Off the shelf, still on their minds? Comprehending consumer responses to brand deletion
Abstract
Consumers frequently develop strong relationships with brands and thus are profoundly affected when these beloved brands are deleted from firm portfolios. The purpose of this research is to develop a fine-grained understanding of brand deletion from the consumers’ perspective, by identifying their key responses to brand deletion and developing self-report measures to assess these responses. A practical framework was developed to help firms understand and measure consumer reactions through an instrument and an overarching model conceptualising consumers’ responses to brand deletion. Consumers’ responses to brand deletion were found to emerge as a three-stage process: 1) thoughts and interpretations of the brand’s discontinuation; 2) emotional reactions such as sadness and/or betrayal; and 3) actions that can include complaining and/or negative word of mouth. Prior research has focused on a variety of specific atomistic consumer responses to brand deletion, including grief, rage and retaliation. In contrast, the research applies an integrated approach grounded in the tripartite model of cognition-affect-behaviour and the theory of cognitive appraisal. Actionable insights are offered for brand managers to anticipate consumer backlash and design effective communication strategies to plan and implement brand deletion decisions effectively. This framework equips businesses to reduce risk and maintain customer loyalty in the event of brand deletions. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.
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Author's Biography
Purvi Shah is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Business School, Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Her research centres on brand and product deletion strategies in portfolio management, examining the strategic and operational implications of discontinuing products and brands. Specifically, her work investigates: 1) the drivers and processes underlying firms’ decisions to delete offerings from their portfolios and 2) the interdependencies between deletion strategies, business functions and key stakeholders. Her methodological expertise lies in rigorous and relevant qualitative research. Her research has been published in several top interdisciplinary journals such as Journal of Brand Management, Journal of Marketing Management, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Production Research, IEEE Transactions of Engineering Management, Journal of Consumer Affairs and Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. Her research contributes to advancing the understanding of strategic portfolio management and its broader impact on marketing and organizational performance.
Eleanor T. Loiacono is a Professor of Business Analytics at William and Mary’s Mason School of Business. Her work centres on technology and people. She focuses on how people feel about technologies and how technologies, such as mobile apps and social media, can improve people’s experiences. Her expertise includes how those with differing abilities interact with technologies and work. Her research has expanded into the diversity of the IT workforce and women in IT. She is the Principal Investigator on a three-year, US$1m National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant, (https://impactit.pages.wm.edu). Her research has appeared in numerous top information systems journals.
E. Vance Wilson is retired from The Business School faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. His research focuses on organisational aspects of human–computer interaction, with a special emphasis on e-health, computer-mediated communication and online persuasion.
