Most brands don't feel obligated to provide quality or value to their customers, so why should customers be loyal to them?

I was the "I'll NEVER drive a Luxus" person. Guess what my new car is? A Lexus. And love it! But maybe because I got a really good deal!?

    I'm loyal to the local farmer a few miles from my house, because I see the chickens in his backyard that lay the eggs, and I see the tomato patch where the tomatoes come from.   

    But Whole Foods, now owned by Amazon?  Who knows where that stuff is coming from?    What exactly does "Certified Organic" mean, and even there is a definition, am I going to believe a $100 billion corporate monster?

    As for "Fix or Repair Daily"... I had a Mustang, and an LTD.  But I drove Chevy trucks.  Today I have no loyalty to either.

It's tough to be brand loyal when most of the time you don't even know who the brand is.  For example, JAB holdings is an investment company that is buying up almost every coffee company under the sun ----- they recently filed a lawsuit against a small business in MI and I took huge issue with what they were doing.

JAB owns these brands (and probably more by now) - Caribou Coffee, Peets, Keurig/Green Mountain, and others........I used to love Keurig and Caribou had some of my favorite coffee, but now I can't buy either unless I want my $$ going to JAB.  Brands are no longer loyal to us.

There are exceptions, and to those brands, I'm 100% loyal.

Sadly many items are made by the  same company but put other names on them.  Hard to stay brand loyal in all of life

there are certain brands I will not change.... I like name brands at the grocery store.... there's a big difference in quality and taste with no name brands.... I'll pay the extra money...

I think some brands are too busy trying to drive their stock up to please investors with short term vision.  

If the brand delivers for me like Lexus or Apple I have extreme loyalty.

I have been with my vehicles, my computers, my DJ equipment back in the day, my clothes to an extent and definitely my brand!

I like high end vehicles, but next year I plan to purchase a Buick LaCrosse as my West Coast business vehicle. Logic and practicality is coming into play these days for me.

I only drive Ford F150s when I buy a truck. Other than that, I'm open for brand quality and performance. I am partial to Bridgestone tires, but I just put four Michelins on my car. So, it's really hit or miss. 

With so many more choices and products changing so quickly it has made brand loyalty a thing of the past.  It is not that I don't look at certain products first, but it is so easy to compare with other brands that sticking with one brand simply because of the name is silly.

I will give you an example. I recently needed a new wireless router.  Of course I looked at all the name brands.  But a little research yielded a brand I was not familiar with that was getting rave reviews from the industry insiders like PC Mag, CNET, etc. The price was half the cost of leading brands. I took a chance ($60 investment) and could not be happier. It turned out to be a great product.

I think brand loyalty died back in the day when Detroit was overwhelmed by quality cars coming from Japan at lower prices, and they simply insisted that we continue to "buy American" because it was patriotic, regardless of their lack of quality control and value.

Imports quickly took over, and Detroit found itself trying to play a game of "catchup" for decades while Japan, German and Korea attempted a takeover of the American consumer.

That's just one example (a large one, granted) that taught Americans to pay less attention to "brand", and more attention to quality and overall value.

I try to make up my own mind but if a brand has burned me more than once - that's it, dissed for life. Like DELL SUCKS.

I think that now we have access to so much more that it makes being loyal harder than it was. If there were 2 brands of tires - which one?

We are not as loyal to brands today as we were back in the day..Even when we talk real estate, it was an honor to work at a name brand real estate company now you really don't care who the name is as long as it serves its purpose for you..For instance myself, I would never take my car outside of the dealer under no circumstances, now Jiffy Lube, Family tire or whoever else here I come - the key is to make sure it's serviced..

Each generation comes with its own quirks and set of rules. In time, things go full circle providing they are still around. 

Oh so much has changed over the years.  I am prepared to spend more for SERVICE which seems to be lacking in oh so many businesses.

FORDs: Fix Or Repair Daily,  Fords Only Run Downhill.

I'm very brand loyal, but not brand foolish.  I love my BMW, but for an SUV I bought a Lexus.  Why?  They almost never need maintenance, had an easy ordering system (three trim/package levels, no add-ons in addition to those), high quality interior, great design and the same price or cheaper than the BMW and ran on regular fuel!  I did start out looking at BMW.

I think it's more that I'm loyal to my pocket book and what make financial, technical and business sense.

My husband is really big on brand for somethings - he gets really angry if I don't buy Heinz ketchup LOL

There are more choices and there seems to be no one manning the customer service aspect of many of those companies to whom we were so loyal in the past. I agree that quality is something that has fallen by the wayside as well.

I like certain brands as I know to expect good product and service. But I'm open to others as welll.

The concept of loyalty over the years has changed. Cost cost convenience.

Old habits that never die can be short sighted when the old faithful no longer delivers and product standards slide. Have a real estate sign maker for 40+ years but the top notch quality has been removed to force looking around and kicking tires on other brands.

For somethings, yes, and I have learned the hard way to never buy anything other than a Toyota.

Peter Mohylsky I always bought brand products. Now I don't so much. Take cars for example. All the cars today pretty much look the same and have the same options. Today you are paying only for the name.

There are more choices now.  IMHO, To not consider options isn't financially prudent.  

Yes and no, for me it is quality. Some things i want the best, others i may want the cheapest, but you can not be cheap with tires, cars, toilet paper or food. 

I am loyal to Hellmans mayo- the full fat kind. not that diet junk. 

I am loyal to my hairdresser. That's just not up for discussion.

Otherwise, I'm not loyal to specific brands - I just want what is the best priced, best quality, provides the best service, or is made in the USA. The best product would include all four of those.

I buy items that I feel works for my situation.

Even the popular tried and true bands have sold out to China manufacturing. Nothing is sacred any longer.

Generally, I don't think so.  

Peter Mohylsky - it is all about more choices we have....

(Though I will not compromise on ActiveRain for blogging....lol!)

To many items to choose from now.

I'm not loyal to brands and big corporations, but I do try to buy local staff whenever it is possible to support small business owners. 

I believe younger generations are becoming less and less brand loyal. We seem to be more interested in trying different things to see what works for us, rather than worrying about a particular brand. Especially in the world of businesses with being innovative and so competitive. 

No.

Some of my favorite brands have priced themselves out of my level of comfort.

Joe Pryor nailed this one!

Nope! My Dad had his opinions which held some validity in his day! Times have changed and we must change with them. Brand loyalty only works one way and not in the consumers favor! 

I've never been all that brand conscious... I buy what I like. But I will admit to a preference for Miele appliances... they're costly but last forever. And I always buy a six burner Viking cooktop. Have stuck with a Hondo for many years because I've been pleased with the reliability of the car. But beyond that, not so much and I can't think of something I wouldn't buy because of the brand.

Bimb's gotta luv ya dude !

I am more interested in quality and price.

50 years ago, our country built things of quality. I've seen refrigerators and ovens that are 50 - 60 years old that stick work perfectly. New units are built cheaply and designed to fail. I just had a $3,000 oven/microwave unit die after just five years and the circuit board is no longer available so we had to replace the unit. After five years!

I am brand loyal for a few products but very few. I love to buy foreign cars and like the way they handle. I have owned Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Acura and Subaru but would never buy a Ford or a Chrysler. They have some pretty body styles but I don't trust either them to last.

I'm not neccessarily "brand" loyal but shop locally whenever possible. We have a large home depot type retailer here in Sonoma County, Friedman Brothers, which I try to use as much as possible. their selection is NOT as great as a Lowes or Home Depot but their profits stay in our community and they support myriad charities and non-profits and have done so for years.