Brand Equity In The Fashion Industry

MANAGEMENT DISCIPLINE

A STUDY ON RETAIL BRAND EQUITY IN FASHION INDUSTRY- CUSTOMERS’ PERSPECTIVE

AIM OF THE RESEARCH

The research aims to investigate from customers’ perspective how the dimensions of fashion retailers in Trichy District impact on the value of known fashion Brands and the stores that market them(Retail Brands).

The Objectives of the study are

1. To study the profile of respondents in Trichy District.

2. To identifywhich elements of Assortment factor influence customers in choosing a particular store.

3. To study whether familiar and pleasant environment (Ambience factor) will have good valuation of stores among respondents.

4. Todetermine components of price factor (constant, reasonable, quality/price ratio and assortments

The American Marketing Association defines brand equity as ―The value of a brand. From a consumer perspective, brand equity is based on consumer attitudes about positive brand attributes and favorable consequences of brand use. Branding expert David Aaker defined brand equity as ―A set of assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol that adds to or subtracts from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm‘s customers[13].Brand Equity was the one coined by David Ogilvy, when he said many years ago: A brand is the consumer 's idea of a product. Thus many researchers focus on brand image for measuring brand equity,since it can be manipulated by associations and attitude(that is brand image)[8].Keller defines customer-based brand equity as ―the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. David A. Aaker, discusses that the four dimensions of brand equity are brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand associations. In addition to that, the other proprietary assets such as patents, trademarks, channel relationships, etc. also contributes to Brand

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Coverage:The universe (Population) of the study consists of all the customers visiting clothing goods store, foot-wear store and sun-glasses store in Trichy District. Respondents will be asked to state atleast three clothing goods store, three footwear store and three sunglasses store they shop very frequently. The interviewers had to select one of the previously stated store for filling the questionnaire.For this selection of one store, Quota Sampling Techniquetypical of exploratory research [1], [24] will be followed. Interviewers will comply with the pre-set sampling plan.

The pre-set plan is from the population, 1500 sample will be collected using Likert 5 point scale (Total Agreement – Total Disagreement). The sample will be divided into 3 parts. Part-1 will be clothing goods respondents which constitute 55% of population, part- 2 will be foot-wear respondents which constitute 25% of population and part-3 will be sun-glassesrespondents who constitute 20% of