Page 22 - The Cut_Turf Catalogue_Dec 2020

America’s Loyalty
To Brand Colors
Fades in 2020
By J.P. Brousseau
As I researched information for this
year’s The Cut, I stumbled across
an interesting survey. AGI (Ag
Equipment Intelligence) has been
conducting their annual survey
with 350+ farmers across 12 states
since 2010. During that time the
survey saw brand loyalty swell to
an all-time high of 75% in 2017. But
those gains were wiped clean when
only 63% of farmers surveyed in
2020 considered themselves “brand
loyal”. This is the same number
originally recorded in their 2010
survey. This immediately made me
wonder, what were the main factors
that created such a steep decline
from years past? Most importantly,
what has replaced this loyalty to a
particular brand? Like me, you may
be surprised by the answers.
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New platforms buyers use daily. Brands suing
Purchases farmers for fixing their own equipment,
moving manufacturing overseas, and even
When it comes time to purchase new brands taking political stances have all played
equipment, today’s farmers have started their part in this shift in loyalty.
shopping around. It seems that far too often Quality
manufacturers chalk this up to farmers
just being curious, or perhaps just trying Matters
to keep their dealer honest when it comes In the game of sales, price is king, right?
time for that final price. But with more Not so much. In the early 1990s, Americans
households doing a higher percentage experienced a massive influx of foreign-made
of their shopping online, it makes sense products. These products claimed to be as
that today’s equipment buyers aren’t only good as or better than the competition,
focused on price. Buyers who continually
purchase certain brands do so based on and because they often utilized foreign
their expectations and the performance labor and materials, they were considerably
less expensive than their American-made
of that brand’s product over time. They counterparts. It didn’t take long for the age
understand that a particular manufacturer of “disposable consumption” to catch on
makes that product, but in the end, it is amongst equipment manufacturers as well.
the product and not the brand itself that This massive shift in quality took quite a
initially generates what’s commonly referred while to recover from, but now this trend is
to as “Brand Loyalty.” In today’s digital
world, it’s easier than ever for customers dying fast. While consumers are looking to
find a comfortable balance between price and
to research and compare products. They quality, their focus on quality is increasing
will inevitably gravitate toward researching as is their patronage to brands with good
the brand as well. This can be problematic reputations for such. Word of mouth
for some manufacturers, as negative press promotion still reigns supreme, but with the
quickly spreads across the myriad of online advent of online reviews, consumers can now