The Mediating Effect of Brand Trust on the Relationship between Experiential Marketing and Brand Loyalty: With Special Reference to Retail Industry of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Nowadays, consumers are more concerned about how they feel while using a product package rather than the quality. Therefore, experiential marketing has started to gain acceptance as a new tactic for subverting standard marketing methods. Subsequently, trustworthiness towards the brand and loyalty from the consumers' side will be created. Furthermore, even in the retail industry creating a memorable experience is the most important challenge due to higher competition in the industry. However, if there are several studies conducted in several industries by revealing the available relationship between experiential marketing and customer loyalty, there is no exact implication for investigating the relationship between experiential marketing on customer loyalty while the mediation role of brand trust in the retail industry of Sri Lanka. The population of the study was customers who have already experienced retail service in Sri Lanka. Under non-probability sampling techniques, a convenient sampling technique was adopted. The sample size was 384. The self-administrative questionnaire was used for collecting data. Through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) revealed that experiential marketing impact on customer loyalty while there is a mediating role of brand trust. The outcomes of the study indicated that markers should concern the powerfulness of experiential marketing when creating marketing strategies and tactics.