Do Brands and Branding Really Affect Consumer Behaviour?
Main Article Content
Abstract
Brands and branding have long been considered central to marketing strategy, shaping how consumers perceive, evaluate, and choose products. This paper examines the extent to which brands and branding influence consumer behaviour in both global and Indian contexts. Drawing upon established consumer behaviour theories and brand equity models, the study explores the psychological, cultural, and economic mechanisms through which branding impacts decision-making. Global case studies illustrate how strong brands command loyalty, premium pricing, and advocacy, while Indian market examples demonstrate the evolving relationship between branding and consumer expectations in a rapidly digitising economy. The analysis also considers limitations, such as price sensitivity and brand fatigue, before projecting future trends driven by technology, sustainability, and personalised marketing. Findings suggest that branding significantly affects consumer behaviour, but its influence is contingent upon trust, relevance, and the brand’s ability to adapt to changing socio-economic realities.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Aaker, D. A. (1991). Managing Brand Equity. New York: Free Press.
Berthon, P., Pitt, L., & Campbell, C. (2009). Does brand meaning exist in similarity or singularity? Journal of Business Research, 62(3), 356–361.
Bian, X., & Moutinho, L. (2011). The role of brand image, product involvement, and knowledge in explaining consumer purchase behaviour of counterfeits. European Journal of Marketing, 45(1/2), 191–216.
Biel, A. L. (1992). How brand image drives brand equity. Journal of Advertising Research, 32(6), 6–12.
Chattopadhyay, A., & Batra, R. (2012). The New Emerging Market Multinationals: Four Strategies for Disrupting Markets and Building Brands. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Chaudhuri, A., & Holbrook, M. B. (2001). The chain of effects from brand trust and brand affect to brand performance: The role of brand loyalty. Journal of Marketing, 65(2), 81–93.
Delgado-Ballester, E., & Munuera-Alemán, J. L. (2005). Does brand trust matter to brand equity? Journal of Product & Brand Management, 14(3), 187–196.
De Mooij, M. (2010). Global Marketing and Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Erdem, T., & Swait, J. (2004). Brand credibility, brand consideration, and choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1), 191–198.
Freberg, K., Graham, K., McGaughey, K., & Freberg, L. A. (2011). Who are the social media influencers? Public Relations Review, 37(1), 90–92.
Holt, D. B. (2004). How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1–22.
Keller, K. L. (2013). Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity (4th ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing Management (15th ed.). Pearson Education.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396.
Nagar, K. (2016). Consumer involvement and brand switching behaviour. Asia-Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 28(2), 284–302.
Quelch, J. A., & Jocz, K. E. (2012). All Business is Local: Why Place Matters More Than Ever in a Global, Virtual World. New York: Portfolio.
Rao, H. (2010). The social construction of reputation: Certification contests, legitimation, and the survival of organizations in the American automobile industry. Strategic Management Journal, 15(1), 29–44.
Scholz, J., & Smith, A. N. (2016). Augmented reality: Designing immersive experiences that maximize consumer engagement. Business Horizons, 59(2), 149–161.
Sengupta, S. (2005). Brand Positioning: Strategies for Competitive Advantage. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
Shukla, P. (2010). Status consumption in cross-national context: Socio-psychological, brand and situational antecedents. International Marketing Review, 27(1), 108–129.
Strong, E. K. (1925). Theories of selling. Journal of Applied Psychology, 9(1), 75–86.
Verhoef, P. C., Kannan, P. K., & Inman, J. J. (2015). From multi-channel retailing to omni-channel retailing. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), 174–181.
Wedel, M., & Kannan, P. K. (2016). Marketing analytics for data-rich environments. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 97–121.