Online retail experience as a driver of brand stereotypes and psychological brand ownership

Purpose Experiential marketing has gained significant traction in today’s economy due to the value consumers place on favorable, memorable experiences with a brand and its platforms. Accordingly, this research aims to investigate how the online retail experience (ORE) affects the stereotyping of the brands in question and consumers’ psychological inclination to own them. The authors study a model of the relationships among ORE, brand stereotypes (i.e. brand warmth and brand competence) and psychological brand ownership (PBO). Design/methodology/approach The authors collected 408 valid responses via self-administered online surveys. The analysis was performed through structural equation modeling in AMOS v.27. Findings The results demonstrate that ORE affects brand warmth, brand competence and PBO. Brand warmth also emerged as a predictor of PBO. Further, the moderating effect of perceived brand ethicality was established. Practical implications Marketers should focus on delivering a memorable, glitch-free ORE to foster favorable brand perceptions and a sense of PBO among platform users. Originality/value This research advances the literature by applying the stereotype content model and psychological ownership theory in the online retail context. Arguably, this is an early attempt to document the relationship between ORE, brand stereotypes and PBO. They also consider perceived brand ethicality a valuable boundary condition for the ORE.