When the loyalty to a brand is fading away, people may buy other brands, as is called brand switch and is the result of consumer's choice. Researchers contended that the shift of decision rules caused brand switch. But there are evidences that consumer change their decision rules infrequently. Thus, the shift of decision rules can't explain the mechanism of brand switch well.
The valued attributes are product attributes that consumer perceived to be important and valuable to make a choice. These valued attributes constitute a set with limited elements, ranking by their weights and are operated by the decision rules when consumers make their buying decision. This set may be changed, which can be detected by tracing the consumer's information acquisition.
In this study, IDB (Information Display Board) was employed to trace the process of consumer's information acquisition when brand switch occurred. The results showed that:
1.When brand switch occurred, the valued-attribute set of consumer's was changed.
2.There were two kinds of changing patterns for the valued-attribute set: the changing of components or ranking order.
3.The nonvalued attributes could turn into valued attributes when the difference between brands became significant.
The influences of product knowledge and involvement to the valued-attribute set and brand switch were also examined.
It was concluded that consumers who were loyal to a brand chose other brands with the valued-attribute set changing. It was a way which brand switch occurred through more often and can be used to explain the mechanism of product choice.
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