Antecedents of Retail Brand Equity: A Research on IKEA Brand

Abstract

Brand equity gets much attention from both academicians and practitioners because it has an important role in consumer buying behavior. It is especially important to determine the relationships between the brand equity and its antecedents in the retail industry, where the competition is severe, as it helps to get competitive advantage. Marketing strategies can be developed according to the relationships between the antecedents of the retailer brand equity. The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between the antecedents of retail brand equity of the brand IKEA by structural equation modelling and propose marketing strategies based on the model results. The sample of this study consists of consumers who live in the center of Bursa and have shopped from IKEA at least once. The data were collected by a structured questionnaire in June and July 2016. Findings of the research indicate that assortment, communication and service variables have positive effects on retail brand equity. Communication is found as the antecedent that has the biggest effect on retail brand equity.