Effects of consumer perceptions of brand experience on the web: brand familiarity, satisfaction and brand trust

Creating a customer experience that is synonymous with a particular (website) brand is becoming increasingly recognised as a vital driver of e-performance. E-tailors are just as likely to try to influence consumers' shopping behaviour, through atmospherics and service, as brick-and-mortar stores. This study investigates several questions that have been left unanswered in recent studies of consumer behaviour in the context of internet-based marketing. Its focus lies in addressing the issue of whether there is a direct relationship between brand experience and brand trust or whether there is an indirect relationship via satisfaction or brand familiarity. The results of an empirical study of e-consumer behaviour show that brand trust is achieved through the following dimensions operating and interrelating as antecedent constructs: first, various brand experiences and the search for information, secondly, a high level of brand familiarity, and thirdly, customer satisfaction based on cognitive and emotional factors. These findings should assist marketers and academics in their understanding of the development of brand trust in an internet-based environment. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.