Focus Group Method an Aid to Explore Brand Experience and Contextual Factors

Malaysia automotive industry is highly intense and it creates a challenge for local manufacturer sustaining brand name in the market. Remarkably, it has revolutionized the Malaysian consumer behaviour on purchasing cars. The importance of brand experience from the view of Malaysians is vital as they depend on extrinsic cues and experiences in purchasing. Indeed, brand experiences are gaining most of the attention in the eyes of marketers but there is still scarcity in empirical study. This study excavates consumer's experience and reveals consumer's emotion on national car brand consumption. The focus group is targeted on Proton and Perodua young urban adult car users between 18-35 years old with a minimum of one year car usage. The session encouraged respondents to freely speak in order to explore their emotions on their selected national car model. The moderator conducted two sessions that comprise ten panels, thus a total of twenty panels participated. The discussions were concluded whereby Malaysian respondents have difficulties in expressing their true emotions describing their experience of each car model. Respondents tend to comment more on the quality of product attribute compared to addressing their emotional experience. Results have shown that if consumers were given the opportunity to choose, they will switch to foreign car brand that has better quality. This study has been seen as series of attempts to understand the emotion of consumers with regards to their brand experience. Furthermore, contribution of the original knowledge through the development of new findings is a practical tool for a comprehensive brand experience.