En la actualidad, se puede ver que cada vez hay una mayor cantidad de empresas que utilizan las redes sociales como un canal importante y las empresas de delivery no son ajenas a esto. Por lo tanto, objetivo de la investigación es determinar la relación entre el social media y la intención de compra en aplicaciones delivery dentro del rubro de comida. De esta forma, se podrá identificar que variable del social media tiene una mayor relación con la intención de compra. Así mismo, ya que la investigación busca hallar y relacionar la intención de compra con las variables seleccionadas en la investigación, se utilizaron 3 métodos de investigación. Los 2 primeros fueron de carácter cualitativo, enfocados en realizar focus groups al público objetivo y entrevistas a expertos en el sector investigado. Con los resultados obtenidos de las investigaciones ya mencionadas, se realizó una investigación de carácter concluyente. Esta fue a través de un análisis de regresión lineal donde la variable dependiente era la intención de compra y la independiente era el social media. Donde se tuvo una muestra de 210 personas. Finalmente, mediante los resultados obtenidos, se pudo comprobar que las personas son más susceptibles a ciertos factores del social media. Dichas variables son el boca a boca, preferencia de marca y conocimiento de marca, mediante estas se puede determinar la manera correcta para poder generar una mayor intención de compra en las personas al momento de realizar una estrategia en redes sociales. / Currently, there is an increasing number of companies that use social networks as an important channel and delivery companies are no strangers to this. Therefore, the objective of the research is to determine the relationship between social media and purchase intention in delivery applications within the food industry. In this way, it will be possible to identify which social media variable has a greater relationship with the purchase intention. Likewise, since the research seeks to find and relate the purchase intention with the variables selected in the research, 3 research methods were used. The first 2 were qualitative, focused on conducting focus groups to the target audience and interviewing experts in the investigated sector. With the results obtained from the investigations mentioned above, a conclusive investigation was carried out. This was through a linear regression analysis where the dependent variable was the purchase intention and the independent was the social media. The sample was of 210 people. Finally, through the results obtained, it was found that people are more susceptible to certain social media factors. These variables are word of mouth, brand preference and brand awareness, through these it can be determined the correct way to generate a greater purchase intention in people when making a strategy on social networks. / Trabajo de investigación

The fact that brands create trust and develop cognitive and emotional ties with customers are well recognized. However, this is primarily associated with B2C markets. More recent studies admit to the fact that despite the differences between B2C and B2B contexts brands can have valuable features in B2B as well as B2C. Purchases in a B2B context are a combination of decisions made by individuals where the decision can be affected by personal factors as well as cognitive and affective factors, although in an organizational environment. This study aimed to examine potential factors that can influence a buyer in a buying process within a B2B-context and was restricted to investigate products that the company does not use themselves and organizations based in Sweden. At the start of our research, we found that previous research within purchase decisions with emotions as a variable for the most part only focuses on B2C organizations or B2C relationships. This created an interest in for the authors if it is possible to investigate B2B in a similar way. The original research showed that one of the reasons for this could be that many previous researchers have rejected emotion as a variable to consider in B2B purchasing decisions due to the fact that B2B is often about companies acting on orders from higher-ups. An employee who makes purchasing decisions has therefore been put as a cog in the machine whose task has been to buy the highest quality at the lowest price possible. Therefore, it has been particularly interesting to respond to this norm in order to be able to determine whether it is true or not. After interviews with buyers from organizations in the Swedish markets, the authors have gained a clearer picture of what the reality of the matter actually is. For this study, a research model was developed based on recognized brand concepts and organizational buying behavior models. The model includes the underlying hypothesis that organizational buying behavior is influenced by brands and that dual processes play a decisive role in the individual's decision. The research is of a qualitative kind which, with the help of in-depth interviews, provides a deeper understanding of human behavior and factors to this behavior. The results show that organizational buying behavior has connections to the buyer's individual buying behavior, meaning that when the buyer lacks motivation, knowledge or interest in the product, the emotions are stronger and have a greater impact on the buying decision.

Yes / Consumer brand preference is an essential step towards understanding consumer choice behaviour, and has therefore always received great attention from marketers. However, the study of brand preference has been limited to traditional marketing focusing on functional attributes to maximise utility. But now the shift to experiential marketing broadens the role of the brand from a bundle of attributes to experiences. Technological advancements have helped to increase the similarities between brand attributes and product commoditisation. Consequently, consumers cannot shape their preferences among brands using rational attributes only. They seek out brands that create experiences; that intrigue them in a sensorial, emotional and creative way. This study seeks to develop a model that provides an understanding of how brand knowledge and brand experience determine brand preference and to investigate its impact on brand repurchase intention. Accordingly, exploratory focus group discussions are employed followed by a survey of mobile phone users in Egypt. The findings provide insights into the relative importance of consumer perceptions on different brand knowledge factors in shaping brand preferences. It also demonstrates the significance of consumers’ experiential responses towards brands in developing their brand preferences that in turn influence brand repurchase intention. The model therefore offers managers a new perspective for building strong brands able to gain consumer preferences.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics / Chihyung Ok, Deborah D. Canter / This study sought to apply the concepts of ‘perceived value’ and ‘customer share’ (of visits) to full-service restaurant settings for the first time. Given the strong ‘experiential nature’ of foodservice, the perceived value concept adopted in this study involved an ‘experiential view’ of the dining experience. Further, the customer share concept was expected to have implications for the foodservice context, given the multi-loyalty nature of restaurant customers. With the first conceptual model, this study sought to verify the effect of perceived value on customer share of visits in a full-service restaurant context, using a dimension-level value approach and positing customer satisfaction and brand preference as mediators between them. The conceptual model was tested based on responses from 299 general U.S. full-service restaurant customers, using a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The test results revealed that among four value dimensions, excellence (in food and service) and customer return on investment had dominant effects on customer satisfaction and brand preference whereas playfulness had a significant moderate effect only on brand preference; aesthetic appeals did not have significant effects on either. Affected by perceived value, customer satisfaction significantly enhanced brand preference and in turn brand preference contributed to customer share of visits and fully mediated the effect of customer satisfaction on customer share of visits. In essence, the findings highlight the significant antecedent role of perceived value in customers’ satisfaction and brand preference formation, and the pivotal role of customer brand preference in customers’ purchase decision process. With the second conceptual model, this study sought to reveal the direct effect and/or moderating effects of contingency variables in relation to customer share of visits in a fullservice restaurant context. The hypotheses included in the conceptual model were tested based on responses from 291 general U.S. full-service restaurant customers, using a confirmatory factor analysis and a series of (moderated hierarchical) regression analyses. The test results indicated that the direct effects of social switching costs, lost benefits costs, procedural costs, and intrinsic inertia were positive whereas that of intrinsic variety-seeking was negative on customer share of visits. In addition, consumer involvement and perceived brand heterogeneity were found to enhance the effect of brand preference on customer share of visits. The effects of the contingency variables appear to work by influencing the number of brands in customers’ consideration sets and/or leading customers to allocate a greater share of visits to a particular brand in a given number of brands in consideration sets.

Brands are well recognized to create trust and develop both cognitive and emotional ties with customers, but primarily in business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. Recent research acknowledges the fact that brands, despite the differences between B2C and business-to-business (B2B) contexts, may carry valuable features in B2B contexts as well. B2B purchasing is a combination of decisions made by individuals and their decision could many times be influenced by personal- as well as affective- and cognitive factors, although in an organizational setting. This study intended to examine the influence of brands in a B2B purchasing context and is delimitated to the definitions made by the European Union (2013) for micro and small-sized enterprises (MSEs). The study was restricted to investigate products that were used for certain organizational purposes, e.g. products that are consumed in the daily activities of organizational functions. A distinction was made between highand low involvement purchases. For this study, a research model was based on recognized brand concepts and organizational buying behavior models. The model illustrates the underlying hypothesis that organizational buying behavior is differently affected by brands depending on product involvement. This research used a qualitative approach, using in-depth interviews to retrieve a deeper understanding of human behavior and the underlying reasons behind such behavior. The result implies that substantial organizational buying behavior had ties to purchasers’ individual buying behavior and further implies emotions being a strong factor when the buyer lacks knowledge, motivation or interest in the product. Brand was initially stated to have limited influence on organizational decisions, which at further elaboration turned out to contradict the actual purchasing behavior.

Today's children are a multi-billion dollar consumer market that not only has the power to spend their own money but directly influences the spending for household consumer purchases. They present an extremely healthy and potentially long term wealthy consumer market for marketers to target and reap the benefits from their loyalty. However, the area of young children's consumer behaviour is significantly under researched. Very little is known about how young children develop preferences, make brand choices, and develop equity towards a brand. This study investigates the brand knowledge elements associated with brand preference and brand equity for young children. An experimental procedure was employed utilising personal interviews and collecting data from five Australian Day Care facilities and four Australian Community Pre-school Centres. The respondents were three and four year old children, who performed a game involving questions about fast food brands. The hypotheses explored various aspects of brand knowledge (e.g., brand awareness) and, their influence on the child's initial preference between fast food choices (brand preference), and their loyalty when tempted by a toy and their second choice (brand equity). The study's analysis was divided into two parts. The first part determined whether there were any significant differences evident between three and four year old children in relation to the effect of brand awareness, affect toward, and brand image in brand preference and brand equity using chi-square analyses. The second part of the analysis employed binary logistic regression analyses to determine which elements of brand knowledge influenced a child's brand preference and brand equity regarding fast foods. 2 The study found there were no major differences between a three year old and a four year old in relation to the influences of brand awareness, affect toward, and brand image in brand preference or brand equity. The binary logistic regression analysis found that brand images provided the greatest effect in explaining and predicting brand preference and provided a contributing influence in brand equity. Brand awareness was found to provide the second greatest effect on brand preference and the greatest effect on brand equity, and affect towards the brand or main menu item provided the least amount of effect in explaining and predicting brand preference and brand equity for 3 and 4 year old children. The research also comments on the use of a toy as a marketing tool to lure children to a brand and provides suggestions for future research. Marketing, managerial and public policy implications are also provided.

Las acciones de fidelización de ecommerce se han vuelto en una herramienta esencial para las compañías. Puesto que, les facilita a las empresas a que sus productos o servicios no necesariamente se puedan adquirir presencial, si no de manera virtual por sus canales online. Cabe mencionar que esta investigación presenta la adecuada originalidad, ya que se estudia por primera vez las acciones de fidelización de ecommerce en supermercados online y que los resultados pueden ayudar a mejorar la implementación adecuada de estrategias online para las compañías con respecto a la preferencia de marca. Del mismo modo, la finalidad de la investigación es determinar la relación de las acciones de fidelización de ecommerce con respecto a la preferencia de marca de los supermercados peruanos en Lima Metropolitana. Por otro lado, se realizó una investigación mixta. El estudio cualitativo está compuesto por dos focus group de seis personas entre 20 a 35 años; del mismo modo por entrevistas a profundidad, de las cuales fueron realizadas a un experto del sector de supermercados, un especialista en comportamiento al consumidor digital y un gerente de marketing de uno de los supermercados peruanos; finalmente un estudio cuantitativo aplicado a 250 encuestas de manera online al público objetivo. Por último, se realizó un análisis correlacional entre la variable e-loyalty (que representa fidelización de ecommerce) y los servicios premium; de lo que se obtuvo como resultado que sí existe relación. Por otro lado la variable brand loyalty y e-loyalty; de lo que se obtuvo como resultado que si existe relación. y el brand loyalty; de lo que se obtuvo como resultados que existe una relación. / The subject of this research focuses on the "Loyalty Strategies in E-Commerce in relation to the preference of brands in supermarkets within the grocery category in metropolitan Lima." For its development, the content has been divided into three parts: introduction, three chapters (theoretical framework, methodology and field) and finally, conclusions (discussion and implications that have been found in the research). This research will support the new role that E-Commerce plays in consumer brand preference. Thus, brands are developing new strategies such as CRM, Inbound, Marketing or Dynamic Remarketing that seek to attract and attract new customers through loyalty actions used by major supermarkets such as Wong, Vivanda and Tottus. The Estrada methodology (2017) in which it studies the loyalty process in relation to brand preference in retailers in Bogotá facilitated the design and scope of this study. The design is non-experimental with a cross-sectional and correlational scope, since the characteristic of two actions at specific times is observed and specified. Similarly, a mixed approach was used, that is qualitative and quantitative. The results of the study include conclusions from the buying behavior of the target audience online, the influence of the loyalty actions in the purchase and preference of two places of purchase, showrooming and webrooming. From the aforementioned, it is broken down that the most valued actions for the consumer are the E-mail marketing and the Differentiated Services that the companies currently offer. / Trabajo de investigación

The uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 pandemic has surpassed all the expectations. Nations closed their boarders; the economy is going into recession and the whole world is suffering from the emerged pandemic. Although the effects of the pandemic economically and socially can be measured and estimated, thought the changes in the buying behaviour of customers is not easily predicted. As hygiene products demand went up and supply went down causing panic hoarding by some of the consumers. It became interesting for the researchers to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the brand preferences in purchasing decisions for hygiene and food products. As a result, the main purpose of this master thesis is to broaden the scope of consumer behaviour as a field by adding a complementary empirical perspective to the current literature on how a pandemic affects brand preference in purchasing behaviour, since it is a topic lacking in empirical research. Furthermore, based on the branding theory and the consumer behaviour theory, the PMO model was built, which provided the bases for collecting empirical data needed for this dissertation. This dissertation was conducted using a qualitative approach with an abductive reasoning. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with Swedish customers. The findings indicated aspects of price, quality, risk and loyalty became tied to the pandemic in the context of the health aspect of the COVID-19 virus. While there were not much indicating large shifts in preferred brands, there were large changes in health consciousness and qualitative demands on brands due to the pandemic affecting brand preference.

M. Tech. (Marketing Management, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Supermarket store brands are affordable alternatives towards the customers’ intended brands. For many years, marketers and retailers of store brands have positioned this brand as a cheap or low-cost brand that could be afforded by most customers. This positioning has catapulted the popularity of store brands. However, on the downward side, most consumers associate cheap or low cost with low quality. The low-cost and low-quality association and perception has been a major impediment towards the real success of store brands. Store brands have long since moved from competing on price, to competing on quality. The shift of focus by marketers and retailers of store brands from price to quality puts store brands on an equal footing with national brands and, consequently, a fierce competitor. This study investigated the influence of consumer-based brand equity elements, namely brand awareness, brand association, brand loyalty and perceived quality on brand preference and purchase intention of store brands. This study restricted its scope to the food brands. Investigating store brands within a South African context is particularly important since store brands are produced and owned by local retailers as opposed to national brands. The literature suggests that store brands are more profitable to retailers compared to their counterparts and serve as a point of differentiation from one retailer to another. A quantitative research design was employed in this study and a non-probability convenience sampling technique was adopted. The target population comprised students from a tertiary institution within the Vaal triangle, namely Vaal University of Technology. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to the participants, of which 361 participated in the study. To ensure reliability of the scales, pre-testing and piloting of the questionnaire preceded the main survey. Results from correlation and regression analysis revealed that brand equity elements, namely brand awareness, brand association, brand loyalty and perceived quality explain 68.4 percent of the variance in brand preference. This result suggests that consumer-based brand equity elements significantly contribute towards building consumer brand preference towards the store brands. In addition, amongst all the variables, brand loyalty made the strongest contribution towards explaining brand preference (β= 0.342). Moreover, brand preference explains 65.3 percent of the variance in purchase intention. These results suggest that brand preference strongly contributes towards building purchase intention of store brands. Based on the results of this study, recommendations for retailers of store brands are provided as follows:  Retailers of store brands should implement greater awareness programmes for store brands and create positive word-of-mouth through superior product quality.  Retailers of store brands should strengthen store brands’ brand associations to improve the image of store brands.  Retailers of store brands should pay special attention to creating brand loyalty of store brands through implementing store brands’ loyalty programmes. Limitations, future research opportunities and contributions of this study are discussed in the study.

自從歐盟成立後，歐洲市場對於台灣經濟的重要性與日俱增，目前為台灣主要貿易國家 (地區) 中出口成長率最高的地區，而德國又為台灣在歐洲進出口貿易額中最高的國家，然而國內學術界對於德國乃至於歐洲地區的消費者研究卻屈指可數，大多著重於中國大陸、美國與日本的研究，造成此現象的原因除了是過去歐洲市場在台灣的經濟地位不比中、美、日之外，也與台灣留學國外少以歐洲為主有關，造成與消費者相關的初次級資料取得不易、研究成本過高等因素，但隨著國內研究生赴歐洲交換學生的趨勢漸增，將提供國內學術界與實務界暸解歐洲消費者的機會。 本研究首先從過去的跨文化研究中暸解台灣與德國在各文化構面上的差異，推論受到文化所影響的品牌個性、廣告訴求與消費者價值信念，在台灣與德國消費者的認知中同樣會產生差異；此外，本研究也進一步探討品牌個性、廣告訴求、消費者價值信念與品牌偏好度的關係。本研究以問卷調查的方式蒐集台灣與德國消費者的第一手資料，並根據此初級資料進行分析比較，問卷內容包括品牌個性構面、品牌偏好度、廣告訴求、消費價值信念以及基本資料等五個部份，品牌則選定「Mercedes-Benz賓士汽車」與「Acer宏碁電腦」等兩個在台、德具有知名度的品牌。為了能夠順利進行調查，本研究分別以中文及德文版問卷在台灣與德國進行研究，採隨機發放的方式，總共蒐集了495份有效問卷，其中台灣問卷有247份，德國問卷有248份。 研究結果顯示，台灣與德國消費者對於同一個品牌的品牌個性、廣告訴求具有顯著差異，均對本國品牌較有正面的觀感，而台、德消費者價值信念也因為文化的不同而在「名牌情結」、「他人導向」、「情面影響」、「享樂主義」、「簡約習性」及「保障需求」上具有顯著差異。本研究的實證結果還發現，品牌個性會與消費者的品牌偏好度有關，而品牌偏好度受到廣告訴求與消費者價值信念的影響程度就相對較小。 廠商可依據本研究結果針對台灣消費者的「他人導向」、「簡約習性」、「保障需求」與「價格敏感」等信念，以及德國消費者的「享樂主義」、「價格敏感」與「簡約習性」等信念設計行銷活動，也可以藉由塑造品牌個性來增加消費者的品牌偏好度，對於學術而言，本研究不僅增加國內學術界對於歐洲市場的瞭解，更得到品牌個性、廣告訴求與消費者價值信念皆能影響品牌偏好度的結果，其中品牌個性又能明顯影響品牌偏好度，本研究成果可供後續相關研究作為深入探討的基礎。 / Since the establishment of the EU, the importance of the European market to Taiwan has been steadily increasing. Among Taiwan’s major trading countries (areas), the European market has the highest export growth rate, with the highest volume of trade happening between Germany and Taiwan. Despite this fact, researches about German or European consumers are still rare in the domestic academia, where the focus is mostly on China, USA, and Japan. There are some reasons causing this. First, Europe’s economic status of was lower than the previously mentioned countries. Also, there were fewer scholars from Europe, which may lead to higher research costs and difficulty in collecting data among others. Nevertheless, with the increasing number of exchange students going to Europe, this would offer domestic academia and businesses an opportunity to better understand European consumers. This research starts with an examination of previous culture-related literatures to discover the differences in all cultural dimensions between Taiwan and Germany. From this, the research infers that there would also be differences in brand personality, advertising appeals, and consumer value-beliefs. Moreover, the research discussed the relationship between brand preferences and brand personality/advertising appeals/consumer value-beliefs. Two well-known brands were selected, Mercedes-Benz and Acer, and questionnaires for each brand were developed and distributed randomly in Taiwan and Germany. Four hundred ninety five valid questionnaires were collected, among which 247 were collected in Taiwan and 248 were in Germany. The results revealed that there were significant differences in one brand’s brand personality and advertising appeals. Furthermore, consumers had more positive attitudes toward their home country’s brand. The research also found that consumer value beliefs affected by the culture were different between Taiwan and Germany in “Brand Favor,” “Conformance Orientation,” “Face Influence,” “Hedonic,” “Frugality Intention,” and “Security Needs.” In addition, it was proved that brand personality was significantly related to consumers’ brand preferences. However, advertising appeals and consumer value-belief had relatively lower influence on the brand preferences. Businesses could utilize the results of this study to devise marketing initiatives depending on consumer value-beliefs, such as Taiwan’s “Conformity-orientation,” “Frugality intention,” “Security Needs,” and “Price Sensitivity” and Germany’s “Hedonic,” “Price Sensitivity,” and “Frugality Intention.” Moreover, businesses could also build favorable brand personality to influence brand preferences. As for the academia, this research not only broadens the understanding of the European market, it also finds the relationship influence between brand personality, advertising appeals, consumer value-beliefs, and brand preferences, especially that in which brand personality significantly influences brand preference, which could be the base of further investigation.