Dissertation: Branding Effects on Consumer Purchase Decisions

This dissertation investigates the effects of branding on consumer purchase decisions, with a specific focus on Marks & Spencer. The study begins with an abstract, followed by an introduction that provides an overview of the topic, background of the research organization, problem statement, research questions, aims, objectives, and rationale. The literature review explores branding, consumer purchase decisions, and their relationship. The methodology section details the research approach. Findings and analysis are presented, followed by conclusions and recommendations. The research aims to identify how branding influences consumer behavior, particularly in the context of challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers insights into how brands can adapt to changing consumer preferences. The dissertation includes a comprehensive literature review, methodology, findings, and analysis to support its conclusions and recommendations.

Dissertation
(An investigation into the effects of branding on
consumer purchase decision)
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Abstract
Main aim of this dissertation is to identifying the effects of branding in changing purchase
decision of consumers towards the brand. In order to accomplish this aim, there are different
activities that have been completed from the researcher. Aim and objectives were developed for
completing full dissertation in systematic and in successful manner. Literature review was done
by gathering secondary data from articles, books, publication research and many more. These
helped investigator in attaining of all objectives successfully. Methodology section was
completed through different types of methods which are positivism philosophy, deductive
approach, quantitative choice, questionnaire and many more. These methods supported
investigator in gathering and evaluating of quantitative information within minimum period of
time. Data analysis was completed through frequency distribution analysis. This helped
researcher in evaluating of quantitative information easily and within minimum period of time.
Conclusion and recommendation was done by concluding entire information in systematic
manner. At last, recommendations were done by recommending information about the
improvement of topic.
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Contents
Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................2
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................4
Overview of the topic ..................................................................................................................4
Background of research organisation ..........................................................................................4
Problem statement........................................................................................................................5
Research questions ......................................................................................................................5
Research aim and objectives .......................................................................................................5
Rationale of the research .............................................................................................................5
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................7
Explanation about the branding and consumer purchase decision? ............................................7
What are the effective and useful ways for changing of consumers’ decision about the brand? 9
What are the relationship between branding and consumer decision making? ........................11
Methodology .................................................................................................................................13
Findings and analysis ....................................................................................................................19
Conclusion and recommendations ................................................................................................27
References .....................................................................................................................................30
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Introduction
Overview of the topic
Branding refers to the marketing practice within which an organisation makes name,
design or symbol that is easily identifiable as belonging to the business. In today’s dynamic
marketing landscape, brands have a broad range of uses for products, individuals and business.
In addition, brand is a design, name, symbol, term or many other feature, which identifies one
seller’s service or goods as distinct from those of other sellers. Therefore, branding is the art of
bring into line what customer think regarding the company and its products or services. Branding
is an important and essential part of the business success and growth at national as well as global
level. There are different advantages of branding in accordance to the consumer’s viewpoint and
seller’s viewpoint (Siali and et. al., 2019). According to the consumer’s viewpoint, there are
certain benefits of branding i.e. product quality, increased shopper efficiency, calls attention to
new products, decrease psychological risk etc. According to the view of sellers, brand loyalty,
trademark identification, decrease need for in-store contact and many more. Therefore, above
mentioned all these are major significance of branding that will be essential for company in
attainment of competitive advantages (Aggarwal, and Rahul, 2018). Along with this, branding is
also important in changing the consumer purchase decision towards the brand. Strong brand
position in marketplace facilitate an organisation in attraction of larger customer base within
minimum time period.
Background of research organisation
For this dissertation, Marks and Spencer is a chosen brand that is well-known for its
quality products or services. Company was founded in 1884 by Thomas Spencer and Michael
Marks, and headquartered in London, England, UK. Company is specialising in selling of
clothing, home and food products that mostly of its own brand name or label. M&S is a famous
and well-known brand name in all over the world, because of quality in their products or services
(Barreda, and et.al., 2016). Company has larger customer base that is important for them in
increment of their sales and profitability within less period of time. Company wants to increase
customer attraction towards their brand, with purpose of accomplishing competitive advantages
in successful manner (Lv, Jin and Huang, 2018). Along with this, customer have idea about the
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M&S brand and they are loyal towards their products and services. As it helps company in
changing of customers buying behaviour towards their product, services or brand.
Problem statement
Covid 19 is a biggest issue for each and every organisation. One of the main problem is
changing the customers buying behaviour towards the particular brand. In Covid 19 situation, no
one is able to go outside and purchase products. In this branding is important for changing
customer’s buying behaviour (Cascio, and Graham, 2016). For example: strong brand name of
company in marketplace automatically increase customer attention towards the product or
service. Thus, this is easy for company to change buying behaviour of their customers and
increase their sales. Therefore, Covid 19 is a major issue for all retailer i.e. Marks & Spencer.
This situation has negative impact on their sales as well as brand image. For overcoming this
issue, current dissertation will be conducted in systematic and successful manner (POTURAK
and SOFTIC, 2019).
Research questions
 Explanation about the branding and consumer purchase decision?
 What are the effective and useful ways for changing of consumers’ decision about the
brand?
 What are the relationship between branding and consumer decision making?
Research aim and objectives
Research aim:
“To identify the effects of branding in changing purchase decision of consumers towards
the brand”. A study on Marks & Spencer.
Research Objectives
 “To develop basis knowledge about the branding and consumer purchase decision”.
 “To explore ways for changing of consumers’ decision about the brand”.
 “To determine the relationship between branding and consumer decision making”.
Rationale of the research
Main rationale behind selection of current topic or research is to determining the issues
faced by company during Covid 19 situation (Chakravarty, 2017). This issues are related with
the customer’s buying behaviour, sales and profitability (Prasad, Garg and Prasad, 2019).
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Therefore, this is a main purpose of conducting this dissertation. Along with this, current
investigation or topic is important for different stakeholders i.e. organisation, industry, an
individual etc. This dissertation helps an individual in improve their different types of skills that
includes presentation, data collection, data analysis, time management and many more. All these
skills are essential for an individual or researcher in completing of each activity of dissertation in
successful and systematic manner (Chen, Lu, and Wang, 2017). this dissertation is also
significant for organisations or industries by improving their knowledge regarding the
effectiveness of branding in changing of customer’s buying behaviour. Therefore, current topic
or dissertation is important for all stakeholders.
Research gap: Research gap within current investigation (Dinnie, 2015). In previous
investigations, there were lots of data available regarding the importance of branding for an
organisation, but there were missing data about the effectiveness of branding in changing of
customer’s buying behaviour. This is a main gap of the current investigation and for fulfilling
this, research questions is followed within literature review section.
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Literature Review
Literature review introduces to the systematic process used for gathering data from
secondary sources which are articles, peer-reviewed articles, books and many other sources
applicable to the research title.
Explanation about the branding and consumer purchase decision?
According to the Favier, Celhay and Pantin-Sohier (2019), Branding is the part of
marketing process in this process companies create name, symbols, designs for their product then
they are identified as the company's belonging. Branding comes in process of identification and
differentiation of products from the products of competitors in the market. It is important
because branding helps in leaving an impression on customers. Clients and customers can clearly
know what all they should expect from the company. Brand building is important because it
represents the company's products and services across the world. It is the way through which
consumers differentiate your company's product with other company's product in the market.
Many techniques are used to build the branding those are advertisement, promotional techniques,
customer service etc., these all together work to build a strong brand different from the other
brands in the market. It is the critical process because it increases the sale of the company and
increases the branding awareness (Hamilton, and et. al., 2019). It creates the new business for the
company. It helps in shaping the brand with the branding, it is done to attract customer’s
attention. It can leave such type of attention that can convert the first time buyer into forever
customer for the brand. Now branding is much more than just a logo and a look. Brand gives the
set of thoughts which customers have about the company. The set of actions taken to shaper the
company's brand is definitely a branding. Branding is important for a company in following
ways:
1. Competitive advantage- Branding helps in establishing the products in different ways
through which customer can differentiate the product from the competitors (Yu and
Yuan, 2019). Branding makes the product different and unique.
2. Building brand recognition- For becoming successful brand, the brand should be
recognized by the mass people. With the help of impactful logo, attractive designs of
website the brand is recognized in the mind of customers.
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3. Establishing relation- Branding helps in creating a spark between the company and the
customers (Favier, Celhay, and Pantin-Sohier, 2019). Branding creates an emotional
relation with the customer and this emotional relation converts prospect into a customer
and after that a customer into a forever customer of the company's product. Various
branding strategies are formed to establish this relationship like catching punch line or
tag line for the product. It helps in creating a deeper connection with the customers.
CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION-
Consumer purchase decision is the process helps in identifying how consumer goes
through the journey of knowing the product to making the decision of purchase of the product. It
is necessary to have an understanding of the purchasing process of the buyer in order to do
marketing and creating sales for the company (Karavatzis, Giovanardi, and Lichrou, eds.,
2017). The consumer purchase decision enables the company to set marketing plan which
convince the purchaser to buy the company's product and services. Before purchasing of the
product or uses of services the consumer makes some decisions, it involves:
 The first stages are need recognition or problem recognition, where customer recognizes
the need of the particular product and they try to satisfy the need of that particular
product from the available products or brands in the market.
 In the second stage the customer searches the information for the product. They search all
the possible alternatives of the brands available in the market.
 In the third stage the consumer uses all the gathered information for the evaluation of
alternative brands (Kumar, and et.al, 2019).
 In the fourth stage the customer makes its final decision for the product which is most
suitable for him or her.
Importance of consumer purchase decision-
1.Consumer purchase decision is important because it helps to choose the best alternative from
the different alternatives in the market.
2. It clearly mentions the needs of the customers and can provide goods and services according
to the customer's requirement (Liow, and Chai, 2015).
3.It helps in building emotional attachment between the customers and brand, which means the
brand fulfils the need of the customers and in return customers recommend the brand to their
friends and relatives.
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Branding in today's scenario has become a status symbol. There are different customers across
the world and there is more preference for branded products. Marks and Spencer is a well
reputed brand and this is increasing the attraction level of customers. There is great affect of
brand on the consumer buying behavior (Lv, Jin, and Huang, 2018). It is seen that within the
fashion industry, there are lot of firms which are working for increasing the profit share and
maximizing the company benefits. There are different marketers who develop competitive
advantage within market. This helps in managing the brand and working for interest of
customers. Consumer attitude has become an essential part of the market research and it is used
for developing positive attitude and leading the sustenance of competitive advantage within
market (Mishra, Singh, and Koles, 2020). There is need to develop new strategies and
techniques to increase market share. For the betterment of financial aspect of company, it is seen
that branding is done for formation of effective communication.
What are the effective and useful ways for changing of consumers’ decision about the brand?
By making changes in social conversations- Social media conversations is the method
used by the companies to connect with the customers in the surroundings. It is the easiest media
to connect with the more people in the less time. But the users of the social media use it to
connect with their relatives and friends. But social media does not influence the purchasing of
the customer, last to last they will check the reviews of the different products. So it is advisable
that the company should focus on existing customers and these existing customers should convey
the brand to their known people it may be their family, relatives or friends (POTURAK, and
SOFTIC, 2019).
24/7 available- The brand should focus on becoming available to the customers 24/7, if a
customer raises a query then he needs solution within 60 minutes it is proven in a survey done by
the America. So, it can make the brand to keep in touch with the customers all the time.
Engagement through different modes – The brand should give equal importance to the
offline engagement as well as online engagement (Ismagilova and et. al., 2020). Because there
are people who are not active on online media platforms whereas there are people who are more
active social media platforms.
Concentration on future now- Identification of the aims and goals of the future and the skills
required to achieve these aims and goals successfully. To take steps to promote interaction with
the prospects, to not only keep in touch but also to anticipate changes in future.
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Evaluation of the processes- It is important to identify changes in processes for the effective
monitoring and responding to changes in the behavior of the buyer (Prasad, Garg, and Prasad,
2019). If some processes that the company is following from many years then they should
evaluate whether the company is getting the customer engagement from that particular process or
not.
The consumer purchasing behavior is one of the greatest challenge that is managed by
companies. The relation between customer and brand is very important as it helps to manage the
working abilities of companies in developing effective operations (Hamilton and et. al., 2019).
For assessing customer loyalty, there is need for companies to manage the relation of purchase
patterns. The customer behavior is defined as continuous management of companies. There is
need to manage the loyalty as well as trust among customers as it will help in managing
effectiveness of brands. In context of Marks and Spencer, it is analyzed that there is need of
enhancing customer trust and loyalty (Siali, and et. al., 2019). All the products of M&S are
developed after the research which shows the result of managing beliefs of customers.
What are the relationship between branding and consumer decision making?
Nowadays branding is not only limited to the representation of the products or services of the
company but it has the very strong association with the quality, lifestyle of the customers, tastes,
preferences etc. Branding influences the consumer decision making through different ways some
of them are:
1. Loyalty of the brand- If the brands are loyal towards its customers then the customers
automatically attracts towards the brand's product. Brands prove their loyalty by
providing the goods and services according to the need and preferences of the customers
(Xiao, Guo, Yu, and Liu, 2019). When customer buys the product for trial the brand
should focus on fulfilling the customer's needs and wants and when the customer gets
satisfied with the brand then they will keep on coming back to the brand.
2. Quality- The most important character for any brand is quality of the product. Quality is
the fundamental requirement from the brand's product. When quality of the product is
according to the expectation of the consumers, they will come back to the brand for the
fulfillment of their needs and wants from the product (Augusto and Torres, 2018). When
quality of the product is good then the company also charge premium prices which will
increase the profits of the company.
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3. Reducing prices- Brands can influence consumer decision making by reducing the prices
of the product. The customers get attracted towards those brands which give high quality
products with the low prices. Customers are willing to pay to those brands which give
low priced products.
4. Advertisement- Brands should focus on the advertisement of the products and services of
the company because advertisement gives the knowledge of the product or services to the
customers (Jain and et. al., 2018). The basic idea of the product can be received through
the advertisement to the customers.
On the other hand there are negative impact of poor branding in customer purchasing
decision, these are lack of customer base, reduces productivity and performance, decreases sales,
reduces market image or goodwill etc. All of these defined as below:
1. Lack of customer base- When brands are not that popular among the people in the
market then that particular brand has to suffer the disadvantage of lack of customer’s
base. And sometimes brand is not capable enough to do successful branding which
creates the disadvantage of lack of customer base.
2. Decrease sale- When brands have low customer base it ultimately decreases the sales of
the company. This is the basic rule when the brand has large customer base it increases
the sales of the company whereas the brands which have low customer base has to suffer
the disadvantage of low sales.
3. Reduces market image or goodwill- Brands that do not have strong customer base and
low sales reduce the image or goodwill in the market. The customers only get attracted to
those brands which have great market image or goodwill in the market.
4. Reduces productivity and performance- When brands have low customer base, low sales
and not so great goodwill in the market then the productivity and performance of the
employees reduce. They do not get the motivation to work with the full potential and
which ultimately reduces the productivity of the brand.
In the present time brand is not only represent good and service or organisation but also
have strong and effective association with quality and represent customer lifestyle, social class,
living of standard and many more. When people go for purchasing they usually choose brands
product because of their name and their quality. In which brand image play a vital role in
customer purchasing decision. Brand image usually drive a perception on customer mind like
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brands product are long life due to their quality and product sustainability. In present time brand
name is the tool which change people's buying decision. Brand image create positive relationship
with product and influence buyer's (Akbari, Gholizadeh and Zomorrodi, 2018). As per context
with Marks and Spencer, organisation established their brand image in market. Their product and
service have quality and effective price which attract number of customer to buy their product.
Marks and Spencer have effective pricing decision that enable customer to visit again and again.
This factor enhance lifestyle of people by attracting them towards the brand. It helps in saving up
of time of customers for choosing various product range available in the market, it gives clear
knowledge to the customers what to purchase. Marks and Spencer use this tactic to promote their
product and change the buying decision of customer.
Research objectives in relation to this research
There is need to understand the requirement of branding clothes and increasing the importance of
direct relationship with customers. Few marketers are there who are getting competitive
advantage and plays an imperative role within success of companies. Products are defined as the
things which are made by companies (Mathew, and Thomas, 2018). There are several marketers
who are choosing branding for distinguishing the offerings of similar products and services
which are provided by competitors. The concept of branding is defined as a tool or strategy
which are build for maintaining long term relationship with the customers. There are different
scenarios where differentiation strategy is used for selling products which are not easily
distinguished in context of tangible characteristics.
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