Brand Relationships on Retailing: The Impact of Image on Behavioral Intentions of Consumers

Abstract

The electronics retail market has been growing in a remarkable way. On the other hand, the strong competition in retail and the fact that the same retailers sell products of similar brands and models, poses a
significant challenge for its differentiation. That's the purpose of this work, which aims at proposing a scale that measures these retailers' image, identifying the factors that impacted this image the most, as well as verifying the possible impacts of the image in the consumers' behavioral intentions. Thus, 48 detailed interviews and 4 discussion groups were carried out plus 490 questionnaires. After the scales were validated, a structural model was tested. It was observed that that the Instrumental elements, followed by the factors Products and Appearance/ Assistance in the Store were the ones that caused the biggest impact in the retailer's Image. On the other hand, the Image presented a high impact in the purchase intention and word of mouth communication, which is determinant for these retailers' performance in the market. The article contributes with the development of Image scale for Electronics' Retailers as well as in the evidence of the significant impacts of this image in the behavioral intentions. The image scale can also be applied by retailers in a managerial way as an image diagnosis and comparative measurement with competitors.