Retail Service Branding in Electronic-Commerce Environments
通过消费者焦点小组的探索性研究，分析了零售服务品牌在电子商务中的作用，发现服务品牌通过服务属性、象征意义和功能后果定义在线购物体验，并作为建立消费者与服务提供商信任的关系杠杆。
Considerable discussion has arisen about how electronic commerce is changing retail marketing theory and practice. Most of the debate revolves around how retailers with investments in physical channels can apply their existing strategy online. The retail service brand is one component that requires examination, but there is no model to guide online strategy. The authors, therefore, draw on exploratory research from consumer focus groups to understand retail service branding in electronic markets. The case setting is a nationwide grocery service that recently extended its traditional strategy and offered consumers online shopping. The authors conclude that the service brand defines the experience of shopping online for consumers in terms of service attributes, symbolic meanings, and functional consequences of the service encounter. In the fulfillment of this role, the service brand acted as a relationship lever (fulcrum) on which trust was built between consumer and service provider. Managerial implications and future research directions are also considered.