Retail Brand Equity: A Customer-Based Analysis

Brand equity is considered as a crucial factor in the academic literature as well as in the professional practice. This paper aims at contributing to research on brand equity in retailing (Rbe), examining the nature of the construct and of some of its antecedents, together with its mediating role in developing customer loyalty to the retailer. In this sense, the paper develops the scientific knowledge on Rbe, investigating it at the retailer as a brand level rather than at the store level as previous literature did so far. To this aim, an integrative model is proposed. A survey is carried out on a sample of retail customers. Structural equation modeling (Sem) is employed to test the postulated model. Results confirm that retail brand awareness and retail perceived value are important retail brand equity dimensions, while trust and consumer self-esteem do not play any direct role, but trust directly impacts customer loyalty to the retailer. Additionally, this study confirms the role of retail brand equity as a mediator on customer loyalty to the retailer. Theoretical and managerial implications are derived.