According to a new book, Inside the Mind of the Shopper by Herb Sorensen, a typical supermarket contains 40,000 SKUs. But, over the course of a year, a shopper only buys about 400 of those offerings. Rituals are a way of life. It’s brand loyalty in action.

A recent article by Joel Rubinson, the chief research officer at the Journal of Advertising Research, explores this idea further. The author challenged readers to keep a diary of all the different brands they use during a day. It was a means of identifying if loyalty is borne of love (the way we managers of brands would like to believe) or something else.

When Rubinson tried the exercise, he reached 77 brands by two in the afternoon and realized he cared about only 5 of them – a number smaller than the one he was loyal to. I tried the same exercise and came away with similar results. In fact, I considered myself loyal to about twice as many brands as I cared about on a random Wednesday. A key to these non-love loyalties? They were easy to choose.

Value propositions and positioning statements seem to have fallen out of favor with thought leaders lately. I believe it’s because they have been so badly abused for so many years. But they do serve an important purpose. Done well, they provide an opportunity to prioritize away all the excess. They’re a good barometer for “Am I easy to choose?” And, in the age of exponential clutter, they may be as important as ever. The brand loyalty of your customer may depend on it.

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