Branding has become increasingly important in order to distinguish a brand from numerous competitors in the fashion industry. An effective way to differentiate the brand from others has shown to be through the brand image, which is why managers should work on sustaining a positive brand image. Managing brand image through different sales channels has become even more important due to the rise of multi-channels. The integration and effort of offline and online channels can result in both enhanced purchase intention and brand image. Previous literature has shown how purchase intention can be derived from the level of congruity between the consumer’s self-image and the brand’s image. Despite this, most previous research is conducted from a company perspective, why this research intends to provide theoretical contributions from a consumer perspective. This is particularly important for fashion brands, as for the ever-changing and highly competitive characteristics of the fashion market. Furthermore, an understanding of consumers’ perception of brand image in different sales channels has been missing in previous research. Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate how consumers perceive brand image of multi-channel fashion companies for the purpose of providing insight into how brand image should be managed through different channels. Using a qualitative perspective, this explorative research conducts ten semi-structured interviews with women and men between the ages of 18 and 63, that are experienced within fashion consumption in online and offline channels. Analysis of the research findings indicates that there are 13 attributes that consumers consider as most prominent for brand image; six offline attributes and seven online attributes. For the offline image, it emerges that the surrounding environment, products and collections, price and value, store personnel and service, reputation are prominent attributes. For online, easy access and navigation, design and aesthetics, merchandise description, price and value, communication, services and reputation are prominent. It is also found that interviewees find it highly important that the image is consistent through different channels so that the brand conveys a holistic image.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-23786 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Kleist, Sofia, Lindstedt, Linnéa |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Borås, Akademin för textil, teknik och ekonomi, Högskolan i Borås, Akademin för textil, teknik och ekonomi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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