Today, unlike in some years, a consumer considers various factors, including price, experience, variety, attention of brands to feedback on issues and after-sales service, before making a purchase decision. This behaviour is multiplied across many Nigerian households who make calculations daily as loyalty is no longer sacrosanct.
This consumer behaviour shift, playing out at open markets and supermarkets, sits at the heart of a new report jointly produced by Pan-Atlantic University’s Lagos Business School and the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) — a report designed to jolt an entire industry out of old habits.
The report unveiled in Lagos recently is about “how to stay relevant as Nigeria’s economy is shifting and consumers’ pockets are getting more squeezed,” explained Uchenna Uzo, Professor of Marketing and Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic, at Pan-Atlantic University. The report is all about “how marketers can stay more relevant in the minds of target customers as their wallets shrink.” It’s extremely important to remain relevant because loyalty is shifting, he said.
The warning at the centre of the report is blunt: brand loyalty in Nigeria is eroding, and the pace of that erosion is expected to accelerate over the next four to five years. And any business that fails to rethink how it manages that loyalty, Uzo cautioned, risks going out of business entirely.
