Consumer Behavior

Individual Assignment

HAN 20010003 13th June 2021

Table of content:

1) Introduction .....................................................................................2
2) The literal review ..............................................................................2
3) Background of Zara Hanoi.................................................................2
4) Brand equity and suggestion ............................................................2
5) Conclusion ........................................................................................4
6) Reference list....................................................................................4

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 I. Introduction

Consumer behaviour is defined as a study to accumulate customer's data affecting buying decisions to
measure and analyse their behaviour to direct the business strategy and satisfy customer needs (Peter &
Olson, 2010). Following Foxall et al. (2021), consumer behaviour is essential for business success
because it determines business performance and its measurement guides marketing strategy. Although
there are a hundred elements dominating consumer behaviour, the research of Fatima, Aftab & Iqbal
(2014) indicated that the "brand" is considered an essential and effective one to influence consumer
behaviour. In addition, the "brand" is highly recommended for the business as a dynamic to raise
customer identification of the product or service and thence to develop the business value (O'Connell,
2015). Because it is quick to attract potential customer and known as an effective strategy for industries
that need rapid change, especially for a fast-fashion brand like Zara. This writing will discuss the brand
before analysing Zara's branding in Hanoi and suggesting improving its marketing strategy.

II. The literal review

The "brand" is a theoretical business and advertising origination supporting identifying a particular
company or a person (Kenton, 2020). It is used as identification signs to establish brand identities in the
market. Thus, having a good brand provides colossal value and the competitive advantage for a brand
over rivals and benefits its customer in decision making, creating reassurance and quality assurance,
following O'Connell (2015). In addition, toward the marketing aspect, "brand" represents all the
business's marketing strategy efforts that help impulse and maintain the brand's identification in
customer's perception and contribute to business success (Yin Wong & Merrilees, 2007).

III. Background of Zara Hanoi

Along with the rapid development of technology, the pace of life has the breakneck change in all
aspects, following Peters, Granberg and Sweet (2015); thus, fast fashion has been released (Peters et al.,
2021). Zara is a giant in this industry owned by a famous textile corporation Inditex; currently, Zara has
gained popularity worldwide in at least 2.200 stores in 96 countries, Parietti (2021).

Recently, following Asia News Monitor (2019), Vietnam is appreciated as a potential market in retail
business's eyes because of the stable of economics, politics and society and the swift on checking the
epidemic whereas Covid-19 pandemic is raging across the world, according to a newspaper about the
trend of growth of Vietnam's economics during Covid-19 by Thien (2021). Zara Vietnam was prosperous
in the penetration market, especially in Hanoi, and swiftly made it the second-largest revenue market
(Asia News Monitor, 2019).

IV. Brand equity and suggestion

Brand equity is considered the most vital point of Zara Hanoi; it always leaves other retail brands behind
and stands at a high position in the retail field in Hanoi, following a report by Asia Plus Inc (2018), which
is defined as the connection between customer behaviour and brand in marketing (Akkucuk & Esmaeili,
2016). Brand equity comprises all properties and regulation procedures relevant to the brand name and

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brand identities. It represents the copyright owner's reputation and trustworthiness, which provide the
increased value of its products and services (Keller, 1993). “Brand equity” involves four elements.

Firstly, brand awareness (Aaker, 1991) is the competence of recognising the brand or memorising a
brand through a product. Hoyer & Brown (1990) claimed that brand awareness significantly affects
customers' buying behaviour because it helps the brand accumulate consumers' recognition and loyalty,
making them decide faster and less risky. Zara awareness mainly comes from word-of-mouth; in Parietti
(2021) newspaper, it almost does not spend money on marketing for the brand but the store location
and the opening day. In Hanoi, a survey showed that people are easy to be driven by word-of-mouth,
and they also tend to appreciate and believe in the quality of the imported goods than the local ones
(Nguyen, 2017). Targeting these points, Zara Hanoi gain the successful and stood at the top of the
Vietnamese fashion brand recognition ranking by Asia Plus Inc (2018).

Secondly, brand association is understood as a thought or idea stored in people's minds, connecting a
brand to specific elements and personalities that create customer's trust, following Aaker (1991).
According to Zara’s advertisement on YouTube (2019), the brand often targets women in the 25-35 ages
and its image associates with “successful”, “strong”, “independent” women in other markets. In
Vietnam, it is a positive image because office women tend to follow this style. Moreover, people in
Hanoi prefer to choose a high-quality, trendy product with affordable price; following Nguyen (2017),
keywords like "cheap", "low quality", and "uninteresting" would be ignored in this market. Therefore,
Zara created the value attaching to trademarks "young", "high-fashion", and "trendy" and its brand
image sticking in people's mind "fast change", "medium price", and "quality product".

Thirdly, Aaker (1991) defines perceived quality as the overview of quality or product's superiority over
customer's perception or differential with their opponents. Compared with its competitors like H&M or
Uniqlo, Zara's style is considered the female office's high-fashion level. In addition, its professional
service is appreciated both in-store and online store, for example, it provides the delivery service to
supplied address if they want to order from the store in other countries.

Last, brand loyalty represents the metric of attachment between customer and brand, expressing in
customer decision making to buy a product from a particular brand and refusing similar product of
others brand with lower price (Aaker, 1991). Offering a larger number of products than competitors and
updating new collections prompt for all ages is Zara’s strategy to raise "brand loyalty" (Parietti, 2021). In
addition, it uses a special return policy within 15 days to increase the frequency of customers visiting the
store.

However, the report of Asia Plus Inc (2018) expressed that people in Hanoi evaluated the perceived
quality of Zara as lower than its competitor, Uniqlo. Furthermore, Dao (2019) investigated that
"perceived quality" is the initial factors affecting Vietnamese buying decision. Therefore, in term of
marketing, Zara can create a video about the manufacturing process like Uniqlo did and gained
popularity. Moreover, Zara should create an item-based loyalty program (IBLP) which Zhang &
Breugelmans (2012) investigates that IBLP helps to decline the cost to attract old customers and raise
the awareness of new customers.

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 V. Conclusion

"Brand equity" is the bridge between consumer behaviour and brand, which are essential elements to
guide business success. Zara has investigated profoundly and used the suitable strategy; however, its
perceived quality is evaluated lower than Uniqlo and Zara did not use item-based loyalty program yet.
Therefore, this writing suggests they focus on marketing for those aspect.

Word count: 1092

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