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AbstractAutobiographical memory involves mentally reliving past episodes that are personally relevant. Psychology research shows that it has remarkable bearing on one's life, including the accomplishment of tasks, self‐enhancement, self‐preservation and attaining goals. Yet, the understanding of autobiographical memory in consumer behaviour research is much more limited. Accordingly, the present study evaluates the impact of two cognitive mechanisms resulting from personal past‐usage experiences linked to the product category, which are likely to underpin consumers' retrieval of brands from memory and purchase intention. The two cognitive aspects are: the cued recollection of specific autobiographical memories; and the accessibility (in memory) of autobiographical episodes of consumption that form product category knowledge. The empirical results obtained across three online experiments suggest product category knowledge accessible in consumer memory has a greater effect on brand retrieval and purchase intention than the direct recollection of specific autobiographical memories cued by the product category. Perceived importance of choice moderates this effect, which primarily concerns purchase intention. In particular, consistent with prior research on activation confusion, product category knowledge reduces purchase intention, especially for highly familiar (or prototypical) brands. Accordingly, we outline implications for branded communications, and advertising pre‐ and post‐testing.

AbstractThe aim of the paper is to investigate whether deviations from the double jeopardy pattern observed in brand buying (panel) data such as niche brands (brands with few users, but high levels of brand loyalty) and change‐of‐pace brands (brands with many users, but low levels of brand loyalty) correspond with deviations from the same pattern in brand image data (i.e. brand image associations gathered through consumer surveys). The analysis of a unique data set in three product categories including brand purchases and brand image associations from the same consumers and for the same brands shows that such deviations in brand buying data and in brand image data seldom correspond. Moreover, deviations from the double jeopardy pattern in brand image data are rare and imply the existence of an underlying impact of a brand's associative rate (i.e. the average number of associations a brand obtains in a brand image consumer survey) on brand loyalty (measured as the frequency of brand buying). These findings provide contribution to buyer behaviour theory and have practical implications for branding strategies. For instance, to obtain any impact on brand loyalty, marketers may need to develop branding strategies aimed at increasing a brand's associative rate, whilst maintaining or enlarging its level of market penetration. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractBased on the analysis of two sets of data (a cross‐sectional online survey of five product categories with an average sample size of 525 and a longitudinal telecommunications panel of more than two million respondents), this study detects a positive relationship between the market size (purchase penetration) of Iranian e‐brands (or websites) and the percentage of customers shared with other e‐brands. This finding is consistent with the well‐established Duplication of Purchase Law; it also holds over time and across different markets (e.g., repertoire vs. subscription). Hence, this study makes a twofold contribution to marketing knowledge. First, it expands the collection of empirical evidence concerning the Duplication of Purchase, which thus far is primarily within offline contexts and Western countries. Second, it addresses issues inherent to research on e‐loyalty, such as the over emphasis on evaluating loyalty for one e‐brand at a time via complex attitudinal measures. Accordingly, this study advances consumer buying behaviour research by clarifying that, similar to offline domains and other geographical areas, e‐loyalty in this buoyant Middle Eastern market divides across a small number of e‐brands. It is also best appraised through behavioural loyalty and by comparing multiple e‐brands competing within the same market. These outcomes translate into a series of practical guidelines for the strategic management of e‐brands, improving the practical understanding how e‐brands compete and grow.