An Analysis of the Impact of Brand Image on Consumer Purchase Behavior

Yan Hui*, Syed Ahmed Salman

Lincoln University College, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor D. E., Malaysia

*Corresponding Author’s Email: yanhui012@outlook.com

Abstract

Since its introduction, the idea of "brand image" has received a great deal of consideration from academics and professionals alike due to the central role it plays in marketing. Despite widespread agreement that brand image is fundamental to brand assets and performance, research on the connection between brand image and brand equity is scarce. Using ideas about how consumers' perceptions of brands affect their loyalty to certain brands, this article examines previous research on the topic. The paper also highlighted potential research directions and discussed the limitations of the existing literature.

Keywords: Brand Image; Customer Equity; Consumer Behaviour

Introduction

Brand equity, which is how much a consumer's thoughts and feelings about a brand affect their buying decisions, is mostly based on how the brand is seen. No matter what kind of marketing a company does, the end goal of every campaign is the same: to get more people to buy the advertised product to increase sales, grow market share, and build brand equity. Both researchers and industry professionals have an interest in brand equity, but so far, there has been no overarching paradigm in the field of brand equity research. Consumer or business viewpoints are often used to quantify brand equity in academic research. On one side, there is the school of thought that believes brand equity is all about how customers feel about a product or service. Consumers' perceptions of the brand's image are the ultimate determinant of their purchasing decisions, even if the characteristics and traits of the brand play a role. Brand reputation is still the most influential determinant of customer behaviour, notwithstanding changes in consumer preferences and information processing. However, some academics argue that metrics like market share, market value, and cash flow are more appropriate for measuring brand equity (Aktaş & Şimşek, 2020).

Existing research also looks at both monetary and non-monetary outcomes as indicators of brand value. Brand premium and market share are two ways to measure financial success, while brand awareness, reputation, loyalty, and association are examples of non-financial brand performance. This research analyses the link between brand image and brand equity by investigating customers' attitudes and intentions to make a purchase, expanding on the brand equity analysis from the consumer's and the brand's viewpoint of non-financial performance (Alić, Činjarević & Agić, 2020).


Research Methodology

Research Design and Procedure

A study's research methodology is the collection of methods and processes used to find, filter, analyze, and examine data pertinent to the study's overarching research question.

The research onion, which was first made by Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, is probably the most important way or aspect to talk about when talking about a research method. As you can see in the picture below, this "research onion" is one of the best ways to plan a research strategy because each level makes it clear who oversees what.

Instrumentation and Data Analysis

The procedures used to acquire and analyze the data are at the heart of the research onion, which is the last layer. It includes the strategies and methods that may be employed to carry out the study, bearing in mind the study's guiding principles and theoretical framework. Primary data are received from the study's subjects or a single point of contact; secondary data come from previously conducted studies. Primary and secondary sources were used to compile the information. When it comes to secondary sources, information will be gathered from already-published scholarly journals and books. To properly record the findings, the data have been analyzed using a theme analysis method. In addition, data responses from the main sources have also been collected through information gathering by means of an online survey sent to a sample of the target population. Quantitative survey data would be processed using appropriate statistical procedures to provide actionable findings. The Likert scale was used for most of the questions, and Microsoft Excel was used to examine the raw data. The acquired secondary data has also been analyzed thematically. The data has been analyzed under many different categories, including brand perception and consumer shopping habits. To aid in the comprehension of these ideas, they have been elaborated upon below.

Operational Framework

The theoretical framework defines the interplay among the dependent, independent, and mediating factors. In comparative research, like in a regression analysis, the difference between the dependent and independent variables plays a crucial role. Independent variables are used to make predictions about dependent variables, which are those that rely on them either directly or indirectly. The theoretical framework for research is a visual representation of the factors that will be tested. Its theoretical underpinnings are shown in the following figure:

Figure 1: Theoretical Underpinnings


image

Literature Review

Brand management requires careful attention to the creation and upkeep of the brand's reputation. Brand identity may be shown in principle for any product or service via the use of functional, symbolic, or experimental components (Alić, Činjarević & Agić, 2020). Brand image has been the subject of much debate among academics, and no consensus has yet emerged. There are a few different ways that scholars have defined brand image in the past, but they fall into four categories: overarching definitions, meanings and messages, personification, and cognitive or psychological components (Bilgin, 2018).

Objective of the study

The main goal of this study is to find out how customers' thoughts about different brands affect their final buying decisions. The basic objective of this study is to analyze how people in Lahore and Multan, two major cities in Southern Punjab and Central Punjab, think about various brands. This study will help us determine which customers have the most loyalty to our brand of goods. Since consumers place a high value on brands, considering them to be symbols of their identity and social standing, we chose to concentrate on this area.

The main objectives of this research are:

Significance of study

It can't be assumed that a brand is an integral component of a customer's identity until we have some idea of the value it provides. Despite the abundance of research on the topic, there are still certain gaps in our understanding of the dynamics between brands and their consumers that we want to fill with this investigation.

The goal of this study is to find out more about the connection between how consumers feel about brands and what they do after that.

People nowadays put a lot of stock in brands and even strive to shape their identities in accordance with what they associate with such companies. So, this study answers the question of whether different socioeconomic groups like different brands of products.

The influence of brands on customers is well known to academics. However, it is also vital to understand that the brand alone is useless without the other crucial elements of marketing such as advertisements, labels, and packaging (Alić, Činjarević & Agić, 2020). As a result of this research, marketers will be aware that ensuring a successful advertising campaign and attempting to influence customers via brand marketing and packaging are crucial to a product's success. With the results of this research in hand, marketers and package designers can better "understand the impact they may have on consumers' purchasing decisions. Marketers are free to choose their own tactics. Marketers need to examine the effect of advertising, labeling, and packaging on brand image to predict how long that image will continue to influence consumers' purchasing choices (Ahmed, 2021).

The Connection Between Brand Reputation and Buyer Actions

Research into brand image began in earnest in the 20th century, when it was realized how pivotal it would become to the success of any given company. For organizations to succeed in today's global market, they need to understand consumer behaviour and train customers to recognize and appreciate their brand. Following this, we'll talk about how people's perceptions of a brand influence their buying habits (Helmi, Ariana & Supardin, 2022).

Consumers' Opinions as Influenced by Their Perceptions of the Brand"

Customer-based brand equity" (CBBE) is a term used by Keller to describe how customers with differing levels of familiarity with the brand responded to the branding effort. This means that the foundation and fuel for brand equity come from how consumers perceive and talk about a company's products and services. Keller argues that successful branding may be achieved by tapping into customers' favourable associations with a product's name and symbol. As such, the branding effort won't be successful unless people have a solid foundational understanding of the brand (Alić, Činjarević & Agić, 2020). With familiarity among buyers, a corporation may save money on brand expansion while still increasing revenue. believed that a company's reputation for quality stemmed from the trust its consumers placed in it. They are more inclined to pay a premium for the brand the more they trust it.

Consumers have faith in a brand because of five factors:

  1. The brand successfully fulfils its intended purposes.

  2. Buying or owning the brand relates to a more favourable social identity.

  3. Customers' comfort with and attachment to the brand.

  4. The brand's value reasonably matches its functionalities; and

  5. Consumers have approved the predominant impact of brand equity on their reaction to the branding campaign.

Consumers now base their purchasing choices less on the quality of the product itself and more on the reputation of the brand. In addition, people are more likely to choose a company whose image is congruent with their own sense of identity. The self-concept hypothesis states that an individual's sense of who they are is comprised of their perceptions of their talents, traits, flaws, outward appearance, and character. Since customers may exhibit varying self-concepts in different social contexts, it is crucial for marketers to assess the congruence between the brand image and consumers' self-concept. Nonetheless, if the customer perceives that the brand image is consistent with their own self-concept, they will have a more positive impression of the brand in any setting (Andriani, 2018).

The Influence of Brand Image on Buyer Behaviour

Intention Existing studies show that customer happiness and loyalty are the most reliable indicators of future behaviour on the part of consumers. The term "customer satisfaction" describes how happy a consumer is with their purchase after using the product or service in question. According to Oliver, the two most important measures of customer satisfaction are the degree to which actual performance meets or exceeds customer expectations and the degree to which actual performance falls short of customer expectations. In particular, the more the real performance of the product exceeds expectations, the more satisfied the client will be, whereas the opposite is true when expectations exceed the actual performance of the product (Alić, Činjarević & Agić, 2020).

Discussion

By contrasting the opinions of present customers with those of potential new ones, businesses may gauge the impact of brand image on customer satisfaction. In the electronic banking, landline phone, mobile phone, bank, and grocery store sectors, brand image is very important to client happiness. Shop infrastructure, convenience, store service, and sales activities were defined as the four components of store image, and the study verified the dominant relevance of brand image in predicting customer happiness in the hotel industry (Amron, 2018). As a result, consumer happiness and brand preference would increase if there was harmony between the brand and the customers' sense of who they are. When customers are happy, they are more likely to remain loyal to a business. Previous research has narrowly defined consumer loyalty as repurchase behaviour. Loyal customers are those who endorse a company's products and services, which in turn encourages repeat purchases and, in turn, increased revenue (Arslan & Zaman, 2015). The research on brand image suggests that consumers place a high value on how a company presents itself to the public. A positive reputation for grocery stores is crucial to attracting and retaining customers. Surveys conducted by e-commerce businesses have confirmed the correlation between consumers' perceptions of a brand and their loyalty to that brand, even online (Setyorini, Tirtayasa & Khair, 2023).

Recommendations for Further Research

Lift the Brand's Connotation

In the last 10 years, emotional branding has become a very effective way to manage brands. Roberts says that a brand's emotion is the cultural message it sends. Emotional branding is a very effective way to get a response, feeling, or mood from consumers, which all help them form a strong connection and loyalty to the brand in question. Even the more traditional way of managing a brand based on how customers see it now includes emotional branding. Emotional connections between brands and consumers are more important than ever in today's ultra-competitive market. Researchers in the future may take an innovative approach by examining the correlation between brand emotion and customer behaviour.

Brand Reputation Maintaining Happy Customers and Earning Their Loyalty

There has been a lot of research on how one's brand's reputation might affect sales. But many of these studies focused on the service sector, which includes the hotel, retail, and financial industries. Whether or not findings from the service sector can be generalized to other settings needs more investigation (Alic, Agic & Cinjarevic, 2017). And although studies generally agree that a favourable brand image increases consumer happiness and loyalty, there are some small areas of disagreement. More specifically, research shows that brand image affects consumer loyalty both immediately and indirectly. However, many studies have shown that brand image does not directly affect customer loyalty. However, brand image may indirectly affect customer loyalty through factors such as customer satisfaction. The links between brand image, customer happiness, and customer loyalty need to be explored in more depth in future research to pinpoint a more all-encompassing indicator of consumer behaviour.

Conclusion

The way a customer perceives a brand influences their propensity to make a purchase. When customers establish a positive association with a brand, they are more inclined to purchase from and engage with that brand. When a consumer has positive experiences with a brand, they tend to stick with that brand. Businesses are urged to realize the importance of their place in society and provide products worthy of their reputation.

How consumers view a company's brand is the main driving force behind brand equity. There is a positive correlation between a firm's brand image and its brand equity; when brand equity is high, the company, its goods, and its finances often do better than when it is low.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to the institutional authority for completion of the work.

References

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