Brand Name Influence for Consumer Electronics Losing Luster

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,126377,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,126377,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Consumer electronics shoppers are growing less impressed by big brands, according to the Vertis Customer Focus 2006 Home Electronics study. This year, only 29 percent of survey respondents called brand name the "most important" factor aside from price, down significantly from the last survey conducted. When marketing and targeted advertising company Vertis conducted this study in 2004, 40 percent of respondents considered brand name most important. Brand name's influence had declined steadily since 1998, when 50 percent of buyers deemed it most important. The drop from 40 percent to 29 percent is the most dramatic in the study's history. One retailer suggests this is less a matter of brand names losing ground than a matter of many brands gaining ground."</i><br /><br />Interesting that this is the case because I think I firmly fall into the 29%. I totally look at brand name before purchasing anything. While I will buy non-brand items, I am one of those people that is totally influenced. Of course, now that I think about it, a decent percentage of these brand name devices (usually bought for a premium) have gone bad and I have almost always had a problem with customer service. Hmm, perhaps I should try the non-brands...

[Damion Chaplin]

"No, I don't look at brand names anymore. Do you have any iPods?" :)

[Felix Torres]

Part of the problem is that name-brand vendors in the listed categories are a lot less forth-coming abut what goes into their products than second-tier vendors. Add in that the PC revolution has conditioned folks to be suspicious of proprietary technology and generics are becoming acceptable. For a lot of people, a name brand is hardly a sign of quality or predictability but of a higher price without conmensurate quality.

Pretty much anybody here can come up with a half dozen instances of name-brand products that are not just bad, but offensively so, as if the vendors thought consumers are total idiots.

Gotta say, though, 29 percent seems a bit low; seems like those $40 chinese dvd players have eroded people's confidence in the name brand vendors a lot more than I would've thought.

Since the survey did not factor in price, I have to wonder how price-dependent this effect is...

[Jason Dunn]

Pretty much anybody here can come up with a half dozen instances of name-brand products that are not just bad, but offensively so, as if the vendors thought consumers are total idiots.

Like that HORRIFIC Polaroid VCR/DVD combo I had for 12 days before it broke. SUCKED.

[Jason Dunn]

It's funny, I'm in the 29% as well then - when I go shopping for electronics, I tend to stick to brand names I know because I've gotten burned every time by cheap no-name products. I'm not above seriously considering off-brand products if I've heard good things about them, but I'm more or less a believer in the quality that a name brand offers. I'm sure there are exceptions, and maybe things have changed lately, but when a friend bought Scepter LCD monitors I just knew they were going to be crap, and sure enough they were - the Samsung LCDs I bought are still going strong.

[Chris Gohlke]

You can get some great bargains if you comparison shop and go with non top tier brands. In some cases those brands just try harder.

Case in point for some of my big ticket purchases over the years:

Apex GB65HD09W 65" Projection Widescreen HDTV - Paid about $1,300 for this over two years ago, works like a champ. One heck of a deal.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006FXGP/104-2237544-4755150?%5Fencoding=UTF8&amp;v=glance&amp;n=172282

Averatec 3250 Laptop, 12 inch screen - Had this about a year and a half. Paid about $900 for it, when the comparable brand names were at least twice as much for the same form factor. Been a great purchase.

http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/3200series.htm

I was so happy with the 12 inch Averatec that I just sold it to buy a newer ultracompact Averatec model with th 10 inch screen. After the rebates and the kickback I get for having an Amazon.com visa, this should be right around $700. For any of you looking for an ultracompact, this is a tremendous deal. Mine should get here Monday! :D

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AM7T0W/ref=pd_rvi_gw_2/104-2237544-4755150?%5Fencoding=UTF8&amp;v=glance&amp;n=541966

I've also been a big fan of eMachine computers. 6 or 7 years ago, they were a bit iffy in the quality department, but I've purchased two personally and have recommended at least another dozen be purchased by friends and family and everyone has liked them. Granted, these days, the price differential isn't as great as it was 3 or 4 years ago but that is more because more companies are competing at their price level.

[Felix Torres]

Pretty much anybody here can come up with a half dozen instances of name-brand products that are not just bad, but offensively so, as if the vendors thought consumers are total idiots.

Like that HORRIFIC Polaroid VCR/DVD combo I had for 12 days before it broke. SUCKED.

Which should've surprised you not; I don't think anybody made a good combo vcr/dvd, an idea only slightly worse than sticking a vcr into a tv or a dvd player into an hdtv.

Do you really want a roll call of name brand stupidity?
It would be fun but not sure if it would be on topic...

Btw, do consider the categories in the survey.
They have a bearing on why people have so little regard for brand...

[Jason Dunn]

Which should've surprised you not; I don't think anybody made a good combo vcr/dvd, an idea only slightly worse than sticking a vcr into a tv or a dvd player into an hdtv.

Well, the Samsung one I bought works really nicely. :-)

[Felix Torres]

Glad to hear that.
How old is it?
Which half do you expect to die first?
For the record, it just that I don't, as a matter of principle, believe in combo devices, especially when they combine solid state devices , which are usually reliable, and mechanical devices which all die sooner or later. Its all a matter of expectations of course.
Which, getting back on topic, is what branding is about.

My read of the survey is that, in the age of China, inc and contract manufacturing, consumers are getting more savvy to the reality that the content behind the label matters more than the name on the sticker. Especially in the three markets that made up the study. I don't, however, believe that price doesn't factor into the respondents' answers, regardless of whether it was explicitly included or not as a factor to consider.
Price always matters to one extent or another.

[Jason Dunn]

Glad to hear that. How old is it? Which half do you expect to die first?

It's about two years old now I think, and hardly gets any use. More than anything it's for VHS to digital dumping. In general though I agree with you about multi-function devices...though when they get to be so cheap, it matters less and less.

[Damion Chaplin]

Also, sometimes generic items are actually manufacturered at the same plant as the brand-name items. This doesn't apply as much for electronics, but it does speak directly to the brand-name mind-set.

For example, go into any hardware store and you will find lightbulbs by GE and store-brand light bulbs. In our case, it's Ace brand bulbs. Well, guess what? Ace bulbs are made by GE. Ace bulbs sell about twice as often as GE bulbs, but obviously there are a lot of people who prefer the name brand bulbs, even though they cost about $1 more.