The role of store brand love in online shopping behavior. An application of the S-O-R model to the online fashion retailing.

The paper aims to enhance the knowledge on the phenomenon of brand love in the fashion online retailing context. It builds on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model in order to identify the determinants of store brand love and its impact on patronage intention and store loyalty. By including price, assortment, service and communication as stimuli, the adopted theoretical framework may shed light on the mechanism underlying the formation process of love toward the store brand and its role in the consumer’s decision-making process. Data were collected through an online survey with a sample of 323 Italian consumers. Results showed that assortment, service and price convenience act as stimuli for brand love, which in turn is capable of positively influence patronage intention and store loyalty. At the theoretical level, the study supports the adequacy of the S-O-R model for explaining the role of store brand love in the online consumer decision-making process. From a managerial perspective, the findings highlight the factors that practitioners can leverage to increase store brand love and, consequently, loyalty and purchase intention.