The impact of online and offline retailing on loyalty, through the mediating effect of brand image and store image

Abstract

Over the years, the retail industry has benefited from technological evolutions, leading to an online retailing growth that impacted consumers’ shopping behaviours. However, consumers still value the advantages of the offline retailing. Consequently, online and offline retailing represent important channels for consumers, offering distinctive shopping experiences. The present dissertation aims to explore if there exist any differences on the impact from distinct retailers’ channels on loyalty, addressed to the coffee category, studying the Nespresso brand. Hence, three research questions were answered: (1) What are the main drivers for loyalty, and do online, and offline retailers influence loyalty differently, (2) What effect does the brand image have on loyalty, (3) What effect does the store image have on loyalty, and does it affect in a different way for online and offline retailers.Results pointed as predictors of loyalty the likelihood to buy coffee online, having previously visited Nespresso’s stores, having previously bought coffee or Nespresso’s products, such as Age and Level of Education. It is also presented that Retailing Online and Retailing Offline equally impact Loyalty. The influence of Brand Image on Loyalty was concluded to be positive and significant, being the effect of the variable Practical Function the strongest. The effect of Store Image on Loyalty was positive and significant, being the relevance of Store Image Offline greater than the Store Image Online.

Date of Award	14 Oct 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paulo Romeiro (Supervisor)