Dissertation: Branding Impact on Customer Buying Behaviour (Armani)

This dissertation investigates the influence of branding on customer buying behavior, with a specific focus on the luxury fashion house, Giorgio Armani. The research delves into the concept of branding, defining it as the process of creating a unique image and name for a product or service, primarily through marketing campaigns. The study explores how branding impacts customer loyalty, trust, and social status, ultimately affecting purchasing decisions. The literature review examines how brand image fosters customer recognition, credibility, and loyalty, while the methodology outlines the research approach. The dissertation aims to demonstrate the significance of branding on customer behavior, providing insights into how companies like Armani can cultivate brand image and customer loyalty in a competitive market. The study's objectives include explaining the importance of branding in marketing and examining its impact on customer buying behavior, addressing research questions related to brand image, customer trust, social status, and brand attraction.

DISSERTATION

Table of Contents
TOPIC:-............................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1 :- INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................1
Overview of research:-...........................................................................................................1
Background of research:-.......................................................................................................2
Rationales of investigation:-...................................................................................................2
Research aim:-........................................................................................................................3
Research Objective:-..............................................................................................................3
Research Questions:- .............................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2 :- LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................3
The brand image create customer’s loyalty............................................................................4
The brand create or inspire trust in customers........................................................................5
Branding show the social status and affect the buying behaviour of the customer................7
Brand attract more customers than similar industry brands...................................................9
CHAPTER 3: RESERACH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

TOPIC:-
“The impact of branding on customers’ buying behaviour: A case study of Giorgio Armani”
CHAPTER 1 :- INTRODUCTION
Branding is defined as the process that work toward creating a unique image as well as
name in front of its consumer regarding the product or services offered by a company with the
help of advertisement campaign or other promotional activities (Das, 2014). It aims toward
establishing a significant and differentiated presence in market that support in attracting and
retaining the loyal customer for longer period of time.
Overview of research:-
Branding is a technique that is used by several companies for distinguish its product from
that of other competitors. This in turn influencing the manner in which a customer purchase
particular product or service as branding has a direct influence over the choice as well as buying
behaviour of customers. This is so because brand is considered as unicity of product as well as
services that are designed to satisfy the need and expectation of customer in a specific manner.
The brand determine the manner in which a customer perceive a particular company as the brand
creates a image in the mind of customer and because of which customer flock to stores and line
up to get the newest product from that particular brand. Organisation perform several activities in
order to promote its product or services which in turn help in increasing the brand recognition
among customer. This in turn help an organisation to change the mindset of customers for
affecting their buying decision by making one's product different from others in front of them.
Despite of all these, quality of services offered by a company also has a great influence
over its brand image in front of customer as it help in getting their trust in the offerings of an
organisation. This in turn support an organisation to create a positive image of brand in front of
customers, which results into getting regular visit for repurchasing of company's product or
services (Dhurup, Mafini and Dumasi, 2014). The base of loyal customer also support an
organisation to increase its customer base by promoting brand with positive mouth publicity.
This in turn help organisation in enhancing its sales as well as profitability. Hence, it can be said
that branding has a direct influence over customer behaviour which they exert while purchasing
particular product or services.
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Background of research:-
The branding of product or services has a direct impact over the mindset of customer
which influence them to make a decision on purchasing of a particular product or services. In
order to investigate this topic, Giorgio Armani company is taken into consideration within this
dissertation. Giorgio Armani S.p.A. is an Italian luxury fashion house which was founded by
Giorgio Armani that manufacture, design, retail and distribute ready-to-wear, shoes, watches,
leather goods, accessories, eye-wear, home interior and cosmetics. It provide products under the
brand name of Giorgio Armani Privé, Armani Collezioni, Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani,
Armani Jeans, Armani Exchange and Armani Junior (Chinomona, 2016). The brand utilizes the
association of name Armani with high-fashion for getting benefited from its prestige within the
fashion industry. This in turn support Armani to get recognised throughout the world as a greater
fashion company that support in improving the lifestyle of customers by providing them high
class products.
The main reason behind the success of company is that it mainly focuses toward
promoting its brand either through performing several promotional activities like advertisement
or by providing high quality services to gain the trust of customers. These all support Giorgio
Armani S.p.A. in branding its image in positive manner through which it become able to deal
with higher competition available in marketplace. Despite of all this, the quality of services has
supported Giorgio Armani S.p.A. in enhancing its brand recognition among the customer as a
trendy fashion retailer has improved its market share by attracting larger number of customer
toward it (Manhas and Tukamushaba, 2015). This is because it help in forming up a locus of its
brand in the mind of customer which get connected with their feelings as they stated looking
Armani as the presentor of their lifestyle among social group to which they belongs. Hence, in
this manner the branding of Giorgio Armani S.p.A. influence the customer behaviour and make
them loyal toward the brand as they choose Armani over the other brand available in
marketplace.
Rationales of investigation:-
The current report is based on the topic “The impact of branding on customers’ buying
behaviour”. The main purpose of choosing this topic for investigation is that it support in
enhancing the knowledge of Giorgio Armani's top management as well as employees regarding
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the importance of brand image and manner in which it support in increasing the base of loyal
customers (Mohd Suki, 2016). The selected topic is very important as in today's competitive
environment, brand image is the only source through which an organisation can achieve
competitive edge at marketplace. With the help of this information, Giorgio Armani would be
able to determine several different ways through which they can improve their brand image and
create loyalty among customers that in turn support in achieving sustainability at marketplace.
Despite of all this, it will also enhance the knowledge of researcher regarding the company and
manner in which it operates that support in future career goals.
Research aim:-
The aim of this dissertation is to demonstrate the importance of branding on customer
behaviour by conducting investigation on Giorgio Armani S.p.A.
Research Objective:-
 To explain the meaning of branding and the importance of this in the marketing sector.
 To examine the impact of customer buying behaviour in contact with a well-known
brand.
Research Questions:-
 How can brand image create customer’s loyalty?
 How can the brand create or inspire trust in customers?
 Can branding show the social status and how can this affect the buying behaviour of the
customer?
 Why does a particular brand attract more customers than similar industry brands?
CHAPTER 2 :- LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is defined as the process of evaluating the information which is already
available at sources like books, journals, articles, newspapers etc. in order to ascertain the data
regarding particular topic of concern. The critical review and evaluation of author's point of view
support in developing an understanding regarding particular topic (Malik and Guptha, 2014).
This information support a researcher in creating a base over the topic on which investigation
will be performed by assessing the already available information so that it can be expanded
further by using primary information. With the help of this, researcher can represent the primary
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data effectively by evidencing it by the existence of information from secondary research so that
data can be presented in more efficient and authentic manner.
The brand image create customer’s loyalty
According to the view point of Martin, 2018, brand is not just a company's logo but it is
an image which get developed in the mind of consumer for increasing the reputation as well as
awareness of an organisation. Building up of brand image support in increasing the loyalty of
customer toward the company and every time when it launches a product the brand image get
increased in market. The main aim of company behind the branding is to convey a message
among its customers that the brand exists and they will get exactly what it has been promised to
them. Thus, brand image support them in creating loyalty among customer in following manner:
 Creating Recognition:- The foremost reason of branding is that it help in creating
familiarity among the larger group of people for instance, the moment an individual come
in contact with a bitten apple, they get sure that the company name is Apple. Hence,
creating this type of awareness using a simple logo is what that called branding. This
support in launching the brand among customer in order to provide them the positive
feeling about the company which foster them to purchase a particular product or services
that are being produce by particular brand. This is because by mentioning the name or
logo of brand, the people get connected immediately. This is the reason Armani get
famous among larger number of customer worldwide which help in growth of company.
As the positive recognition and experience of customer influence others to purchase
product from similar brand.
 Credibility attract customer:- Branding support an organisation in adding credibility
and unite the customers with the brand. The credibility of an organisation help in
keeping an image of brand in front of customer regarding how well it is performing and
quality it offers in market place. The credibility support a brand to earn higher goodwill
among customer and be able to develop loyalty among them. The Giorgio Armani
generally uses statistical information, customer reviews and quick customer services as
the strategies to improve its brand image as well as credibility of company. These factors
in turn support toward attracting customer again for repurchasing and developing trust
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among them toward the brand. This support Giorgio Armani in increasing its customer
base and develop loyalty among them in term of its services.
On the other side according to the view point of Solomon Thimothy, 2016, Brand image
helps in creating the impression of business and brand on customer which is based on variety of
factors such as website, business card, staff appearance, quality of services, problem handling
and ambience of stores. These all support in creating a positive brand image in front of
customers which in turn help in maintaining a long term relationship with them throughout every
interaction of consumer with your brand. This in turn support Giorgio Armani to create loyal
customers by providing them services as per their need and expectation which support them in
providing some factors over which customers can compare different brands and choose it over
others.
Therefore, it can be said that brand image is consider as a paramount that support in
building up the credibility and loyalty among potential customers. The Giorgio Armani
continuously focuses over maintaining the stable brand image by regularly adding some new
benefit to its services that support in contributing toward improving customer relationship. For
instance, the designers of Giorgio Armani always tries to bring on new or fresh designs
according to trend in order to remain always first at the list of customer choice. The main rule of
creating positive brand image is that more often a brand fulfil its promise, the easier it become
for customer to remember brand and what it offers. For achieving this, Giorgio Armani focuses
toward providing high quality customer services so that it become able to gain the trust of its
market base and create loyalty among them. In addition to this, it also encourage its employees to
build up relationship with customers in positive manner to increase the base of loyal consumers.
So that they remains connected with company for longer period of time and support it in
achieving competitive edge at marketplace.
The brand create or inspire trust in customers
As per the view point of Thomas Smale, 2017, when an organisation have prospects and
trust of customers then there are more likely chances of getting purchased by them. When an
organisation have trust of its customer then it can command higher prices in market and also able
to boost up the lifetime value of every consumers within marketplace. But this is not an easy
task as a company have to remain consistent in its interaction with customer, understanding the
buyer and delivering product or services as per the promises made to them. The main reason
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behind the success as well as sustainability of Giorgio Armani is that it focuses toward gaining
the trust and loyalty of its customer by offering products as per their expectation and demand.
For achieving the trust of customer, following strategies are used by Giorgio Armani:
 Remain accessible:- The Giorgio Armani always try to remain available for its customer
and interact with them by solving queries by remain active over customer support
services. This in turn support company to enhance its credibility in front of customer by
representing them importance and priority that they holds for the company. In order to
perform this, Giorgio Armani provide an option in online shopping that customer can
give their feedback over product or can right their queries that are quickly addressed by
the customers. In addition to this for store services, customers can directly interact with
the staff members available there and issues faced by them get resolved by team as
quickly as possible.
 Creating value for client:- An organisation become able to create value among its
customer only when they put them first rather then revenue. This factors attract customer
toward purchasing its product or services as it help in building up their trust for
organisation. The Giorgio Armani focuses toward creating value among customer by
providing several benefits to them when they choose this brand over others. The mainly
used strategy for creating value among customer is providing after sale services where
they are provided with an option to exchange or get alteration in product when they find
any sort of issue in them. This help in creating value and good brand image among
customer which increases the chance of customer revisit that in turn support in building
up their trust among company.
 Maintain consistency:- It is a factor which ensures that your customer must know that
they what they must expect from company. For this organisation must set both internal
as well as external goals in order to maintain the quality of services. This is because the
consistent brand image helps in enhancing the overall value of an organisation by
reinforcing its position at marketplace, attracting more customers with higher retention
rate and increasing the perceived value of product or services. The Giorgio Armani
focuses toward maintaining consistency with the help of its promotional activities in
which it keep message should be an extension of its action and behaviour. While delivery
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message to its target market Giorgio Armani promises that it has the capability to fulfil
despite of creating fake promises to attract new customers.
On the other hand, according to the view point of Geoffrey James, 2018, customer do not
purchase product or services from the person or brand whom they don't trust. This is because the
purchasing decision of a customer depends on three main factors such as convince, quality and
perception of others. These three factors can only be achieve by a company when it gain the trust
of customers and for achieving this, a company have to follow certain rules of trust building that
are mentioned below:
Be yourself:- For an organisation, it is very essential to be represent or communicate
with its customer only the factor which it actually performs within its operations. This means a
company must not mislead the people in order to attract them and increase sale rather then
represent the actual image of company. The Giorgio Armani is a well known brand which
represent the most true side of it, as company deliver the same quality in term of its product for
which it promises in promotional activities to customer. It remains transparent in term of
providing information to customers so that company become able to gain their trust by forming
up an positive brand image.
Keep an open mind:- An organisation must try to be open in term of experience as well
as changes within their services as skipping of this doesn't lead company to improve in term of
its operations. Instead by getting open minded customer being served much better manner then
before. The Giorgio Armani is an organisation that focuses toward bringing changes in its
products by assessing the external environment and trends present over there in order to
continuously make improvement over their products for keeping customers stick to brand. This
in turn support Giorgio Armani in fulfilling the changing need and expectation of customers
much effectively which in turn support company to gain trust of customers and be able to
maintain long term relationship.
Branding show the social status and affect the buying behaviour of the customer
As per the view point of Chinomona, 2016, branding plays a crucial role within the
growth and success of a company as it get connected to the emotions and feeling of a customer.
This is because positive brand name of a company and its product support a customer to make up
its new image and status within the society as well as reference group in which they resides.
Branding of a company refers to the image as well as importance that it holds within the mind of
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a people. By proper branding, an organisation become able to being a part of customer's life as
when a brand become able to satisfy the need of its customer. This is because when a brand
serves customer as per their need and expectation, they started looking particular brand as the
mark or sign of their status within the society. Hence, in turn affect the buying pattern of
customers as when a product or services offered by a particular brand support a person to get
recognised among its reference group it become the loyal toward the brand. In addition to this
they started become the regular purchase of that brand's product or services and also suggest
others to purchase from that particular brand by performing positive mouth publicity of its
offerings. This is the main reason behind the success of Giorgio Armani as the marketers of the
brand focuses toward and much care about the social identify of its customers in order to link it
with its product or services. This is done by advertising the fashion products offered by Giorgio
Armani by representing it in a manner that wearing the product of such brand support customers
in improving their identity among their reference group. The promotional advertisement of
Giorgio Armani work toward creating an urge or expectation among customers regarding a
particular identity that they want to achieve in society. It is so because the fashion is consider as
much easier way for the community to determine one's social class. This in turn motivate them to
fulfil their expectation by getting connected with brand through the use of product or services
they offers as it help them in improving their social statement among other once they connected
with the particular brand.
On the other side as per the view point of Guy Champniss, Hugh N. Wilson and Emma
K. Macdonald, 2015, people are said to be highly social animal and belongs with many social
groups in which each are with different identity which influence the way they resides and
manner in which they perform particular action. Therefore the social identity is very important
for a marketer as it guide a person's behaviour at each moment of life. In addition to this when it
come to purchase, the group through which a particular person get identified becomes a very
important factor of decision making while this transaction. It happens because of social mobility
where the passage of individual belongs to one social class try to improve their position and
forming a place which is quite similar to other social group or class. Hence, the desire of an
individual to improve its lifestyle have a direct influence over the purchasing behaviour of
customers. This is the reason the customer's expectation as well as social identity it holds have a
huge impact over the marketing plan and on the bases of its a particular company performing its
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brand. When it come to such a big fashion retailer Giorgio Armani, the social status of
customers become a most essential features as a part of branding process. This is because fashion
products are the one that aids up in complimenting an individual s personality and also help them
in getting a social statement among larger number of people. Giorgio Armani has created its
brand in similar manner by providing larger number of fashion product options to customers
through which they can purchase and become able to maintain their better statement among other
people belongs to similar social group. Hence, it can be said that branding get connected with the
social status of customers which in turn affect the buying behaviour of individual.
Brand attract more customers than similar industry brands
According to the view point of Das, 2014, a brand become the priority of a customer
when it is having higher goodwill and most positive reviews from the existing customers as the
purchasing behaviour of an individual usually depends over the thinking, experience, suggestions
etc. of a reference group to which a purchaser belongs. The main reason behind the success of
one brand over other is all about most positive experience that it exert to its customers and brand
equity that organisation holds. The Giorgio Armani is also a biggest retailer brand brand that
competitive with several other brand under the fashion industry are ZARA, Marks & Spencer,
John Lewis and many more which gives up a tough competition and also ready to capture one
another's customers by offering high quality of services. But think that make Giorgio Armani
different from others is the brand equity as well as loyal customers it holds from longer period of
time. These all become possible for it because of effective marketing strategy it uses in order to
achieving sustainability at marketplace. As per the view point of Dan Butcher, 2019, Armani has
started using mobile as a channel for marketing its product or services in order to offer its
customer seamless brand experience by categorising the product on the bases of demographical
sections. The easier availability of company's product help in attracting customers toward the
brand.
According to the view point of Aurora Fiorentini, 2019, there are number of factors that
supported Giorgio Armani in improving its image at marketplace in front of customers. This in
turn also supported Giorgio Armani to become the first choice of customers over the other
competitive brand such as John Lewis, ZARA etc. These factors are,
 International Recognition:- The secret behind the success of Armani seems to be
achieved from the day it introduce new approach of clothing design which includes a
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