Brand loyalty among low-income consumers?

Abstract

Purpose Low-income consumers (LICs) have gained more attention from marketers after Prahalad and Hart (2004) called attention to untapped opportunities among the world’s poorest. Once neglected and seen as price-driven, more recent research has depicted LICs as brand-conscious consumers who are willing to pay a premium for quality. However, because LICs must balance their tight budgets with aspirations for branded items, this perspective may be too optimistic. To address this issue, the purpose of this paper is to investigate brand consideration and loyalty among LICs across a wide range of products. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a qualitative-inductive approach to assess LICs’ brand considerations across ten fast-moving consumer goods. In-depth interviews with 20 Brazilian LICs were conducted. Findings The authors found that brand loyalty among LICs is both context- and category-dependent. Patterns of loyalty are influenced by five factors: perceived differentiation, perceived risk, contextual usage, proportion of the category expenditure to household income and hedonic vs functional consumption. It seems that the interplay of these factors ultimately shapes differently the attitudes and repeated patronage of brands within each category among LICs. Research limitations/implications Generalizability of findings is limited owing to the qualitative method used. Practical implications The authors provide practical insights to managers concerning key attributes that influence brand consideration and loyalty among LICs. Originality/value This paper adds to the yet limited knowledge on LICs and provides a deeper and more holistic understanding of the relation of LICs with brands.

Conspicuous Consumption in Emerging Markets: The Case of Starbucks in Colombia as a Global and Sustainable Brand

“…This is because consumers in the lower classes often repeat the behaviors of the upper classes as a mechanism that allows them to aspire toward that social group in a higher hierarchy. In other words, they generate false upward social mobility (González, 2017 ; Costa Filho et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Taking into account the above and based on previous studies by Lu Wang and Chen (2004), Eng and Bogaert (2010), Cervellon and Shammas (2013), González (2017), Semaan et al (2019), Spielmann et al (2020), andCosta Filho et al (2021), for this investigation, we considered that the consumption of certain products or brands that generate conspicuous consumption in the upper classes will produce a purchasing behavior imitated by the lower classes. Thus, if the upper classes consider that the products they buy generate a feeling of patriotism, the lower classes will also consider that the consumption of these products exalts national identity and patriotism.…”

Disentangling the role of income level on premium brand perceived quality, awareness, association, and loyalty: A comparative study within Thailand and Indonesia

“…Low-income consumers also can be known as brand-conscious consumers who are willing to pay a premium for quality, however, their tight budget impedes them to purchase quality brands (Costa Filho et al, 2021). The result of this study also implies that when a consumer thinks about the coffee they will think about premium chains of coffee brands and easily recall the particular premium brand (Starbucks).…”

Consumer Choice for Milk and Dairy in Romania: Does Income Really Have an Influence?

“…Since this type of product may contribute to ensuring food security through the nutritional values and its widespread, the level of income should not be a factor of influence in milk consumption. Nevertheless, studies show that lower incomes lead to poorer choices in milk quality [48,49]. Moreover, other research points out that the lower income groups have a higher sensitivity than medium and high-income groups to income and price fluctuations when choosing dairy products [50].…”

“…Considering earlier information [12][13][14][48][49][50][51], we expect income to be significantly correlated with the availability of ecological products [16,33,40,75], given the fact that higher income groups would afford purchasing products with higher price [55,70,72]. Additionally, a significant correlation is expected between income and perceived quality of the products [67,68,77], given the fact that people expect to have the highest benefits from their purchases; and between income and traditional products, such as local products, especially coming from small producers [16,33,68,76,79].…”