The impact of intra‐brand platform sharing on brand attractiveness

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically examine the brand impact of intra‐brand platform sharing. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses two real platform‐sharing examples from the automobile and consumer electronics industries in an experimental setting. Findings – The study finds that intra‐brand platform sharing caused no damage to brand equity in either setting. Research limitations/implications – The study uses a student sample, although all product classes and brands tested are popular with this demographic which is a key target market for the tested industries. The study also tests intra‐brand platform sharing where the price differences are 20 percent between higher and lower level platform applications, and the findings may not hold for larger price gaps. Practical implications – Platform sharing has been shown to damage brand equity in inter‐brand applications, but the current findings suggest that intra‐brand platform sharing is safe for the brand, and allows managers to also benefit from the cost savings in product design, manufacturing and servicing that have made the technique popular. Originality/value – The paper builds on earlier platform‐sharing research and shows where the technique can be safely practised from the standpoint of protecting brand equity.