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1 – 10 of over 7000The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the retailer’s brand strength as a potential predictor of loyalty. It also examines the role of customer satisfaction (CS…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the retailer’s brand strength as a potential predictor of loyalty. It also examines the role of customer satisfaction (CS) to the retailer’s loyalty as well as its impact on the retailer’s brand strength.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted in the grocery context and in a market under recession using the European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) model. Data were collected through a telephone survey from 2,000 participants responsible for the household grocery shopping with a quota of 250 respondents from each of the leading grocery retailers in Greece. A formative measurement model was developed and the collected data were analyzed using partial least square path modeling.
Findings
The findings revealed that the strength of the retailer’s brand and CS influence retail loyalty and that brand strength mediate the strength of CS to loyalty. Results also suggested that the expectations and the perceptions toward the retailer’s product offering are the most important drivers of CS and loyalty. Thus, the study has proved the importance of the functional store attributes to CS and loyalty in the grocery store setting.
Originality/value
Research examining the suitability of the ECSI model in the grocery setting and in a market under economic crisis is scarce. This paper addresses these shortcomings by examining a customer loyalty model which incorporates the brand strength construct and investigates the role of brand strength as a potential predictor of loyalty as well as the role of CS in the brand strength and loyalty.
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Saurabh Mittal and Moutusy Maity
This paper aims to explore the moderating impact of four moderators, namely, retailer brand strength, customer’s perceived purchase regularity, gender and purchase channel (online…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the moderating impact of four moderators, namely, retailer brand strength, customer’s perceived purchase regularity, gender and purchase channel (online and offline) on the relationship between relationship marketing investments (RMIs) and customer gratitude, and customer gratitude and customer loyalty. The context of research is the purchase of a high-involvement product by Indian customers.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adapts Huang RMIs-Gratitude-Loyalty model and empirically validates the associated hypotheses using structural equation modeling. Data is collected through the survey method.
Findings
The study (N = 385) results suggest a significant impact of preferential treatment and interpersonal communication investments on customer’s feeling of gratitude toward the retailer and, consequently, on loyalty. Purchase channel, gender and, to a lesser extent, customer perceived regularity each moderates the relationships between marketing investment and gratitude, and that between gratitude and loyalty; surprisingly, retailer brand is not a significant moderator.
Research limitations/implications
Future research can factor in the impact of loyalty program on the proposed relationships.
Practical implications
This research offers helpful guidelines for retailers, especially for those who currently have a multichannel presence and invest or plan to invest in relationship marketing to obtain benefits from customer loyalty.
Originality/value
This investigation explores not only the relevance of RMIs–gratitude–loyalty model in the Indian retail context but also the influence of moderating variables on the retailers’ efforts of gaining consumer loyalty.
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Johan Anselmsson, Niklas Bondesson and Frans Melin
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between an organization’s human resource management (HRM) image and its customer-based brand equity. Research into HRM…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between an organization’s human resource management (HRM) image and its customer-based brand equity. Research into HRM in relation to branding has mostly dealt with how to attract and maintain employees through employer branding. The present study attempts to link HRM directly to marketing and branding aimed at customers as an altruistic dimension of the brand image and as something that applies to customers’ sociological needs.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a survey of Swedish customers in two different retail categories: groceries and home decoration.
Findings
The results show that HRM image is distinct from a more traditional service image and that there is a significant relationship between favourable customer perceptions of an organization’s HRM and customers’ willingness to buy and pay a premium for products provided by the retail chain. This finding leads to the conclusion that HRM is not only relevant for employer branding, internal branding and operations management but also plays a significant role in building customer-based brand equity. The results show that further integration of HRM and brand management is needed, both in theory and practice.
Originality/value
This study takes a holistic approach to marketing and is one of the first attempts to incorporate HRM and employer branding into the customer-based brand equity framework. Implications for future research, retailing and other businesses are discussed in the conclusion.
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Mark S. Glynn, Roderick J. Brodie and Judy Motion
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how manufacturers' brands benefit retailers and how these benefits affect retailer evaluations of the brand.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how manufacturers' brands benefit retailers and how these benefits affect retailer evaluations of the brand.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers develop a conceptual framework, from a literature review and qualitative interviews, which outlines the benefits of manufacturers' brands for retailers. A series of hypotheses tests the effects of these brand benefits on retailer brand attitudes. Data are collected using a survey of supermarket category buyers and analysed with structural equation modelling in order to validate this framework.
Findings
Manufacturers' brands deliver four benefits to retailers: financial, manufacturer support, meeting customers' expectations and brand equity. Financial benefits and customer expectations have a stronger effect on retailer satisfaction with the brand compared to manufacturer support and brand equity. Retailer satisfaction with the brand is an antecedent to the retailer assessment of brand performance as well as trust and commitment of the brand. An alternative model shows that brand equity influences retailer commitment to the brand and that financial benefits affect retailer performance assessment of the brand.
Practical implications
Manufacturers should think of their brands as channel resources when dealing with retail buyers, and need to consider how to best utilise these four brand benefits to encourage channel support.
Originality/value
This study proposes a conceptual model and measures the influence of manufacturer brand benefits on longer term retailer attitudes towards the brand, which research has not previously addressed.
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The development and marketing of diary product brands in Europe inthe 1990s is described, examining the key success factors which willenable dairy companies to survive, let alone…
Abstract
The development and marketing of diary product brands in Europe in the 1990s is described, examining the key success factors which will enable dairy companies to survive, let alone grow profitably through to the millenium. The contribution of strong branding and new product development to commercial success is analysed, featuring some state‐of‐the‐art approaches to segmentation and brand positioning which are likely to become critical to dairy product companies′ success or failure in achieving their full added values in the 1990s.
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Ruth A. Schmidt and Elke A. Pioch
The advent of Internet trading in medicines, as epitomized by the recently attempted market entry of the Dutch Internet pharmacy DocMorris into the tightly regulated German retail…
Abstract
The advent of Internet trading in medicines, as epitomized by the recently attempted market entry of the Dutch Internet pharmacy DocMorris into the tightly regulated German retail pharmacy sector, presents a new competitive challenge to this industry. Based on the findings of a 1999 field study of retail pharmacies in Berlin and Brandenburg and an examination of pharmacy Web sites, as well as pharmacy related professional portals and networks on the Internet, this paper applies Bickerton et al.’s framework of competitive forces to structure the analysis of attitudes and developments in the application of information technology in this sector.
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Willem Verbeke, Richard P. Bagozzi and Paul Farris
Seeks to better understand whether a retailer's trust in a manufacturer is a key concept in their motivation to allocate resources to those manufacturers with whom they have a…
Abstract
Purpose
Seeks to better understand whether a retailer's trust in a manufacturer is a key concept in their motivation to allocate resources to those manufacturers with whom they have a long‐term relationship compared with economical motivations.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey research method is used to study all customers from three large manufacturers in The Netherlands. These retailers had to answer questions about their trust in a manufacturer, the manufacturer's investments in the relationship, and their marketing efforts. Questions were also asked about the allocation of their own scarce resources for the manufacturer, specifically their adoption of in‐store marketing campaigns initiated by the manufacturer. Structural equation models and regression analyses were employed.
Findings
Trust is not that important, but the manufacturer's investments in the brand are the most important predictors. However, interaction effects were also found: trust interacts with investments in the brand to influence resource allocations. It was also found that personal contact of salespeople of the manufacturer with managers at store as well as their contact with headquarters had an effect on resource allocation. This is conceived to be an indication that people at headquarters take into consideration how people at the floor level evaluate the brands and their effects on customers when making resource allocation decisions. In other words, retailer chains have complex buying centers.
Research limitations/implications
A large set of customers was analyzed from three different manufacturers, but customers could have been investigated from many manufacturers.
Practical implications
Retailers respond to manufacturers mainly with economic motivations (e.g. what is the value of this brand for my own firm?). However, trust at times interacts with these economic motivations. This means that manufacturers should invest both in the relationship with the retailer and in their brands, if they want to motivate the retailer to allocate scarce resources (e.g. time).
Originality/value
This paper identifies important factors that influence retailer behavior that have not been studied within a fast‐moving retail context.
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Janine Empen, Jens-Peter Loy and Christoph Weiss
This article aims to estimate the relationship between brand loyalty and price promotions on the German yoghurt market. It considers consumer loyalty to various corporate brands…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to estimate the relationship between brand loyalty and price promotions on the German yoghurt market. It considers consumer loyalty to various corporate brands and their respective sub-brands to analyze promotional strategies between and within certain corporate brands with a larger loyal consumer segment and a moderate strength of consumer loyalty are well suited for effective price promotions following the idea of loss leader by Lal and Matutes (1994).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper’s approach follows Allender and Richards’ (2012) and extends to explicitly considering the product line management of every manufacturer in the market. In the first step, a random coefficient logit specification is estimated to compute measures of brand loyalty for each brand. In the second step, the relationship between brand loyalty measures and the frequency and depth of price promotions is analysed.
Findings
The results suggest that weaker corporate brands are promoted more aggressively supporting the model hypotheses by Koças and Bohlmann (2008). Within the manufacturer’s product line, sub-brands with a larger loyal consumer segment and a moderate strength of consumer loyalty are more often used for effective price promotions which reflects the idea of loss leading first introduced by Lal and Matutes (1994).
Research limitations/implications
The results are limited to a static relationship between brand loyalty and price promotions. Analyzing the dynamics of the relationship between brand loyalty and price promotions should prove fruitful in enhancing the understanding of retailer strategies and provides additional implications for managerial decisions in retailing.
Practical implications
Managers need to be more aware of the linkages between product line management and promotional strategies. Changes in the product line management may require a redirection of the promotional measures and strategies.
Social implications
Consumer behavior with respect to brand loyalty to some extent determines price promotional strategies of retailers. The promotional strategies provide opportunities to save expenditures, especially for non-loyal and low income households.
Originality/value
Matching and analyzing two detailed (consumer, retail) scanner data sets to investigate the relationship between the measures of brand loyalty and the retailers’ price promotional strategies. Novel is the modeling of two different dimensions of brand loyalty (size and strength) and the consideration of sub-brands. The results clearly show that promotional strategies vary not only between corporate brands but also between sub-brands of the same corporate brand.
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Thamaraiselvan Natarajan and Deepak Ramanan Veera Raghavan
The online brand advocacy behaviors of omnichannel shoppers, who mainly rely on integrated brick-and-mortar stores (recognized as a vital channel for delivering a seamless…
Abstract
Purpose
The online brand advocacy behaviors of omnichannel shoppers, who mainly rely on integrated brick-and-mortar stores (recognized as a vital channel for delivering a seamless shopping experience and meeting the dynamic needs of the shoppers), are still understudied. This study aims to investigate how integrated store service quality (ISSQ) may elicit both positive and negative emotions that contribute to a memorable omnichannel shopping experience and have an impact on shoppers' attachment to the store, leading to their exhibition of online brand advocacy behaviors (brand defense, brand positivity, brand knowledge sharing and virtual positive expression).
Design/methodology/approach
The study is a cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative investigation. The research participants were chosen using a purposive sampling technique. Using a validated self-administered questionnaire, data were gathered from 886 Indian omnichannel shoppers who often purchase at the integrated brick-and-mortar store. The proposed conceptual model was tested using Smart PLS software for partial least squares-structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results indicate that positive and negative emotions mediate the relationship between ISSQ and memorable omnichannel shopping experiences, subsequently impacting omnichannel shoppers' attachment to the store and leading to online brand advocacy behaviors. The relationship strength perceived by shoppers significantly positively moderated the relationship between store attachment and different online brand advocacy behaviors (brand defense, brand positivity, brand knowledge sharing and virtual positive expression).
Research limitations/implications
The study relied upon single cross-sectional data from the Indian population, where omnichannel retailing is still nascent.
Originality/value
This study addresses the need to investigate the different emotions that arise while evaluating service quality in omnichannel retail purchase journeys leading to memorable shopping experiences. Emphasizing post-purchase behaviors like different online brand advocacy behaviors (brand defense, brand positivity, brand knowledge sharing and virtual positive expression), this study is the first to show that ISSQ might affect four different OBAs through memorable omnichannel shopping experience and the shopper's sense of attachment to the store. The moderating effect of relationship strength perceived by shoppers with the retailer on a few proposed hypotheses was also tested to give managerial recommendations.
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