The Role of Brand Anthropomorphism in Shaping Customer Loyalty in Retail

The modern world of the global retail is a very overcrowded, noisy marketplace. Physical stores are becoming more and more visually homogenized, making them more competitive with the consumer attention. Traditional advertising methods, including the focus on lower costs or the higher quality of the product, are no longer effective. This means that companies will be forced to develop genuine relationships that will invoke emotional appeal to the consumers.
Brand anthropomorphism (BA) responds to this request. The attribution of affective and intentional qualities onto a brand results in the brand achieving relational salience that is beyond its instrumental character. This anthropomorphic framing attracts the socially oriented consumer reactions, as a reflection of interaction with a familiar agent. Such exchanges naturally evolve into behaviors such as reliance, expectation, and affective attachment. The current paper explores the process in which the introduction of a personal aspect of the brands enables a more invigorating interaction beyond one-deal connections, which is the key subject of focus of the investigation.