The Effect of Brand Name and Taste on Consumers' Buying Intentions: An Experimental Analysis

Abstract

In a very frequent buying situation, consumers have to choose among products with very similar intrinsic attributes. Under these conditions they must rely mainly on extrinsic product attributes. The authors examine the relative importance of brand, an extrinsic attribute, and an intrinsic attribute, on consumers buying intentions. The research involved 180 consumers, young undergraduate students, from a major metropolitan area in Brazil, who were each asked to declare their intentions to buy among four national beer brands with similar quality and price levels prior and after a blind taste test. Findings indicate: 1) a very strong preference for one of the brands prior the test but the subjects were unable to distinguish their preferred brand from the others in the blind taste test; 2) that subjects are not aware about the factors directing their choice of a product; 3) that differences in subjects' preferences due to brand name are much higher than those they indicate due to beers tastes. These results suggests a strong effect of brand name on consumers' buying intentions.