Examining the effects of brand love and brand image on customer engagement: An empirical study of fashion apparel brands

Abstract

Organizations are making huge investments to embrace customer engagement. Customer engagement has become a central concept in customer–brand relationships. The empirical investigation of customer engagement is covered in previous literature, yet none of the studies so far have empirically examined the relationships between brand image and brand love simultaneously with regard to customer engagement in the fashion apparel context. This study is the first to investigate customer engagement in the context of fashion apparel. It examines the effects of brand image and brand love on customer engagement. Customer loyalty as an outcome of customer engagement is also studied. To collect data, self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 430 students, of whom 403 students returned the completed questionnaires. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 20.0 software was used to test the hypotheses. Results reveal that brand image and brand love significantly influence customer engagement. Brand love was also found to act as a mediator between brand image and customer engagement. The results also reveal that customer engagement influences customer loyalty. The results can prove helpful to practitioners in engaging customers while branding and marketing their fashion apparel brands so as to build a loyal customer base. The development of the research model can also provide a stage for scholars to undertake future research.

时尚主体的研究已经取得了印度和其他国家研究者的关注。外国直接投资在印度多品牌零售业的出现，为全球奢侈品牌提供了巨大的机会。收入增加,有利的人口统计数据,购物中心快速发展,以及转变消费者对品牌产品的偏好，使这个行业极具吸引力。

企业在顾客契合上进行巨大的投资。顾客契合已成为顾客与品牌关系中的核心概念。由于其对消费者行为和品牌性能的存在潜在的积极影响，顾客契合已经受到了学者以及营销从业者的关注。已有文献对顾客契合进行了实证调查。但迄今为止,没有在时尚服装背景下，对品牌形象和品牌喜爱度对顾客契合的关系的实证研究。本研究首次探讨在服装背景下的顾客契合，并且对作为顾客契合的结果客户忠诚度进行了研究。由于其在消费者品牌关系领域的潜在相关性，这些关系被验证。将自填式问卷分发给430名学生进行收集数据,,其中回收了403名学生完成的问卷。使用AMOS 20.0软件进行结构方程建模(SEM)并测试假设。

结果表明,品牌形象和品牌喜爱度显著影响顾客契合。研究结果还表明, 顾客契合显著影响顾客忠诚度。该研究为从业者提供了一些有意义的见解。研究结果显示,品牌喜爱度和品牌形象影响顾客契合,进而对顾客忠诚度有显著影响。此外，品牌喜爱度在品牌形象和顾客契合之间有中介作用。因此,营销者应该为他们的时尚服装品牌制定相应的品牌化策略和营销，去鼓励进行顾客契合，以此提高顾客忠诚度。此外,在制定营销策略，通过顾客契合提升顾客忠诚度时，营销人员应该考虑品牌形象和品牌喜爱度的影响。结果可以证明，其有助于从业者在品牌化和营销他们的时尚服装品牌时吸引客户,以便建立一个忠诚的客户基础。除此之外,该研究通过发展和实证验证了一个通过品牌喜爱度和品牌形象解释了顾客契合度的研究模型，。研究模型可以为学者的进一步研究提供平台。

Keywords:

• Customer engagement
• brand image
• brand love
• customer loyalty
• fashion apparel brands

关键词:

• 顾客契合
• 品牌形象
• 品牌喜爱度
• 客户忠诚度
• 时尚服装品牌

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.