Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study in China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine consumers' perception of brand functions in an emerging market: China. The study also aims to investigate the impact of brand functions on brand loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – A two‐phase study was conducted. The first phase consisted of 15 personal in‐depth interviews while the structured questionnaires were used to collect data in the second stage and a total of 256 consumers participated in this study. Findings – The study finds general support that consumer perceives both utilitarian and expressive functions of the brand. Specifically, the results of the research show that for Chinese consumers, brands accomplish various functions such as “recall of past experiences”, “quality sign” and “identify”. Moreover, “recall of past experiences” is a unique brand function for Chinese consumers and has a positive impact on brand loyalty. Originality/value – To the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to shed light on examining consumer perceptions of brand functions in the Chinese market.