THE IMPACT OF BRANDING AND COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN EFFECT ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

The impact that globalization has had on the world and business environment has been huge in the sense that it totally changed the way consumer purchasing habits worked. Despite the fact that some global brands have emerged, such as Coca-Cola, BMW, Apple, and others that are common to see in numerous markets all around the world, some brands still appeal to customers not because of their global fame but due to their patriotic appeal. In an era when markets are full of international brands and products, local products that possess certain domestic characteristics and patriotism feelings can have a slight competitive advantage over global brands due to their place of production or brand name that has patriotic messages. Some brands have very high awareness, affordable prices, and high quality, but it is no secret that some products are sold well due to their patriotic appeal. In this regard, the impact of patriotism, the country-of-origin effect, and patriotic branding have been thoroughly studied by many researchers, but the debate still remains as to whether country of origin and patriotic marketing influence customer purchasing decisions positively. Considering this and other developments in the Uzbek home appliances market, where instead of traditionally dominant foreign brands, local brands such as Artel have emerged, it is interesting to see how patriotic marketing and the country-of-origin effect influence customer buying behavior in Uzbekistan. Artel, one of the dominant companies in Uzbekistan in the home appliances and electronics industry, has used patriotic marketing as a way to compete with internationally popular brands. For this particular reason, the research evaluates the role of patriotic marketing, the country-of-origin effect, and branding on local companies and how they use the aforementioned factors as a way to influence customer buying behavior to their advantage. To be more precise, the research has been conducted in order to analyze the impact of patriotic marketing and the country-of-origin effect on consumer purchasing decisions while purchasing Artel products