you need to have an all-in-one strategy whereby you appeal to both brand loyalists and the price sensitive ones . This will help the retailers or providers to reduce on costs and invest on pricing to reward the deal seekers on one end while on the other end , reward the brand owners with sophisticated brands or experience they prefer - in these two strategies one becomes the “ To-Go-To ” provider for class and price while attracting , retaining and acquiring new consumers of all segments : the brand loyalists , the price loyalists and the indifferent ones .
Patrick Maninga is a graduate of Economics with IT from Maseno University who believes in economics of sustainability . He is currently working at Naivas Limited as Branch Support Officer - Pricing and Promotions . You can engage him via email at : Maningapatrick97 @ gmail . com .