At what point does/would price differential overcome your brand loyality?

Ok, before starting, I do not care, nor want to hear what brand you are loyal to, what brands are good, what brands are crap, and how much better or worse they are.

The entire question is, if you are loyal to a brand, any brand, at what point does a price differential with what is generally considered its closest competitors, over come that loyalty? If it is 2x more expensive? 3, 5, 10, 20 times more expensive? How much more, realistically, would you pay to stay loyal and get their brand/quaility or whatever has made you loyal to them?

Please do not turn it into brand X vs Y. or why Brand Q is so superior, or Brand Z is crap.

I was asked a similar question today so I am curious.

I know I used be interested in Surefires till the price of the bulb assemblies drove me to the find a cheaper alternative Streamlight.

I usually simply buy what I believe to be the best value, regardless of brand. However, I consider the company's reliability, customer service, and warranties as part of the "value" (this goes for everything, not just lights).
If you buy something because of its name (even when there are others that are equally good/reliable/whatever) then you aren't really buying it for practical reasons, but more for name recognition.

Generally I don't think I have much brand loyalty, but I do recognize which tend to be better. For a light I would probably pay 1.5x more for the same features. I would have trouble paying 2x more. Bear in mind I'm talking amounts less than $100, usually a lot less.

Geoff

I think it depends on too many variables to quantify. Brand loyalty only makes sense if you have a logical reason for it.

In my case, price has nothing to do with it. I'm not likely to spend more than $100 on any flashlight, and there are more than enough flashlights in that price range to do what I want. Don't misunderstand or misinterpret my statement; there are a lot of beautiful, hand made, exotic flashlights out there to be had that are works of art, but that is exactly what they are-works of art, and I buy my flashlights to use, not admire from a distance. It just does not compute to spend $200 dollars on a flashlight to work with and carry everyday in my pocket with all of my other junk getting banged around when a $20, $30 or even $50 light will do the job nicely and I don't have to worry about losing it. Features and ease of operation/maintenance, quality of build, and availability of warranty service and spare parts mean more to me. Although my lights are Fenix lights, I have been considering buying another one lately, but quite frankly, I'm rather bored with what is out there right now, so I'm holding off to see. All of the other manufacturers have some great lights, but they are all just variations on the same themes. I'm really hoping 4sevens is abut to break new ground with their new line of lights. I am anxiously waiting to see what comes out of it. :shrug:

It really is somewhat analogous to cars.
You can get a BMW 335i, but it will probably cost you $50,000+.
However, for $10,000 less you could get a similarly performing car, like an infiniti G37 coupe. BMW has been around for a long time, while infiniti has not, so they have more name recognition.
Of course, there are a lot more differences between cars and flashlights, and to many people, the BMW would be worth that much money more than a cheaper car for multiple reasons.

Here's a good example: I was gonna purchase another 6P but then I read the Solarforce thread. Some even claim that the Solar is a little nicer then the 6P even though it's half the price. Guess I'll find out in about a week when I get the new Solar I ordered!

For me the devil is nearly always in the details. I am fussy enough about what I feel I want/need that I rarely am able to compare two products on anything other than the differences in their feature sets.

I may not have as much to spend on lights as others -- for me it's all about filling my requirements. I'll only go with the products that fit my needs, no matter who I like

Something as simple as causing damage to a multi-thousand dollar medical device has moved an entire line of lights from users to shelf queens, and I ended up being more loyal to a brand that offers a whole different set of features.

If brand A is identical in every way to brand B...
-Same design & construction
-Same quality from batch to batch
-Same warranty
-Same history/reputation of reliability
-Same level of aftermarket upgrade parts & accessories

I would consider both brands equal and would not pay any more for one brand over another.

If brand A product is physically identical to brand B product, but superior in...
-Quality from batch to batch
-Manufacturer warranty
-History/reputation of reliability
-Aftermarket upgrade parts & accessories

I would be willing to pay 2x-6x for the superior brand... so long as prices overall are below the $120 mark. That IMHO is kind of the point of diminishing returns on the cost/value scale.

That's an interesting question.

For me brand loyalty emerges from a value proposition. What I'm finding with flashlights is while I do have certain brand preferences I will change them in an instant if the value proposition (cost, performance, durability, versatility, intended use, ...) doesn't hold up.

It's complicated and cost is only one variable.

If the cost increases without the appropriate change in features they'll loose me as a customer almost certainly. The good thing is they can also get me back by improving the value proposition.

Later,
HB

Most of my purchases usually fall to either one of two categories. Cheap toys to play arround or nice stuff to keep for long years. Obviously I don't really care brands/reputation/warranty/or what others say etc for the former, but I do care those for the latter.

So, I would say it depends on the situation. I do have some preferences for certains brands though, they are not firm enoungh to be called as loyalty. I am willing to try other brands if they offers the features I want at competitive price range. And even the best brand would not get my money if they can't provide the feature I want. For me, it's about features, not brands.

There are some lights that i'd buy no matter the price, It would just take
much longer to collect the funds..and i'd have less of them. no duplicates.

im with kramer with this one:
"If brand A is identical in every way to brand B...
-Same design & construction
-Same quality from batch to batch
-Same warranty
-Same history/reputation of reliability
-Same level of aftermarket upgrade parts & accessories

I would consider both brands equal and would not pay any more for one brand over another.

If brand A product is physically identical to brand B product, but superior in...
-Quality from batch to batch
-Manufacturer warranty
-History/reputation of reliability
-Aftermarket upgrade parts & accessories

I would be willing to pay 2x-6x for the superior brand... so long as prices overall are below the $120 mark. That IMHO is kind of the point of diminishing returns on the cost/value scale."

also to get 75-90% of the quality of the "loyal" brand for price of 60% or less is a good deal.

my price range is also under 200. (priciest i have bought so far is only 90 or so)

im cheap at heart and not that brand loyalist. i try to find good deals and assess my needs thoroughly. and i dont think its suitable to think flashlights to last more than few years max. the advances in technology is so fast. so lifetime guarantee has very little value to me. if it lasts a year its ok. few years there new models are likely to be so much superior that the old one will be demotd out of use.

cheaper it is more faults its allowed to have, cheapest available in its cathegory earns its value if it works from beginning and survives few days of use and few battery changes.

about bmw thing.. somehow if you are brand loyalist you are blinded by some of the faults in them. just becasue you are loyal to it.

personal experience of a acquitance of mine: a faulty remotecontrol door opener in nonsmoking bmw fanatics bmw, is more acceptable fault than a faulty cigarette lighter plug in his back up car nissan. nissans are shite because an novelty item he doesnt need nor use failed on the car.. (it was fixed by connecting one wire)

but on his pride and joy he is often trying to get in as the thing he NEEDS to open the doors several times a day fail to work. fixing that problem took 3 trips to dealership for maintenance in few months. and the car was out of his use for over 8 days. and the nissans only fault in 2 years (the lighter) was fixed while listening 6 songs in parking lot of supermarket while his wife was doing the groceryshopping. but bmws rule cuz they are bmw. and they are great! same problem in other car makes them useless junk but on the "one" its just a small non-issue.

and i just shake my head and leave him fiddle with the remote control sensor that again stopped working.

Brand loyalty has a somewhat negative association I think as it implies blind following.
For me, I am "loyal" to a brand when I lerned to trust them that they make their products the way I want them, when I trust them that they are consistent and predictable in the areas that are of interest to me. That can be quality, CS, wahtever.

That said ... I won't pay more for just a name. I pay for features I want regardless of a name. If I learned to trust a brand then I'd pay significantly more for their product to avoid investment of time, effort and multiple tries with other manufacturers ... because I know in advance what I will get with the brand I am "loyal" to.

Regaredless of that, I'd pay nay price I can afford to get the quality or features I want.

bernie

I am loyal to one company, company X.

I am loyal for a lot of reasons and price could never matter to me.

I will just save an extra week or two.

For years I was only loyal to company X, but since joining CPF I've become a real flashlight whore and have recently have had to get some chinese ones that have good quality for the fraction of company X flashlight. Will I stop buying from company X? No. Will I contine to buy value flashlights? Yes as long as they are dark colored and tactical. I also do what some have said you just save a little more or go on ebay and get a used one in good condition which usually helps I could say at least I didnt pay full price of it. I need to have the two I cant bring my non work issued company X $450 dollar 500 lumen flashlight to work all the time it would get beat up or I could drop it when I get out my vehicle and lose sleep. So I bring my other lights, if I drop it it was only $150, I'll buy another one if it gets scratched or breaks.

Kiessling said:

Brand loyalty has a somewhat negative association I think as it implies blind following.
For me, I am "loyal" to a brand when I lerned to trust them that they make their products the way I want them, when I trust them that they are consistent and predictable in the areas that are of interest to me. That can be quality, CS, wahtever.

That said ... I won't pay more for just a name. I pay for features I want regardless of a name. If I learned to trust a brand then I'd pay significantly more for their product to avoid investment of time, effort and multiple tries with other manufacturers ... because I know in advance what I will get with the brand I am "loyal" to.

Regaredless of that, I'd pay nay price I can afford to get the quality or features I want.

bernie

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Nicely put. Same for me on all points. I take a very dim view on brand loyalty. For the same reasons you listed, though, I look at what I own now, and what I would recommend to others, and the range of products and manufacturers is very narrow. I don't think of it as being loyal to particular brands, so much as recognizing that most manufacturer's don't offer the quality or features(lack of features, sometimes) it takes to get my money. Bottom line for me is that my basic needs are well covered, this is a hobby, and I buy what I want, regardless of who makes it, or how much it costs. Money isn't the real issue. Most of the stuff that's out there, I simply have no desire to own.

I never consider price a factor when buying Flashlights because I don't buy them often. It's not like buying groceries everyday where you must consider the price. When an MP3 player can cost over $200 dollars, then I consider a flashlight at that price to be a bargain (assuming it's good quality)