I was on my way home last Friday for Family Weekend when my mom called me and asked if I could pick up a couple of items at the store. I gladly accepted this request and stopped off at Harris Teeter before proceeding home. One of the items we needed was salad dressing, so I headed to the appropriate aisle, and, without thinking, made a beeline to the section where the Newman’s Salad Dressing bottles were displayed. I picked up a bottle of Light Red Wine Vinaigrette, plopped it into my basket and started to make my way towards the dairy aisle.
Yet, before I could leave this aisle behind I began thinking about the speed of my purchase decision and turned around to face the array of salad dressings once more. It was then that I began to note just how many different salad dressings there were. The longer I stared at the selection the more overwhelmed and confused I became. There were way too many choices, but somehow I had completely blocked out all the other options and went to the brand I was familiar with. At that moment I started to ponder why I had been so quick to pick up a bottle of Newman’s Dressing as opposed to Wishbone or Hidden Valley. I probably picked that brand just because that is what my parents have always had at home in the fridge and I was purchasing the dressing for them.
However, I then asked myself the question: “If I was purchasing salad dressing for myself, would I have immediately chosen Newman’s?” And my answer would be “yes”. In a couple of years when I am living on my own and shopping for my own groceries I imagine that I will be picking out the exact same dressing that my parents bought. “Why?” you may ask. Because Newman’s is what my parents always bought and their loyalty to the brand has rubbed off on me.
Subconsciously, I think many consumers go for the brand that they were raised with and that their parents used. If I need to buy paper towels I go for Bounty, when I think Dishwasher Detergent the first product that comes to mind is Cascade, when it comes to Ketchup I think Hunt’s, Chicken Broth evokes images of the Swanson logo. What do all these brands have in common? They are the exact same brands that my mom buys when she goes shopping and they are the brands that have been ingrained in me. When you think about it, it seems safer to stay with a product that your family has used for long periods of time and in which you have developed a trust. I know what I am getting when I purchase Newman’s dressing because I was raised in a home where that was the only brand we used on our salads. Furthermore, I like the fact that I can refer to my family’s purchase choices because it makes the decision making process a lot less painful. I did not have to stand around and compare bottles of dressing for 20 minutes, trying to figure out what dressing I would like and what brand would be best. Instead I can bypass what would be a time consuming process by asking myself, “What does mom usually buy?” Thus I exhibited habitual decision making by thoughtlessly reaching for Newman’s dressing.
If there are many other consumers out there like me who make decisions this way, there is no doubt that marketers will have to exert extra effort in order to capture our attention and convince us to switch brands. Maybe they should start using our moms as intermediaries. In my opinion, I can always rely upon and trust my mom’s advice. After all “Mom knows best”.
Posted by: Katie Guerra
Have you seen the ads for Canadian Club whisky? It plays on this concept of buying what your parents bought, but in a different way. The tagline is "Damn right your dad drank it." (Google that to see some ads.)
ReplyDelete-Will McQuain
The decision making process is made up of 5 steps: 1. Problem recognition, 2. Information search, 3. Evaluation of alternatives, 4. Product choice, and 5. Outcomes. However, there is a more recent process that is described as a circular process. It begins with a trigger, then there is an initial consideration set, an active evaluation, a moment of purchase, and a post purchase experience, it also includes the loyalty loop which can either be active or passive. This blog about making a simple purchase of salad dressing brings up the topic of the loyalty loop. Because Katie is used to buying Newman’s Own light red wine vinegar and olive oil, she immediately goes to this product with the intention of buying. She doesn’t have to go through the entire decision making process. She does have a trigger – the lack of salad dressing, a moment of purchase and a post purchase experience but she has eliminated the need for considering alternatives and her post purchase experience is going to be predictable because she has tried to product several times before. In fact, it is the post purchase experience that influenced the development of the brand loyalty to this particular type of salad dressing; it was a positive experience so the brand proved itself. She is also loyal to this one brand because it is the brand her family has always used and Katie will most likely continue being loyal to the brand – thus the loyalty loop.
ReplyDeleteThis type of purchase is known as a routine response behavior which is classified as a low cost product that is frequently purchased and requires low consumer involvement. All of these qualities describe this purchase of salad dressing. Because this purchase was a routine response and required no consideration of alternative products, the decision making process was truly simplified in this case.
I challenge this thought process because I believe we buy quality and functionality and not sentiment. Yes, my mom has a powerful voice, but at the end of the day 70% of all purchase decisions are made in-store. Successful brands are masters at the first moment of truth, trial and repeat, merchandising, temporary price reductions as well as understanding shopper marketing insights. Brands such as Tide and Campbell’s win generation after generation because Procter & Gamble and the Campbell’s Soup Company are the best in the business at what they do, and they sell quality products. I believe that I continue to buy what my mom buys because these companies are just as good (if not better) at business as they were 20 years ago. I don’t believe that I would still be picking up what my mom bought if the business strategy behind these brands was not still successful. If you don’t believe me take a look at Kodak…
ReplyDelete-Olivia
First, I have to say that I agree with both Olivia and the other person who commented just before her. Although Katie buys Newman’s Own salad dressing each time she purchases a product in that category, she is certainly influenced by her mother’s affinity for the brand. This is actually a situation that involves not only the decision making process but classical conditioning as well. Regarding the decision making process, Katie chooses Newman’s Own for a few different reasons. First, it is in her initial set of brands since it is the salad dressing that she grew up with. Next, when she begins to consider alternatives, she takes time spent shopping into account which severely inhibits her ability to cruise the shelves for a different option. This is where classical conditioning and Olivia’s argument come in. When Katie runs out of salad dressing, I’m sure she has been conditioned over the years to think: “Oh, looks like I’ve got to go get some more salad dressing.” And with that she adds the product to her grocery list and goes to the store. However, once she is at the store, as she stated in her post, she does not really want to spend too much time searching for different dressing options. Thus, since Newman’s Own is a very well-known brand and is able to garner some very coveted shelf space, Katie goes down the aisle with the salad dressing and spots her Newman’s Own very quickly and consequently purchases it. She understands that she made the decision herself, but what she didn’t realize is that a good bit of classical conditioning has also influenced her to pick out Newman’s Own.
ReplyDelete