Brand Loyalty: To Be or Not to Be
A study about the effect of channel use on brand loyalty
in the Dutch Footwear Industry.
Elke Smit
4.12.2013
2
Brand Loyalty: To Be or Not to Be
A study about the effect of channel use on brand loyalty in the Dutch Footwear Industry.
Student: Elke Smit
Student number: 0523534
Faculty: Economics and Business
Master: MSc. Business Studies
Qualification: Master Thesis Completion date:
Adress: Burgemeester Doumastraat 24
1619 CP, Andijk Phonenumber: 06 106 611 90
Email: elkesmit@outlook.com
Supervisor: Drs. Ing. A.C.J Meulemans Second Supervisor: Prof. Dr. J.H.J.P Tettero
3 Management Summary
The rapidly changing shopping environment has his effect on brand loyalty. The challenge for retailers is to find out how loyal consumers are and if there are any differences in loyalty between the online or offline retail environment.
Other research has shown that consumers are more brand loyal in the online environment than in the offline environment (Degeratu, Ragaswamy and Wu, 2000; Danaher, Wilson and Davis, 2003;). The goal of this research is to find out if the findings of previous research also counts for a different kind of product; footwear.
Literature showed that different kind of variables from the stimulus response model could have an influence on consumer behavior and therefore on brand loyalty. In this research a questionnaire was conducted to see whether: price, offer, quality, age, gender and education level could have an influence on the brand loyalty consumers experience in different channels. Main assumption that was made in this thesis was that consumers would experience more brand loyalty in the online environment than in the offline environment.
Result has shown that for this research the main assumption was not supported and that there is not a significant effect of channel choice on brand loyalty. Main conclusion; in the Footwear Industry consumers are not more brand loyal when they shop for footwear in the online environment.
4 Preface
This thesis is written as part of my graduation for the master Business Studies at the University of Amsterdam.
I would like to thank my supervisor Toon Meulemans for his advice, tips and patience during the last year. Thanks to this support I was capable of completing this thesis.
Elke Smit October 2013
5 Table of contents
Management Summary ... 3
Preface ... 4
1. Introduction ... 7
1.1 Background ... 71.2 Problem Statement and Research Questions ... 8
1.3 Academic and practical relevance ... 9
1.4 Structure of this thesis ... 10
2. Theoretical Framework ... 11
2.1 Consumer Behavior | Stimulus-Response Model ... 12
2.1.1 The Environment ... 13
2.1.2 Buyer’s Black Box ... 21
2.1.3 Buyer Responses | Brand Loyalty ... 22
2.2 Conceptual Model ... 25
3. Research Environment & Methodology ... 27
3.1 Research Environment ... 27 3.2 Methodology ... 28 3.2.1 Indepent variables ... 28 3.2.2 Mediating variables ... 29 3.2.3 Dependent variable ... 29
4. Results ... 30
4.1 Descriptive analysis ... 304.2 Cronbach’s alpha analyses ... 30
4.3 Independent T – Test ... 31
4.4 Regression Analysis ... 31
5. Conclusions ... 36
5.1 Conclusion ... 36
The main question of this thesis was: ... 37
5.2 Managerial implications ... 37
6
5.4 Directions for further research ... 39
6. References... 40
6.1 Books ... 40
6.2 Articles ... 40
7. Appendices ... 46
7.1 Interview Dominic Leijten ... 46
7
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
Everyday consumers are being confronted with new technologies. And when consumers adopt these technologies their behavior changes (Zinkhan and Watson, 1998). The challenge for a marketeer or retailer is to understand this changed behavior and to anticipate to this changing behavior.
Consumer behaviour can be defined as; the behaviour that consumers display in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs (Schiffman, Lazar, Kanuk and Hansen, 2008, p.3). To serve consumers best it is important for retailers to know what they want, what they think, how they work, how they spend their leisure time, and the ways they like to shop (Schiffman et al., 2008, p.4). Because the rapid growth of the Internet, a new retail environment is created where retailers have to face a new challenge; they have to be able to understand what drives consumers to buy from one or multiple channels (Schoenbachler and Gordon, 2002).
This new retail environment where consumers can purchase products from an online store has ensured that the customer buying process has changed dramatically. Online shopping differs on many aspects from offline shopping; product information, perceived risk, price, time saving and so on (Jarvenpaa and Todd, 1997). While Jarvenpaa and Todd (1997) focused on the differences between online and offline shopping Liang and Huang (1998) conducted research to find out which products are right for purchasing online. They concluded that not every product is suitable to offer online. Because not every product is suited for every environment, research is needed to find out how consumers’ brand choice and therefore brand loyalty is influenced by online or offline shopping (Liang and Huang, 1998; Danaher, Wilson and Davis, 2003).
Multiple researchers compared online and offline purchase behavior and the effect on brand loyalty. Danaher et al. (2003) compared consumer brand loyalty in online and traditional shopping environments for over 100 brands in 19 grocery product categories. They found that
8 brands with high market shares experience greater brand loyalty when bought online. Their findings were consistent with the findings of Degeratu, Ragaswamy and Wu (2000). They found that there is less brand switching online and therefore consumers’ brand loyalty is stronger in the online environment. Could we now assume that these findings will be applicable for all products? And that for all products consumers experience more brand loyalty in the online environment? To find out whether this is right, research will be conducted in the Dutch footwear industry.
The footwear industry is chosen because Liang and Huang (1998) concluded that not all products are appropriate to sell in the online environment, for examples shoes. But in the same research they also explain that when the online shopping is widely accepted this could change. Fifteen years later we can see that online shopping is widely accepted and therefore it can be expected that it is also widely accepted to purchase footwear online.
In this research a comparison will be made to brand loyalty in the online and offline shopping environment for the Dutch footwear industry. The goal of this research is to find out if the findings of Danaher et al. (2003) and Degeratu et al. (2000) that consumers are more brand loyal in the online environment will also be applicable to the footwear industry.
1.2 Problem Statement and Research Questions
The main question that is researched in this thesis is:
“ To what extend is channel choice of influence on the brand loyalty consumers experience?”
The main research question is coupled with the following research questions. Where research question 1 and 2 will be answered in chapter 2. Research question 3 will be answered in the conclusions.
1) What is already known about consumer behavior in the different channels? 2) What is already known about brand loyalty in the different channel?
3) Which managerial implications can be derived to help retailers in understanding the consumer purchase behavior and as follows the brand loyalty they experience?
9 1.3 Academic and practical relevance
As Zinkhan and Watson (1998) mention in their research the rapid growth of e-commerce provides a new challenge for retailers because when consumers adapt new technologies, their behavior changes. The adoption of the online retail channel has an effect on brand loyalty. Online and offline brand loyalty has been of interest by many researchers (Degeratu et al., 2000; Danaher et al., 2003). However there researches tried to discover the relationship between online/offline shopping and brand loyalty in product categories that contains few sensory attributes. There research did not contain a study to product categories that are differentiated by brand name and other attributes that do no lend themselves to be summarized by an online store (Degeratu et al., 2000). Studying the relationship between online/offline shopping behavior and the effect on brand loyalty when shopping for this kind of products is relevant in explaining how consumers are loyal to a brand in this changing shopping environment.
The scientific contribution of this thesis therefore is that, as far as we know, this research study is the first to empirical research the relationship between shopping for high-touch products in an online or offline environment and the effect on brand loyalty. Therefore this research will help to gain insights in the moderating effect of the online or offline shopping channel on the relationship between products in the Dutch Footwear industry and the brand loyalty consumers’ experience. With this research hopefully new theory and knowledge will be added to existing literature.
The managerial relevance of this thesis lies in the construct of gathering information concerning the deteriminants of customer loyalty. It is extremely important for brandmanagers to know which channel contributes to a more brand loyalty and therefor to more brand loyal consumers (Homburg & Giering, 2001). This research can help retailers to improve then brand experience over different channels. The task for brandmanagers is to create a one-brand experience through all channels and to find out how consumers will stay loyal to their brand.
10 1.4 Structure of this thesis
This paper is structured as following. First we will discuss relevant literature to give insight in the research topic. Hypotheses derived from the literature will be proposed at the end of relevant paragraphs. The theoretical framework will help us to answer research question one and two. After the theoretical framework the research model is proposed. The research environment and methodology section describes why the choice was made to conduct this research in the Dutch Footwear industry. After this the outline of data collection and research method will be given. Collected data will be analyzed in the results section. This analysis will result in a conclusion where the main research question and research question three will be answered. The end of this thesis will describe the limitations of the study and give insights for future research.
11
2.
Theoretical Framework
The rapid growth of the Internet has created a new retail environment where retailers have to face a new challenge; they have to be able to understand what drives consumers to buy from one or multiple channels (Schoenbachler and Gordon, 2002).
The range of distribution channels available in the consumer market has increased enormously the last few years. And also competition has been increased between the different channels (Black, Locket, Ennew, Winklhofer and McKechnie, 2002). Traditional retail channels nowadays have to compete with widely accepted channels as the Internet but also with upcoming channels as smartphone, e-mail, television and digital television (Black et al., 2002).
Traditional retail environments offer a different shopping experience than the upcoming channels. Menon and Kahn (2002) mention that in traditional retail environment the atmosphere or environment has its influence on purchase intention and shopping time. Atmospheric aspects of the retail environment influence consumer behavior. But the fast developing technologies, such as streaming video and the development of a seamless journey over the different retail channels, make sure that the online retail environment approaches the ambiance of the traditional retail channel quickly (Menon and Kahn, 2002).
Because shopping journeys become more and more seamless everyday there is a growing need to understand the ways in which consumers may choose between channels and the circumstances under which one channel may be chosen ahead of another (Black et al., 2002). Schoenbachler & Gordon (2002) conducted research to what drives consumer to buy from one channel or another. They propose a model with five key factors that influence the likelihood that a consumer buys from a particular channel; perceived risk, past direct marketing experiences, motivation to buy from a channel, product category and website design. Einwiller (2003) note that consumers’ confidence in their ability to use a particular channel is very important in their choice for a channel.
But which other factors have an influence on the channel consumers choose? Degeratu, Ragaswamy and Wu (2000) focused on assessing whether brand names could have an influence on channel choice. They researched if the brand names have more impact on choices online or offline, and whether price and other search attributes have higher impact online or offline. Another difference, which influences the choice for the online or the offline retail
12 environment, is the ability to obtain information. According to multiple researchers the key difference between online and offline shopping is the ability of online consumers to obtain more information about both price and non-price attributes (Alba, Lynch, Weits, Janiszewski, Lutz, Sawyer and Wood, 1997; Degeratu et al., 2000). Degeratu et al. (2000) continue that the difference in information available for decision-making has a large influence on consumer choices and therefore on consumers’ purchase intention.
This study tries to reveal the influence of this changing retail environment on consumer buying behavior and the consequences for the brand loyalty consumers’ experience. The theoretical framework will be used to gain insights in changing consumer behavior and the influence on brand loyalty. The stimulus response model will be used as a framework for the theory. Therefore we will start with the environment, the buyers’ black box and the response, which in this case is the brand loyalty consumers’ experience.
2.1 Consumer Behavior | Stimulus-Response Model
Consumer behavior has been of interest for many years. In 1965, Kotler conducted research to five different models for interpreting the transformation of buying influences into purchasing responses. One of the models Kotler (1965) discusses in his article is the stimulus-response model of human behavior. Marketeers use this model to gain insights in consumers respons to various marketing effort companies might use. This model shows that marketing and other stimuli enter the consumers’ black box and produce certain responses (Kotler and Armstrong, 2009, p. 160). For this thesis the stimulus response model will be used to find out whether the price and offer of a specific product has a different kind of influence on brand loyalty in the online or offline environment.
13 2.1.1 The Environment
The stimuli, which enters the black box consists out of two parts; marketing stimuli and other stimuli. In the 1960’s the concept of marketing mix and the four p’s (place, product, price and promotion) was introduced (McCarthy, 1960). The marketingmix is a combination of instruments which can be used by an organisation to set up a marketingstrategy. To optimize business results and provide customer satisfaction it is important to find the right balance between the four p’s.
With the emergence of the Internet the balance between the four p’s has dramatically changed. The last decade many companies have moved from a single channel to a multi-channel shopping strategy. Marketeers were forced to think about a whole new strategy to serve their consumers new wants and needs. To gain insights in the drivers behind multi-channel shopping behavior insights from different researchers are used. For this thesis we mainly focus on the marketing stimuli; place, product price and promotion. Therefore the other components are out of scope and will not be discussed.
Place
Place is both the location where the consumer buys the product as the distribution channel. The impact of the Internet on the traditional distribution and sales channel has become a challenge for all components (from retailer to manufacturer) in the chain. Through the Internet, companies can establish direct relationships with their customer or to suppliers and distributors. Internet lets companies bypass others in the value chain. Suppliers can bypass retailers and sell directly to customers (Ghosh, 1998). McCune (1999) mentions that channel friction will become a huge problem in the retail industry. This channel friction has its effect on the position traditional retailers take in the chain. With the traditional retail channels retailer were quite sure that consumers would find them. The changes in the retail field made it happen that consumers would find also the manufacturers or the suppliers. When retailers want to be ahead in this changing environment it is important for them to understand what happens in the consumers’ black box. The focus for this research will lie only on the differences between the online and offline channel as a whole and not on the different players within the supply chain. Therefore a comparison will be made to online purchasing and offline
14 purchasing but there will not be a comparison to the different suppliers in the online or offline environment.
As mentioned above it is important to find out what happens in the consumers’ black box and to find out why they choose for a particular channel when they purchase a product. What is the reason that consumers make a choice for a channel? To find the answer on that question a comparison between the different channels have to be made. Jarvenpaa and Todd developed a model in 1997 (Jarvenpaa and Todd in Chang, Cheung and Lai, 2005) where they discuss the perceived characteristics of the web as a sale channel. In the next section we will use the model to discuss the differences between online and offline shopping. Jarvenpaa and Todd noted the following characteristics of the online channel in their model:
- Perceived risk - Relative Advantage - Shopping Experience - Service Quality - Trust Perceived Risk
Stone and GrØnehaug (1993) define perceived risk as the consumers’ subjective expectation of a loss. They explain that consumers expect that something might go wrong or perform less than expected, which increases psychological costs. Sweeney, Soutar and Johnson (1997) show that perceived risk has a strong effect on value perceptions and purchase intentions. Both researches indicate that perceived risk has a strong influence on which channel will be used to purchase products.
Perceived risk could have a negative influence for the online channel. The lack of opportunity to examine products before purchasing and the difficulties in returning products when products don’t match expectations, (Gillet, 1970; Spence, Engel and Blackwell, 1970;) results in the fact that consumers experience more risk when they shop out of their homes (Akaah and Korgoankar, 1988; Donthu and Garci, 1999; Tan, 1999). They conclude that shopping in the offline environment is perceived as less risky.
15 The challenge for e-tailers is to make sure that the perceived risk consumers experience in the online shopping environment is as low as possible. One way to do this is to offer brands that are well known for their quality to lower the chance that consumers will buy a product that does not match expectation. When e-tailers could not lower the perceived risk consumers’ experience, it will have its influence on the actual purchase. As proven bij Chang, Cheung and Lai (2004) perceived risk has a significantly negative impact on intention and acutal online purchasing behavior.
Relative advantage
Gilly and Wolfinbarger (2000) made a comparison of consumer experiences with online and offline shopping. They conclude that the big differences between online and offline shopping are the freedom and control consumers experience in the online shopping environment and the experential qualities in the offline shopping environment. The following online attributes are valued by the consumers; (1) product selection, (2) accessibility and convenience, (3) ease of use, (4) price and price comparison, (5) lack of socialty, (6) appropriate personalization (Gilly and Wolfinbarger, 2000). The experential advantages of offline shopping include; (1) ambiance, (2) positive sociality, (3) impulse purchases, (4) instant gratification, (5) product assurance (Gilly and Wolfinbarger, 2000).
While Gilly and Wolfinbarger made a comparison between online and offline shopping to see whether there are significant advantages. Levin, Levin and Heath (2003) explain in their research that the advantages of shopping online or offline differs per product. For some products the advantages of online shopping are bigger and for some products the advantages of offline shopping are bigger. For example tickets could be easily bought online, but a car is something you would sooner buy offline. Therefore the relative advantages of online or offline shoppings differs per productcategory is their conclusion.
Chang et al. (2004) did not make a comparison but only discuss the advantages of online shopping. According to them the advantages of online shopping are; time saving, product value (price and quality), easy to order and decreased transaction cost. Most of these advantages have a positive impact on online shopping intention and behavior. But price and transaction were also found to have a negative impact on online shopping intention and behavior.
16 The shopping experience
Researchers gained a lot of research about the online shopping experience, the ease of use (Swaminathan, Lepkowska-White and Rao, 1999) or efficiency (Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Malhotra, 2000). Huang (2000) explains that when consumers are satisfied with the website their intention to purchase increases. Childers, Carr, Peck and Carson (2001) confirm this and tell that the ease of use in the online shopping environment predicts a positive attitude towards online shopping. Further in their research they mention that when the online channel is being perceived as easy to use consumers can more easily and quickly obtain the product which leads to time and effort saving.
Broekhuizen and Jager, 2004 found that the ease of use also predicts a positive attitude towards offline shopping. Literature describes the ease of use in the offline context on the hand of retailing concepts such as: ease of navigating through the store, fast checkout, store lay-out and design and accessibility (Arnold, Oum and Tigert, 1983; Lohnse and Spiller, 1998; Berry, Seiders and Grewal, 2002; Broekhuizen and Jager, 2004).
Comparing the ease of use in the different channels Broekhuizen and Jager (2004) found the following differences. The online channel is superior in the ease of finding retailers, finding relevant information and selecting/ordering products. The offline channel outperforms the online channel in the latter stages; ease of payment, ease of return and other post-purchase services.
Service quality
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) defined service quality as “the comparison between customer expectations and perceptions of service”. Serivce quality is extremely important to firms and consumers. Parasuraman et al. bases their conclusion on previous research, which demonstrated that the benefits of service quality contribute to market share and return on investment. Next to this advantage service quality also has a positive influence on purchase intention in the offline environment and is one of the key factors in determining the succes or failure of (e)-commerce (Yang, 2001).
Multiple researchers conducted research to e-service quality and influences of service quality on consumption decisions (Yang and Jun, 2002; Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2003; Lee and Lin, 2005). Lee and Lin (2005) conclude that online stores have to develop strategies that improve the trustworthy, reliability and responsiveness of web-based service to increase their
17 e-service quality, which in turn is significantly positively, related to customer purchase intentions. With their research they identify that consumers are not willing to buy online when they perceive any risk in e-service. To reduce perceived risk retailers have to give good pre-order information. Consumers would like to inspect products before they buy them. Therefore e-tailers have to create an environment where they will help consumers to infer consumptions benefits pertaining to a specific product (Wilson and Davis, 2000). And also create an environment where consumers will experience high levels of service quality.
Yang (2001) notes that e-service quality of a high standard is the means by which the potential benefits of the Internet are realised. Santos (2003) agrees with this and adds that online consumers expect higher levels of service quality than offline consumers because it is much easier to compare the charateristics and prices of products online than offline. Santos (2003) also mentions that e-service quality can increase attractiveness, hit rate, customer retention, stickiness and positive word-of-mouth. Therefore e-service quality can maximise the online competitive advantages of e-commerce. This also counts for service quality, which can maximise competitive advantages for offline purchasing.
Trust
Trust is the last perceived characteristic of a sales channel. Yoon (2002) defines trust as “to rely on or have conviction about the quality or attributes of a person or object, to accept or approve of something without investigation or evidence, an expectation about something, attribute or reliable value; honestly, credibility or loyalty.
The issue of trust in the retailchannel began to surface when online transactions started growing (Yoon, 2002). Yoon (2002) explains that consumers have issues to trust the online channel and to transmit personal information like creditcard number. Lack of trust in the online transactions and the etailer is one of the major obstacles in the adoption of online shopping (Chang et al., 2004). Different kind of research has been done about the impact of trust and the adoption of online shopping, and most studies found a positive impact of trust on intention to purchase online (Chang et al., 2004). Earlier research already showed that trust weakens or get stronger when consumers get more experienced purchasing in the online shopping environment and therefore trust can be seen as a dynamic process.
18 The differences between the channels as described above makes sure that consumers have totally different shopping experiences when shopping in the online or the offline environment. Because elements as trust, lack of prior to purchase investigation, differences in products as search and experience goods it is expected that consumers use different assets of a product to decide whether to purchase in the online or offline channel. Therefore it can be expected that consumers who buy in an online channel experience a different kind of brand loyalty than consumers who buy in an offline channel. This assumption results in the following hypotheses:
H1. Through the differences between online and offline shopping, consumers will experience more brand loyalty when shopping in an online enviroment than shopping in an offline environment.
Product
A product is anything that can be offered to a market for acquisition, use, attention or consumption that might satisfy a need or a want (Armstrong and Kotler, 2005, p 474). They classify products in two categories; (1) consumer products, products and services bought by consumers for their personal consumption, (2) industrial goods, which are purchased for further processing or for use in conducting a business. Dibb and Ferrel (2008, p. 245)define a product as everything, both favourable and unfavourable, that is received in an exchange. They continue to say that a product can be an idea, a good, a service or a combination for all the three.
Levin, Levin and Heath (2003) propose that the relative advantages and disadvantages of shopping online and offline will play out differently for different types of products. In their research they explain that ”high touch” products like clothing are products which a consumer likes to touch before buying. ”Low-touch” product like tickets do not need an inspection to evaluate quality. In this kind of situation the role of the brand in a specific category can be of great importance.
The role of the brand in the online environment is discussed by Danaher et al. (2000). In their research they explain that a useful way of explaining the role of the brand in the online environment is to make a distinction between search and experience attributes used by
19 consumers in the decision-making process. Allready in 1974 Nelson conducted research to search and experience attributes. Search attributes can be determined prior to the purchase of a brand, while experience attributes can only be determined after the purchase has occured (Nelson, 1974). Therefore consumers’ intention to shop online is greater for search goods than for experience goods (Chiang and Dholakia, 2003). The reason consumers want to evaluate a product prior to purchase is that they would like to value the quality of the product. Products that are bought in an offline environment can be evaluated prior to purchase. Consumers are able to judge the quality of the product on the basis of product related attributes such as the products physical or functional aspects. In an online environment consumers will use brand name as one of the most important attributes to evaluate a products quality (Huang, Schrank & Dubinsky, 2006). Therefore we expect that high quality products with a set brand name will experience more brand loyalty when bought in an online environment than a product with less quality and a less set brand name. This assumption results in the following hypotheses:
H2: High – quality products will experience more brand loyalty than low-quality products when bought in an online environment.
Price
Price is the element of the marketing mix which generates revenue. Before consumers could buy products online it was much more difficult to compare prices.The Internet makes price comparison easy for consumers and therefore price competition has increased (Bakos, 1998). This intensive price competition eliminate sellers’ profits and therefore companies have to employ appropriate pricing strategies for selling products over the Internet (Shin, 2001). And to ensure that prices optimize profits and convey a desired image retailers have to be very carefull with their pricing strategy in this changing environment (Grewal, Janakiraman, Kalyanam, Kannan, Ratchford, Song and Tolerico, 2010).
One of the major drivers to shop online is the promise of greater savings. Alba et al. (1997) explain that key difference between online and offline shopping is the ability of online consumers to obtain more information about both price and non-price information as a result of reduced search cost. Because consumers are able to obtain more price information online, consumers are more willing to shop online when the price of a product is high so they can
20 compare prices (Chiang & Dholakia, 2003). 85% of the consumers look for price information when they shop online (Chiang & Dholakia, 2003), therefore price is one of the most important influences on consumers decision making process.
For this research price is an important variable because price is the basic indicator of loyalty according to Aaker (1996). Aaker (1996) explains that the amount a consumer is williing to pay for the brand in comparison to other brands for the same product is the indicator for loyalty. This is called the price premium. So when footwear is expensive and consumers are stil willing to buy this footwear it means that they are loyal to the brand. And because the quality of high priced products in general is higher than low priced product it can be expected that consumers will use the price as an indicator for quality. The expectation is that consumers will use the brand name to evaluate quality. Because price could be an indicator of quality it is expected that high priced products will experience more brand loyalty in the online environment than in the offline environment. This expectation results in the following hypotheses:
H3: High priced products will experience more brand loyalty than low-priced products when bought in an online environment.
Promotion
Promotion is all communication methods, which are used to provide information to consumers about the product. The Internet has brought a change in traditional ways marketeers promote their products. More and more promotion is used to have conversations with consumers, and not only to keep consumers up to date.
The website is the promotional medium which also generates the promotional content (Constantinides, 2002). And as Constantinides (2002) continues, the customer journey consumers experience when they visit the website is a major factor in attracting and retaining online consumers. The challenge for retailers in the online environment is to always show the consumers there best offering. Important for consumers is the fact that they must believe that retailers or brands will always offer them the best choice and choice alternative (Oliver, 1999).
21 H4: Brands, which offer their consumers the best choice apart from price and quality, will experience more brand loyalty in an online environment.
2.1.2 Buyer’s Black Box
One of the most difficult tasks for a marketeer is to discover why people will buy what they buy. What happens in the black box is a mysterious psychological process (Kotler, 1965). For this thesis we focus only on the consumer characteristics we expect to have an influence on online/offline brand loyalty.
Homburg and Giering (2001) analyzed the effect of selected personal characteristics on the satisfaction-loyalty link. Based on their literature review to personal determinant of buying behavior a age, gender and education are chosen as characteristics which could influence brand loyalty.
Age is a very important characteristic when it comes to the analysis of behaviour. One of the things that decline when people are getting older is the extende of information processing. Older people have restricted information processings capabilities (Homburg and Giering, 2001). Therefore Homburg and Giering (2001) expect age to be a moderator between satisfaction and loyalty. Age is not only a mediator between satisfaction and loyalty but age also has an influence on consumers’ intention to shop online. Hernandez, Jimenez and Martin (2009) conducted research whether age has an influence on online shopping behavior. In there literature review they make the assumption that older consumers are more reluctant to shop online because of there lack of IT experience, resistant to change and their insistence on trying out products before purchasing. Therefore we expect that the choice for a channel and the influence on brand loyaltyis mediated by age.
H5: The choice between online/offline shopping and the effect on brand loyalty is mediated by the age of the consumer
Gender is also found as possible mediator on buying behavior. According to Homburg and Giering (2001) women’s shopping behavior is influenced by their evaluation of personal interaction processes. Women also pay attention to the consulting services of personnel. Hernandez et al. (2009) explain that in the process of acceptance of the online shopping environment there are three differences between men and women. (1) men are more
22 pragmatic, (2) women experience greater anxiety when faced with new activities, (3) women are more strongly influence by their immediate environment. Because of the different behavior of men and women in the buying process it is expected that the choice for a channel and the influence on brand loyalty is mediated by gender.
H6: The choice between online/offline shopping and the effect on brand loyalty is mediated by the age of the consumer
Education Level is the last characteristic to indicate as a possible mediator. Consumers who are highly educated are expected to have higher income (Farley, 1964). Income has a strong impact on choice decisions (Homburg and Giering, 2001). Higher incomes perceive less risk when adopting a new IT services, online shopping. Low incomes discourage online transactions (Hernandez et al, 2009). It is expected that the choice for a channel and the influence on brand loyalty is mediated by education level.
H7: The education level of the consumer mediates the choice between online/offline shopping and the effect on brand loyalty.
2.1.3 Buyer Responses | Brand Loyalty
The last phase of the stimulus-response model contains the buyer responses in this thesis: brand loyalty.
A lot of researchers have recognized the importance of brand loyalty and the advantages of brand loyalty. Day (1969 in: Dick and Basu, 1994) mentions brand loyalty as consisting of repeated purchases prompted by a strong internal disposition. Jacoby and Kyner (1973) discuss in their research that there are at least eight different approaches defining brand loyalty, and that so many definitions make it difficult to compare findings. Further in their research they express brand loyalty by a set of six sufficient conditions; Brand loyalty is the biased behavorial response, expressed over time by some decision-making unit with respect to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brands and is a function of psychological processes. These six conditions are also discussed, by Mellens, Dekimpe and
23 Steenkamp (1996). Oliver (1999)defines brand loyalty as “a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a preferred product/service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching behaviour”.
Brand loyalty is very important for brand owners but why is this so important? Aaker (1991) notes that brand loyalty leads to certain marketing advantages as more new customers, greater trade leverage en reduced marketing costs. According to Chaudhuri & Holbrook (2001) brand loyal consumers are willing to pay more because they perceive unique value in the brand. And as they explain superior brand performance outcomes may result from greater customer loyalty, which in turn may be determined by trust in the brand (Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001).
Now that we know what brand loyalty means and what the advantages of brand loyal customers are. we take a closer look at the components of brand loyalty. Brand loyalty exists out of two components; behavorial loyalty and attitudinal loyalty (Mellens et al. 1996; Oliver, 1999).
According to Mellens et al. (1996) behavorial measures define brand loyalty in terms of the actual purchases observed over a certain time period. Or as Oliver (1999) explains behavorial loyalty is the willingness of a customer to repurchase the brand, the consumers’ tendency to buy the brand over other brands. The advantages of behavorial measures are that they are: (1) based on actual purchase behavior, (2) not likely to be incidental because they are measured over a long period and (3) relatively easier to collect than attitudinal data. A limitation of behavorial measures is that they make no distinction between brand loyalty and repeat buying and therefore it is possible that fake loyalty is measured (Day, 1969; Mellens et al. 1996). Mellens et al. (1996) also explain that past behavior is not always a good representation of future behavior. Measuring brand loyalty only by behavorial measures has been criticized for its limitation in predicting future behavior (Yi and Jeon, 2003). Researchers showed that the attitudinal component was necessary to have an accurate measure of brand loyalty.
Mellens et al. (1996) continue with attitudinal measures. Attitudinal brand loyalty includes a degree of dispositional commitment in terms of some value associated with the brand (Oliver, 1999; Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001). Attitudinal measures are based on stated
24 preferences, commitment or purchase intentions. Bennet and Rundle-Thiele (2002) use the definition of Jacoby and Chestnut (1978) for attitudinal measures: “the consumer’s predisposition towards a brand as a function of psychological processes. These attitudinal measures give insight into the motivations for consumer behavior, the consumers’ attitude toward the brand in general or attitude toward the suggestion of switching brand. Limitation of attitudinal measures, are that insights are not based on actual behavior but it is based on a questionnaire (Mellens et al. 1996).
Yi and Jeon (2003) explain that two-dimensional measurements of brand loyalty are more accurate in determining future behavior. Therefore in the ideal situation we would like to investigate both behavorial and attitudinal brand loyalty. For this thesis we only focus on the attitudinal measures of brand loyalty because we are interested on stated preference, commitment and purchase intentions.
The concept of attitudinal measurement is defined by Bennett and Rundle-Thiele (2002). They explain that loyalty is often being used with operational measures as; repeat purchase, preference, commitment, retention, allegiance. As mentioned above Bennett and Rundle-Thiele (2002) use the definition of Jacoby and Chestnut to define attitudinal loyalty. This definition also includes attitudinal preference and commitment towards the brand. Two constructs which are used for this thesis to measure brand loyalty. Other constructs used in this research to measure brand loyalty come from the research of Kim, Choi, Qualls, Han (2008) and are: relationship with the brand and word of mouth. The last construct, which is used to measure brand loyalty wil, be repeat purchase intention, which is named by both researchers; Bennett-Rundle Thiele (2002) and Kim et al. (2008) as an attitudinal measurement of brand loyalty
The following attitudinal measures are being used to measure brand loyalty.
- Repeat purchase (Bennett and Rundle-Thiele, 2002), repeat purchase intention for the brand regardless quality, price or offer .
- Preference (Bennet and Rundle-Thiele, 2002), preference for the brand regardless quality, price or offer.
- Commitment (Bennet and Rundle-Thiele, 2002), commitment to the brand regardless quality, price or offer.
25 - Relationship with the brand (Kim, et al. 2008), the relationship wiith the brand
(emotional, succesfull, importance and faith).
- Word of mouth (Kim, et al. 2008), the willingness to promote the brand to other consumers
2.2 Conceptual Model
From the theoretical framework can be concluded that shopping in different shopping environments is expexted to have an influence on the brand loyalty consumers’ experience. To find out if this assumption is correct, a conceptual model is developed. The conceptual model is tested in the Dutch Footwear Industry. The product tested is footwear. Therefore there will be tested whether the productcharacteristics; price, offering, quality of the shoe help to explain the relationship between shopping in an online or offline environment and brand loyalty in the Dutch footwear industry. Because we are also interested in consumer characteristics there will also be tested wheter consumer characteristics could help to explain the relationship between shopping in an online or offline environment.
The conceptual model is testing the following hypotheses derived from the literature:
H1. Through the differences between online and offline shopping environments, consumers will experience more brand loyalty when shopping in an online enviroment than shopping in an offline environment.
H2: High-quality products will experience more brand loyalty than low-quality products when bought in an online environment.
H3: High priced products will experience more brand loyalty than low-priced products when bought in an online environment.
H4: Brands which offer their consumers the best choice apart from price and quality will experience more brand loyalty in an online environment.
H5: The choice between online/offline shopping and the effect on brand loyalty is mediated by the age of the consumer.
H6: The choice between online/offline shopping and the effect on brand loyalty is mediated by the gender of the consumer.
H7: The choice between online/offline shopping and the effect on brand loyalty is mediated by the education level of the consumer.
26 The hypotheses derived from the literature result in the conceptual model.
Model 1: Conceptual Model
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3. Research Environment & Methodology
3.1 Research Environment
To test wheter consumers experience more brand loyalty in an offline or online enviroment a specific product is chosen. Liang and Huang (1998) conducted research to find out which products are right for purchasing online. They concluded that shoes were not the best products to sell online, but they also explained that when consumers would be more experienced in online shopping this could change. 15 years after there research we will try to find out if the shoe is accepted to buy in the online channel. The second reason to choose the footwear industry is because brands play an important role when choosing the right footwear. And next to this footwear represents a product which knows high involvement and their has been proven that high involvement products have a slightly positive influence on brand loyalty (Quester and Lin Lim, 2003).
The Dutch footwear industry is an industry that slowly adapted to all the changes caused by the emergence of online shopping (Appendix 1: Interview Dominic Leijten) E-commerce has become larger and larger and nowadays 11% of sales is conducted online. To survive in the footwear industry retailers should invest in a combination of bricks and clicks. Consumers are using both channels to orient and purchase their shoes. The emergence of the Internet has ensured that the footwear industry is a transparant market, were consumers are in the lead. Retailers have to deal with well oriented, price conscious demanding consumers.
Looking at the hypotheses where we mainly focus on difference between online/offline shopping, price, quality, range and consumer charateristics, the footwear industry is eminently suited for testing. The online channel is an upcoming channel to purchase footwear. The differences between the shopping channels make it possible that consumers are much better informed about prices, quality and offering and therefore are more capable of comparing these variables. Expected is that consumers will buy their shoes more and more through the online channel. Because the online channel has it’s limitations (no prior purchase inspection, no personal advice etc.) the expectation is that consumers will use there favourite brand as an indicator for searching new footwear. Consumers are familiar with brands they have wear in the past and will use this experience to buy new shoes in the future. Therefore the expectation is that consumers will experience more brand loyalty when shopping for shoes in an online enviroment than shopping in an offline enviroment.
28 3.2 Methodology
The goal of this research was to gather 100 completed questionnaires (50 for online shopping and 50 for offline shopping. Two online surveys including an introduction about the research were spread via e-mail and Facebook messenger. Respondents were asked to fill out the questionnaire that applied most to the way they purchased there shoes.; online of offline. The survey was closed after three weeks, because the goal of 100 respondentes was achieved. A total of 113 questionnaires returned (70 offline, 43 online)
The questionnaire was built to measure the difference in brand loyalty when shopping in different environments. Therefore consumers were asked to fill out the questionnaire, which was most suitable for them. One survey was focused on offline shopping and one survey was focused on online shopping. To conduct a research that gathered the right information respondents were asked to shop for new winterfootwear from their favourite brand.
3.2.1 Indepent variables
In the hypothesized model three indepent variables were distinguished that could have effect on the brand loyalty consumers experience; price, quality, offer. The independent variables are all characteristics of the product and are expected to have an influence on the brand loyalty consumers experience when shopping for footwear in the online or offline environment.
Price was measured by asking people to value the price of their favourite brand in comparison with other brands.
Quality was measured by asking people to value the quality of their favourite brand in comparison with other brands.
Offer was measured by asking people to value the offering of their favourite brand in comparison with other brands.
All items were measured on a 7-point likert scale. Price and Quality ranged from 1 very low to 7 very high. Offering ranged from 1 very small to 7 very large.
Other independent variables are the online and offline shopping environment. The choice for a channel is expected to effect the extend of brand loyalty consumers experience when shopping for footwear
29 3.2.2 Mediating variables
The mediating variables in this research are consumer characteristics. Consumer characteristics are expected to have a mediating effect on the extend of brand loyalty consumers experience when shopping for footwear in an offline or online environment.
3.2.3 Dependent variable
As there is still no consensus on how to measure brand loyalty (Bennet and Rundle, 2002), the questionnaire and the used measures for this thesis were a based on the research of Mellens et al., 1996; Bennet and Rundle-Thiele, 2002; and Kim et al., 2008). As mentioned before this research only focuses on the attitudinal measures of brand loyalty. According to Mellens et al. (1996) attitudinal brand loyalty should be measured using both individual-level and brand related measures. Brand Loyalty was measured using the following attitudinal brand loyalty measures;
- Repeat purchase (Bennet and Rundle-Thiele, 2002), repeat purchase intention for the brand regardless quality, price or offer .
- Preference (Bennet and Rundle-Thiele, 2002), preference for the brand regardless quality, price or offer.
- Commitment (Bennet and Rundle-Thiele, 2002), commitment to the brand regardless quality, price or offer.
- Relationship with the brand (Kim, et al. 2008), the relationship wiith the brand (emotional, succesfull, importance and faith).
- Word of mouth (Kim, et al. 2008), the willingness to promote the brand to other consumers
Those five attitudinal measures were combined to measure brand loyalty. The items were measured on a 7-point likert scale. The items ranged from 1 totally disagree to 7 totally agree.
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4. Results
4.1 Descriptive analysis
A total of 113 respondents have participated in this study. 101 of them completed the questionnaire.
More women (76%) than men (24%) filled out the questionnaire. Most respondents were between 26-40 years old. 46% percent of the respondents have attended a HBO eduation. 19% percent attended an MBO education and 16% has a university degree.
The distribution of the conditions was as follows. 65 respondents indicated that they buy their shoes in an offline channel; they filled out the questionnaire for offline shopping. 36 respondents indicated that they buy their shoes online; they filled out the questionnaire for online shopping.
4.2 Cronbach’s alpha analyses
To find a thorough answer on the research question, brand loyalty was measured by multiple items validated by different researchers Bennet and Rundle – Thiele (2002) and Kim et al. (2008). When multiple items are used to measure one item investigation is needed to see whether the items have internal consistency and if they represent the defined construct (Bland and Altman, 1997). Cronbach’s Alpha is used as coefficient for assessing internal consistency. When Cronbach’s Alpha measures (>.60), this means there is a high internal consistency and that the items virtually measure the same.
For this research the Cronbach’s Alpha of different items had to be measures to find out if the questions were consistent. Five items were used to eventually measure the dependent variable Brand Loyalty. Therefore Cronbach’s Alpha score of all five items had to be measured.
Table 1. Overview of Cronbach’s Alpha
Variable Cronbach’s Alpha Number of items
(Re) Purchase intention 0.912 3
Preference 0.949 3
31
Relation 0.772 3
Word of Mouth 0.849 3
Brand Loyalty 0.911 5
The Cronbach’s Alpha for all constructs scored above the (.60). This implies that all items virtually measure the same.
4.3 Independent T – Test
An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the difference in brand loyalty consumers experience in an offline and online shopping environment. There was a difference between the scores for offline (m=3,46, sd= 1,29) and online (m=3,87, sd=1,35) but this difference was not significant; t(98)=-1,461, p > 0,05. These results suggest that consumers do not experience more brand loyalty when they are shopping for footwear in an online environment. Therefore hypothese 1 is not supported.
4.4 Regression Analysis
To confirm the output of the Indepent T-Test a linear regression was conducted to see if the outcome of this test also rejects hypotheses 1. The following regression equation was used for this test: BrandLoyalty = β0 + β1 Online +ε. Results show that the variable online/offline explains (r= . 022) 2% of the variance in the dependent variable brand loyalty. Shopping in an online environment has a positive effect on brand loyalty (B=0.387) but this effect is not significant (p >0,05). Therefore again hypothese 1 is not supported.
To test hypotheses H2 – H4 multiple regression analyses were conducted. In this thesis it is expected that the direction and strenght of the relationship between product and consumer characteristics on brand loyalty is different for the two shopping environments.
Offer
Table 2 shows the regressioncoefficients of the interaction between offer and shopping environment. Linear regression for both the online shoppers as the offline shoppers was used to quantify the strenght of the relationship between offer and brand loyalty. The variable offer explains (r =0,001) 0% of the variability in the indepent variable, brand loyalty. Offer has a
32 negative effect on brand loyalty (B=-,031) and the effect is not significant (p>0,05). However it might be possible that there is a significant effect when we quantify the strenght of the relationship in different channels. In the online environment the variable offer explains (r=0,016) 1,6% of the variability in the independent variable brand loyalty. In the offline channel the variable offer explains (r=0,000) 0% of the variability in brand loyalty. In the online channel offer has a negative effect on brand loyalty (B=-,135) and also in the offline environment (B=-,006). The effect is in both environments not significant (p>0,05) therefore hypothese 2 is not supported.
Table 2. Regression analysis; offer | brand loyalty
Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty R Square B Sig.
Offer; Online/Offline 0,001 - ,031 0,790
Offer; Online 0,016 -,135 0,471
Offer; Offline 0,000 -,006 0,968
Price
Table 3 shows the regressioncoefficients of the interaction between price and shopping environment. Linear regression for both the online shoppers as the offline shoppers was used to quantify the strenght of the relationship between price and brand loyalty. The variable price explains (r= 0,006) 0% of the variability in the indepent variable, brand loyalty. Price has a positive but not significant influence on brand loyalty (B= 0,092 , p> 0,05). However it might be possible that there is a significant effect when we quantify the strenght of the relationship in the different channels. The variable price explains (r=0,054) 5,4% of the variability in the independent variable brand loyalty for consumer who shop there footwear in an online environment. In the offline channel the variable price explains (r=0,002) 0% of the variability in brand loyalty. In the online channel price has a positive effect on brand loyalty (B=0,251) where price has a negativ effect on brand loyalty in the offline channel (B=-0,53). Unfortunately this effect is not significant (p>0,05) therefore hypothese 3 is not supported.
Table 3. Regression analysis; price | brand loyalty
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Price; Online/Offline 0,006 0,092 0,445
Price; Online 0,054 0,251 0,181
Price; Offline 0,002 -,053 0,739
Quality
Table 4 shows the regressioncoefficients of the interaction between quality and shopping environment. Linear regression for both the online shoppers as the offline shoppers was used to quantify the strenght of the relationship between quality and brand loyalty. The variable quality explains (r =0,040) 4% of the variability in the indepent variable, brand loyalty. Quality has a positive effect on brand loyalty (B=,264) and the effect is significant (p < 0,05). To see wheter this relationship is stronger in the online environment the regression analysis is also conducted seperately in both shopping environments. In the online environment the variable quality explains (r=0,175) 17,5% of the variability in the independent variable brand loyalty. In the offline channel the variable quality explains (r=0,011) 1,1% of the variability in brand loyalty. In the online channel quality has a positive effect on brand loyalty (B=,514) and the effect is significant. In the offline environment brand loyalty also has a positive effect on brand loyalty (B=,147) but this effect is not significant. Therefore hypothese 4 is supported.
Table 4. Regression analysis; quality | brand loyalty
Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty R Square B Sig.
Quality; Online/Offline 0,040 0,264 0,046*
Quality; Online 0,175 0,514 0,012*
Quality; Offline 0,011 0,147 0,410
* significant p < 0,05
To test hypothese 5-7 different regressions were conducted. Goal of this regression was to find out if online/offline brand loyalty is mediated by age, gender and education level.
34 Gender
Table 5 shows the result of the analysis on the mediating effect of gender on brand loyalty online or offline. As we can see there is no significant effect that gender has any influence on the brand loyalty consumers experience when shopping in an online or offline environment (p >0,05). Therefore hypothese 5 is not supported.
Table 5. Regression analysis; gender | online / offline brand loyalty
Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty R Square B Sig.
Gender; Online/Offline Gender; Online Gender; Offline 0,014 0,068 0,001 0,369 0,835 0,114 0,232 0,129 0,767 Age
Table 6 shows the result of the analysis on the mediating effect of age on brand loyalty online or offline. As we can see there is no significant effect that age has any influence on the brand loyalty consumers experience when shopping in an online or offline environment (p >0,05). Therefore hypothese 6 is not supported.
Table 6. Regression analysis; age | online / offline brand loyalty
Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty R Square B Sig.
Age; Online/Offline Age; Online Age; Offline 0,000 0,009 0,007 0,024 -,163 0,094 0,852 0,584 0,519 Education
Table 7 shows the result of the analysis on the mediating effect of age on brand loyalty online or offline. As we can see there is a significant effect that age has any influence on the brand loyalty consumers experience when shopping in an online or offline environment (p <0,05). When we look at the different channels seperately we can conclude that in the online shopping environment education level does not have a significant influence on brand loyalty (p>0,05). In the offline environment education level does has a siginificant effect on brand loyalty consumers’ experience (p<0,05). Education level does have an influence on brand
35 loyalty in the footwear industry where the effect is siginificant in the offline environment. Therefore hypothese 7 is supported in the offline environment but not in the online environment.
Table 7. Regression analysis; education | online / offline brand loyalty
Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty R Square B Sig.
Education; Online/Offline Education; Online Education; Offline 0,040 0,003 0,368 -0,135 0,038 -0,244 0,045* 0,767 0,003*
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5. Conclusions
5.1 Conclusion
For this thesis the relationship between channel choice and brand loyalty is examined. The relationship was analyzed with possible variables that could have an influence on this relationship; price, offer, quality and consumer characteristics. In table 8 and 9, a summary of the hypotheses and results is shown. This research supprted only 2 hypotheses and hypothese 7 was only supported in the offline channel.
Table 8. Summary of hypotheses and results H1 – H4 Hypotheses Hypothesized Relationship Results H1 H2 H3 H4 + + + + X X X Supported
Table 8. Summary of hypotheses and results H1 – H4 Hypotheses Hypothesized Relationship Results Online/Offline Online Offline H5 H6 H7 + + + X X Supported X X X X X Supported
The general assumption that channel choice has a significant influence on brand loyalty was not supported. Only when footwear has a high quality consumers experience more brand loyalty when shopping in an online environment than in the offline environment. The expectation that price and offer would also affect the relationship between the enviroment and brand loyalty was not supported. And also age en gender did not have a significant influence on the brand loyalty whereas education level only had a significant effect on brand
37 loyalty in the offline environment. Now that results have been presented the main research question will be answered.
The main question of this thesis was:
“ To what extend is channel choice of influence in the dutch footwear industry on the brand loyalty consumers experience?”
As mentioned above we can now conclude that in this research not enough prove was found that channel choice has an influence on the brand loyalty consumers experience when they are shopping for footwear. A possible explanation could be that shopping for footwear in the online environment is not widely accepted because it is a high touch product. And consumers would like to examine the product before purchase. Because consumers do experience more brand loyalty when they shop for high quality footwear in the online environment it might be possible that consumers are only willing to buy their footwear online when they are really certain that the product will meet there expectation. This confirms the assumption that shopping for footwear in an online enviroment is not widely accepted. And this conclusion is also reflected in the online survey that was conducted for this research. 65 respondents filled in the questionnaire for shopping in the offline environment and 36 respondents filled in the questionnaire for online shopping. Most consumers are not yet ready to buy their shoes online because they cannot investigate the product before purchasing it. This is in line with the research of Liang and Huang (1998) who concluded that shoes have special needs of physical trial and therefore consumers’ willingness to buy shoes in an online enviroment is not big. But there research also showed that when consumers are experienced with shopping in an online environment this might change.
5.2 Managerial implications
Based upon the results of this research brands could do several things to improve the brand loyalty consumers experience when they are shopping in the online environment. This is important because in the future consumers will be more and more experienced with shopping their footwear online. And when to do become experienced with shopping footwear online the
38 brand name is used as an indicator for prior to purchase research. Therefore brands have to make sure that consumers will be loyal to the brand before the first time they will search for footwear online. This research has shown that quality is used as an indicator of prior to purchase research and that consumers will experience more brand loyalty to high quality products in the online environment. Therefore it is important for brands that they make sure that there brand is known as a high quality product (Huang, Schrank & Dubinsky, 2006).
Nowadays we see more and more that brands are investing in a combination of bricks and clicks. In this way they make it possible for consumers to fit the shoes in the offline environment and purchase them in the online environment or viceversa.
5.3 Limitations
This research had several limitations that could have been of influence on the results. The first limitation of this research is the matter that there is still no consensus on how to measure brand loyalty. The constructs, which are used for this research, have been a combination of the constructs used in Mellens et al., 1996; Bennet and Rundle-Thiele, 2002; and Kim et al, 2008. Brand loyalty might be measured by other components, which are not included in this research. And also only attitudinal measures were used to measure brand loyalty.
The second limitation of this research could be the indepent variables that were chosen to see whether they would influence the relationship between online and offline brand loyalty. We did not use the differences between the online and offline shopping environment as written in chapter 2.1; place. We only used the four p’s as influencers on brand loyalty. Therefore we were not able to measure the way consumers act in the different shopping behaviors and which differences between the two environments were of influence on the brand loyalty.
In this research we tried to measure the brand loyalty in the different environments for the footwear industry. But as Liang and Huang (1998) already mentioned the willingness to buy shoes in an online environment is not big. Consumers still not buy their shoes in the online environment and this could have biased the results of the questionnaire. The research setting were to buy the footwear was only sketched in written lines so it could have been possible that
