Brand Loyalty

I am a brand loyalist. It takes me a long time to settle on a purchase decision, but once I jump in, I ride the waves, good times and bad. Brand Loyalty is the extent of the faithfulness of consumers to a particular brand, expressed through their repeat purchases, irrespective of the marketing pressure generated by the competing brands. I often find a brand that I like and stick to it. Whether it be cars, guitar strings, tooth paste, or computers, I often find myself buying the same brands over and over. Here is an example of how I became a brand loyalist.

My name is Charlie Polcher and I am a mac.

It all started six years ago when I was in the market to purchase my first laptop. I grew up using Dells and Microsoft products. So, initially when I began my search I looked at Dell and HP laptops. They sounded nice and were fairly cheap however; looking into the quality of these laptops I was not impressed. This is when social influence kicked in. My sister was the first person to suggest looking at Apple laptops. Although her influence on my choice was very minimal, she did plant the idea. Thinking about what my friends would think also played a role in my decision. Contrary to what most would expect, my friends had a more negative opinion on my choice to look at Macbooks. They are very conservative and do not like change. They viewed Apple products as people engaging in conspicuous consumption. Buying items because they signal a message of status or eliteness to others. This was not the case for me. I have only heard good things about Macbooks and I was curious to check them out.

I have always loved technology and am always interested in the new or next big thing. Like many consumers in America, Japan, and many other countries, we expect rapid technological advances. We want something better and better, sooner and sooner. Apple has been one of the leading innovators of our time. It feels as if you finally save enough to buy the ipod you have always wanted to find that they are releasing a new one the following week and yours will be $100 cheaper! Regardless, Apple has been rapidly changing what it means to own a personal computer.

As I was doing research on macs I stumbled upon mac-forum.com, which, is a community, dedicated to macs and other apple products. A brand community can be very beneficial to a company’s brand loyalty. Having a group of fellow brand loyalist to discuss the values and benefits a certain product has can encourage others to want to fit into the community. This site gave me a great look into the world of Apple. I was able to see the benefits and capabilities that Mac’s offered. However, it is quit biased.

Needless to say I ended up buying a Macbook Pro and have not looked back. I am in no way a “fanboy” but will always recommend a Mac to anyone who is considering one. I am definitely a loyalist to the Apple name now. Although I do not have an iphone, but who wants to pay for Internet on their phone! Well most people do, but not me, not yet at least.