Developing brand identity and sales strategy in the digital era: Moderating role of consumer belief in brand

Brand identity helps customers to identify, as well as distinguish alternative competitive brands. If there is a consistent marketing strategy and consistent messaging, brand identity remains consistent, which helps in improving sales management and generating better revenue for the brand. In this digital era, there are various digital marketing tools and capabilities to improve brand identity, which help in establishing close association with customers to influence their purchasing decisions. However, we have limited understanding of the antecedents of brand identity in the digital era, and how the moderating role of consumer belief in brands could influence their purchasing decision making process. In this context, this study aims to determine the antecedents of brand identity in the digital era, and to examine if there is any moderating impact of consumer belief in brand (CBB) on consumer purchase decision (CPD). Based on the resource-based view and social identity theory, a theoretical model has been developed. Following the survey responses of representatives from 302 organizations/brands, the covariance-based structural equation modelling validates our model. Our analysis affirms that e-WOM, digital infrastructure, skilled manpower, and digital marketing capability positively impact on developing brand identity, which influences sales strategy differently in different situation to influence CPD, where CBB plays a moderating role. The study results have been derived by analyzing the inputs of the respondents based out of India which invited external validity issue and it has been considered as one of the limitations of this study.