Can I have a Coke please?", "Is Pepsi OK?", "Yeah, no problem!"
We've all had this conversation so let's examine it in more detail.
What does this innocent little ditty actually tell you?
It tells you that Customer Loyalty is Dead. Period.
It tells you that all the multi millions of dollars spent on advertising don't matter a damn when faced with proximity and availability of a product.
Consumers do not care one iota.
When a buyer can't purchase his first brand choice immediately he doesn't have a problem buying another similar brand instead.
It tells you that the reason for Coke's success; for Starbucks' success; for Subway's success, is less to do with loyalty and more to do with availability.
Run with me, I'll take this all a stage further.
Customer loyalty never existed in the first place.
The whole concept of customer loyalty it is figment of an overactive imagination. From this one little customer interaction above we can deduce that the vast majority of customers buy simply because of availability - because of proximity, rather than loyalty.
I've never told the waiter... "No! Goddamnit! It is NOT O.K!" --- "I wanted a Coke so I ordered a Coke you fool! If you don't bring me one right this second, I'm going next door."
If Coke, arguably the most powerful brand in the world, doesn't have true brand loyalty - What hope has the little guy got?
I like to think of myself as the ultimate Starbucks fan. Yet, when I examine my own behaviour, if there's a Starbucks next to me I'll have a Starbucks, but the chances of me walking past 10 Costa Coffees and 10 Cafe Neros to find a Starbucks is slim to none. In the end availability and proximity win out every time.
It seems that loyalty and availability are oft confused. I guess it's much like a dirty rotten philanderer. If they are around their partner a lot, they don't get much of a chance to cheat. The less they are around however, the more of a chance there is for a competitor to drag them into their clutches.
Not only is customer loyalty dead but the crazy thing is "customer loyalty" never really existed in the first place.
The whole concept of customer loyalty was born out of some marketing executives wet dream. Once thought up, everyone got dragged along for a ride, redefining solutions for a problem which wasn't real, selling vapour and demanding billions of dollars in the pursuit of something completely non existent.
L.E.T - M.E. - S.P.E.L.L - I.T - O.U.T
There is no such thing as customer loyalty. There never was!
"Can I have a Coke please?" "Is Pepsi OK?" "Yeah no problem."
"I need some white Dulux paint." "Sorry we don't stock Dulux here but we have this other white paint brand. Is that OK?" "Sure..That will do."
So.. Is there a solution?
Well, yes! I'd like to think so.
All we can do is influence a buyer shorty before, or at the point of purchase. And reaching the customer at that moment is an art form.