Consumer Attitude towards Brand Extensions

Abstract: Brand Extension success is very crucial for an organisation. There have been instances of major successes and also failures of brand extensions in the marketplace. Brand Extensions have strategic implications because if on one hand, the success of parent brand has ability to enhance the success of brand extension, then, on the other hand, the failure of a brand extension could also have negative impacts on the parent brand. But, there have been many successes of brand extensions in the consumer market and the reasons have been the role of various attributes of parent brand. A few such factors of parent brand include brand trust, brand credibility, brand commitment, brand experience and perceived fit between parent brand and brand extension. Brand Trustworthiness as a trait lies at the heart of consumer brand relationships and defines that aspect between consumer and brand which goes beyond the mere level of a transaction. Brand credibility is the believability of the product position information contained in a brand. Brand Commitment refers to an enduring desire to continue the relationship with a brand. Brand Experience construct includes four dimensions, namely, Sensory, Affective, Behavioural and Intellectual. Thus, until consumers become more familiar with the extension itself, consumers are likely to judge the extension based on their knowledge of the more well-known parent brand. The research methodology includes the data collected from 260 respondents. The data was collected by Mall Intercept method of sampling and the questionnaire consists of 34 statements designed from previously developed multi-item scales. The aim of the study is to evaluate the attributes of parent brand from a consumer’s perspective and measure their impact on consumer’s attitude towards brand extension. Key Words: Brand Extension, Parent Brand, Brand Experience