How do marketing practices impact price premium of co-branded sportswear? The moderating effect of product category fit and partner brand name

Purpose Sportswear brands are increasingly adopting co-branding strategies. Despite the success of marketing practices in co-branding remaining unclear, product category fit and partner brand name potentially play crucial roles. The aim of this research is to explore the effectiveness of marketing practices employed by sportswear brands when collaborating with different partner brands. Design/methodology/approach Due to internal data-sharing restrictions within companies, transaction data from second-hand platforms serve as a crucial source to compensate for the lack of first-hand market data. Using second-hand transaction prices effectively reflects long-term consumer demand and provides reliable support for evaluating product market value and brand marketing practices. A total of 315,584 records detailing trading information were collected from POIZON, a Chinese second-hand trading platform known for sportswear. These data were organized into 5,421 entries and analyzed by multiple regression. Findings The findings indicate that partner brand popularity negatively affects the price premium of co-branded sportswear (PPCS), with product category fit and partner brand name moderating this relationship. High partner brand popularity can lead to cue competition and consumer confusion, reducing PPCS. This challenges the assumption that higher brand popularity always correlates with greater perceived value. However, when product category fit is high, this negative effect is reversed. Additionally, while celebrity endorsements exert a positive influence on PPCS, their effectiveness diminishes when the partner brand name is related to a celebrity, suggesting an overshadowing effect. Practical implications Sportswear companies should prioritize product category fit when partnering with popular brands. Concurrently, they must thoroughly assess the naming style and distinctive attributes of partner brands when choosing endorsers. Similarly, marketing firms need to ensure that the endorsers’ values align seamlessly with the brand name to prevent any potential conflicts. Originality/value This study offers new insights by applying the competitive cue theory to demonstrate how partner brand popularity negatively affects co-branding effectiveness, moderated by product category fit. By validating the meaning transfer model, it shows that celebrity endorsements enhance the price premium of co-branded products in the secondary market. Additionally, the introduction of the overshadowing effect reveals how partner brand names moderate this impact. Supported by empirical field data, these findings enrich market research beyond conventional evaluations.