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Think about a product that you purchase regularly. Do you consider yourself brand loyal when it comes to this type of product? Why or why not? Do you believe your age or gender affects your attitude toward this purchase? How and when does branding affect you during the various stages of the consumer decision process?Please read the article, I have attached the link to the PDF below:No more than 3 paragraphs. hibic_and_poturak.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview European Journal of Economic Studies, 2016, Vol.(17), Is. 3 C gh 2016 by Academic Publishing House Researcher Published in the Russian Federation European Journal of Economic Studies Has been issued since 2012. ISSN: 2304-9669 E-ISSN: 2305-6282 Vol. 17, Is. 3, pp. 405-414, 2016 DOI: 10.13187/es.2016.17.405 www.ejournal2.com UDC 33 Impact of a Brand on Consumer Decision-making Process Sulejman H b a International a, Mersid Poturak a , * Burch University, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Abstract With the modern development of economics and marketing, brands are having a more important place in our lives each day. We may neglect it, but we all find brands extremely attractive, whether it is because they make us feel wealthier or more self-confident, because we think they have a higher quality than generic ones, or for any other reason. Inspired by this psychological impact of brands on life and consumers, in this case consumer purchasing, the e f h a ce a f d he he a d h b a d ac c e dec -making processes and do they (and why) prefer branded products over generic. The data for this article was collected in the form of an online survey. 225 respondents took part in filling out the survey in the period of one month. 125 of the respondents were male, while 100 were female, all between the ages of 18 to 60. The results of the survey show that there is a high impact of branding on consumer decision-making processes and their purchasing decisions. More precisely said, consumers prefer buying branded products to generic for many reasons, and their choice is affected by the status of the product. Keywords: brands, consumer behavior, consumer decision-making process. 1. Introduction N ada e f he a ac e e f e ea che b a d . The h e c ce f branding is becoming very important in business, as well as in private lives of people. Among many brands there are always few to which customers decide to be loyal. The introduction will reflect on the fact that some brands have loyal customers, while others do not, and what are the key factors in having customers who will always remain loyal. Brands have some subcategories, which play the most important role in consumer decision-making processes and are explained in more details in the further parts of the article. Brand history lets us know how the population has utilized the brand as a sign of de f ca . The beg g f age f b a d a d ffe e a e d c f e d ce to others. These days, brands are not used just to differentiate one from another, but also to justify decision-making processes. Many things describe brands, such as name, symbol and design. The e c e ha f ab a d b c de b a d de ,b a dc ca (such as logos and trademarks), brand awareness, brand loyalty, and various branding (brand management) strategies (Bhimrao M. Ghodeswar, 2008). Corresponding author E-mail addresses: sulejman.hibic@gmail.com (S. H b ), mersid.poturak@ibu.edu.ba (M. Poturak) * 405 European Journal of Economic Studies, 2016, Vol.(17), Is. 3 In order to better understand the concept of branding, there are some terms necessary to be explained. Firstly, brand awareness is something that we all have unconsciously in our minds and can be defined as the degree to which a brand is perceived by potential clients and is accurately connected with a specific item. There is a wide range of approaches to advertise a brand with a specific end goal to show a specific picture in the brains of buyers. There can be a logo, a name, a specific color, etc., that connects itself to a brand in the psyche of the customer. A brand that is more understood than others will probably be chosen for purchase over a brand where little is thought about them. It is identified with the elements of brand personalities in buyers memory and can be reflected by how well the consumers can distinguish the brand under different conditions (Keller, Kevin, 1993). Brand awareness can be separated into two sections: brand recognition and brand recall performance. Brand recognition is the capacity of the customers to separate intentionally the brand that was already presented to them. Consumers earned previous experience in facing with a certain brand. This does not necessarily mean that the buyers recognize the brand name, it rather often implies that buyers can react to a certain brand after facing its visual packaging images (Percy, Larry; Rossiter, John, 1992). Brand recall alludes to the capacity of the customers to accurately produce and recover the brand in their memory (Keller, Kevin 1993). Shortly said, brand awareness goes about as an affirmation. As a result, customers purchase choices rely on upon whether they have seen or known about the brand (Ya-Hsin, H., Ya-hei, H., Suh-Yueh, C., &Wenchang, F., 2014). The next term is also something common for all people using the same branded product again and again. We can define brand loyalty as positive emotions towards a brand and commitment to buy the same item or service from the same brand again, paying little mind to opponents activities or changes in the business environment. This idea of a brand shows symbolism and imagery for an item or scope of items. Brands can have the ability to connect with purchasers and make them feel emotionally attached. Buyers convictions and states of mind make up brand pictures, and these influence how they will see brands, how they come into contact with (Kotler, Burton, Deans, Brown & Armstrong, 2013). Repeatedly contact with products makes consumers more loyal and more experienced when a brand is in question. All encompassing encounters, such as sense, connection, acting and feeling, happen when one meets brands. The more grounded and more social these faculties are to the individual, the more likely repeat purchasing will happen. After contact has been made, mental thinking will happen, trailed by a purchase or not-purchase choice. This can bring in repeated purchase behavior, consequently causing the start of brand loyalty. It can be shortly described as beha a g e c e a a ea h a a c a b a d (Aaker, 1996). The last but not least important term is brand design. The first thing that we notice about a product is its design, and if we like it, we are attracted immediately. So, we can say that strong brands make connections. Initial impressions are made in a moment, while more profound impressions are made through clear and predictable messages. Each organization on the planet that sees itself as a brand, from companies to nonprofit and sport groups, depends on its personality outline to speak of its character to the general population in a unique and memorable way. At the point when constructing a brand for a new firm, the main thing that must be considered is what sort of target audience you are focused on reaching. While emotion is a factor that is often overlooked, the thing that matters a lot is the message you want to convey and what you want it to present. It is very important to choose the name that perfectly represents a concept that you want to be conveyed. Afterwards, the logo outline comes, a graphic in which the right blends of picture and text style hues are picked out. Later, brand design will likewise comprise of accessories required by a company for their visual correspondence: paper, business accessories for clients and workers, brochures, packaging and so on. So the brand design makes a piece in the complete picture of a brand. 1.1. Purpose of study Moving from the past to the modern history, since the beginning of branding there is an ac f b a d c e d a d ffe e a . Whe e e e e ca f d e reflection of brands. In food, clothes, information industry, furniture, car industry (industry in general), games, drugs, cosmetics, and so on, we see a competition between brands. They force us to shop, make us prefer one brand over another, and they make our decisions harder or easier. Usually people do not buy certain brands only for design and requirement, but also in an attempt 406 European Journal of Economic Studies, 2016, Vol.(17), Is. 3 to enhance their self-esteem in the society (Leslie and Malcolm, 1992). Presently individuals see the brands as their acknowledgment, accomplishment, and materialistic trifle. On the other hand, Woods clarified that purchasers are sincerely appended to various brands of their decision (Wood, J. T., 1982). F e a e, f a ce a b a d e e e a e a b g e-model to someone, or if s/he is a celebrity, the purchaser will buy that particular item only due to the fact that if he buys the product he will look more like that specific person. This just shows how people try to represent themselves to others through brands. This study will examine how and to what extent brands have an impact c e dec -making processes when purchasing. Each section of the survey, explained into more detail in the third chapter, are questions related to a particular brand category. C e a , a a e e a d e e h he fee he b g a ce a d c a dd e brand design play an important role in their decision-making processes will be examined. All these answers will help us figure out how consumers decide to buy one product over another and what is makes them purchase a certain product. It will be presented the results from surveys and their analysis so it will show us how consumers reacted to statements which are created to help us in d c e g he he b a d ha e a ac c e dec -making processes. The final conclusion about what steps should a company take so they can have consumers who believe in their brand and products will be made. 2. Literature review 1.1. Basic Branding Concepts Consumer perception towards brand represents an important aspect of marketing mix (Gabor & Contiu, 2012). Jin and Weber (2013) asserted that, brands served primarily as a way for customers to identify and recognize goods and their manufacturer. Nowadays, brands perform two important functions. First, a brand represents a promise by a particular company about a particular product and it serves as a type of quality certification. Second, brands enable customers to better organize their shopping experience by helping them search out and find a specific product. Therefore, an important brand function is to make a distinction between a particular c a ffe g f a her offerings. The sum of impressions a customer has for a brand is called the brand image, which is defined as perceptions about a brand as reflected by brand associations that consumers hold in their minds (Keller, 1998). On the other hand, we can define brand equity as the total value that acc ae a d c beca e f c a c a e e e he a e g f he brand. Kamakura and Russel (1993) describe brand equity as an intangible value, such as brand name association, which supports a product by virtue of its brand name. Consumers very often have a tendency to choose a brand that they consider congruent with their self-image. This means that every consumer will attempt to reflect his or her own identity through choice. When part of a larger social group, consumer choices move toward to converge to a ce a a e , c e e f g he f da e a f a d d a c a de (C , Andreea, 2014). In building up brand preference, consumers compare and rank different brands by focusing on their uniqueness. Brand preference can be defined as the extent to which the customer favors the designed service provided by his or her present company, in contrast to the designated service provided by other companies in his or her consideration set, with a consideration set alluding to brands that a consumer would consider buying in the near future (Jin& Weber, 2013). 2.2. Consumer Behaviour Consumer behaviour can be characterized as the behaviour that consumers demonstrate in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs (Schiffman et al. 2008). It refers to how consumers choose to use their various resources like time or money on different products in order to meet their needs and it encompasses study of what, when, why and where they will buy their products and focuses on how often the consumers use the products and evaluate them after the purchase, as well (Schiffman, 2005). Marketers are focused on understanding the way in which consumers purchase. This is a complex process as it includes understanding the set of decisions that consumers make over time (Hoyer & Mac Innis, 2001). Consumers do not know exactly what influences their purchases as 407 European Journal of Economic Studies, 2016, Vol.(17), Is. 3 e -five percent of the thought, emotion, and learning (that drive our purchases) occur in the unconscious mind ha h a a e e (Armstrong et al. 2007). Behavioural scientists regard the consumer decision-making process as a problem-solving or need satisfaction process. The act of making a consumer decision generally consists of five stages including need/problem identification, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase behaviour (Jobber, 2012), as illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1. The consumer decision-making process Source: Blackwel et al., 2003 The purchasing process can take different forms because a consumer may not necessarily go through all the steps for every purchase he or she makes. Moreover, it can be distinguished between the purchase of a product or a service and various external (i.e. price and advertisement) or internal (i.e. colour and ingredients) product factors (Hansen & Solgaard, 2002). Another d ffe e a ba ed he c e e e f e e (Bauer et al., 2006). There are five stages of the consumer decision-making process, as shown in the illustration above. The first stage is the needs identification. It refers to where the consumer actually has a need or desire that drives him to make a purchase. Kurtz (2012) added opportunity to this stage stressing that if supposedly a consumer is unhappy with a particular purchase, or just wanting to change from the same old brand to a new one, the recognition of this need can also get to be opportunity. The second stage is information search. Consumer behaviour research has discovered two types of search that buyers engage in as they make purchase decisions. The first one includes personal information search obtained from earlier experience and word-of-mouth or advice from friends and relatives, and a second type of search, which is non-personal or external in nature, for instance advertisements in print and electronic media, as well as travel agents. The third step includes the evaluation of alternatives or different brands that are capable of satisfying the need concerned. Here, the consumer goes about evaluating various brands in relation to the need identified. Kotler et al. (2008) assert that there is no single evaluation process applied by customers when making a buying decision. Customers generally look for a product that provides he be he be a duct offering them with benefits that they look for. The penultimate stage is purchase decision where the consumer then proceeds onwards to make the final purchase decision. As indicated by Kotler and Keller (2009), two factors can emerge in the middle of the purchase intention and the purchase decision. The first is the attitude of others in that, if someone important to the consumer thinks that a low priced brand should be bought, then it decreases the likelihood of buying an expensive one. The second is the unpredicted situational factor where a consumer might have an intention to purchase a specific brand of car and there is an economic meltdown or a competitor severely decreases its prices and the purchase decision here can change in seconds. And finally the last stage is the post-purchase and at this stage there are two 408 European Journal of Economic Studies, 2016, Vol.(17), Is. 3 things involved. The consumer is either satisfied or unsatisfied with the product. The prevailing fac f h e be ee he c e e ec a f he b a d eced g he chase and the actual performance that it delivers after the purchase has been made. If the actual performance of the product is equivalent to the expected outcome, the customer is satisfied, thus we can say that the larger the gap between expectations and pe f a ce, he g ea e he c e dissatisfaction (Kotler, Keller, 2009). 3. Methodology 3.1. Materials and Methods A he bac g d f h a e c e , he da a a c ec ed a fe d ffe e a . Firstly, hard copy surveys located at the inf de Be a e e d b ed c e . Later, an online version of the survey was made with Google Forms, and it greatly contributed to the research paper. Due to the lack of participants, mostly because the hard copy survey requires a lot of time to be filled in, the survey was transferred to an online version as well. The quantitative method, i.e. survey, was used to get information of brand impact on consumer decision-making processes and to show what those factors actually are. This method was used in order to get a complete picture about consumer decision making-processes and to see whether there is impact of a brand on their choices. 3.1.1. Survey Above mentioned surveys were collected in the period of one month and few days, precisely speaking from the 22nd of June till the 29th of July, 2016. The total number of surveys is 225. 87 surveys were collected as a hard copy, while 138 responses were collected by the online version. It is important to emphasized that all hard copies were collected in the Bellona store from customers who were directly included in the decision-making process and were fully aware of the brand they are purchasing. The e c ded de g a h c da a, a e a he L e ca e he e a c a ee supposed to mark one of the five offered statements. All statements have five levels that show the a c a ab . The a e a h Figure 2. Complety disagree Partly disagree Neutral Partly agree Completely agree Figure 2. The Degree of Agreement Rating Scale The survey-making process lasted for one whole month. Most of the questions were similar to the questions used in papers basing their research on similar topics, and because of that the pilot version of the survey was not issued. The questions were carefully chosen and adjusted where it was needed. The survey has three main sections: 1. Demographic data 2. Brand information 3. Dependent variables when making decisions while shopping. Each section contains questions related to that particular part, while the second part, where information about the brand is found, consists of three subcategories: 1. Brand design 2. Brand loyalty and commitment factors when selecting a product 3. Brand awareness Every subcategory consists of questions related to the topic. 409 European Journal of Economic Studies, 2016, Vol.(17), Is. 3 4. Data analysis and discussion 4.1. Demographic Profile of Respondents In the first part of the survey, respondents were asked several demographic questions. The following tables show the summarized results obtained from those questions. Table 1 presents the gender distribution among the respondents; male respondents occupy a slightly larger portion compared to female respondents. Table 1. Genders of Respondents Male Frequency 125 Percent 55.6 Cumulative Percent 55.6 Female Total 100 44.4 100.0 225 100.0 Age distribution is shown in the form of a pie chart (Figure 3), where the majority of respondents fall in the category from 18 to 25 years of age, which takes about 49 \%. Figure 3. Age of Respondents In the percentage rating related to the level of education majority of the respondents have a Bachelor degree (46 \%), and the smallest portion of respondents have a PhD degree (2 \%). High school diplomas have 34 \% of participants while with master diplomas is 18 \% of participants. According to the results about marital status, more than a half of the respondents are unmarried (60 \%) while 40 \% are married. Responses related to the work status are shows us that more than a half of the respondents are employed (59 \%) while ... Purchase answer to see full attachment