Original vs Smell-alike : a study of purchase intention drivers in the perfumes category

• Autor(a) principal: Serina, Inês Pinto
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/26987
• topic: Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

This study aims to understand which factors influence the purchase intention of perfumes by making a comparative analysis between original and imitation perfume brands. The latter have the exactly same fragrance as the original perfume but they are sold at a much lower price. Therefore, this evidence of a possible threat for original perfume retailers is going to be demystified. The theory of planned behavior was applied in order to understand what drives purchase intention. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that there is a performance and social risk associated with the purchase of perfumes and that could be the factor that differentiates the intention to purchase original perfumes instead of imitations. An online survey was conducted and the main findings were that attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control impact positively the purchase intention of perfumes. Moreover, when a customer believes that there is a price-quality inference relation, they tend to have a negative attitude towards imitation perfumes. Additionally, only performance risk influences negatively the purchase intention of perfumes. Finally, there was no evidence of differences between all the drivers influencing purchase intention regardless the kind of perfume. This study would be helpful for all managers of perfumes to gain insights in a way to increase consumers purchase intention. Improvement of quality perceptions, ensure good guarantees supported by good services, certify easy availability of resources and opportunities and launch marketing campaigns encouraging word-of-mouth communication are some possible strategies presented as main conclusions.