Author(s): Deepak Babu, George A.P
This paper tries to explain the direct effect of factors related to brand like brand image, brand experience and brand trust on concepts of customer satisfaction and repurchase intention among the customers of deodorant brands. It also examines facilitating consequence of consumer satisfaction on the brand-related factors-repurchase intention continuum and explores the controlling effect of brand parity on the proposed relationship between brand related factors and repurchase intention of consumers. The result specifies that all the brand associated factors have direct and statistically significant effect on consumer satisfaction and repurchase intention of an individual but the effect of brand experience is the highest of all. The result also shows very significant controlling effect of brand parity on the proposed association indicating that when the consumers perceive parity among the brands in the product category, their level of satisfaction and intention to repurchase drastically declines. It is therefore suggested that the brand owners must create a unique brand proposition and differentiate their brands from the competitors not only to minimize parity perception but also to retain customer loyalty to their brands. The paper contributes on two different aspects from a methodological view where it validates brand parity effects through conditional Process analysis and also from the theoretical point of view, the paper empirically validates the effect of brand parity on a set of variables and adds valuable extension to the existing literature.