Introduction
Branding is a very important component of marketing. This is because different consumers exhibit varying trends in their loyalty towards products. Consumers can be loyal in the sense that they always buy a certain brand of products from the same company. They can also be switchers when they move to other products because of change in prices. For better results, it is important for marketers to understand the impact branding can have on sales and the relationship with customers. This research proposal narrows down to the issue of branding in luxury home furniture. These are household consumer products and indeed are affected by the choice of brand and the related strategies by the marketer.
The literature review would examine existing information on consumer behavior in relation to branding and sales. This has constituted the secondary data in the research. An experimental approach has been discussed as the proposed method to investigating branding and sales in luxury furniture. Ethical issues and how they would be ensured have also been captured in this proposal. Finally, the proposed research findings and their analysis have been proposed at the end of this paper.
Aim of the research
This research aims at exploring into consumer purchasing trends and loyalty to luxury home furniture in relationship to changes in the branding strategies adopted by the marketers.
Research objectives
- To investigate the effect of change of brand on the number of sales recorded within a one month period of time.
- To find out if a change in brand of furniture affects the relationship between the customers and the products.
- To investigate the impact of alteration in the brand of luxury furniture to consumer loyalty.
- To investigate consumer trends and relationships in relation to specific brands of luxury furniture.
Theoretical framework
Branding refers to the process of assigning names, signs, symbols or design to a product or service of a company or business entity with the intention of uniquely identifying the product of that firm and distinguish it from the competitors. Different business organizations are known for their specific brands in the market. Consumers are very sensitive to brands in the sense that they can identify their preferred brands from a list of competing products in the market. The relationship between customers and specific brands in the market is affected by a number of factors. Some of the factors concern the satisfaction of the needs of the customers from the products that have been branded in the market. (Foxall, 2005).
Branding is an aspect of marketing that has been under research for a long time. Business organizations are ever in search of better branding strategies which aim at improvements in various dimensions. Studies have demonstrated that brand loyalty is a fundamental issue that influences sales of that particular brand. Customers can have different preferences or requirements for them to maintain their loyalty to a specific brand. The factors that determine brand loyalty vary form one product to another.
According to Aaker et al (2004), branding has the capacity to perform a number of functions to a product. These functions are the ones that determine the customer preferences to the specific products unlike the competitors. The first function concerns attributes being assigned to the product. Household products such as luxury furniture are known to perform functions that fulfill the needs and wants of the customers. Branding therefore aims at specifying the specific attributes that the product in the market can do for the customers. Attributes assigned to a product also suggests the important features that attract the attention of the consumers.
Branding also serves the purpose of bringing out the function of the product in question. For the case of luxury furniture the brand can entail a description of the comfort and convenience of the product. This would help to differentiate it from the other functions other products perform. (Muniz et al, 2001)
Branding can also be tailored to indicate the value of certain products in the market. This could include efficiency, excellent performance, more secure and other valuable things that customers in the market consider while selecting their brands. For a luxury furniture marketer branding can bring out the products to be of high quality and more secure. These valuable features would play a significant role in influencing customer loyalty and buying habits.
Branding can also be associated with a certain culture. This is whereby the branding process ensures that a certain cultural group is at the center stage in the usage of the product. A good example is shown in the dressing industry whereby marketers can decide to come up with a specific brand that is associated with Italians. This brand will be named Italian wear. As a result of this brand consumers would be influenced into this brand just because of the cultural description or labeling.
Brands can also be used to convey the meaning of personality. Consumers look for certain aspects of personality in the products presented by the market. It therefore becomes essential for marketers to search for the personality attributes that work best for most of the customers. Research has also established that branding also focuses on the user of the products. There can be products tailored for children, mother, fathers and so on. The various users can be utilized in the branding process so as to achieve the desired sales targets. (Muniz et al, 2001)
Researchers have maintained that the overall purpose of branding is usually to influence the purchasing habits of customers and consequently increasing the sales volumes of the products in the market. This is because of the existence of an environment that is full of competition from all directions. (Jacoby et al 1971)
Studies that have been undertaken on consumer behavior have indicated that brands provide precise, relevant and useful information to the consumers. This is very important especially when consumers are out there to make their best selections out of the competing products. This therefore means that without branding, the work of consumers in selecting the best products in the market is made difficult. Marketers have therefore described brands to be important tools that enable consumers to make selection of products so quickly. This has been evidenced when consumers are not bothered so much about the price but go for specific brands immediately they arrive in the stores. The brand names can therefore be considered to be very essential in the decision making process of the consumers. This has been mentioned in a number of studies concerning consumer behavior in a competitive market environment. (Proctor ,2005)
In the present times consumers have been noted to take the issue of quality for granted. This is the case because most of the competing companies in the market are all producing quality products and meeting the required standards. This does not mean that quality is not a factor that determines the consumer decision making process. Brands are often used to reveal a lot about the quality of the products being sold. This means that customers still value brands that always portray quality and hence are the most preferred in the market against the competitors. Quality is an important issue for customers but it is no longer a prerequisite for purchasing a particular product. Therefore markers have been forced to change strategies in the way they approach quality and branding in their pursuit for increased sales. (Muniz et al, 2001)
According to research studies consumer determinants are quite different than the case used to be in the past. Attributes that are closely related to the brand of the product are the ones that matter for most consumers and are the ones than influence them into buying their best selection of products in the market. These brand attributes include colour, size , shape and many more that are in line with satisfying the needs of the customers. In other words markers have argued that indeed it is the attributes of the brand that determine the success of products in the competitive market. (Proctor, 2005)
In a successful marketing strategy, brands of products have important components in their understanding. This includes the brand image and the brand awareness. The meaning of brand awareness refers to the ability of consumers to recall and recognize the existence of the brand. This is achieved through attributes, values and benefits the brand is associated with. Consumers have to demonstrate brand knowledge for them to be influenced in purchasing the product.
Consumer knowledge of the brand is achieved through the process of learning. Learning of important brand attributes can be attained through friends, promotions or experimentation. It is from the learning and knowledge about the brand attributes that consumers are able to discover the truths in their selected brands. Brands in the market contain information that is very important for the consumers.It is from the information that customers begin to form attributes when they purchase them in a number of occasions. (King, 1991)
Research studies on consumer behavior have indicated that brand name is a very important piece of information to consumers when they are making purchasing decisions.
In a situation whereby consumer were faced with various aspects of the brand including price , quality and names most consumers tended to choose the brand name in their selection of preferred products. In the study, the respondents were noted to be have chosen price as their second important thing. With such revelations, it is clear the customers have come up with brand names as unique devices that they utilize in their quick selection of products in the market.
In this study it was also revealed the culture and the social status of the consumers have an influence in their selection of more than one brands in the market. It was noted that some other factors other than brand name and price determine their selection of brands.
In some cultural groups, the choice of furniture brands is in line with the social class from which an individual comes from. Customers have also been found to use brands and their names as important means of the perceived risk in purchasing a product. Most consumers in their purchasing experiences have tended to focus on the value of brands and the enjoyment part of it during utilization of the brand chosen. (Jacoby et al, 2005)
On the part of relationships with customers, it has been indicated through research that customers tend to have good relationships with certain brands that continue to satisfy their needs. Customer loyalty is a perfect example of a good relationship between a brand and certain customers. On the other hand customers who keep switching from one brand to another reveal a poor or bad relationship that might be characterized by lack of satisfaction. Studies show that customer’s selection and choice of brand is influenced by the existing past relationship with the brands. Customers tend to make their purchasing decisions based on such pre-existing relationships with the brands they know in the market. (Southgate, 1994)
Research studies have also mentioned that luxury products are more susceptible social class influence than the other categories of products. This trend varies between public and private products. Luxury furniture can be put under private property and they are susceptible to cultural influences in the brand selections by customers.
Researchers have therefore made significant contributions to data relating to consumer behavior in relation to branding and customer relations. The research findings become a very important source of secondary data for the research proposal. Conclusions concerning how brands affect sales and customer relations can therefore be arrived at basing on the data.
Methodology
This research study would be designed in such a way that an experiment would be conducted on selected consumers to find out their purchasing patterns and relationships with brands of luxury furniture. The experiment would comprise of both control and experimental group. The control group would be exposed to the furniture with the common brand. This is the brand that they are used to buying. The experimental group would be subjected to brands with altered names, prices and colour.Ten participants would be randomly selected to undertake the pilot study to find out the reliability of the materials that would be used in the final study.
A survey would also be carried out in the sample to determine their purchasing habits in relation to the brands available in the market. The surveys would also determine the relationship that exists between brands and the customers. This survey would involve the use of questionnaires which would be administered across the randomly selected sample population of consumers. (Malhotra.& Briks,2006)
The results obtained in the experiment and questionnaire would be compared and conclusions mad concerning how the brands influence buying patterns and sales.
The questionnaires would be analyzed using the appropriate software’s and tools to reveal comprehensive results that would be represented using appropriate tools like graphs and pie charts.
Research ethics
This research study shall endeavor to ensure that all ethical standards are observed in all the process that would lead to the achievement of the set objectives. Ethics in this research would concern the participants who are the consumers of luxury furniture in the market. The research shall ensure that personal information of the participants is treated with the confidentiality it deserves. All the participants would not be influenced in giving out their opinion concerning the relationship with brands or their purchasing habits. It would be vital to obtain prior consent from the participants to make them aware of their contribution towards the research.
In this case either oral or written consent would be used to obtain their permission. In terms of autonomy, it would be assumed that the participants are people who are capable of making informed decision concerning the questions they would be responding to in the research. They would therefore not be assisted so much in obtaining answers to some of the questions especially those that would require them to give personal opinion concerning brands of luxury furniture.
Justice shall prevail in the selection of the participants to participate in the study. There shall be no undue preference or influence into choosing the participants in the research. The selection of the participants would be undertaken in such a way that all the customers would have an equal opportunity to participate in the study. All the selected participants shall be treated equally in the study. There shall be gender considerations in the selection process to ensure that both the male and female customers are well represented in the study. This research shall ensure that the participants are from all the social classes to avoid discrimination that is based on social status of the customers. (Malhotra. & Briks,2006)
Analysis of findings and possible conclusions
The results that would be obtained from the study would be well analyzed by the use of appropriate analytical tools. The analysis of the result would comprise the various responses form the consumers concerning the issue of brands of luxury furniture and how they affect customer relationships. Quantitative data concerning the state of sales of luxury furniture would also be analyzed to reveal how the various brands have affected the sales in a one month period. The results concerning the sales report which would have been recorded in table would be analyzed to clearly indicate how the changes in the brands affected the total sales in that particular trading period.
The possible conclusions of this research would be that the brands of luxury furniture have an effect on the sales. This would be demonstrated by the decline in the sales with alteration in brand names and other features such as color. Brand names would come out to be a very important factor in the selection of furniture by the consumers. This would be demonstrated by the loyalty of consumers to certain brands for a long period of time and hence their increased sales.
The research would also come up with the conclusion that indeed branding affects the relationships with different customers. The relationships tend to differ with cultural and social classes of the different customers. Therefore marketers need to pay attention to issues of branding carefully because of the impact they can have on sale of consumer products like the luxury furniture.
References
Aaker, Jennifer, Susan Fournier, and S. Adam Brasel (2004),“When Good Brands Do Bad,” Journal of Consumer Research, 1–16.
Foxall, G. (2005.) Understanding Consumer Choice. Baingstoke. Palgrave Macmillian.
Jacoby, J. ,Szybillo, G. and Busato-Schach, J. (2005). Information Acquisition Behaviour in Brand Choice Situations. Journal of Consumer Research, 209-216.
Jacoby, J. Olsen, J. and Haddock, R. (1971), Price, Brandname and Product Composition Characteristics as Determinants of Perceived Quality. Journal of Applied Psychology 55 (6), 570-579.
King, Stephen (1991), “Brand Building in the 1990s,” Journal of Marketing Management, 7, 3–13.
Muniz, Albert M., Jr., and Thomas C. O’Guinn (2001), “Brand Community,” Journal of Consumer Research, 412–32.
Malhotra N.& Briks D (2006)”MArketing Research: An applied approach 3rd Edition.”Pearson Education ltd.
Proctor T. (2005) “Essentials of Marketing Research” 4th Edition FT Prentice Hall
Saunders M.(2006) “Research Methods for Business Students. FT Prentice Hall.
Southgate, P (1994), Total Branding by Design, London, Kogan.
