Brand Impact on Perceptions and Purchasing Intentions - Literature review Example

Chapter two – Literature review 2.1 Brand Name Brand name is the identity given to a certain specific product, service or business. A brand can be in the form of a name, sign, symbol, colour combination or slogan that differentiates on product, service or business from another one. Brand name affects the personality of a product, service or company. A great brand name usually has a strong force in branding, marketing and advertising (Keller, 2003). Such a brand name is able to differentiate one from his competitors and create emotional connection with his audience. In order to wield such power a brand name need to have a powerful positioning strategy. Such strategy ought to be able to touch the hearts and the minds of consumers in an extra ordinary way that has never been experienced before in the world. When branding a product, the firm need to take into consideration several issues such as comprehension, ease of pronunciation, memorability, positive and negative associations, competitors, trademarks and domain name possibilities. The consumption of fashion luxury brands in the international arena faces many challenges. Some of the challenges faced by marketers when marketing these brands include global consumer differences, tastes and preferences of multicultural consumers, need for variety of promotional appeals, breakthrough price barriers, brand awareness creation in new segments and overcoming stringent competition (Keller, 2001). Other challenges include niche market challenges, maintenance of superior quality, management of global supply chain, positioning the superiority of the brands and adapting to ever changing trends in the fashion sector. 2.2. Brand impact on perceptions and purchasing intentions The analysis of brand impact and its effects on the consumer perceptions as well as their purchasing intentions has been traditionally over the years of greater interest to marketing theory and also in the case of COO effect. Brand influence on customer’s purchasing intentions can be effectively analyzed through three basic investigations which includes; the basic components and specific functions performed by the brand, the concept of brand personality and brand’s relational dimension and lastly the concept of brand experience(Jaffe & Nebenzahl, 2001, pp.396-398). The basic components and specific functions performed by the brand A research study done by Hamin and Elliott (2006, pp.79-92), indicates that a particular brand from specific company located in a certain country represents the true picture of a firm to many of the consumers. Consumers in the Luxury fashion brands perceive that these products represent the firm’s current investments, research activities, technological processes and innovations carried out by the firm over time, hence to many it primarily embodies firm’s history (Hamin & Elliott, 2006, pp.79-92).With such information many of the consumer’s tend to utilize particular brands as a vehicle and mode of attitude expression as well as individualism. A brand is a tool available to many consumers as means of expressing their own individual identity as well as attitudes through needs satisfaction (Altintas & Tokol, 2007, pp.308-395). Studies done by (Thakor & Lavack, 2003, pp.394-400), show that consumers brand individual fashion products on the basis of three fundamental components which comprises of; identification, perceptual and trust. The identification component comprises of all the aspects available to the consumers which can help them in identifying the brand as well as distinguishing those brands from other available alternatives on the market. To distinguish individual brands on the market many companies label their brands by giving them specific logos (Thakor & Lavack, 2003, pp.394-400). This component gives brand awareness among consumers since it gives them capacity to correctly identify those brands especially to consumers who are exposed to them. The second dimension of evocativeness is a component which is related to the brand’s capacity to be linked to particular consumer needs. The other component is the perceptual component which refers to a network of meanings that a firm builds up in the mind of consumers and such associations revolves around brand attributes. Most of these attributes comprises individual consumers values linked to the brand as well as behavior, social status and self-esteem. The last is component is trust and in most cases it’s usually related to consumer identification. It can be described as an act of faith which consumers develop over time towards particular brands ( Papadopoulos & Heslop, 2003, pp.402-430). 2.2.1Brand personality and brand relational dimension Today as way of reinforcing consumer’s brand loyalty many firm’s today strive to create brand symbolism. This is because many of the consumers today search for emotional elements which sometimes are diverted into socio-cultural trends. Brand personality is one of the concrete factors associated with COO effects. Since COO effects play a significant role as far as consumer attitudes are concerned towards luxury fashion brands especially among young consumers in the United Kingdom. Most companies seek to personify their brands in a manner that consumers can reflect their own personality by simply wearing them (Jaffe & Nebenzahl, 2001, pp.396-398). When consumers develop feelings that particular brands from certain countries express elements which are coherent with their own individual values it acts a motivation for them to buy the brand. Consumer’s perception of a brand is usually that of a personified image built through a symbolic manner partly by the virtue of communicative effort undertaken by the individual firms 2.3 Country-of-Origin effects Researchers in the marketing sector have long been interested in how the country of origin affects the perception and purchasing intention of consumers. Most studies have indicated that COO impacts on consumer perception and behaviour through the image of the product’s COO. The image relates to the representation, the stereotype or the reputation of a specific country that consumers associate with the products. The image of a country is a result of series dimensions which positively qualify a nation in terms of its production profile (Peterson, 1995). Dimensions which influence the production profile of a country include innovative approach, prestige, design and workmanship. COO is defined broadly as a multidimensional construct whose main dimension includes factors that relate to the image of national versus imported products; the evoked image by the geographic origin of the brand; categories of merchandise that are known to derive from a certain country or provenance, the national image of producers and the influence of “made in” concept in the perception of the product. Research has shown that a strong brand name is not likely to overcome the negative effect of COO and hence marketers need to understand COO effect when marketing their products (Knight et al., 2000). Thus such marketers need to avoid direct comparison between products from unfavourable countries with those made in favourable countries regardless of their brand strength. There is also a strong association between country image and product quality when consumers are evaluating products. Research has also shown that positive brand image may be reduced if the product is assembled or designed in a country with a negative COO image. Some authors have thus suggested that luxury product purchase can be influenced by both COO and the brand name (Lee &Gopala, 1999). British consumers have been found to rely more on branding cues as opposed to COO. Furthermore, studies have shown that in UK brand origin is greater signifier of product quality than the COO. 2.3.1 Conceptualizing country of origin effects The concept of COO is not univocal and plain. The concept of COO was initially considered to be the made in country or the country of manufacture. Other concepts such as country of design have progressively emerged. Many global firms are increasingly manipulating brand names to suggest particular origins (Heslop& Nicholas, 1993). Therefore, COO is now considered to be the country which consumers typically associate with a brand or product irrespective to where they are manufactured. There are two contrasting views in relation to the impact of consumer knowledge on country of origin effects. First view is that consumers can use COO to infer the quality of the product if they have little knowledge about the product or product class. This kind of view is explained by “The Halo model” which argues that consumers only rely on the country of origin image only when they are unfamiliar with the products. The effects of COO therefore can lead to consumer surrogation as a result of lack of sufficient knowledge on the products. The other view is that consumers with greater product class knowledge facilitates and increase the use of extrinsic cues such as COO (Johansson, 1993). Research has found that consumers use COO to infer product attributes if they are not familiar with products of that country and as a summary construct that contains the sum of their product attribute knowledge if they are familiar with products of that country. However, some research have pointed out that consumers are less interested with the COO if they are familiar with a brand. This can be explained well by the “The summary construct model” which is of the view that consumers usually store information in their memory about various brands from different countries over time. This information is usually stored as a file in the consumer’s memory in form of overall evaluation of the products from a certain individual country hence consumers use it every time they need to purchase a certain brand( Papadopoulos & Heslop,2003,pp.402-430). In cases where the brand is not familiar, objective product class knowledge is likely to influence the evaluation and choice process of the consumer. Since extensive product attributes are rarely available for evaluating products, consumers use extrinsic cues such as COO to evaluate products. Consumers with higher levels of subjective product knowledge often use COO to evaluate products. Factors impacting country of origin effect 2.3.2 Consumer Ethnocentrism Consumer ethnocentrism provides consumers with a sense of identity, feelings of belong and an understanding of what purchase behaviour is acceptable or unacceptable to the in group. Studies done by (Papadopoulos & Heslop, 2008, pp.34-50) shows that conceptualized consumer ethnocentrism is perceived to be one of the complex components which are constructed within the theoretical construct. It is related to the cognitive, affective and normative orientation of the consumer towards particular products manufactured in different countries. The concept represented here is the consumer’s beliefs in the superiority of their individual countries’ products (Papadopoulos & Heslop, 2008, pp.34-50). It is also argued that Consumer ethnocentrism is related to politico-economic conservatism, patriotism and dogmatism. In view of this some consumers tend to believe that it is somehow wrong to purchase foreign made goods since they will damage the domestic economy, lead to unemployment as well as it is unpatriotic to do so( Papadopoulos & Heslop,2008,pp.34-50) Some studies have found that Consumer ethnocentrism is negatively correlated to cultural openness (Jacoby, 1991). Thus consumers who are ethnocentric will be dogmatic but not open to foreign cultures and thus they will have negative attitudes toward foreign culture and products. Consumers with high ethnocentric behaviour usually take unreasonable favourable evaluations of domestic products as opposed to imported products. Thus Consumer ethnocentrism will have a negative influence on the attitudes of consumers toward products from COO. Thus, if young people in UK perceive favourably that products from UK are superior to those from foreign countries, then foreign fashion luxury products are unlikely to get consumers in such group of consumers (O'Shaughnessy & Nicholas, 2000). 2.3.3 Consumer Animosity According to planned behaviour theory attitudes toward an act positively affect behavioural intention. Consumers view the brand name, the label and identifying design characteristics such as colour, logo, pattern and accessories as being valuable (Mudambi et al., 1997). Counterfeits are perceived as being inferior products and therefore luxury consumers tend to buy original products which they believe are genuine luxury brands. Thus they have animosity toward counterfeit products. They feel that by buying original genuine products, they gain admiration, recognition and acceptance by others. If consumers in a certain country have preference for original genuine products, they will have animosity to countries which have poor laws governing intellectual property rights which are often involved in production of counterfeit products that are perceived to be of inferior quality (Kevin et al., 2001).Furthermore, many of the consumers tends to associate their own social status with genuine fashion products hence it is perceived that buying a genuine product is related to high social status. 2.3.4 Consumer Demographics In a research study conducted by (Vrontis, Thrassou & Vignali, 2006, 459-476), it revealed that there is a strong relationship between COO effects and consumer socio-demographic variables such as sex, age, social status and educational background. The research has indicated that young male and female consumers have different attitudes towards country of origin. Female consumers in the United Kingdom evaluate foreign luxury fashion brands higher than male consumers who prefer fashion brands specifically made in the UK (Vrontis, Thrassou & Vignali, 2006, 459-476). Age was another socio-demographic variable that had a greater effect on younger consumer’s attitude. In terms of age most of the younger consumers evaluate foreign fashion brands as more favorable than the older people. This is contrary to the younger consumers in the United Kingdom since most of them prefer UK fashion brands over other brands despite them purchasing from other countries such as Italy and Europe (Vrontis, Thrassou & Vignali, 2006, 459-476). Furthermore, the research revealed that education was also an influential demographic variables related to COO. A number of studies done by (Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2004, 80-95), revealed that individuals with higher levels of education are more in the favor of foreign products than those with limited educational background. The research study furthermore indicated that as the consumer’s educational level increases, the level of consumer ethnocentricity as well as preference for domestic products reduces. Since UK is one of the most developed countries the fashion market is more dynamic hence most of the young consumers prefer buying fashion brands made from UK as way of portraying individual patriotism(Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2004, 80-95). The other factor which was perceived to be more important was consumer income status. The study revealed that higher income earning consumers have positive attitudes towards imported brands than domestic brands. They concluded that consumers who have high levels of income would less likely buy domestic products. Consumer’s socio-demographic characteristics have a strong effect on consumer brand evaluation as well as product attributes related to quality (Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2004, 80-95). 2.3.5. Economic development Economic development is perceived to be also a major stream of country of origin effect. Research done by (Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2004, 80-95), to examine the impact of brand image in relation to economic development conditions in that country it was evident that these two factors had a great impact on consumer attitudes. A study conducted by on people living in developing countries, the results indicated that people living in developing countries tend to have unfavourable views on their own home fashion brands in terms of reliability, durability, technical superiority as well as other characteristics (Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2004, 80-95). A research study done by Hamin and Elliott (2006), on UK fashion market many of young consumers were unwilling to buy fashion brands from developing countries which are not economically developed as politically unstable. Many of the consumers in UK frequently perceive the product’s country of origin as an important factor for quality evaluation .This normally affects many of the consumers purchasing decisions since it is a concept which the consumers use it as a reflection and perception on the quality of the product. Certain products from particular countries are more respected than others (Hamin and Elliott, 2006). Products from positive image countries are perceived as being of a highest quality compared to those which are from a negative image countries hence mostly they are underrated. Negative country image sets as a barrier to entering specific markets as well as positioning in the international market, while the positive one facilitates business internationalisation (Papadopoulos & Heslop, 2008). In addition Products coming from less developed countries have a negative country of origin image due to the short history of the production unlike developed countries in which products usually a positive product quality image. Consumers therefore have more trust in fashion brands originating from economically advanced countries as they associate them with high quality attributes 2.4 Brand equity Brand equity is a key indicator of the success of a brand. The monitoring of brand equity is an essential step in the management of a brand (Lawrence et al., 1992). Brand equity is still a complex phenomenon in the international context. It is multidimensional construct. Brand equity is the value that consumers associate with a brand as reflected in the dimensions of brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty (Mjumdar, 2009). 2.4.1 Relationship between Brand Equity and COO Many studies on brand equity have focused on the marketing mix variables such as product quality, advertising, price and distribution as key contributors to brand equity. Little attention has been paid to non-marketing factors such as COO. Research has shown that many consumers use COO stereotypes to evaluate products. The “made in” label on products is an indication of either superiority or inferiority of the product according to some consumers. Countries with favourable image therefore have their brands being generally accepted than those from countries with unfavourable image (Hong & Robert, 1999). Thus, COO has some contribution in creation of brand equity. The brand name of a product could thus be tarnished by inferior COO. Thus the brand equity of a product may be eroded when the COO of a brand change from a country towards which consumers have favourable association to a country towards which consumers have less favourable association. Several studies have also indicated that COO influence the perception of quality of products (Janda&Rao, 1997). Since perceived quality is an essential component of brand equity, COO is therefore essential in determining the brand equity. This implies that consumers are likely to hold favourable perceptions of the quality of a brand if it is known to originate from countries with association with the product category compared to when the brand is known to originate from countries with weaker association with the product category. 2.5. Overview of UK fashion market and the COO effects on consumer attitudes The United Kingdom fashion market today is more dynamic as well as brand driven. Since the United Kingdom luxury fashion market is more dynamic young consumers over the last years have developed fashion-consciousness with country of origin effects having a great impact on young people’s attitudes and perceptions towards fashion brands as well as trends (Hsu & Burns,2002,pp.246-252). Many of the young people today in the United Kingdom are not lured by expensive fashion brands rather most of them want value for their money hence they end up purchasing certain luxury fashion brands which have specific made up labels from specific countries such as Italy and Europe. Research studies done by Hsu and Burns (2002, pp.246-252) on young consumers attitudes towards luxury fashion brands, it was evident that most of the consumers value the brand name hence it has become an important component in the luxury fashion brands The research revealed that younger consumers tend to seek for status hence often they buy clothes from countries which have good brand names (Hsu & Burns, 2002, pp.246-252). Over the years the Italian, European and brands from United Kingdom have been on demand among young consumers since they associate them with three attributes thus quality, fashionableness as well as international high-profile image. These fashion brands have over time touched the emotional needs of the young consumers as they the fashion brands possess an image which communicates (Charles, 2008, pp.67-80). Young Consumers assume that there is an association between uniqueness and identity hence most of them tend to construct their identity through the use of symbolic luxury apparel. Self-identity is a crucial factor among the young consumers hence most of them purchase goods from big designers in the United Kingdom for self identity and well-being. Status seeking among young consumers as far as luxury fashion brands is concerned has a great impact on the sale of luxury fashion brands in the UK. Many of the young consumers tend to buy luxury fashion brands which possess particular desirability and give them some form of ownership (Charles, 2008, pp.67-80). These brands are seen as medium of maintaining sense of identity and achievement. Hence most of the younger consumers would prefer certain brands from individual countries to provide a visual representation of status. This is because most of them are usually motivated by desire to impress others with their own ability to pay high prices for prestigious fashion brands from Italy. In relation all young people tend to buy certain fashion brands with labels from specific countries as a display of status and wealth and uniqueness too. Therefore they are willing to pay high amount for the hidden label brands which distinguish themselves from others (Dryer & Ha-Brookshire, 2008, pp.51-67). The Italian and European fashion brands have over the years touched the emotional value of the consumers. Consumers acquire, own and use products primarily to enhance their own sense of self image thus they present the image of what they like to represent, what they feel and think. Group influence has a great impact on the fashion brands hence most of young people tend to wear certain fashion brands as a way of entering prestigious groups. This is done primarily as a way of identifying them as well as enhancing self image (Charles, 2008, pp.67-80). . A survey undertaken by Charles revealed (2008, pp.67-80) that many of young consumers in the UK tend to consider many aspects of the brand before making any purchases. In most cases they usually carry out product evaluation to see if it satisfies emotional needs and self fulfilment. This attitude on a greater extend affects the purchasing decisions of many young people since they tend to look for exclusive fashion brands with particular country made up labels since these fashion brands creates emotional value for them which comprises of pleasure, excitement and aesthetic beauty. As far as the UK fashion market is concerned, COO effect has a great impact on consumer towards the luxury fashion brands especially among the young consumers. references Altintas, M.H. and Tokol, T. 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Product-Country Images: Role and Implications for International Marketing. New York: International Business Press, pp.34-50 Vrontis, D., Thrassou, A. and Vignali, C. (2006), The Country-Of-Origin Effect, on the Purchase Intention of Apparel, – Opportunities & Threats for Small Firms, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 3, Nos. 3 and 4, pp. 459-476, (ISSN: 1476-1297-Inderscience) Read More