The Cognitive Structure of Online Brand Choice: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the underlying cognitive structure of online brand choice. Building brand equity is a multistep process that starts with creating brand awareness, developing cues to form strong brand association among consumers, adding value to create better perceived quality, and ultimately making customers loyal to the brand. Building online brand equity follows a similar sequence of steps. In this regard, understanding the consumer behavior and underlying cognitive perceptions is crucial. A consumer may follow different combinations of simple rules while making a purchase or choosing specific brands. In this paper, multidimensional scaling approach is used to determine the underlying cognitive structure of any brand choice. Online retailer brands and travel website brands are taken into consideration. A survey has been conducted to capture the perception of online consumers and analyzed using SPSS. The identified underlying dimensions for online retailers and travel websites are studied and their latent similarities and dissimilarities observed. An overarching consumer cognitive perception framework is then proposed.