Branding in retailing: a comparative perspective ‘services versus products’

The research aimed to empirically test Aaker’s theoretical conceptualization of brand image within two different contexts. At first we investigated brand image within a ‘product context’ -analyzing an Italian food producer’s brand-, and then we tested the same conceptualization within a ‘service context’ -analyzing an Italian grocery retailer-. The study showed differences between the two brand image structures. The analyses confirmed the multi-dimensionality of brand image within both contexts: it is composed by associations referred to a brand as a product, as an organization, as a person and as a symbol. Nevertheless, within the service context brand image appeared primarily fostered by the dimension ‘brand as person’. This result is consistent with the intangibility and the inseparability characteristics of services.