Proposal. How Does Branding Affect Consumers’ Purchasing Decisions?
1. Introduction
Branding is an important element in business. Without a brand, customers have to explain to the sellers in detail about the products that they want, while sellers may be confused or give the wrong products to the customers. Therefore, it can be assumed that brand acts as a sign, name or symbol for the products and services. The main aim of the brand is to identify the products or services of a seller or groups of sellers and differentiate an offering of a seller from that of its rivals (Kotler, 2003).
In recent years, brand played a significant part in the market as the marketers added value to the brand to make it more preferable compared to other brands in the same market segment. This is particularly true in the fashion market. For example, when premium leather handbags are mentioned, most people will think of Louis Vuitton. When thinking of buying a scarf, most customers will think of Burberry, or when young women want to buy new cosmetics, they may think of Christian Dior. These examples are just one of the successful branding strategies.
1.1 Research Aims
The above examples show that some customers prefer one brand over another even though that brand is more expensive. Price may not be the most important factor here; the psychological factor may be greater, for instance. Therefore, this research aims to achieve the following:
1. To establish if any relationship exists between branding and consumers’ purchasing decision.
2. To establish the changes in the relationship between branding and consumers’ purchasing decision when other factors such as price are introduced.
3. To identify the major aspects of branding t ...