Why would a consumer appear to be s

Why would a consumer appear to be so naive, unaware, or fervent that he or she would seek out one—and only one— branded object or brand set to fulfil his or her needs? This is a pertinent question because the present era of global competition seemingly would enable the consumer to move 10 better alternatives as soon as they materialized. Product improvements, refinements, and innovations are now accelerating to the point that the increasing level of new product introductions is predicted to be at record levels (see Cooper 1993, p. 4). In addition, authors have noted the decline or "erosion" of the loyal segments of companies' consumer bases (e.g.. East and Hammond 1996). What this means is (hat, for a consumer lo become and remain loyal, he or she must believe that an object firm's products continue to offer the best choice alternative. Moreover, he or she must do this while naively shunning communications from competitive firms and other innovators that argue that the loyalist's consumable is no longer the most efficient, lowest priced, of the highest quality, and so forth.