Exploring brand loyalty in a time of crisis

By Emma Miller

Pre-pandemic, more and more of us were beginning to turn our backs on known and trusted brands. Fuelled by social media and the ability of smaller brands to reach audiences like never before, we embraced risk taking—with a growing number of customers embracing a newfound love for seeking out alternative brands and experiences. Some proclaimed the death of brand loyalty.

Then Covid-19 arrived. Suddenly, trusted brands became important once again—a way of reducing risk. And that mattered.

But it’s not the whole story.

To understand how attitudes to brand loyalty have been affected during the pandemic, the team at Solutions Research reached out to its online community to provide valuable on-demand insight. Here’s what we found. 

Risk Aversion

If there has been one thing on customer’s minds in recent months, it’s the need to reduce risk. Put simply, customers have actively been seeking out certainty in this strange, uncertain Covid-19 world.

In normal times, customers are often mentally committed to buying a brand once they have had a positive experience. In amongst the many and varied reasons for choosing one brand over another, a key purchasing decision – consciously or subconsciously—is linked to reducing levels of perceived risk by buying from a brand that they know and trust.

In the early days of lockdown in the UK, however, availability issues meant that necessity was paramount, rather than brand or price.

Substitute brands

In the four weeks to 04 June 2020, 67 per cent of our respondents reported that new food brands and products had made their way into household cupboards and freezers. For drink and beverage products, the figure was 45 per cent. Unsurprisingly, for home hygiene and cleaning products, the figure was 49 per cent, as a result of households adopting new or more rigorous cleaning regimes.

A key driver of brand switching was due to issues of availability of ‘basics’, with shortages meaning customers often had to buy second or third choice products.

The increase in online shopping also played its part. A mix of unfamiliarity with using the platform and a breaking of the subconscious behaviour that customers exhibit when undertaking their regular food shopping trip—almost shopping on auto-pilot—saw customers introduced to a greater choice of brands.

Even for those customers who did continue shopping in physical stores, forced changes in where they shopped played a part. Many customers turned to local convenience stores, rather than major supermarkets—due to large queues or anxiety over visiting densely populated spaces. Reduced ranges in such stores, however, often made it difficult for customers to remain loyal to their favourite brands, forcing the need to switch.

“…the nation’s best-loved brands really do have a special place in our hearts.”

Part of the family

Despite this, the pandemic also reaffirmed how strong the power of brand can be. More specifically, it has shown that the nation’s best-loved brands really do have a special place in our hearts, and are an integral part of family life. Trusted everyday staple brands can provide us with comfort at a time of crisis. And if you’re fortunate enough to be one of these brands, customers are not prepared to compromise.

Our research highlighted that customers felt an additional sense of responsibility during the pandemic to look after both themselves and their loved ones. Aside from physical health, this meant serving up a taste and quality that they knew and loved. Whether perceived as treats and rewards or perhaps in the case of those with families spending hours together in the same house, a desire to keep conflict to a minimum. Switching breakfast cereal favourites for children was a particular no-no. And even in lockdown, it still “Has to be Heinz”, it seems. Tea also scored highly on brand loyalty, with many respondents stating that it would take a lot for them to switch. Where would the British be in a crisis, if wasn’t for a ‘proper cuppa’.

Brand loyalty amongst household hygiene and cleaning products scored particularly highly. It’s of little surprise that heightened anxiety around cleanliness during the pandemic saw customers reaching for the brands they trust. As one respondent commented, “anything with the name Dettol on I trust.”

“…minds have been opened […] customers may be slow to change back.”

Staying local

The longer-term effect of the lockdown on customer behaviour, and therefore for brands, was highlighted by many respondents who stated their intent to continue shopping at smaller, local businesses within their community post-pandemic. Large grocery retail has been viewed as the key battleground for brands to drive sales for many years. While its importance will not diminish entirely, perhaps brands need to re-evaluate just how much focus and investment they place on supporting retail accounts at a smaller, community store-level. And, just as crucially, better understand how shopping behaviour differs in this channel, so that brands can engage with customers in a relevant way and sales can be maximised. 

Shopping around

As for loyalty to individual retailers, here too we can expect enforced changes in customer behaviour to stay with us for some time yet. A combination of customers being encouraged to shop locally, a lack of home delivery slot availability, and out-of-stock issues, saw customers having to shop around. One retailer (sometimes any retailer with an available delivery slot) for food items, another for cleaning products, another for those hard to find items—and so on. Our eyes and minds have been opened to new behaviours in recent months, and customers may be slow to change back.

New normal

Our research highlights that post-lockdown customers are likely to continue to invest in new brands that they have discovered. When it comes to FMCG brands, own-label is set to be the big winner here. Initial issues around availability opened the door to people trying more own-brand products. According to our respondents, the experiences were largely positive. The economic fallout of Covid-19 is expected to see discretionary income come under intense pressure in the coming months. As a result, the desire to embrace substitute brands that are cheaper and just as effective may be hard to resist.

Whether you’re a brand seeking to protect already hard-won loyalty, or keen to better understand newly acquired audiences so you can build a loyal following for the future, investing in robust customer and quantitative research programs can provide the first important step to help you uncover the ‘human truths’ behind customer attitudes and why they make the choices they do.