In a new purchasing environment (e.g., where a consumer moves to a new
city), do consumers tend to keep buying the first brand that they try? If
so, a behavioral primacy effect might be at work. Behavioral primacy
exists when consumers tend to repeat-buy the first brand that they
purchased more often than other brands that are bought in the same
purchase environment. This report assumes the physical experience of
buying and using the first brand is satisfactory, and that all competing
brands are available in adjacent spaces (as in a supermarket or on a
website). This article presents findings that demonstrate a behavioral
primacy effect: purchasing a brand in the first week was found to have a
significant impact on how often a brand was subsequently bought.
Furthermore, initial experience in combination with marketing influence
tactics (such as specific prices, coupons, and advertising) greatly
increases the probability of purchase of a given brand. The findings
support the focus by many marketers on attracting consumers to try their
brand first. One rationale for this strategy is that in mundane product
categories, if a brand experience is satisfactory, continuing to buy the
first-brand bought helps to conserve cognitive effort for a
consumer's more important concerns.Assistance in data analysis by Eric Goodwin, Boston College,
is acknowledged with gratitude. Partial financial support from an ARC
research grant is acknowledged (DP0344446).