Brand awareness drives winners in automotives department - discount house consumer preferences in brand name automobile equipment and supplies

Discount Store News, Oct 18, 1993

Consumers of auto parts and accessories have developed a fairly high degree of brand awareness and loyalty, the '93 Top Brands Survey of consumers indicates.

About three-fourths of shoppers for automotives expressed a brand preference on the consumer half of the '93 survey, and more than half said they would walk out of a store empty-handed if their top brand was unavailable.

The survey finds that automotives brand preference is most developed among Baby Boomers, those ages 35 to 49, and least developed among Empty Nesters, age 50 or older, while Baby Busters, younger than 35, fall in the middle.

Of Boomers, 83% named a favorite brand, compared to 61% of oldsters and 74% of Busters.

And the high degree of popularity of Pennzoil among Boomers helped it widen its lead as the No. 1 brand in the Top 10, to 27% of all brand mentions from 21% in '92, and assured its status as a Power Brand.

Pennzoil attained a composite index rating of 231, where 100 equals average.

Fram, No. 2 on the Top 10, also ranks as a Power Brand with an index of 165.

Quaker State, slipped out of the Power Brands, even though managers rank it as No. 2. Valvoline also slipped off the Power Brands list.

Also, consumers named Turtle Wax No. 3, while managers placed it No. 10.

Consumers still regard AC/Delco as a Top 10 brand, ranking it in a tie with Prestone in the No. 8 slot.

One of consumers' Top 10 brands, Goodyear, isn't even a discount store brand, although Sears began to carry Goodyear tires last year.

Oils and chemicals still dominate the Top 10--eight of 10 on the consumer list and nine of 10 on the manager list.

Consumers are less confident of finding their favorite brands, though, than a year ago. Four out of 10 said they were sure of finding their favorites, down from five in 10 in '92.

Among different age groups, 34% of Boomers named Pennzoil as a Top Brand, compared to 22% of Empty Nesters and 23% of Busters.

Preference for Fram was least pronounced among Empty Nesters, 14% of whom cited it, compared to about 22% for both Busters and Boomers. Turtle Wax drew its strength from Boomers, with 18% naming it, and only 4% of mentions from Empty Nesters. Of Busters, 11% said Turtle Was was a Top Brand.

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