Customer Brand Relationship : An empirical study of customers’ perception of brand experience, brand satisfaction, brand trust and how they affect brand loyalty

Sammanfattning: Background: During the last decade, retail businesses have realized the importance of creatinga strong brand to be able to differentiate in a fierce market. However, having a strong brand isno longer enough to survive in the long run and gain a large customers base. Especially in theretail and fashion industry where many products fulfill the same need for the customer, making it important to adapt to changes on the market and stand out in the crowd. This has lead to the wide variety of brands that can be found and an intensified competition. Therefore, the key factor for building a long-term relationship is through customer brand relationship. A literature review showed that the most important variables needed to build this relationship are brandexperience, brand satisfaction and brand trust. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how brand experience, brand satisfaction and brand trust effect brand loyalty in Växjö, Sweden. Hypotheses:H1: Brand experience has a positive effect on brand loyalty.H2: Brand satisfaction has a positive effect on brand loyalty.H3: Brand trust has a positive effect on brand loyalty. Method: This study was based on a deductive and quantitative research approach withempirical data conducted from 239 respondents to either accept or reject the stated hypotheses. Result and conclusion: According to the empirical data, the stated hypotheses were acceptedand imply that 41.2 percent of brand loyalty can be explained by brand satisfaction, brand trustand brand experience. However, for retail businesses within the fashion industry to ensurebrand loyalty from the customers, brand satisfaction is the main focus.