Trading

A couple years ago, we wrote in this space about the different types of loyalty. From that newsletter:

If you were to attempt an answer at those questions, you might start with further defining loyalty into at least two types:

• Attitudinal. Loyalty driven by a customer’s brand preference. Usually rooted in emotion.

• Behavioral. Loyalty driven by a customer’s actions. Rooted in repetitive behaviors (i.e., repeat purchases). 

Here’s the thing about loyalty, at least when it’s discussed in relation to the Apples of the world: No one raises the question of whether you need attitudinal loyalty to run your business.

As more brands confront softening consumer demand and discuss exploring additional sales channels, the above exploration again becomes relevant—especially as it relates to whether your customers are likely to trade down from you.

How have you built the brand? Are your loyal customers emotionally attached or behaviorally attached?

The answers to these questions, it seems, may be an alternative place to start a strategic planning conversation (especially if you’re discussing a shift).

The answer, along with some customer development, may tell you why your customer is willing to stay with you right now or why your customer is leaving you right now. It may tell you whether you’re a brand that is easy to trade out, be it because of price, convenience or a combination thereof. It may tell you a lot about whether you’re fulfilling a want for your customer or a need for your customer.

A lot of that may sound like fluff.

But if you’re a purchase in a category that your customer is always going to make—and your customer doesn’t feel emotionally tied to your brand—you may be an easy target for the customer to trade down from.

If you catch this risk, you can begin to dissect the problem pretty quickly: Do we need to be cheaper? Can we afford to be cheaper? Do we need to be more ubiquitous? How do we do that? Etc, etc.

Positioning isn’t just where you fit in the market. Not in this sense. It’s always where you fit with the customer.

Understand that, and you’ll figure out if you’re at risk for being traded.