Why does Reputation matter as a selling point?

As mentioned before with todays more intelligent consumer companies now have moved from the sales Era of the 1920s-1950s where the company was just focused on the one sale then moved on. nowadays in the relationship/consumer to consumer Era there is a real focus on building a relationship with the consumer to make them brand loyal often for a long time. For this reputation is a key to keep the relationship and the consumer to keep purchasing. With the collapse of the economy banks have been trying to re-establish there trusted and establish a relationship with students and young adults as it is rare that people change banks. This means by having a good reputation to this age group by offering deals such as student accounts and generally more interest on that age group. This means that there is now a customer for life for decades. As banks have a reputation for providing deals for a younger age group they can tell each other through word of mouth and then proceed to go for that specific bank.

Another company that reputations sells is product is Apple. When buying apple products it is rare that people will question if the product if of good quality or if it is the most technologically advanced. Furthermore they have brand loyalty often people have an iphone and MacBook and continue to update as new more advance versions are made. Yoon et al (1993) tell us " a company's reputation reflects the history of its past actions ... and affects the buyer's expectations with respect to the quality of its offerings".  This means that since apple have constantly provided good quality offerings customers know quality is assured. This can be applied online as people in todays world look around the internet before purchase or ask on Facebook to see if the company they are buying from is good and if they are usually on time etc. Some of us when we look at Facebook see people complaining about a certain company and it turns us away from it. Digital media has changed this as before you would say it to one or two people now hundred's of friends can see it at once. It means that companies need to consider their reputation if they want their customers writing good reviews or returning.

Guffery, H. J., Kikewski, V., Yoon, E., 1993. The effects of information and company reputation on intentions to buy a business service. Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts


  

 

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