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Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of consumer brand experience on brand love and loyalty toward a favorite tequila brand across Mexico and the USA while advancing marketing strategies to strengthen consumer-brand relationships. Design/methodology/approach Data were analyzed from 906 respondents (348-USA and 558-Mexico) to assess paths to purchase loyalty and test brand relationship hypotheses using partial least squares. Findings Analysis revealed that consumers in both markets demonstrated similar paths from tequila experience to brand love and attitude toward their favorite tequila brand. On the contrary, significant differences in the influence of tequila experience on the brand image were evident. Tequila experience did not have a significant difference between markets on purchase loyalty. Attitude toward the tequila brand had a much stronger influence on brand image for the USA compared to Mexican respondents. Finally, brand love’s influence on purchase loyalty differed significantly between the two markets of respondents. Practical implications Considering different paths to behavioral brand loyalty across markets enables segmentation strategy development to increase repeat purchase and brand allegiance. Results indicate that the brand's image is a strong influencer of purchase loyalty, suggesting opportunities exist for brand managers to consider unique paths toward purchase loyalty. Originality/value This study advances the literature by answering the call for multi-national studies that investigate consumer-brand relationships. Furthermore, the research setting offers insight into consumer-brand relationships and consumption patterns for spirits in a different national context, in this case, the product’s country of origin (Mexico) and its largest market (USA).
Cacho-Elizondo et al. (Thu,) studied this question.