Abstract

Regular brand buyers may be brand loyals if they exhibit strong and positive attitudes towards the brand leading them to be committed to purchasing it in the future. They can also buy the brand regularly out of mere habit or for practical reasons. This is called inertia. Finally, regular brand buyers may purchase because of a lack of real alternatives. We name this group of buyers the "unattached". In this study, we empirically confirm the existence of the three groups of regular buyers on a sample of 360 regular buyers of soft drinks. We show the low number of real loyal buyers (less than 25% of the sample) and identify the existence of two sub-groups of inert buyers. Finally, we explain the buying behavior of the unattached consumers through market dominance exerted by few major brands.