Loyalty- or Variety-Prone? Re-examining Consumer Choice Consistency across FMCG Categories
(A2022-106721)

AUTHORS

Andreas Plank, UMIT - The Tyrolean Private University; Oliver Koll, University of Innsbruck

ABSTRACT

Based on more than 1.9 million purchase decisions, this study examines to what extent consumers can be characterized along the loyalty- vs. variety seeking continuum by comparing loyalty levels of 1606 German and 1403 British consumers across thirteen FMCG product categories. Contrary to earlier investigations, we find positive correlations between consumers’ loyalty levels across product categories supporting the notion of an underlying consumer trait loyalty proneness. This study extends prior literature on behavioral brand loyalty and variety seeking by delineating consumer heterogeneity with respect to loyalty proneness based on purchase behavior and socio-demographics. From a theoretical perspective, this research substantiates the existence of an underlying consumer trait loyalty proneness. From a managerial perspective, this research helps managers to better identify, understand, and market to more and less loyalty prone consumers.