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This paper aims to explore the relationship between brand functionality and consumer-based brand equity.

A mixed-methods approach was adopted including a qualitative study and multiple survey-based studies. Mediation and moderated-mediation paths were tested using PROCESS and three-stage least squares simultaneous estimation models.

Study 1 finds that consumers perceive highly functional brands can enhance their self-competence to perform a task. This phenomenon is labelled brand skill and defined as the extent to which consumers perceive their own performance as emanating from their use of a particular brand. Study 2 finds that brand skill mediates the relationship between brand functionality, brand connection and consumer-based brand equity, while a post hoc study showed that these relationships are robust among private meaning brands. Study 3 demonstrates that these mediated relationships are moderated by the type of dominant benefit the brand provides (i.e. hedonic-versus utilitarian-dominant benefits).

Based on self-determination theory, brand skill is posited as the link between brand functionality, brand connection and consumer-based brand equity.

Brand managers are urged to not overlook the role of brand functionality in favor of other non-functional brand dimensions. Brand functionality enhances consumers’ perceived self-competence and fosters brand connection, especially for brands that offer superior utilitarian benefits.

This is the first study that empirically examines the process by which brand functionality leads to consumer-based brand equity and the role brand skill plays in making that connection.

In an era of burgeoning activity in online retail in India, the role of web-store design is paramount. Web-store design elements such as website functionality, brand assortment and product quality are expected to generate customer loyalty.

Using data collected from 553 students from two universities in north India, the present study investigates the indirect effect of web-store dimensions (through website functionality, brand assortment and product quality) on online store loyalty via an enjoyment state (flow) and customer satisfaction. Serial mediation has been analysed through PROCESS macro developed by Hayes version 3.0. In addition to this, the moderating role of gender and purchase frequency has also been investigated.

The present study renders support to serial mediation between website functionality, flow, customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, the path between brand assortment and loyalty is more strongly mediated by customer satisfaction only. Males experience less flow as compared to females while handling brand assortment on websites. The three-way interaction between brand assortment, gender and purchase frequency is also statistically significant.

The study examines the manner in which online retailers can choose to build customer loyalty when they try to build retail image using web store functionality and /or product/brand assortments. The study offers insights to retailers about how and when to focus on hedonism versus customer satisfaction or both of them in conjunction to enhance customer loyalty. This study is important as it investigates the relationships in Indian scenario witnessing a high rate of growth in online retail which can tremendously affect these relationships.

The purposes of this paper are to test sources of brand equity for online companies and to examine the role of selective internet marketing activities on the brand equity sources.

These objectives were pursued by testing the nomological validity of the model using structural equation modelling.

The paper finds evidence for the proposed sources of brand equity for online companies based on brand awareness and recognition, brand association (trust) and loyalty. The investigated antecedents namely functionality, fulfilment and customer service on line, significantly influence the sources of brand equity.

The study is cross‐sectional, the dimensions to measure sources and antecedents of brand equity may not be comprehensive enough. The stimuli represent only a few online retailers.

Businesses are well advised to invest resources in creating brand recognition, customer loyalty and trust. Both of these can be achieved by developing internet marketing efforts around functionality, fulfilment of the promise and customer service support.

The nomological validity of the measurement and structural models for companies that operate on the internet, constitute a modest contribution. It is believed that a model, which integrates both, creates a more systemic view of brand equity. Apart from this one, there is no other study measuring the impact of internet marketing activities on brand equity sources.

Given an increasingly volatile and competitive fashion environment, the purpose of this paper is to qualitatively explore current consumer behaviour and psychological perspectives of luxury in women's undergarment fashion purchasing, with specific examination of whether this under‐investigated area of discrete or inconspicuous fashion appraisal is consistent with other luxury purchases.

The study employs an interesting methodological approach using multiple qualitative techniques including research interviews, group forums, and narrative capture, to investigate women's undergarment purchasing in a changing fashion environment in relation to the issues of branding, self‐image, perceived self‐image, motivational perspectives, and consumer behaviour, as identified by 119 female consumers aged between 18 and 60.

This study supports in part previous research that indicated consumer behaviour is determined by the congruency between the consumer's self‐image and the consumer's image of brands, although early research suggested this only applied to conspicuous products and social consumption. The current study confirms the self‐image link in the area of inconspicuous fashion, and strongly relates inconspicuous products consumed privately to self‐esteem and perceived sexy self.

The findings indicate that for intimate apparel marketing to be effective and credible, the marketed fashion items, and actions taken by designers, and retailers need to be consistent with the consumer's personal style, value perceptions, and self‐image.

This research examines several neglected areas in fashion and consumption research, and contributes to our understanding of key motivational elements important in the consumption of inconspicuous fashion, and the relationship of self‐image to inconspicuous consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to add to the growing literature addressing whether, and to what extent, brand meaning is determined by corporate and consumer-generated processes. To do this, the authors compared the expression of brand meaning across three key sources i.e. first, brand strategy (i.e. traditional marketing mix); second, corporate-generated media (i.e. web site); and third, consumer-generated media (Facebook).

To address the research question of this study, the authors conducted an in-depth investigation into consumer co-creation experiences in the context of Facebook brand communities. The authors then interpreted the findings in relation to the brand strategy (i.e. marketing mix) and brand meaning expressed via corporate-generated online media (i.e. corporate web site). The authors achieved this by applying a narrative discourse analysis to textual data. To effectively handle the high quantity of textual data spawned via consumer-generated media (i.e. Facebook), the authors used a computer-assisted content analysis application (i.e. Leximancer).

In the analyses the authors found that brand expressions varied considerably across the chosen retail brands, but in all cases strong integration and alignment were present between the corporate and consumer-generated media. Specifically, the authors found that Facebook interactions echoed the brand meanings espoused on the corporate web sites. The findings indicate that online marketers can define the nature of brand co-creation, especially in the context of Facebook interactions.

For marketers who are eager to take advantage of Web 2.0 to build their brand, the findings of this research are highly significant. The authors showed that the brands developed their own interaction profiles, which allowed them to align the Facebook content with their core brand values. The results indicate that sound brand governance is articulated through the effective management of social media touchpoints by providing interactive, content rich, and relevant Facebook sites that echo core brand values.

Even though businesses have now started to penetrate the online social networks and offer direct links from corporate web sites to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, little is known regarding the relationship between social media and traditional media in brand building. This research addresses this gap by undertaking an exploratory study of Facebook brand communities with implications for brand co-creation and brand governance.

This study aims to answer an important question of how brand-related communications, including advertising and sales promotion contents, which are disseminated on social media platforms, can enhance positive brand image and evoke favourable behavioural intention from consumers.

This study surveys 615 consumers of automotive brands across Malaysia. The data were analysed with AMOS, which was used to specify both the measurement and structural models. The mediating effect of both hedonic and functional brand images was tested using the bootstrapping approach in AMOS and Sobel test.

The findings reported in this research demonstrate that there are positive and significant relationships between social media advertising content, social media sales promotion content, hedonic brand image, functional brand image and behavioural intention. Both hedonic and functional brand images have significant mediating effects on social media advertising content, social media sales promotion content and behavioural intention. However, the relationship between social media advertising content and behavioural intention is insignificant.

This paper proffers insights to brand managers and marketers on how to leverage on social media contents by unearthing the roles of traditional marketing communications such as social media advertising and promotional information in enhancing brand preference and improving consumers’ purchase intention.

This research advances the discussions in the realm of social media communications and branding by examining the mediating effects of both hedonic and functional brand images of automotive brands. In addition, this study focuses on two essential marketing communications, advertising and sales promotions, which are commonly disseminated by brand managers on social media platforms.

Focusing on symbolic brands, this paper aims to re-test whether perceived â€∼fit’ between the personality of the parent brand, and the brand extension causes consumers to the feel increased affect towards the brand extension. The contention is that high brand personality fit causes consumers to like the brand extension more because, like the parent brand, consumers can use the brand extension to maintain and project a desirable self-identity. This relationship is obscured because consumers process brand personality fit as part of the overall brand image fit; therefore, the potential mediating role of brand image is tested. Consumers differ in their self-monitoring disposition as well, which may explain differences in response to perceived personality fit. Therefore, the potential moderating role of self-monitoring is tested.

Using an experimental design, respondents viewed an advertisement for a brand extension that showed either congruent, moderately incongruent or incongruent personality fit with the parent brand. This was completed for four symbolic brands: two watch brands and two motor vehicle brands.

The results indicate that brand personality fit between the brand extension and the parent brand is causally related to affect felt towards the brand extension, but that this relationship is fully mediated by image fit for the BMW brand and partially mediated for Volkswagen Beetle, Omega and Swatch. For BMW and Swatch, the relationship between the independent variable personality fit and the mediator variable image fit is positively moderated by the self-monitoring disposition of the consumer.

The implication is that, while marketers can communicate a wide range of attributes when advertising brand extensions, marketers of symbolic brands should clearly demonstrate brand personality fit as an important component of brand image fit. This is even more important for consumers with a high self-monitoring disposition.

The study conclusively tests the importance of personality fit for symbolic brands, the mediating role of brand image and the interaction effect of self-monitoring on personality fit. These findings contribute to the research literature and help marketers to manage the level of personality fit that should be emphasized in their marketing communications.

Although multi-brand loyalty (MBL) in consumer markets has been identified in previous brand loyalty research, empirical studies have not yet explored the facets of its different types. This paper aims to have a deeper understanding of MBL by investigating its different types and facets.

This study uses a sequential, qualitatively driven mixed-method design consisting of in-depth interviews and supplementary survey research.

The findings of this study suggest that mood congruence, identity enhancement, unavailability risk reduction and market competition are the most important facets that explains the two types of MBL (complementary-based and product substitutes). Furthermore, the findings show that the family factor can motivate consumers to be multi-brand loyal by adding brands to an initially family-endorsed brand.

This study advances the conceptual foundations of MBL and extends previous research on brand loyalty. Some of the findings may be limited to the economic and cultural context of relatively affluent countries with an abundance of market offers.

Marketing managers gain insights into how to manage brand loyalty and how to transition from MBL to single-brand loyalty.

The study generates novel insights into the facets of different types of MBL.

Some brand strategists have distinguished between symbolic and functional brands, i.e. brands that basically satisfy consumers’ functional or product‐related needs and brands bought to enhance self‐ or social esteem. It has been suggested that brands should be positioned as either functional or symbolic but not both. However, empirical research on the dimensionality of brand symbolism/functionality has been lacking. In this study, scales were developed to assess a brand’s symbolic or functional association with consumers. Subsequent data analysis suggests that brand symbolism and functionality are separate phenomena and, further, that symbolism comprises two dimensions, termed prestige and personality expression. Thus, contrary to current thinking, it seems that brands can be successfully positioned as both symbolic and functional and, if a symbolic brand concept is desired, prestige or upscaleness is just one of the possible positioning options available.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the competitiveness through brand enhancement of the Douro wine tourism apps in light of their content and functionality in comparison to international wine tourism apps.

The content and functionality features of both the Douro and international wine apps are evaluated to determine any statistically significant differences between items. A frequency analysis and chi-square are calculated at item and variable levels, a Shapiro–Wilks test is used to test normality and an independent t-test is deployed to examine the differences in customer ratings and number of downloads.

There is a significant difference between the Douro and international wine apps on an item level, although there is no significant difference between the groups with regard to their content and functionality features in general.

By focussing only on the Douro region, 13 other demarcated Portuguese wine regions have been excluded.

Wine tourism apps could influence destination branding, as they can inform about the wine region and wine-related activities. A clear layout makes it easier to move through the app, and the use of social media and entertainment enhances user experiences, especially for younger generations.

Practical guidelines are proposed for wine tourism marketers and managers wishing to upgrade their destination brand image and its services to satisfy demanding wine tourists.

The study contributes to the literature about mobile apps in tourism with a content and functionality analysis of wine apps as variables in the technology acceptance model and of their impact on destination branding.

本论文旨在评估Douro葡萄酒旅游app的品牌营销竞争力。本论文通过对比国际葡萄酒旅游app对其内容和功能方面进行分析。

研究通过对Douro和国际葡萄酒旅游app在内容和功能上的比较评估来判定是否其之间有显著差别。本论文在内容和功能多个方面上进行频率分析和chi square分析, 本论文还采用Shapiro-Wilks测试来对其样本的做正态分布检查, 通过独立样本t检验来评估消费者评分和下载数量之间的差异。

研究结果表明Douro和国际葡萄酒旅游app在每个细节方面上都有显著差异, 但是在整体内容和功能方面并没有显著差异。

本论文只局限在研究Douro地区, 葡萄牙其他十三个葡萄酒区域未纳入研究样本。

葡萄酒旅游app能够影响旅游目的地品牌营销, 其app能够为游客提供葡萄酒区域和葡萄酒相关活动的信息。App清晰结构能够使得消费者更容易找到相关内容, 社交媒体和娱乐性能的运用能够提高消费者整体体验, 特别是对年轻消费者。

研究结果对有意提高其目的地品牌形象和服务升级的葡萄酒旅游营销商和管理者来说, 提出了很多管理启示, 满足葡萄酒旅游消费需求。

本论文通过葡萄酒app的内容和功能方面的分析, 其中涉及的变量是技术接受模型（TAM）的经典变量, 以及其变量对目的地品牌营销的作用, 因此研究结果对旅游移动app的文献有着显著贡献。

关键词. 内容、功能, 葡萄酒、旅游目的地、品牌营销、Douro