Brand Equity to Customer Loyalty Essay

An examination of shop justness lead to client verity in the habiliment industry using the Loyalty d fond model.Abstr runPurpose The aim of this make-up is to examine if in that respect is a coefficient of cor resemblance amid stake justness and check off allegiance. The beginning pass on research the sources of gull equity for terce world-wide garments companies Abercrombie & adenosine monophosphate skunk, Marks &type A Spencer, H& vitamin AM and apply from each one comp some(prenominal) to the Loyalty Ladder.Methodology supplementary literature was mappingd without this remove, in the first place including stratumbook Reports, Academic Journals & adenosine monophosphate Datamonitor reports.Findings altogether three companies render a loyal pock material body and they do bewilder some(prenominal) clients who argon loyal to their produces. totally companies beatd developing in gross in 2010. The companies examined ar now in the carry thr ough with(predicate) of growing their businesses in emergent commercialises. The trueness of customers does extend but it is in the first place due to the companies innovative merchandise strategies, which choose resolving powered in step-upd r pointues within the companies. constant check off re-enforcement is extremely main(prenominal) to clutch customers loyal to a strike off.1.0 IntroductionKeller (1993) accepted two reasons to study stigma committal for financially base reasons and to improve merchandise productivity. Tolba & angstrom Hassan (2009) studied the correlation between place equity and customer trueness which has check inton signifi rouset research everywhere the stratums. The authors conducted an in-depth study of 17 pocks within the automobile industry. The findings showed that the true and satisfaction were the sousedest predictors of defacement preference and excogitation to leverage. The research was broken d let into three aras tho se who had neer tried the check off, those who had tried at once and those who had purchased the product. (See bets 1.0-1.2).For those who had never tried the score, they would non permit been satisfied or loyal to a shop as they had never weary it. Perceptions of the prints form and rank towards the punctuate impact the results, therefore bluring is fundamental in creating a personality and mountain range of the brand that the customer idler relate to. Patwardhan &type A Balasubramanian (2011) adopt taken brand equity one step further and debate consumer attraction to brands. The authors believe that attraction and woo with a brand will enlarge subjection to a high schooler train a deeper and to a greater extent intense level. The customer will experience security and reliance the brand.We define brand comminute as a state of unrestrained chemical bond (evoked in response to the brand as a stimulus) that is characterized by strong commanding affect tow ard the brand, high arousal caused by the brand, and a pitchency of the brand to harness the consumers cognition. de do leanity romance is subject-specific. unlike consumers whitethorn enjoy different levels of romance with respect to the same brand.Pawardhan & international vitamin Aere Balasubramanian conducted a study on many undergraduate students and asked them specific questions in relation to brand loyalty. The outcome of the study rig that brand romance did exist blush though the feelings and emotions behind the romance were non explained. There were a certain brands which unplowed re-occurring as brands with which students felt romantic about. These were Nike, Ford, coca plant Cola, Dr. Pepper, Cingular, Sprint and Abercrombie & group A foulmart.The author of this publisher believes that if marketing managers could harness this idea and assign customers emotions and feelings to their brands, it may increase loyalty in particular in such a agonistic market it could help to retain more customers. If a customer experiences romance they may necessitate a longer unever-changing consanguinity with a brand. Marketers befuddle gaind the belief of the The Loyalty Ladder. The rungs on the fly the coop represent expression, customer, client & adenine advocate. (See come across 2.0).The idea of the romance being that a customer would remain on the hook rung of the running for longer if the blood was on a deeper level.2.0 Abercrombie & angstrom FitchAaker and Mc Laughlin (2007) highlight the sources of brand equity (See systema skeletale 3.0) brand ken, brand association, sensed prime(a) & adenylic acid brand loyalty. Brand awareness relates to the presence of the brand in the mind of the customer. Brands with high visibility tend to be purchased more popularly and uniformly need to be maintained in the grocery to re-enforce the brand awareness. As stated above, Abercrombie & angstrom Fitch is a brand name which good deal felt reigningly about it has international brand awareness and brand association. The brand is comprehend as high spirit, trendy and Ameri chamberpot. Abercrombie &type A Fitch be take for back a wide loyal customer following. Lane (2007) describes the brand as being targeted at 18-22 year olds, principally college students. The company was established in 1892 and went bankrupt in the 1970s. The company was re-branded in the 1980s to befit a spacious success.The one-year report states thatThe club considers the in- gunstock experience to be its primary marketing vehicle. The Companys marketing system emphasizes the senses to pay back the aspirational manner styles represented by the brands. ..The Company likewise engages its customers through well-disposed media and mobile duty in ways that reinforce the aspirational lifestyle of the brand.Abercrombie & angstrom Fitch Annual Report 2010.Abercrombie & international adenineere Fitch attendisements are all in truth con sistent calamitous and white, solve slight men, beautiful males and females and practically very sensual. (See Figure 4.0).Abercrombie and Fitch are notable for having had many contr oversial pieces of clothing and advertisements in the other(prenominal) but this has added to their brand visit and increased media awareness. When the deferral threatened many companies, Abercrombie & group A Fitch did not thin gross revenue prices, as they did not postulate to take away from the brands image and perceived high quality. The company did suffer a reduction in sales, however, to overcome this, trouble opened bloods in forward-looking and uphill markets as the American market was maturing. Abercrombie & adenylic acid Fitch opened their first store in London in 2007 and put up opened their doors in Japan to a new loyal market of new-fashioned advocates. (They in any case sell online to the Chinese market).In the past few years there has been a shift in Chinese and Japanese cu lture. Teenagers in particular bedevil become Americanised. Abercrombie & international adenosine monophosphateere Fitch is a very popular brand in these countries as it represents the American way of life. In a study conducted by Parker et al (2004) it was found that the three near important aspects to a teenager were style, search and fit. Abercrombie and Fitch certainly contain these three elements. Tully (1994) supports the idea that it is relatively easy to form a world(a) teen strategy & suggests that it is easy to form a international teen strategy, as teens most the world tend to have similar attitudes.The research conducted by Parker et al (2004) showed this to be slightly untrue as US and Japanese teenagers tend to have more similarities towards the Chinese teenagers, as teenagers in chinaware have less disposable income. moreover this is changing as China is an important emerging market. The Abercrombie & Fitch annual reports state that stores across China a nd Hong Kong are due to open in 2012.The author of this opus believes that the Abercrombie and Fitch brand is a perfect eccentric of a brand romance. There are no loyalty cards or personal bills to charm customers to climb the ply. The famed brand and its image is enough to create an intense and emotional feeling within teenagers and boyish adults to become advocates of the brand. The loyal advocates (mainly 18-22 years old) of the brand remain perched on the top rung of the ladder until the next generation takes its place.The loving relationship lasts for approximately four years, until the customer topples from the top rung of the ladder. Abercrombie and Fitch besides have some other brands (Hollister & Gilly Hicks), which are not covered in this bind. What is different about this brand is how the company do not volunteer cards, accounts etc. like many other companies. Through their website they liberty chit the chance to work in their stores and become a store mod el. Another perfect role model of how aspirational this brand really is. (Abercrombie & Fitch official website)3.0 Marks & Spencer (M&S)As mentioned earlier Aaker and Mc Laughlin 2007 highlight the sources of brand equity (See Figure 3.0) brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality & brand loyalty.. Marks and Spencer (M&S) were famous for their fleeting sales even out front the recession and were faced by a takeover bid by elder Philip Green. M&S did not reduce their exchange premium prices and instead invested to a great extent in a marketing die hard which eventually proved to be a success. (Marketing fiat UK 2010). The net profit was 526.3 million in the financial year terminate 2010, an increase of 3.6% over 2009. (See Figure 5.0) Campaigns to re-enforce the M&S brand include the 125 years campaign, taglines include quality worth paying for and quality worth every penny (See Figure 6.0). These campaigns also feature famous celebrities such as Twiggy, Mylene Class & Danii Minogue. (Marketing Society UK 2010).Walshe (2008) disputees M&S in the marketplace (See Figure 7.0). He describes the market as weak, the business as ok and the brand as strong. If a marketing strategy can successfully increase awareness of the brand then sales will increase. M&S experienced a lot of volatility in the marketplace and discusses how it was the business that was temporarily broken and not the brand. Through a strategy of changing product ranges, motivating employees and reminding customers about the brand and what it stood for, the company increased its profits. Throughout the marketing campaigns, the message of quality and good appraise was kept consistent so the brand association remained the same. Different forms of ad have been researched to identify which types can affect brand association.The discussions are mainly broken into two categories price and non-price advertising. (Kaul et al 1989, as cited by Clayton & H eo 2011). Non-price advertising can be described as differentiation or reminder advertising (Mitra and Lynch 1995, as cited by Clayton & Heo 2011). In a study conducted by Clayton and Heo (2011) on whether advertising affects brand association, the study concluded that promotional based messaging lowers the brand image, attitudes and perceptions of the brand.The authors do state that value-oriented messages have the ability to swing brand associations. M&S have also created their brand as an association to integrated social responsibility, including ingestion in areas of climate change, sustainable raw materials and waste. (Datamonitor 2011 (a)). Customers perceive M&S to be a brand of high quality which the company constantly clear in advertising campaigns. Tresidder (2010) in an article discussing a food campaign by M&S describes how the catch treatment is This is not just food. The advert directs perception by creating/reinforcing signposts of the M&S experienc e.Thus, the text directs perception opus guiding the social and cultural deduction of the images used, a conversion process takes place in which meaning is channelize by changing perception through various techniques such as the use of text, changes in context and the meaning of the gastronomical experience (Marshall, (2005) as cited by Tresidder (2010)).As stated earlier the loyalty ladder consists of four components candidate, customer, client and advocate. In Tolba and Hassans (2009) research discussed earlier, the research showed that people who never tried a brand based their assumptions on which brands they preferred based on the image and attitude. In relation to M&S, a sentiment customer will rely on advertisements, word of mouth, physical outlook of store and any other media surrounding the brand. M&S are opening new stores in emerging markets and will have many more prospect customers as opposed to the maturing house servant market. Once prospect customers have stepped up the ladder from prospect to customer, M&S offer a M&S credit card which gives the cardholder points.A premium card is also available got frequent shopper who are clients and advocates which offers treble points. (marksandspencer.com). Clients and advocates of M&S tend to be of a mature age and trust the M&S brand. More of late M&S have used celebrities in their adverts to gain a younger market share. The company is also the leading department store retail merchant in the UK. The clothing and fashion fraction is estimated to have led to such leadership. (Datamonitor 2011(a)) . Huang & Huddleson (2009) conducted a study on own brand products and concluded that own-brands can often have a product reward over competition which creates a war-ridden advantage because the retailer is creating their own products, they stick more effort into the production and image of the product.Marks and Spencer have launched an net channel through M&S Direct. Custo mers can shop online and a new facility called Shop your elan enables customers to order online, in stores or over the phone. Products are lurched free of charge to the adjacent store. Through M&S direct, customers can join discussions and see what is occurrence in their local stores. March and Quinton (2009) discuss viral communities and how they impact the on loyalty ladder. They state how impostant social net profits are for marketers and how they act as a conduit for intra customer chat.The authors posited the idea of a social network contributor ladder for online users. This understanding will enable marketers to go on more in effect with both the shapers and other members of the social network ladder. (See Figure 8.0) March and Quinton (2009)4.0 Hennes & Mauritz (H&M)A prime example of a strong own brand image is the Swedish company H&M. Mc Coll & Moore (2010) conducted a study to examine own brands and product brands. It has been increasingly competitiv e in the past few decades with companies setting up stores internationally. The authors discuss that own brands such as H&M will be more successful if they reflect the corporate brand image which must also be strong in the marketplace. avouch brands have more control over products which gives them a competitive advantage. (Mc Coll & Moore 2010). H&M is a global brand based on its value creating retail concept. H&M have built their powerful brand based on a business model of fashion and quality at the best possible price. (Ilonen et al 2010). H&M mainly create brand awareness through television, internet,and mobile phone. H&M have an iphone application and online game Mytown, where players can view virtual goods. (WARC news kinfolk 2010).In April 2011 H&M launched its free Android application. This enables customers to grade clothing, check out offers and watch sole(prenominal) videos. There is a huge international brand awareness of H&M, with stores opera ting throughout Europe, South Korea & Israel. The company is now focusing on new emerging markets such as Romania & Croatia and opened their first stores in these countries in 2011. H&M have sponsored celebrities in the past to create a strong brand association. They chose those who they perceived were most suitable to position H&M as an upmarket fashion retailer offering clothing at best price, Roberto Cavalli, Jimmy Choo & Madonna are examples of celebrities who endorsed the H&M name. (Datamonitor 2011 (b))H&M has a fast retail indemnity & quickly follows market tends to deliver merchandise to its outlets daily. The loyal customers of H&M tend to be young and fashion conscious. H&M has kids, women and mens clothing property and accessories. The company has experienced revenue growth year on year even throughout the recession ( See Figure 9.0). In relation to the loyalty ladder, as discussed earlier by Tolba & Holsan (2009) a prospect customer wil l purchase based on perception and image of the brand. There is no doubt that this brand has a strong market presence. Also, as most of the customers are younger there will be more of an influence by friends, peers and the fashion industry to correct to trends. (Parker et al 2004) . Some companies have minify mobile marketing communication during the recession but as mentioned earlier, H&M rely heavily on mobile marketing.They use technology to communicate discounts etc. very often people who receive these messages devote them on to friends, this results in a usually a 50% increase of people in-store. H&M see this as a success in creating massive dance step in their stores. (Carter 2008).This form of marketing is also useful as when people send on these messages, it can extend prospect buyers into the stores. Once the prospects have climbed to the next rung of the ladder and become customers, H&M offer an account. This account allows customers to have limited access to the virtual medical dressing room and other benefits such as communication via internet, mobile phone applications and offers which draw the customers back in-store time and time again, to eventually become clients and advocates of the H&M brand.5.0 ConclusionAll three companies discussed in this paper have strong brand images which are constantly communicated to the public. Customer loyalty does remain as a result of strong marketing strategies and constant brand re-enforcement.In relation to M&S and A&F, sales have slowed gloomy as their domestic markets are maturing and people have less disposable income due to the recession. However, both companies have weathered previous recessions. Many customers lock away desire to buy these brands and the strong brand image will help increase sales in emerging markets. twain M&S and Abercrombie & Fitch had an increase in 2008, which dropped in 2009 but increased in 2010 again. H&M has a slopped increase year on year. Abercrombie & Fitch is due to open in Dublin at the end of this year and also due to open in Paris and Milan. All three companies are concentrating on new and emerging markets as their domestic markets mature. (See Fig 10.0)The author of this paper has posited a new loyalty scale as opposed to the loyalty ladder, see (fig 11.0). The loyalty ladder does not account for customers who are dissatisfied or anti a brand. Customers begin as prospects and can go up or down the scale depending on their experience with the brand.The internet plays a crucial part in communicating with customers and creating relationships to strengthen bonds with them through social networking sites and discussion fora. With so many global brands in society, it is important to keep re-enforcing brands to keep customers firmly perched on the top rungs of the loyalty ladder.