Brand Loyalty Blog Series: Does Age Really Matter

For anyone in the CPG industry, brand loyalty is a major issue that continually receives (or should receive) a great deal of attention. With the rise of online shopping and the sheer abundance of availability, brand loyalty has become even harder to capture, and thus paying attention to what creates or destroys brand loyalty is crucial.

A few months ago we posted an article that talked about generational brand loyalty, and we were pleased to find that this sparked a great deal of thought and healthy debate. With this in mind, we’ve decided to do a 4 part series looking at the various factors that seem to impact brand loyalty, starting off the series by revisiting the issue of age and whether it really matters!

According to a survey done by Adroit Digital, when it comes to millennial (age 18-33) brand loyalty, age does matter. Although survey respondents did report being as loyal as their parents - if not more loyal - this group did note that retailers and brands do have to work a bit harder to garner that loyalty.
 

Also interesting, this same survey found that millennials based their brand loyalty on different factors compared to their elders, things like social and mobile ranking far higher than their parents. This means that different methods need to be employed when targeting different age groups.

So how loyal are they? Based on the answers given, approximately 1 in 5 said that they are brand loyal and are using the same brands their parents use. Another 43% said that they use many of the same brands, if not all. Taken together, this represents a whopping 63% of respondents who claim to be as loyal as their parents.

These positive statistics are somewhat countered by the fact that the survey found that many millennials agree that their own brand loyalty shifts as they age, as they begin to make their own choices about which brands they prefer. This may be as a result of shifting family situations or changing financial positioning. That being said, this doesn’t mean that this group then becomes less loyal, it just means that their loyalty shifts.

Ignoring the difference in brand loyalty trends when it comes to age will often mean losing one group in exchange for the other. If this is an approach you want to take, just make sure that you are aware of the consequences!

For more about generational brand loyalty and how to tackle each age group please contact Storesupport Canada today by calling 1-877-421-5081.