The area of Brand Equity has received considerable attention during the past twenty years. The importance of a brand emanates from the fact that brand recognition and positive associations with it create value for companies and consumers. This value is called Brand Equity and translates into monetary value. Until now, there is scant research on brand equity for online retailers to test whether theoretical frameworks developed for offline companies apply to online businesses. The study is an attempt to bridge this gap by developing and testing a comprehensive brand equity model with selected drivers (customer support and a mix of functionality and fulfilment marketing efforts) and sources (awareness, association of value and trust, and loyalty) of brand equity. Grounded in a traditional offline consumer-based brand equity framework, a research model (at the aggregate level) for assessing brand equity of online companies is developed and tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). Several key findings are reported: First, a measurement model based on dimensions of awareness, associations of value and trust, and attitudinal loyalty seem to fit the data well. Measures have adequate reliability, convergent and discriminant validity. Secondly, from the SEM application, only value association and loyalty are potent determinants of brand equity. Third, awareness, trust and value associations contribute indirectly to create brand equity. Fourth, the hierarchical hypothesized relationships between the sources of brand equity are confirmed. The final best-fitting (calibrating) model derived from the subjects that had bought from the online businesses under study was validated across a sample of subjects. Simultaneous model comparison using structural equation (by means of Chi square difference) confirms the tenability of the calibrating model. To test for the probability than an incorrect model will be rejected, power analysis was calculated. The results indicate that the likelihood of rejecting the hypothesis of exact and close fit equals 1.0. The second phase of the study involved brand analysis at the individual level. According to the calculations Amazon obtains slightly higher brand equity than eBay and puts it in first place, eBay is in second place, followed by Dell in third. CDNow is the worst performer and obtains consumer-based brand equity below average. The study offers contributions to both academia and business in several ways.

Purpose: The purpose is to explain what factors affect brand equity for SBOs. Hypotheses: These hypotheses were derived from a literature review. H1 - Perceived Quality has a positive effect on SBO brand equity H2 - Brand Association has a positive effect on SBO brand equity H3 - Brand Awareness has a positive effect on SBO brand equity Method: The researcher conducted an quantitative research where the empirical data was collected through a questionnaire. Conclusion: This research show that perceived quality, brand association and brand awareness positively affects SBO brand equity.

This thesis investigates the ways in which businesses’ privacy practices in pay-with-data scenarios affect the way users interact with the business, both in terms of their on-site behavior and the creation of brand equity, in regions covered by the GDPR. I address a gap in the literature by exploring a possible business case for using privacy-friendly data collection practices in the context of brand equity creation and growth. The methodology consists in a randomized survey experiment with a 3 x 3 within-subjects design, with participants recruited via Prolific. Results show that privacy-friendly practices reduce the likelihood of transaction abandonment use of data falsification and other data controlling techniques which reduce data accuracy and quality; they also show an increased likelihood in forming trust associations with the brand and resulting in increased brand preference and willingness to recommend the brand to friends and family. The primary practical implication is that an increase in conversion rates, collected data accuracy and increased brand equity are integral to building a business case in favor of privacy-friendly approaches in online scenarios.

網際網路普及背後孕育著龐大商機，但電子商務仍然面臨商業競爭與來自消費者的挑戰。研究者認為引進品牌權益的概念，協助電子商務經營者建立強勢網路品牌，是一可行辦法。回顧文獻，發現過去顧客基礎品牌權益研究多半為行銷者導向，較少重視消費者個別差異。為了更進一步區分消費者的差異，研究者欲藉由使用與滿足理論對媒體使用動機的研究成果，來瞭解消費者在不同的使用動機下其重視的網路品牌權益構面。本研究以Aaker(1996)提出的品牌權益為基礎，並使用網路消費者為研究對象，建構顧客基礎的網路品牌權益構面。也一併瞭解消費者個別差異，作為電子商務經營者在發展電子商務時的重要參考依據。 本研究分四階段進行。第一階段為定義何謂網路品牌；第二階段透過焦點團體，發展出顧客基礎的網路品牌權益內涵；第三，透過第一、二階段的成果，進行網路品牌權益問卷編製與大樣本施測，確立顧客基礎的網路品牌權益構面。第四階段使用典型相關分析，以瞭解不同使用動機下的消費者，是否重視不同網路品牌權益概念。網路品牌權益量表透過線上調查，收集358份有效問卷。研究結果指出，網路品牌權益可分作五大構面，分別為網站管理（包含營運方式與互動關係）、品牌忠誠（包含使用偏好與使用習慣組成）、品牌聯想、自我表達及知覺品質，因素負荷量達52.77%；量表共33題，信度.905(p<0.01)，效標關連效度達.512(p<0.01)。本研究亦發現在不同網路使用動機之下，消費者重視的網路品牌權益不同；在資訊蒐集與娛樂動機下，消費者重視網路品牌的網站管理與知覺品質；在人際與娛樂動機下，則重視知覺品質與自我表達。 最後則對電子商務業者提出品牌經營參考，及未來學術發展方向。 關鍵字：品牌、網路品牌權益、顧客基礎、使用與滿足。 / Despite the universal availability of the Internet and the immense business opportunities generated e-commerce, e-commerce itself is confronted by endless business competition and consumer mistrust. How should e-commerce managers react to these competition and challenges? This research proposes that the introduction of the brand equity concept is viable in helping e-commerce managers establish strong online brands, yet existing literature on customer-based brand equity are mostly marketer oriented rather than customer oriented, thus not much weight is given to individual consumer differences. We use mass media theory “uses and gratification” theory to understand if customer have different internet use motivation will cause them prefer different online brand equity. We use online consumer as research participant, and build customer-based online brand equity construct, describe individual differences as our results. E-commerce managers can utilize as important reference when developing their business affairs. This research is conducted in four stages: the first stage is intended for understanding consumers’ definition of online brands; the second stage develops preliminary customer-based online brand equity constructs via focus groups; the third stage develops customer-based brand equity constructs by designing and testing a survey based on the results of the first two stages using large samples; and the fourth stage uses canonical analysis to find out whether customer have different internet use motivation will cause them prefer different online brand equity. We collected 358 validate questionnaires. Findings indicate that online brand equity can be divided into five dimensions: web site management, brand loyalty, brand associations, self expressions, and perceived quality. Totaling 33 items, factor loading 52.77%, with 0.905 in reliability and 0.512 (p<0.01) in criteria-related validity. When conusumer’s internet use motivation is search information and entertainment, the online brand equity construct they will prefer is web site managemet and perceived quality. But when conusumer’s internet use motivation is interpersonal and entertainment, the online brand equity construct they will prefer is perceived quality and self expressions. According results above, we propsed some recommdations for e-commerce managers and scholars. Keywords: Brand, Online brand equity, Customer-based, Uses and gratification