Are you brand loyal, or just brand lazy?
I’m a very boring shopper, it’s not even that I’m particularly brand loyal, I’ve been in advertising far too long for that. But if something works for me, I stick with it.
I also generally find supermarket shelves overwhelming, so I do what my sister and I call a ‘smash and grab’. We get in and get out as fast as we can, without staring into the soul-sapping void of the cereal aisle for too long.
The country I live in, South Africa, is currently on full Corona Virus lockdown, with extensions, so just about everybody is staying the **** at home. We aren’t allowed to run, or walk our dogs, or go to the park. We are allowed to pop out for groceries and necessities, but we’ve decided to self-isolate fully, so I’ve been using our local online shopping facility to get what I need plus chocolate.
Fortunately online shopping has been convenient and efficient here, except for the regular ‘out of stock’ pop-ups, which has led me to try a bunch of new brands I would never normally have even looked at.
You see, I’ve been using the same toothpaste for almost as long as I’ve had teeth. A dentist once recommended it and I suppose it works for me, so I head straight for it. I can’t say I’ve ever given much thought to the possibility that a better brand exists for me out there.
But last week, ‘my’ brand of toothpaste was out of stock, so was ‘my’ brand of mouthwash, ‘my’ brand of cheese, ‘my’ brand of peanut butter and ‘my’ brand of deodorant. So the online shopping computer, stroke algorithm, stroke robot, gave me the option of alternative brands, which I duly accepted, because of course, something different is better than nothing at all.
What do you know, the new brand of toothpaste, deodorant and cheese were a pleasant surprise that I’ll be revisiting, the peanut butter was much the same, and the mouthwash, let’s just say, you should stick with ‘my’ brand.
So, maybe this time of corona virus, and limited choices will give us the opportunity to try new brands, and see how we feel about them. There are no doubt going to be countless studies done after this whole global adventure has wrapped up, into Behavioural Economics, microbial behaviour, and loo paper behaviour, and I picture the executives at ‘my’ brand of toothpaste sitting around a boardroom table (or work-from-home office zoom call), scratching their heads remotely and wondering why sales have dropped post pandemic. Not because I buy THAT much toothpaste, but if I’m trying out new things, surely other people must be too?
And now I feel energised to start trying out other different brands, that is if I ever get to go out again.
