A Study of Factor Affecting Emotional

attachment for low cost & premium

brand

SUBMITTED BY
Harshit Verma
BBA (2015 2018)
ENROLLMENT NO. - A7006415031

Under guidance of:

Ms. Sabeeha Fatima
(MINOR PROJECT REPORT IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT
OF THE AWARD OF FULL TIME BACHELOR OF
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (2015-2018)
 AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL
AMITY UNIVERSITY, UTTAR PRADESH
DECLARATION

A Study of Factor Affecting Emotional

attachment for low cost & premium
brand

I understand what plagiarism is and am aware of the University's policy in this

regardI declare that

a) The work submitted by me in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the

award of degree Bachelor of Business Administration assessment in this
report is my own; it has not previously been presented for another assessment.

B) I declare that this report is my original work. Wherever work from other
source has been appropriately acknowledged and referenced in accordance with
the requirements of NTCC Regulations and Guidelines.

c) I have not used work previously produced by another student or any other
person to submit it as my own.

D) I have not permitted, and will not permit, anybody to copy my work with the
purpose of passing it off as his or her own work.

e) The work conforms to the guidelines for layout, content and style as set out in
the Regulations and Guidelines.

DATE: Harshit Verma

 A7006415031
BBA (sem 4)

AMITY UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW

CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT

This AGREEMENT is between the office of the register Amity university

Lucknow and Harshit Verma student presently studying at the AMITY
BUSINESS SCHOOL, Lucknow Campus

The student named above desires to undertake Dissertation / training program as

student in the institute / Department / Center AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL,
Amity University as a part of his studies. The competent authority of the
institute where the student is presently studying has officially recommended the
student, confirming his antecedents, track record and good moral character.

CONFIDENTIALITY:

Confidential information means any information of a secret or confidential

nature relating to the internship / training workplace. Confidential information
may include, but is not limited to, trade secrets, proprietary information,
customer information, customer lists, methods, plans, documents, data,
drawings, manuals, notebooks, reports, models, inventions, formulas, processes,
software, information system, contracts, negotiations, strategic planning,
proposals, business, alliances, and trading materials and / or any other
intellectual property of the University.

The student / intern agrees to observe the confidentiality requirements of the

Amity University, its Disciplinary procedure in all respects and any additional
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agree to observe confidentiality in the following respects.

As University intern, I agree that:

1. I will use confidential information only as needed by me to perform my

legitimate duties as intern. This means, among other things that.
A. I will not seek confidential information for which I have no legitimate
need to know,
B. I will not any way divulge share, copy, release sell loan revise, alter or
destroy any confidential information except as properly authorized within
the scope of my internship:
C. I will not misuse confidential information or carelessly care for
confidential information; and
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come into contact with.
2. I will safeguard and will not disclose my access code or any other
authorization I have that allows me to access confidential information. I
accept responsibility for all activities undertaken using my access code
and other authorization.
3. I will report to my Head / supervisor activities by any individual or entity
that I suspect may compromise the confidently of confidential. Reports
made in good faith about suspect activities will be held in confidence to
the extent permitted by law, including the identity of the individual
reporting the activities;
4. I will be responsible for my misuse or wrongful disclosure of confidential
information and for my failure to safeguard my access code or other
authorization to access confidential information. I understand that I have
no right or ownership interest in any confidential information referred to
in this agreement. The University may at any time revoke my access
 code, other authorization or access or confidential information. At all time
during my internship with Amity University, I will act in the best interests
of PMC.
I have read and understand the above definition of confidential information
I agree that I will not at any time, both during and after my enrollment in
University Internship, communicate or disclose confidential information to
any person corporation or entity.

It is understood that any breach of confidentiality will result in immediate

termination of the internship and that a report of the breach will be made by
the concerned Head of Institution.

HAVE READ THE ABOVE CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT AND

AGREE TO ITS TERMS.

AGREED ___________________________________ (SIGNATURE)

HARSHIT VERMA (PRINTED FULL NAME)

___________________________________ (DATE)

Signature of Authorized signatory of the institution

(Institution deputing the students)

ACCEPTED

REGISTRAR

AMITY UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW

 STUDENTS CERTIFICATE

Certified that this report is based on the NTCC project undertaken by me in

AMITY UNIVERSITY from 28th August 2016 to 28th September 2016 under the
guidance of Ms. Jayanti Srivastaval in partial fulfillment of the requirement for
award of degree of Bachelor of Business Administration (4th SEM) from
Amity University, Uttar Pradesh.

Date:

HARSHIT VERMA Ms. SABEEHA FATIMA

(Student) (Faculty guide)

 FACULTY CERTIFICATE

Forwarded here with a NTCC MINOR project on A Study of Factor

Affecting Emotional attachment for low cost & premium
brand submitted by Harshit Verma enrollment no. A7006415031, student
of BBA 4th semester (2015-2018)

This project work is partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
Bachelor of Business Administration from Amity University Lucknow Campus,
Uttar Pradesh.

Ms. Sabeeha Fatima

Amity University
Lucknow campus
UTTAR PRADESH
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regard to my

my course coordinator Dr. RICHA RAGHUVANSHI and my faculty guide
Ms. SABEEHA FATIMA.

For their exemplary guidance and monitoring and constant encouragement

throughout the course of this seminar report. The blessing and help and
guidance given by her time to time shall carry me a long way in the journey of
life on which I am about to embark.

Lastly, I thank almighty, my parents for their constant encouragement without

which this assignment would not be possible.

Sincerely,

Harshit Verma
 TABLE OF CONTENT

S.NO. TOPIC PAGE

NO.
1. INTRODUCTION 1 to 3
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 4 to 6
3. COMPANYS PROFILE 7 to 10
4. RESEARCH METHODOLGY 10 to 12
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, branding (i.e. brand creation) is the most important part of
business. Success or failure of everybusiness, no matter in what sector,
is ultimately dependent on its brand. The success of a brand is in
extricably interwoven with the success of the business. If a consumer
were tomention his or her criteria of choosing a product, one of them
would undoubtedly be the brand of the product. Brand gives identity to a
product or service and distinguishes it from similar offers while creating
attachment and the feeling ofbeing different in consumers.

Business managers regard brands as powerful and effective tools in the

process of customer decision-making. Theybelieve that the main role of
branding is differentiation. Researchers and experts of marketing have
recently shown high interest in studying and examining the way
emotional bonds between consumers and their favorite brands emerge
and what roles these bonds play in purchase andpost-purchase behavior
of consumers. Consumers mayestablish relationships with certain
brands in a similar waythat they make relations with other individuals
throughouttheir lives. Such a relationship can bring about some distinct
cognitive (satisfaction, loyalty) and emotional (attachment)benefits. It can
also cause the creation of a strong self-brand connection.

Brand attachment is an emotionally charged bonding between

consumers and brands and essential foundation to successful brand
management . As observed by Grisaffe and Nguyen (2011), companies
harvest financial benefits when enduring emotional connections are
developed between consumers and brands, and rewards from
emotionally bonded repurchases are less expose to situations that
induce switching. Research suggests that consumers can develop
attachments beyond persons to possessions and brands .
Comprehending how to form or accentuate attachments coulbe the key
of achieving successful marketing relationships Moreover, other positive
consequences such as:increasing consumers defensive act against the
effect ofnegative information . Recognizing the importance of studying
consumers attachment specifically within the brand management
literature, some studies aimed to understand the process of forming
brand attachment and its measurement.
Brand attachment is one of the characteristics of the relationship
between the consumer and brand that leads to their automatic thoughts
and feelings about the brand. Creating emotional bonding between
consumers and brands is an objective of companies as strong bonding
leads to positive outcomes, such as loyalty and achieving a price
premium.

Brand attachment and brand attitude strength share several similarities.

Both are psychological constructs that reference a brand. Both involve
assessments of strength (i.e., of the bond or the attitude). Both assume
that high levels of their respective constructs are based on substantial
processing regarding the brand. Both have implications for
marketingrelevant consumption behaviors, such as brand
purchase,repeat purchase, and willingness to recommend a brand.
Moreover, we surmise that when consumers are strongly attached to a
brand, they can also have a positive and strong attitude toward it.
However, we regard brand attachment and brand attitude strength as
distinct constructs because they differ in several fundamental respects.

We expect that consumers intent to enact difficult behaviours along the

behavioral hierarchy (those that use more of their own resources) is
greater when attachment is strong (versus weak). This is so because a
feeling of oneness is accompanied by hot affect, which is highly
motivational (Mikulincer and Shaver 2007). Because attached
consumers view brands as part of themselves and have salient thoughts
and feelings about the brand, they should be more willing to use greater
resources of their own, resources that require the enactment of difficult
behaviors to maintain that relationship. The greater the attachment, the
more difficult the behavior the consumer is willing to enact to maintain
the brand relationship. Attitude strength should be less able to predict
these relationship-maintaining, -sustaining, and -restoring behaviors
because the brand is not connected to the self and thus is less strongly
linked to resource allocation for the purposes of sustaining a brand
relationship.
BRAND ATTACHMENT
Brand attachment refers to the strength of the cognitive and affective
bond connecting the brand with the self in a symbolic manner. When
customers interact with the market environment, they create some
certain links that connect them to brands .
Fournier (1994) has proposed brand attachment as one of thesix
dimensions relevant in a consumer-brand relationship. The significance
of brand attachment as a key determinant in consumer consumption
behavior is substantiated by several attributes inherent to the concept.
Attachment expresses emotional bonds which are persistent, resist to
change, impact cognition, and predict behavior . Persistence reflects the
degree to which an individual's attachment toward an object remains
unchanged over time. Resistance represents an individuals ability to
refuse shifting to competitive products
Many intellectuals such as Ling and Chunlin (2010), Yan andDahai
(2008), Thomson, MacInnis, and Park (2005) agree onthe fact that
attachment is the typical emotional link between the consumer and the
brand Brand attachment refers to the fact that bonds, relationships
and identifying with the brand would be powerful predicting factors for
purchasing the brand in the past and the future; thus, brand attachment
has a positive impact on current and future purchase.

Brand attachment is defined as the extent to which self and brand are
connected. Brand attachment is a psychological variable that displays a
stable and persistent bond with the brand which is emotional. This
construct is an indication of a close mental relationship between the self
and the brand.
.

Brand trust can be defined as the willingness of the average consumer

to rely on the ability of the brand to perform its stated function
(Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2002; Moorman, Deshpande, & Zaltman, 1993),
as the confidence a consumer develops in the brands reliability and
integrity (Chatterjee & Chaudhuri, 2005) The above definition leads to
two general approaches to trust in the literature (Dwyer & Lagace, 1986).
First, Based on the partner's expertise, reliability, or intentionality
partners trustworthiness is viewed as a belief, sentiment, or expectation.
Second, trust has been viewed as behaviour or a behavioural intention
that reflects a trust on a partner and involves uncertainty and
vulnerability on the part of trustee (Moorman, et al., 1993, p. 315). Brand
trust could be generated by providing beliefs of safety, reliability and
honesty about their brands to consumers (Doney & Cannon, 1997).

Success of the organizations depends on its ability to attract and make

loyal customer. This is to create organization to have the ability to keep
its current customers and make them loyal to its brand for long run. The
customers may have different degree of loyalty to brand (Kandampully &
Suhartanto, 2000). Loyalty means customers purchase a product or
service repeatedly. Brand loyalty is the commitment and positive attitude
to purchase the same brand in a durable manner in their future purchase
situation
COMPONENTS OF BRAND ATTACHMENT
Two factors represent brand attachment

:1) the degree of the brand-self connectedness

2) the automaticity of thoughts and feelings about a brand

The degree of brand-self connectedness may be measured based on

statements that reflect the personal relationship between a consumer
and a brand. They would include statements like emotional bonding or
connection, part of me, or an extension of the self. The automaticity
of thoughts (cognition) and feelings (affect) about a brand may be
measured on agreement scales. Items might include positive thoughts
and feelings of (the brand) come to me automatically and naturally, or
positive thoughts toward (the brand) are elicited automatically and
unconditionally whenever I am exposed to it.
One may suggest that brand-self connectedness and retrieval
automaticity are highly correlated, the latter being the outcome of the
former. While possible, we assume that the automaticity of brand
retrieval may vary even at the same level of the brand-self
connectedness. This is expected since the degree of retrieval
automaticity should be influenced by factors other than brand-self
connectedness. These factors include, for example, the length of the
brand possession and the amount of brand-associated information. It
would thus be useful to further discriminate the level of brand attachment
at any given degree of the brand-self connectedness. We propose that
automaticity and brand-self connectedness describe, represent and
characterize the state of mind of those who are highly attached to a
brand. The presence and degree of both better indicates brand
attachment than either one alone.
With regard to the importance of brand attachment, an earlier study
conducted Thomson et al. (2005) resulted in the fact that emotional
attachment to a certain brand indicates a connection between self and
brand, and the connection itself includes emotions toward the brand.
Brand attachment includes three emotional components: affection,
passion, and connection.
FACTORS AFFECTING BRAND ATTACHMENT
self-congruence

Based on the previous research by Malr et al. (2011), self-congruence

is a crucial concept that plays a prominent role in creating and
strengthening emotional brand attachment. Self-congruence is a fit
between the consumers self and the brands image [33]. It can enhance
consumers favourable attitude towards the brand [1]. In general self-
congruence was found to have positive effects on emotional brand
attachment, in specific actual self-congruence generated higher levels of
emotional brand attachmet.

Customer satisfaction
According to Ekinci and colleagues (2008), consumer satisfaction
reflects the overall emotional response of consumers to the whole
service experience at the postpurchasing point for a particular
transaction. Carroll and her colleague (2006) noted that consumers who
feel satisfied and have greater brand love would be more loyal to the
brand and also engage in a positive word of mouth. Emotional
attachment, in a retail setting and when satisfaction is high, was found to
be consistently stronger in positive affective environments [24]. They
also found that satisfaction mediates the effects of store-evoked
pleasure and arousal on brand attachment

Brand familiarity
Brand familiarity refers to consumers accumulated experiences, direct
or indirect, with brands. Hazan and Shaver (1994) stated that familiarity
and responsiveness are two things that related to the selection of an
attachment figure. They proposed that familiarity and responsiveness
are fundamental to attachment because both dictate and influence the
preferences and the process of selection. Furthermore, the literature and
research on place attachment suggest that familiarity is one of the
predictors of the bonding between people and place. Several other
researchers, developing a measurement for place attachment,
considered familiarity as one of the dimensions.
Brand responsiveness
Brands can be responsive if it can fulfil the need for autonomy,
relatedness and competence. A model examining inter-relations between
maternal attachment, responsiveness, and infant attachment found that
maternal responsiveness is a predictor of infant attachment
.When a brand enhances consumers feelings of autonomy and
relatedness, while not suppressing feelings of competence, consumers
are likely to become strongly attached to the brand.
FACTORS AFFECTED BY BRAND ATTACHMENT

Brand loyalty
Brand loyalty refers to a directed behavioral response and a relying on
psychological processes from the individual who can make decisions
over time and in relation to one or more alternative brand among a
selection of brands.
According to Thomson et al. (2005), it is expected that strong
attachments toward brands affect brand loyalty and induces devaluation
of competing alternatives and that means a higher tendency to stay in a
relationship with the brand and this may enhance customer loyalty as a
result. Moreover, as customers tend to repeat pleasurable outcomes, it is
expected that customers will repeat these favorable experiences and
recommend them to others

Achieving premium pricing

The creation of attachment between consumers and brands is among
the objectives of companies as strong connections result in positive
outcomes such as loyalty and accepting highest price.

Brand commitment and tendency to make financial

sacrifices:
Consumers emotional attachments to a brand might predict their
commitment to the brand (e.g., brand loyalty) and their willingness to
make financial sacrifices in order to obtain it. Commitment is defined as
the as the degree to which an individual views the relationship from a
long-term perspective and has a willingness to stay with the relationship
even when things are difficult [35].
A number of researchers view commitment as a measure of marketing
effectiveness [2]. In a marketing context a relevant indicator of
commitment is the extent to which the individual remains loyal to the
brand [31].
Park and colleagues (2006) define loyalty as a result of attachment.
Brand attachment reflects a mental state (a strong self-brand connection
and automatic retention of thoughts and feelings about the brand), yet
loyalty reflects a tendency to maintain relationship with the brand.
Whereas attachment leads to loyalty, the opposite direction is not
possible. Attachment is much more important for marketers than loyalty.
Loyalty may involve merely in a guarantee of relationship continuation
that, for some reasons, has nothing to do with attachment. Individuals
may become loyal to a brand simply due to the lack of competitive
alternatives or a moral and contractual responsibility toward a company
or brand vendors. Loyalty is not based on attachment and does not
contribute to a strong self-brand connection or automatic retention of
thoughts and feelings concerning a certain brand

Involvement
In the same way as loyalty, involvement is an outcome of attachment.
Those consumers who become attached to a product may develop
involvement with it. Hence, it seems that involvement with those brands
to which consumers are attached has to be higher .

Consumer behavior prediction and brand purchase

share:
From a managerial perspective, brand attachmentmore accurately
predicts intentions to perform behaviors thatuse significant consumer
resources (time, money andreputation). It is also a stronger predictor of
actual consumerbehaviors than brand attitude strength. McInnis and
Whan Park (2010) suggest that these effects are observed in terms of
consumer purchase behavior, brand purchase share (i.e., choice among
directly competing brands), and need share (i.e., choice among brands
targeting similar needs), even after controlling for consumer inertia (i.e.,
past behaviors) and other potential factors. Brand attachment serves
also as the ultimate destination for customer brand-relationships.
Moderating effects
Involvement
Loyalty theorists in both attitudinal and behavioural perspective consider
the importance of the involvement of the customer to determine the
strength of loyalty (Lovelock, Patterson, & Walker, 1998; Schiffman &
Kanuk, 1991). Day (1970, p. 10), defined the term involvement as the
general level of interest in the object or the centrality of the object to the
persons ego structure. Some researches indicate that needs, externally
prompted feelings of self-relevance, and personal responses to the
product contribute to the construct of involvement (Celsi & Olson, 1988).
While, Kapferer and Laurnet (1993) suggest consumer involvement
consists five aspects namely personal meaning and self-reference,
ability to provide pleasure, ability to express the persons self, perceived
importance of negative consequences (perceived importance of
purchase risk) and perceived probability of purchase risk. This indicates
the relevant importance of involvement in determining purchase decision
of an individual.
Product itself doesnt have involvement but it is perceived by customer, it
means involvement resides within the consumer but is influenced by the
product. There is no universally accepted criteria available regarding
level of involvement but based on the time and effort customers spend
with the product indicates whether low level or high level of involvement
(Malr, Krohmer, Hoyer, & Nyffenegger, 2011). Thus, involvement
moderates the levels of both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty in
different situations.

Gender
The impact of gender on buying behaviour has been the focus of
attention in numerous scholarly papers (Jasper & Lan, 1992). Davis,
(1999) stated females involve greatly and strongly in the recall process
of emotional events and real-world experiences than males. Women are
more involved in purchasing activities and more heavily influenced by
personal interactions than men (Slama & Tashchian, 1985). On the other
hand, some researches point out that males involve in the technical
aspect of their thought process.
2004). In this way, females apply emotional memory and feelings to
experiences such as pain and negativity than a male which concludes
women are more intimate than men in a relationship process (McAdams,
Lester, Brand, McNamara, & Lensky, 1988; Miller, 2005). Women have
more loyalty towards service performance if they receive satisfaction in
service setting while men have more loyalty if they receive satisfaction in
product performance (Moutinho & Goode, 1995)nsdmd
 RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
A research design is simply the framework or plan for a study that is used as guide in
collecting and analyzing the data. It is blue print that is followed in completing a study.
Research design is the plan structure, and strategy of investigation conceived so as to obtain
answer research question and to control variance.

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION-

SECONDARY DATA

Secondary data analysis can be literally defined as second-hand analysis. It is the analysis
of data or information that was either gathered by someone else (e.g., researchers,
institutions, other NGOs, etc.).

In this project Secondary Data has been undertaken with care and diligence. Secondary data
analysis and review involves collecting and analysing a vast array of information.

The secondary data is being collected from:

Case Study

Books

Internet

Organizational Reports

Business Magazines