The Effects Of Brand Experience On Consumer's Responses In The New Media Circumstance

With the rapid development of China's economy and constant improvement of people's living standards,people's growing needs for good life cannot be easily satisfied by products or services provided by brands,especially when the social principal contradiction has transformed.Consumers need the experience provided brands.Without brand,consumers will not make purchase.Without experience,consumers will not like brands.During the period of Tmall “Double 11” in 2017,the trading volume achieved 168.2 trillion RMB,which created new record in global internet retailing history.90% of trading volume came from mobile Tmall application.In this wave of internet consumption,brand experience has already become the minimum requirement for participating in the market competition.Good brand experience can stimulate consumers' strong sensory stimulus,establish steady affectional bond,stimulate consumers' desire,and affect consumers' decision-making behavior.The new media platforms including WeChat,Weibo,Broadcasting mobile applications,and News mobile applications,have already become consumers' main channels for communication,sending,and receiving information.Under new media environment,the influence of brand experience on consumers has already gained extensive attention.In the marketing practices,we can see that good brand experience can stimulate relatively strong purchase intention,willingness to pay,and forwarding intention.Compared with traditional media,what are the new influences of new media on consumers? In the new media environment,how brand experience affect consumers' purchase intention,willingness to pay,and forwarding intention? What is the internal mechanism? The questions mentioned above are realistic questions,which practitioners encounter in the marketing practices.Although there are some researches which are related to brand experience,the existing research achievements cannot provide good answers to those questions.There are some limitations in the breadth and depth.Especially in the new media environment,there is lag in the brand experience related researches.In this case,conducting empirical analysis of brand experience on consumer responses in new media environment has relatively strong empirical meaning and theoretical value.Based on the critical thinking realistic problems in the marketing practices and analysis of existing literature,this study explored the influence of brand experience on consumer responses in new media environment,through qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis,from consumer behavior perspective.Firstly,through semistructured interview,this study conduct qualitative analysis of brand experience on consumer responses.In chapter 3,this study explored the new influence of new media on consumer responses as well as interviewees' perception and understanding of brand experience,their responses,and psychology distance of new media platforms.Therefore,based on the research results,more clear and reliable research framework and model can be established and direction for following quantitative analysis can be shown.Secondly,based on the qualitative study in Chapter 3,this study conduct quantitative analysis by measuring brand experience(sensory experience,affective experience,behavioral experience,and intellectual experience)and its effect on consumer responses(purchase intention,willingness to pay,and forwarding intention).At the same time,the moderating effects of self-construal and gender were also explored.Thirdly,on the basis of qualitative analysis in Chapter 3 and quantitative analysis in Chapter 4,this study conduct quantitative analysis by manipulating brand experience into two status,and its effects on consumer responses.At the same time,this study explored the internal mechanism of main effect.In other words,this study explored the mediating effects of consumer perceived value and consumer perceived utility.In addition,based in construal level theory,this study explored the moderating effect of psychology distance.The main part of this study include three studies which are one qualitative study and two quantitative studies successively.The qualitative study establish a solid foundation and provide direction for the following quantitative studies.The core purpose of the first quantitative study was to empirically analyze the effect of brand experience on consumer responses,which is the main effect.The core purpose of the second quantitative study was to empirically analyze the mediating effects of consumer perceived value and consumer perceived utility and moderating effect of psychology distance.On the basis of results of three studies,compared with traditional media,new media has significant influence on consumers.In the new media environment,brand experience has significant influence on consumer responses.Sensory experience,affective experience,behavioral experience,and intellectual experience have different influences on purchase intention,willingness to pay,and forwarding intention.Consumer perceived value and consumer perceived utility have significant mediating effects on the main effect.Moreover,psychology distance has significant moderating effect on the main effect and mediating effect.Compared with the past studies,this study has three innovations:Firstly,two quantitative studies were conduct to explore the influence of brand experience on consumer responses in new media environment.The first quantitative study used measurement to explore brand experience and its effect on consumer responses.The second quantitative study used manipulation to explore brand experience and its effect on consumer responses.Four dimensions of brand experience,including sensory experience,affective experience,behavioral experience,and intellectual experience,have different influences on purchase intention,willingness to pay,and forwarding intention.During the marketing practices,practitioners can have more power to focus related dimension of brand experience and improve the purchase intention,willingness to pay,and forwarding intention of target consumers.In other words,the study results can provide guidance and reference for practitioners in the marketing practices.Secondly,the study empirically analyze the mediating effects of consumer perceived value and consumer perceived utility,which revealed the internal mechanism of brand experience on consumer responses in new media environment.That is to say,in the inner world of consumers,four dimensions of brand experience affect consumer perceived value or consumer perceived utility,which in turn affect consumer responses.The study results extend and deepen the application of brand experience in new media environment,which have strong theoretical value and practical significance.Thirdly,based on the construal level theory,this study explored the moderating effect of psychology distance on main effect and mediating effects.The results demonstrate that consumers have different psychology distance on different new media platforms.The difference in psychology distance is the key reason why difference new media platforms have different influence on consumers.In the new media platforms with shorter psychology distance,consumer perceived value play a more significant influence in the inner world of consumers.In the new media platforms with longer psychology distance,consumer perceived utility play a more significant influence in the inner world of consumers.The study results extend the application area of construal level theory and deepen the new media related studies.At the same time,the study results provided guidance for practitioners when they need to choose proper new media platforms for different brand experience.