Consumers’ experience of brand withdrawal

Brands come and brands go. Sometimes called brand pruning, brands are discontinued for a myriad of reasons including failure to capture market share, failure to meet financial targets, inconsistency with firm objectives, a realization that brands offered by the same firm are cannibalizing each other’s sales, obsolescence, poor product quality, regulatory mandates, or recessions causing firms to decrease the breadth of their offerings (Clifford 2009; Hemlock 2009; Kumar 2003; Ng 2014). While these are compelling rationales for a firm to withdraw a branded product or service, consumers may not wish to end their relationships with favored brands.