The impact of customer engagement on retailer's brand equity components

Abstract

Strong brand equity is important for any business. Although the concept of brand equity has been studied in various fields, its analysis has not been as extensive in the retail sector. On the other hand, the analysis of engagement is gaining more importance in recent times. Customer engagement is an increasingly relevant and researched topic. However, studies that relate this concept to retail trade are not common. The present work aims to analyze the effect of engagement on the different components of retail brand equity. The a priori model considers the previous research and the proposed hypotheses. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis is performed, based on the data obtained through a structured questionnaire with closed questions and a 5-point Likert-type response scale. The study sample consists of 623 respondents. This study involved a conceptual model that includes the brand equity dimensions (awareness, perceived quality, image, perceived value, and loyalty) to gain the research goal. The hypothesized causal model relates the variables that make up brand equity and the engagement influence on them. The empirical analysis results showed that customer engagement positively affects all the components of the brand equity retailer (except its image), mainly concerning retailer awareness, loyalty, and perceived quality. The authors concluded that retailer awareness, loyalty towards the retailer, and retailer perceived quality are influenced by engagement. Consequently, it would be necessary for the retailer manager to pay special attention to creating actions that contribute to customers' engagement in the different areas of interaction with them, both online and at the physical point of sale. For future studies, the geographic space should be expanded, considering different regions or even countries and observing possible differences in the behavior of the interviewees.