E-tail brand experience's influence on e-brand trust and e-brand loyalty The moderating role of gender

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of e-tail brand experience on e-brand trust and e-brand loyalty. The study also tests whether gender moderates this influence. Design/methodology/approach - In all, 429 responses were collected using both offline and online survey methods. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling techniques were performed to test the measurement and structural models using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20.0 statistical software. Findings - Empirical results confirm the impact of e-tail brand experience on e-brand trust and e-brand loyalty. Gender was found to moderate the relationships. It was further found that e-tail brand experience developed almost same levels of e-brand trust in both males and females. However, males became more loyal to e-tail brands when they received positive e-tail brand experiences. Practical implications - E-tail brand managers should focus on the design and delivery of unique e-tail brand experiences to develop e-brand trust and e-brand loyalty in customers. The direct influence of e-tail brand experience on e-brand loyalty was found to be weaker in females, which suggests that managers could take steps to specifically deliver experiences that please female customers which might result in increased e-brand loyalty of this segment. Originality/value - Examining the phenomenon of brand experience in context of online retail while considering gender as moderator highlights the originality and contribution of the present study to existing retail and brand experience literature.