Perceived Value And Its Importance To Customers

In recent years it has been noticed that perceived value of a product by consumers is the most extensively used feature in marketing field. Customer perceived value is deliberated as the major key to sustain the trade and business, particularly when the competition is high in the market (Day 2009). Therefore, it has become crucial for leaders in marketing to understand its magnitudes and inspire and impact the behaviour and attitude of customer. This essay will discuss concept and theories related to brand perception and its impact on customer’s buying behaviour.

The concept of perceived value of some product means its comparison with perceived alternatives offering same uses but with a name of different brand, in other words it could be said that difference amid consumer’s evaluation of all the costs and benefits of some product’s offerings to its perceived alternatives (Sheth, Newman and Gross 2012).

The price of goods and services is majorly affected by its perceived value by the customer and the price customer is willing to pay for it. An author Holbrook defined perceived value as “Overall appraisal of some product’s utility by its consumer based on the perceptions of what the consumer and given and what he has received” (Holbrook 2009). Given constituents here denoted to as the sacrificing through or by the customers in term of monetary or non-monetary elements while received components constitutes the benefits customers has received. And the another important factor “value” has been defined by Holbrook in 4 ways which are 1) what received for what given 2) quality received according to the price paid 3) Did customer got in the product what was desired and 4)value as low price (Sheth, Newman and Gross 2012).

Considering an example of very famous brand “Adidas” which has recently introduced a special category of shoes which is advertised by Michael Jordan who is extraordinary performer, these shoes has been specially designed for NBA players and has been named as Air Jordan. Conversely, a limited edition product has been announced by Air Jordan with a customized amount for the same Adidas is charging higher as compared to various different products. Finally, the customer perceived value in this example is, “all the publicity about limited edition of Air Jordan and its line (Day 2009).

Brand Equity is defined as the additional value endowed to goods and services. In other words it could be said as ‘a set of liabilities and assets connected or associated to some brand or its products which detonates or enhance the service value of the product depending upon what the consumer has perceived. Brand equity defines the consumers thinking, feeling and act towards the product w.r.t they had perceived from its marketing and advertisements. It is very significant insubstantial asset which denotes financial and psychological value of the organization (Woodruff 2007).

Brand equity enables the consumer to distinguish products of different brands i.e. which brand is better amongst his chosen. In other word it could be said as the influence of brand in the minds of company’s potential consumers through their experience indirectly or directly (Marr 2008).

The buying behaviour of a customer is dramatically affected by the consumer’s perception about particular brand, business or its goods and services (Shettleworth 2010). This is the reason a large amount is spent over marketing and advertising, refining and enhancing the services provided to customers and all that is possible to make consumer’s perception in favour of the company. If planned carefully and executed it could help the business in getting favourable reviews and raise profitable consumer conducts (Parasuraman and Grewal 2010).

Merchandisers apply perceptions of customers to determine the quality and demands of their product. It also helps them to develop innovative advertising and marketing policies which are directly intended to increase new consumers and retain the old ones (Thompson 2015).

Customers directly make a comparison between quality and price of the product. They perceive that if the product is of high price, it should offer a quality which is also high and balance its rate (Parasuraman and Grewal 2010). If the value of a product is high and customer think of it as a low quality product then customer become cautious and think twice before buying. A customer wills to spend time to choose best under their specific circumstances such as money and other things and their degree of involvement is imperilled to their social, psychological and personal contexts which is why it is impossible to determine their extent of pursuit. In cases the perceived value of a purchased product is low, next time consumer becomes more impulsive while taking decisions.

Customer’s perception towards a brand or business result in significant impression on the negative and positive reflection on sales and revenues, hence it is of utmost importance to the company and its environment (Parasuraman and Grewal 2010).

In today’s modern era, one of the fastest emerging food types is ‘Fast Food’.  According to a survey conducted it was found that 85% of the population all over world likes to eat outdoors. Around 55% of the survey respondents felt that the advertising and marketing schemes of Dominos are effective while rest 45% feels they are not. 56% of the respondents recommended that company should introduce new products and more varieties, few advised that Dominos should lower down its prices as for some it’s very high, around 12% said quality needs to be improved and better promotion is needed (Li and Wearing 2014).

More than 60% of the customers eating at Dominos are satisfied and only about 16% complained of dis-satisfaction (Kiel and Nicholson 2003). Others were confused about their opinion. Its impact on the organization is much understood and it has helped them to correct where they lacked. Getting review and understanding consumer’s perception about their organization they have planned a more aggressive marketing strategy to attract more consumers and retain the old one. They have introduced new varieties such as Burger Pizza which looks like a burger but tastes like a pizza and customers are giving great reviews to this innovative product. Dominos has also started offering discounts to its valuable customers by keeping their online records and attracting new by offering promotional discounts. The new product introduced by Dominos i.e. Burger Pizza has been kept at a very low price in all the countries and is affordable. Dominos has even worked at its quality and had tries best possible ways to enhance it (Li and Wearing 2014).

This shows how the consumer’s perception towards the organization helped them to find out their weaknesses and the places where they are lacking and how they achieved their goal by improving their weaknesses. Hence, it is clearly understood from this, the importance of perception of customers towards an organization (Kiel and Nicholson 2003).

This brand is in the market since long and was introduced in the year 1923 by Rene Lacoste who is a legendary tennis player. It’s a French brands for sportswear nut do not only deals with the people engaged in Tennis but all types of sports, and has made its presence all over the world. The brand has been assessed through several measures and it has been found that customers are not very happy with the brand and their perception is that the brand is now too old to survive. Thus Lacoste is experiencing a high fall in its revenues (Hooley, Saunders and Piercy 2014).

Consumers think that Lacoste has lost its core values and what it means to stand for. It has been concluded from survey and customer reviews that the brand value of Lacoste has reduced to 66% along with a discount rate of 8.14%. Few of the customers revealed that they feel that the target market of Lacoste is improper and their positioning too (Ries and Trout 2011).

The perception of the customers has impacted high to the company as they have already started focusing on its brand strategy. They now know where they are lacking and what needs to be improved. They have received the general idea of customer’s requirement through their perception review (Ries and Trout 2011). They are trying to reinforce their core value which is important and necessary for a successful comeback. They are coming up the plans to relocate their stores where it would be more feasible to attract public and generate revenues. They are even trying to avoid overexposure by being more selective in deciding their product range and distribution channels (Hooley, Saunders and Piercy 2014).

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