Brand Switching Behavior of Consumers in the Hair Care Service
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
With the discovery and identification of the twin consequences of short, medium and long term marketing strategy overtures towards the consumer namely; brand loyalty and brand disloyalty (switching), it therefore becomes the prime purpose of this study to:
- Establish the impact of the marketing mix on the brand switching behaviour of hair care services consumers.
- Determine the factors or variables that promote brand switching among hair care service market consumers.
- Discover the relative strengths of the various brands enumerated for this study with a specified market.
- Ascertain the effort of brand switching by consumers on the rate of consumption of different brands within the market under survey.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Recognition of the importance of customer loyalty
It is well recognized that costs of acquiring a new customer are higher than retention of existing ones (Fornell & Wernerfelt, 1987). Loyal customers tend to be less price-sensitive, but if a customer decides to switch, the firm loses the customer’s future revenue stream and needs to invest more resources in advertising and promotion in order to attract new customers (Anisimova, 2007). Customers who are loyal to a firm’s brand represent an entry barrier for competitors, spend more and tend to spread favorable word of mouth to other potential customers (Delgado-Ballester & Munuera-Alemán, 2001; Dowling & Uncles, 1997). Furthermore, increased knowledge about a brand and favorable associations increase the probability of a customer’s purchase and thus raise sales and revenue, while reducing the customer’s tendency to switching behavior (Keller, 1993). That is, the basic goal of brand loyalty for firms is to improve their business performance and to enhance their profitability in the long run. However, a firm’s successful market penetration strategy and new brand introduction can be attributed to many customers’ willingness to try new brands (Blin & Dodson, 1980). Competing firms will strive to lure a customer away from the preferred choice in order to increase their own market share. Hence, by focussing on customer retention, and thereby preventing one’s customers from defecting, while encouraging customers of competing brands to defect, a firm can increase its market share and long-term profits. The concept of brand loyalty has been intensively researched in the past and various explanations for this behavior have been found, such as satisfaction with a brand or inertia (Newman & Werbel, 1973; Oliver, 1989; Bawa, 1990; Seetharaman & Chintagunta, 1998). Regarding brand switching, many drivers for this type of behavior can be found in contrary motives for brand loyalty, such as variety seeking v. inertia and satisfaction v. dissatisfaction (Bawa, 1990; Newman & Werbel, 1973). For example, one could think that a satisfied consumer stays loyal to a brand and the dissatisfied consumer switches. Considerable evidence suggests that, even if the customer was satisfied with a previous choice, the customer would, under certain circumstances, switch to another brand (Mazursky, LaBarbera & Aiello, 1987). This notion can be supported by various explanations, such as other factors influencing choice and factors intervening between satisfaction/dissatisfaction and choice (Rust & Zahorik, 1993). Hence, it can be useful to regard brand loyalty and brand switching separately, but a researcher can also benefit from comparing drivers of the two distinct behaviors in conjunction. Furthermore, many researchers have used brand switching and brand loyalty in the same study in order to operationalize these behaviors. For example, some researchers used the inverse of brand switching in order to measure a customer’s brand loyalty (Romaniuk & Sharp, 2003) and the inverse of the number of purchases divided by the number of brand loyal phases (McCann, 1974) to measure brand switching. Brand loyalty and brand switching can also be shown in an event history analysis, where the repeat purchases of a product are counted (Du Wors & Haines, 1990). In this context an event occurs the minute the customer changes his/her behavior, that is, buys another brand. Thus conceptualizations of brand loyalty and brand switching are used in the same context very often, although they are two opposing concepts.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to brand switching Behavior of consumers in the hair care service
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on brand switching Behavior of consumers in the hair care service. 200 staff of selected cosmetics shops, Lagos state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain Brand switching Behavior of consumers in the hair care service. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of the brand switching Behavior of consumers in the hair care service
Summary
This study was on Brand switching Behavior of consumers in the hair care service. Four objectives were raised which included: Establish the impact of the marketing mix on the brand switching behaviour of hair care services consumers, determine the factors or variables that promote brand switching among hair care service market consumers, discover the relative strengths of the various brands enumerated for this study with a specified market and ascertain the effort of brand switching by consumers on the rate of consumption of different brands within the market under survey. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected cosmetics shop, Lagos state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made manager, secretaries, sales rep and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
This study is conducted to investigate whether the influencing factors influence the customers to make a purchase and also to check what brand switching factor influence the customers to make a purchase. And the results derived says that the influencing factors like price, quality, advertisements plays an vital role in influencing the customers and also the respondents were influenced by the family members, friends and peers. It is also found that the respondents will be loyal to the brand when the brand meets the satisfaction level of the respondents. And when it happens the respondents were ready to suggest the brand to others and influence them to try the brand.
Recommendation
There are some important factors considered by the consumer for decision making. Brand image, advertising, and offer play an important role in purchasing Shampoo, sometimes based on the offer the consumer compare with competitor product and select the best one. Product attribute also analyzed by the consumer for deciding a brand. Switching of one product to other company product is mainly based on advertisement, brand name, packaging availability, and price rise, etc. production companies should work on these not to lose customers
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