Identifier

etd-11182013-090326

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Human Ecology

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Brand extension has been one of the most commonly used marketing strategies. Many industries use existing well-known brand names to launch new lines or categories to reduce the cost for creating awareness. Auto companies have been increasingly looking for opportunities of broadening their brand halo to gain more profit, while the billion-dollar global fashion industries have been seeking the chance of brand extensions from established durable brands. Previous research has examined the factors affecting consumers’ attitude toward brand extension, however, the majority of brand extensions are reportedly not successful. There are no known studies investigating the case of extending into fashion categories. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to gain a better understanding of strategic approaches that allow better prediction of the brand extension success, especially where extended into fashion categories. Data was collected from a convenience sample of undergraduate university students in the southeastern United States via online surveys. The final sample consisted of 468 responses. Multiple regressions and ANOVA/MANOVA were used to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that consumers’ favorite attitude toward the fashion products under an auto brand name lead to their purchase intention, but does not affect their attitude and image of the parent brand. Consumers’ attitude toward the fashion extension is significantly impacted by perceived fit between the parent brand and the fashion extension, and initial parent brand image, but is not impacted by the perceived parent brand quality, the highly quoted driver to brand extension success. Perceived fit is positively related to consumers’ product knowledge, either on automobiles or fashion products. The results provide some suggestion to marketers who want to expand their parent brand or launch fashion extension products. Further research may focus on the impact of individual and cultural differences on consumers’ perception of fashion extensions.

Date

2013

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Liu, Chuanlan

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.1586

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Human Ecology Commons

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