Investigating the responses of different consumer segments to branding activities (A case study of chain restaurants)

Kamran Nazmabadi¹ Alireza Motameni²

1) Master of MBA-Strategy Email:
2) Associate Professor at Shahid Beheshti University Email:

IOI Code : XDEE-FAHHC
Publication : 17th international Management Conference(17imc.ir)
Abstract :
    In recent years, brand, branding and also the concept of brand equity, have become an integral part of marketing research and have attracted the attention pf theorists, researchers, managers and business owners. As the business environment become more competitive, especially in the service sector, branding is considered as an important tool to achieve a competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the responses of different consumer segments in terms of their purchase behavior to the branding activities of chain restaurants according to the concept of brand equity. This study evaluated the effect of brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality and brand image on the purchase intention of chain restaurant consumers in Tehran. Customers were divided into three segments based on their purchase behavior (light consumers, medium consumers, heavy consumers) and the hypotheses were examined separately for each segment. The present research is descriptive and survey and is a type of applied research. Data were collected using a questionnaire from 430 customers of restaurants in Tehran and analyzed by structural equation modeling using Smart-PLS software. The results show that brand awareness only affects the purchase intention of light consumer segment. But brand loyalty and brand image, in all consumer segments, affect purchase intention. Perceived quality affects the purchase intention of the both light and medium consumer segments, but in the segment of heavy consumers, its effectiveness is rejected.

Keywords : “branding “brand equity “purchase intention “services “consumer segments