Quality of Generic Brands, Research Paper Example

People would shop in different places depending on the item, its quality and the price of the item, while they avoid the expensive brands. Majority of the people would prefer to live with a budget. The quality of generic brands must also go with price and customers despise the awful products even if they are cheap. A brand can be cheap and cheerful but customers prefer similar items from upmarket.

Purchasing of generic goods has implications on people’s purchasing behaviour. The taste of a product will motivate the customer to pay more for the product where necessary although the change is kept to some limits. Customers prefer to be habitual in their buying behaviour (Booch,  1996).

The main motivation behind purchasing generic items is the price as they think that there is no significant difference from the original. Although some people would only buy the expensive original brands at whatever price, some others think this is a waste on money. For items such as shirts, shoes and jeans, it is preferable to go for the expensive brands since they appear nice and can be used for long time. In this case, there is a social aspect that influences the purchasing behaviour. But for the everyday essentials and other items like boxers and socks that are not visible to people, it is prudent that one goes for the cheapest generic brands. All the same, socioeconomic factors play the greatest role in purchasing behaviour because most people prefer living within a precise budget. Even with similar generic brands from different suppliers, the customer would look at the price of the product as the main motivating factor (Keith, Martha & Thomas, 2014).  The way people are brought up also influences their engagement with generic brands. The cheap generic brands are not necessarily advertised like the high end brands. Being cheap and cheerful makes their marketing extremely easy without the need for adverts. Although people acknowledge that generic brand are of poor quality, items like food items are considered differently from clothes and price is the major factor that motivates people to buy. The generic brands of cars perform the same functions as the flashy expensive ones but the quality is poor. The generic cars are bought because of their price and the changes in perception of generic brands after having experienced the effects of recession. Some generic brand items from different suppliers may have slight differences in taste and price and a customer would prefer adding a few coins to get the generic brand that appears superior.

In a nutshell therefore, the people’s opinion about the quality of generic brand is determined by:

• Availability of generic products in supermarkets
• Use of generic food products dominant
• Being on a budget
• Price of products
• Quality of generic product
• Quality of other products better than generic
• Similar quality regarding house hold products
• Other people’s perceptions
• Generic brands are poor quality
• Recession affecting people’s habits
• Perception of name brands being better than generic brands
• Finance an issue
• Changing people’s habits
• Quality an issue
• Factors affecting the purchase decision
• Difference between branded and generic is price
• Availability of generic products in supermarkets
• Perception of people in terms of prices
• Relationships between generic brands and prices
• Relationships between generic brands and quality
• Not many differences between quality of different own brands
• Perception of people in terms of quality
• Less thinking when buying generic brands

Works cited

Booch, G. Object Solutions: Managing the Object Oriented Project, Addison-Wesley, London UK, 1996.

Keith M. Drake, Martha A. Starr & Thomas McGuire. “Do (Reverse Payment) Settlements of Brand-Generic Patent Disputes in the Pharmaceutical Industry Constitute an Anticompetitive Pay for Delay?” NBER Working Paper No. 20292, 2014.