How sharing of supporters reveals competition amongst non-profit brands

ABSTRACT

The traditional method of identifying non-profit competitors places those with similar objectives as forming the competitive set (looking inside out). This research provides a different perspective by looking at supporter behaviour and how this is shared across the non-profit sector (outside in). The research also applies the Duplication of Purchase law to a new context. Four data sets from the US and Australia highlight that the overlap of supporters at cause-based groupings (e.g. children versus animal focused) and brand level (e.g. World Vision versus RSPCA) is largely determined by supporter numbers. This supporter-centric analytic view can highlight key competitors and potential collaborators that would be missed using the traditional inside-out perspective.

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© 2022 Westburn Publishers Ltd.

KEYWORDS:

• Competition
• charity
• duplication of purchase
• non-profit
• social marketing

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose constructive feedback has improved ourpaper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margaret Faulkner

Margaret Faulkner is a Senior Marketing Scientist at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science. Margaret’s research interests include consumer behaviour, the effectiveness of marketing activities and brand management, particularly within the charity and not-for-profit context.

Jenni Romaniuk

Jenni Romaniuk is a Research Professor at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, based at the University of South Australia. Her research expertise spans brand measurement and management. She has authored two books on brand management published by Oxford University Press and is a past executive editor of the Journal of Advertising Research.

Philip Stern

Philip Stern is Professor of Marketing at Exeter Business School and Visiting Professor at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. His research includes the prescribing behaviour of General Practitioners, innovative behaviour and gender’s impact on brand loyalty.