Consumers Of The Brand Extension Effect Determination

Research on brand extensions has been the academic subject of considerable interest since early 1980s.Recent research has focused on how consumers form beliefs about and attitudes toward brand extensions. Systematic research on brand extensions was initiated by Aaker and Keller (1990) study, which was published in Journal of Marketing named "consumer evaluation of brand extension". This disquisition in which the authors set up an evaluation model of brand extensions, was regarded as the representative study in this field. Two elements were found to be the essential factors that influence consumer evaluation of brand extensions, that is, "fit between the original brand and extension product classes (hereafter referred to as fit)" and "perceived difficulty of making the extension (difficulty correspondingly)". In addition, an apparent interaction effect was also found between "attitude toward the original brand (hereafter called Quality)"and "fit" in the consumer evaluation process.Since, research on this subject has been conducted around the world, including in New Zealand, Sunde and Brodie from the Auckland University carried the same investigation and found biggish differences. The two factors turned into "quality" and "fit", not including "difficulty". Fu Guoqun also gave a replication and gained a consistent conclusion with A&K's study by meliorating the data processing method. Passing research has discussed cultural differences, data processing method, and some are merely simple replication of A&K's study.This paper proposes an integrative model by adding a new variable (brand associaton) based on A&K's, aims to further explore cultural difference and to search new factors that influence consumer evaluation. The paper ends with a significative conclusion via inquisition and data analysis, viz. the conclusion is consistent with S&B's result, three factors are found influencing the evaluation of brand extensions(they are in turn "fit", "perceived quality" and "brand association") and consumer expertise modulates this impact, gender affects consumers' evaluation of "transfer" but not of extensions.The thesis is supposed to enrich the theoretical research and guide firm's practical marketing strategies on brand extensions.