Brand loyalty very high in Kingdom, research reveals
OMD Middle East has revealed its latest research initiative, Pathway to Purchase. The study focuses exclusively on Saudi shoppers.
Part of an international research project by OMD Worldwide on consumers' decision-making process for purchases across a wide range of products and services, the Saudi study is the latest in a group that includes 14 markets.
"The study provides insights into the marketplace dynamics of a category, allowing us to map the consumer's path to purchase, to quantify the duration spent in each phase and contextualise the communications planning by pinpointing the true role for communications," says Firas Ghazal, strategic planning director, OMD Dubai.
The survey also identifies the factors influencing the brand purchase decision and the role of each communication channel in the selection. According to the research, in Saudi Arabia all family members have a say in what is bought, especially big ticket items holidays, cars and real estate and less so for personal grooming products.
Another finding revealed that brand loyalty is high in the Kingdom.
The study identified six stages in a typical purchase, which vary between planned and impulse purchases.
Consumers were asked to rank seven main attributes on their influence in brand selection. Each category comes with a different ranking of attributes.
While emotional attributes such as cool, friendly and impressive score highly with beverages and snacks, a surprise result is that the "traditional" attribute scored low across all product categories. In other words, Saudi consumers are not as anchored in the past as is often thought.
Understanding this particular dimension of brand preference is important in deciding what tone and message to subtly use to build a connection with consumers, says OMD.
About the study: OMD Middle East and Omnicom Media Group's research consultancy Integral teamed up to work on this quantitative study that covers 12 product categories. More than 1,000 face-to-face, 40-minute interviews were undertaken among Saudi residents.
Respondents were handpicked for each category, based on their purchase/ consumption of the category in question, and making them relive the entire experience of, for example, purchasing their latest car, enjoying a meal at their favourite restaurant, or simply buying a chocolate bar for their children.
© Gulf Marketing Review 2009
