Brand disruption: exploring how migrants purchase brands compared to locals

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine how international migration affects brand buying, focusing on how major disruptions to the mental and physical availability of brands shape migrants' purchasing behaviour across multiple consumer goods categories. Design/methodology/approach Brand purchasing by more than 200 Asia-Pacific migrants was compared with approximately 400 Australian locals across 5 categories and over 200 brands. Key brand performance metrics, including penetration, repertoire size and NBD-Dirichlet predictions, were analysed to evaluate how migrants' brand choices and loyalty patterns differ from those of local consumers. Findings Migration leads to immediate changes in buyer behaviour that reflect changes in physical availability, while memories of brands from the home market continue to influence choices through mental availability. Compared with locals, migrants are more likely to purchase foreign and global brands and less likely to buy domestic brands. Consistent with having wider associative networks, they also maintain larger repertoires. Migrants' buying behaviour conforms less closely to established NBD-Dirichlet benchmarks, indicating systematic deviations from expected patterns of brand purchasing and loyalty. Originality/value The research extends prior work by systematically documenting buyer behaviour patterns following international migration to Australia across a wide range of categories and brands, not only the biggest brands. The analysis is grounded in established marketing science benchmarks, generating new theoretical and managerial insights into how consumers adapt their brand purchasing in response to disruptions in mental and physical availability. The study highlights how migration offers a natural setting to examine these dynamics in real-world markets.