Brand personality of retailers – an analysis of its applicability and its effect on store loyalty

In recent years, marketing research has paid considerable attention to the symbolic meaning consumers attribute to brands. One important symbolic brand association is brand personality. While the brand personality scale that Aaker has proposed in her well-known article has been applied to different products and product groups in different countries, an application to retailing is rare. Based on the data of an empirical study in Germany (n = 1337), we demonstrate that the scale is applicable for retail brands in Germany, that it serves well to clearly differentiate between retailers and that the dimensions of the brand personality directly influence the store loyalty of consumers.