Consumers’ expectations
Travellers, irrespective of their purpose of travel, unanimously chose highly durable, lightweight, reliable and affordable travel luggage. In addition, other hygiene factors include mostly travel related concerns such as quality of wheels and security of locks. Perhaps, not surprisingly, elements of style and fashion scored remarkable low in the minds of consumers. This could be due to the primarily functional aspect of travel needs that travelers generally seek.
Brand Recall
Unaided by any clues, an overwhelming majority of people identify Samsonite as the most known travel luggage. Indeed 60% of the respondents positively recall Samsonite, which reflects how deeply the brand has penetrated into the minds of consumers as the single most well-regarded brand of choice. When a list of travel brands are shown to the respondents, more than 90% acknowledge to have known Samsonite, even though other brands such as American Tourister, Swiss Polo, Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren have scored respectably.
Unaided Recall.
Aided Recall
The above graph shows that Samsonite scores well on functional attributes regarding travel luggage and poorly on the lifestyle aspects. Apart from the aspect of affordability, Samsonite satisfies major attributes that are important to the survey respondents. Thus, it can be inferred that Samsonite is seen as a predominantly functional brand that satisfies the needs of its customers. From a branding perspective, Samsonite scores high on being strong and durable; however, its uniqueness is still a question mark as respondents do not seem to attribute such exclusivity towards the brand.
It can also be inferred that respondents predominantly think of Samsonite as a good quality product. Most of the time, respondents have highlighted those attributes of travel luggage that are considered as HYGIENE factors for any brand that demands a premium. In most of the brand imagery that Samsonite has portrayed over the last 50 years, it has exhibited the very same attributes, such as strength, durability, lightweight and professional that resonated with the consumers. In this regard, Samsonite has achieved Brand resonance with its target audience of middle-aged business and leisure travellers.
Consumers’ opinion on Samsonite
Major Findings
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At least 74% respondents traveled twice a year.
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More than half the respondents (56%) travel solely for leisure.
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90% of respondents are middle-aged (25-40 years)
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64% of respondents have Samsonite as a brand in their choice set for their next purchase.
Outreach
Even though 39% of respondents haven’t come across any of Samsonite advertisements, billboards, or any other communications, its brand image has successfully occupied significant space in its target customer’s mind.
Associated Attributes
Regarding particular brand attributes of Samsonite, our survey has unearthed the following insights:
Samsonite Brand Image
84% of respondents think that Samsonite products are for Business travelers, professionals and families. This validates our original assumption about the intended target segment for Samsonite products.
Samsonite brand exposure in Singapore
39% of respondents think that there are NO exclusive Samsonite showrooms in Singapore. In this regard, Samsonite has a bit of work to do if it seeks to provide a brand experience to its prospective customers. If consumers perceive Samsonite as a department store brand, it may not have control over the brand experience as Samsonite products will be pitted against a host of different brands at the same corner in a department store.
Samsonite-RED exposure in Singapore
Only 22% of respondents have heard of the RED line of products from Samsonite. Although, this could be due to the relative newness of the sub-brand but it does seem that Samsonite may have to work hard to make the RED line of products more visible to its core segment in order to garner interest.
Samsonite Ssers
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62% of the total respondents owned Samsonite. Our survey, thus, had a healthy mix of both users and non-users of Samsonite products.
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87% of the Samsonite users use these products solely for the purpose of travel whereas only 7% use it on a daily basis.
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Only 40% of the users think that Samsonite products are stylish.
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However, 83% think that Samsonite products are of a better quality as compared to its competitors.
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Only 11% of Samsonite users are brand loyal which is depicted by their readiness to switch if another brand is available in a convenient location.
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Only 17% of Samsonite users are rather inelastic to price. This factor in conjunction with the factor on convenient location points to the conclusion that Samsonite’s current users are NOT very brand loyal. However, 72% of Samsonite users are very likely to recommend Samsonite to their friends.
Brand Loyalty
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Of all the people who own a Samsonite product, 90.1% are either neutral or very likely to switch to a different brand if it is available in a more convenient location.
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Of all the people who own a Samsonite product, 83.3% are either neutral or very like to switch to a different brand if it is available at a cheaper price.
The above two factors together leads us to conclude that Samsonite users do not exhibit significant brand loyalty towards Samsonite. However, 74.1% of Samsonite product users would recommend Samsonite to their friends.
