En la actualidad, el emporio comercial de Gamarra es un conglomerado de empresas especializadas en la confección, producción y comercialización de textiles. La mayoría de estos negocios se encuentran en crecimiento, sin embargo, no todas las marcas trabajan a profundidad elementos esenciales como la calidad de servicio y la imagen de marca, por lo que varias no se ven posicionadas en el mercado. Dicho esto, existen cinco determinantes de la calidad de servicio establecidas por SERVQUAL, un instrumento que permite cuantificar la calidad de servicio. Estos son: confianza o empatía, fiabilidad, responsabilidad, capacidad de respuesta y tangibilidad. Sin embargo, en el presente trabajo se trabajará con un modelo de investigación único donde solo se tomará en cuenta a la Fiabilidad y Tangibilidad; y se analizará si existe una relación directa con el posicionamiento de cada marca. Los resultados que se evaluaron al realizar este estudio SERVQUAL se analizaron mediante una variedad de pruebas, incluidas las pruebas t de muestras pareadas y los análisis de regresión multivariada. En última instancia, los resultados indican que una serie de subpreguntas que conforman las variables independientes, fiabilidad y tangibilidad, tienen una relación positiva a diferentes niveles de fortaleza con el posicionamiento de cada una de las tiendas. Por lo tanto, esta investigación proporciona una visión general de las variables esenciales en las que las tiendas deben enfocarse para mejorar su posicionamiento de Marca en Gamarra. / Currently, the Gamarra commercial emporium is a conglomerate of companies specialized in the preparation, production and marketing of textiles. Most of these businesses are growing, however, not all brands work in depth on essential elements such as quality of service and brand image, so several are not positioned in the market. With that said, there are five determinants of quality of service established by SERVQUAL, an instrument that allows quantifying the quality of service. These are: trust or empathy, reliability, responsibility, responsiveness, and tangibility. However, in this work we will work with a unique research model where only Reliability and Tangibility will be taken into account; and it will be analyzed if there is a direct relationship with the positioning of each brand. The results that were evaluated from doing this SERVQUAL study were analyzed through a variety of tests, including paired-sample t-tests and multivariate regression analyses. Ultimately, the results indicate that a number of sub-questions that make up both independent variables, fiabilidad and tangibilidad, have a positive relationship at varying levels of strength with the positioning of each of the stores. This investigation therefore provides an overview of the essential variables stores should focus on to improve their Brand positioning in Gamarra. / Trabajo de investigación

M. Tech. (Marketing, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology / One important motivating force that influences a wide range of consumer behaviour is the desire to gain status or social prestige from the acquisition and consumption of goods. More often than not, individuals purchase expensive and luxury goods to display their social standing. In addition, individuals purchase status products to fulfil their material desires and reinforce their group identity. This is often a case with regards to youth consumers who often purchase expensive, luxury fashionable clothing brands to portray status and impress their peers. This behaviour seems to be trending among township consumers. The township market is a major contributor to the South African economy with an annual spending power of approximately R307-R308 billion. This study sought to investigate the influence of fashion clothing involvement, materialism and group identity on fashion brand status consumption amongst the youth. The research concentrates specifically on township youth consumers aged between 18 to 24 years, located in the Sedibeng district. This study made use of a non-probability convenience sample. A self-administered questionnaire was designed based on the scales used in previous studies. Five fieldworkers were selected and received training from the researcher on the purpose of the research as well as the critical elements of fieldwork. Once the training was completed, the questionnaires were distributed by fieldworkers. The questionnaire requested respondents to indicate on a five-point Likert scale the extent of their agreement or disagreement with items designed to measure their status consumption, fashion clothing involvement, materialism and group identity. In addition, the participants were requested to provide certain demographic data. For this study, a sample of 400 township youth individuals, residing within the Sedibeng district, was drawn. From this sample, only 345 questionnaires were usable leading to a response rate of 83 percent. The captured data were analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics comprising of correlation and regression analysis. The findings indicate that fashion clothing involvement significantly and positively predicted status consumption of township youth consumers. Therefore, the results show that fashion-involved consumers are more likely to engage in status consumption. There was a direct relationship between materialism and status consumption. Group identity had a significant positive influence on status consumption. Owing to the high demand for status brands or products by township youth consumers, it is recommended that marketers should tap the market potential of this consumer segment while considering the influence of their reference groups. In addition, their advertisements should emphasise the brand or product’s ability to indicate status. Furthermore, marketers should make use of social media to effectively reach youth consumers. Insights gained from this study will help marketers to better understand township youth consumers, their engagement in status consumption, and their involvement in fashion clothing, which, in turn, should help them tailor their marketing efforts in such a way as to appeal to this segment in an appropriate manner.