Nghiên cứu tài sản thương hiệu của các siêu thị điện máy trên địa bàn thành phố hà nội tt tiếng anh

1 INTRODUCTION Background In recent years, the development of the retail market has been one of the highlights of the Vietnamese economy in general This development has been reflected not only in breadth (as more and more retail stores operate on a chain scale) but also in depth (such as the variety of retail business models, the improvement of retail service quality, ) Therefore, this topic about retailing and stakeholders (suppliers, consumers, ) pay much attention from academics and business In several reports of the retail market, one of the most noticeable products belongs to the electronics field Since 2008, the emergence of more and more retail stores of electronic products and the expansion of specific supermarkets with different brands has contributed to the more increasingly attractive market Some retail business brands that choose to develop in the chain model could be mentioned such as The gioi di dong, FPT Shop, Vien Thong A, CellphoneS while a number of other retail stores have also made their own brands such as Phuc Anh Smart Computer, Gia Long, Ishop As for electronics supermarkets, the expansion of electronics supermarkets over the years might include the brands of Tran Anh, Mediamart, Pico, Nguyen Kim and most recently, Dien may Xanh These active signs show the business potential for the retail of electronics products in the market of Hanoi city and the Vietnamese market in general On the other hand, it shows the fierce competition that if the retail business is not careful in adjusting its business strategy to new competitors, it would face more challenges soon However, fierce competition has resulted in an inevitable outcome: leaving the market 2015 was a milestone year for the retail industry in general and the electronics retailing sector Right from the beginning of 2015, Nguyen Kim - one of the first Vietnamese brands in the field of retailing of electronic products - announced the sale of shares to Central Group (Thailand) with a 49% stake transfer It was followed by Tran Anh's cooperation with Nojima - a large Japanese electronics retailer, and by April 2015, Nojima's ownership was 31% of Tran Anh's total shares Also, during this period, there was much information that Pico and Mediamart sought foreign partners to implement the orientation of "internationalization", but it was not successful Notably, in 2017, the retail market of electronics products continued to witness many major acquisitions The first is the deal of The Gioi Di Dong and Tran Anh when the entire chain of electronics supermarkets branded "Tran Anh" officially belongs to The gioi di dong Group and this is a step to open the ambition to dominate the market of electronics supermarket chain with the branded chain "Dien may Xanh" in the North The next deal is the agreement to transfer ownership of FPT Retail and FPT Trading (belonging to FPT Group) to Synex Group - a leading retail group of phones, tablets, and mobile devices (Taiwanese) Continuing, early in 2018, Creador Group - a private equity fund, based in Malaysia - announced it would invest US $ 100 million in The gioi di dong over the next three years It could be seen that, after 2015 with the milestone of establishing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the removal of tariffs for many items on the list of electronic and electrical products among nations members, creating competitive pressure with domestic electronics retailers As a result, many electronics supermarkets of Vietnamese businesses would be forced to give consumers a reason that is strong enough and unique enough to choose to buy at their supermarket instead of choosing to buy at those of competitors The main brand is one of those reasons The brand of an electronics supermarket could become a commitment, a certification of the quality of goods and services provided by the electronics supermarket to consumers However, the brand of an electronics supermarket could not be created in a short time, it is a process of accumulation for many years and exists in the minds of customers The brand could gradually increase its influence if the business is concerned, appropriate investment or may fade if the business does not really believe in "its own brand" The term "brand equity" was introduced to explain that accumulation process Brand equity in terms of customers is represented by the different reactions (attitude and behavior) of consumers to brands that are competitors of each other in the same segment target field Brand equity has been studied since the 1980s and studies on this topic have been expanded to cover various businesses as well as different types of businesses Among them, studies of brand equity based on consumers are more prominent with the starting point from the approach of Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993) Over the past twenty years, researches on brand equity have been studied for retail businesses that have made certain contributions from a practical perspective to help businesses to apply them in management activities Researches on brand equity based on consumers in the food retail sector show outstanding numbers Modern retail is also a priority in the study of brand equity However, among these types, specialized supermarkets with specific products are often chosen to be the subject of research Therefore, the dissertation chooses the direction of researching the electronics market as a specialized supermarket to explore factors affecting brand equity for this type of business Based on research, the dissertation expects to make some recommendations for electronics supermarkets to enhance its brand equity Stemming from the above reasons, the dissertation with the title " Exploring brand equity of electronics supermarkets located in Hanoi city " is proposed Research objectives and missions The research objective is to explore brand equity of electronics supermarkets located in Hanoi In particular, the dissertation focuses on clarifying the scientific basis of the factors affecting the brand equity of electronics stores Since then, it inherits and builds a research model, followed by data analysis to assess the impact of retail marketing factors on the brand equity of local electronics stores On that basis, several recommendations are proposed to improve the brand equity of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi From there, the specific tasks of the dissertation include: Firstly, Systematize some basic theories about customer – based brand equity of retail businesses In particular, the dissertation would clarify issues of this equity following different approaches, components, and factors affecting customer-based brand equity of retail businesses Secondly, Building research models and research hypotheses; Select data collection method and data analysis method Thirdly, Analyze the results of data collection to assess the impact of the retail marketing factors on the brand equity of the electronics supermarket in Hanoi Since then, the dissertation proposes several solutions and makes some recommendations to influence the retail marketing factors that affect the brand equity of the electronics supermarket, and thereby improve their brand equity These recommendations are set in the context of developing a retail market in Vietnam oriented to 2035 Research objectives and scope a Research objects The object of the dissertation is the brand equity of electronics supermarkets In particular, the dissertation focuses on the study of the retail marketing factors that affect the brand equity of electronics stores These are elements inherited from previous studies of brand equity of retail businesses and adjusted based on expert opinion b Research scope Scope of research by content: The dissertation focuses on researching customer-based brand equity, brand equity of retail businesses, and especially brand equity of electronics stores The dissertation focuses on understanding and evaluating the influence of retail marketing factors on brand equity of electronics stores The electronics supermarkets that are approached in the dissertation are chains of electronics supermarkets including many electronics supermarkets that operate on a centralized model The supermarket chain is composed of multiple member supermarkets that share the same ownership and are concentrated in strategic planning and implementation decisions (Michael and Barton, 2001, p 64), with the same managed brand, centralized management with a unified business approach Supermarket chains could range from more than 1,000 points of sale; There is a same category of goods at uniform selling prices (Michael and Barton, 2001, p 65) Scope of the research by space: The dissertation researches electronic chains operating in chains in Hanoi city Since in the period of 2017 - 2019, there was a change of Tran Anh electronics supermarket chain (merged with Green Electronics supermarket chain), Vinpro electronics supermarket chain officially dissolved, based on data collecting about electronics stores, as of the time of research, there are chains of electronics stores with brands of HC, Pico, Mediamart, Dien may Xanh and DigiCity However, the DigiCity electronics supermarket chain has the lowest number of supermarkets (4 official supermarkets and general store) and chooses to locate supermarkets in suburban districts of Hanoi while the electronics supermarket chains have tended to choose locations in urban districts Therefore, in the process of collecting primary data, the dissertation focused on four electronics supermarket chains, namely Pico, HC, Mediamart and Dien May Xanh in urban districts of Hanoi City Scope of research over time: The dissertation focuses on researching business activities of electronics supermarkets since 2010 The survey period for consumers is conducted from May to August 2019 Based on the research results, the dissertation gives some recommendations on brand management activities of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi and proposed orientations to 2035 New contributions of the dissertation The scholarly contributions of the dissertation The dissertation has systematized documents on brand equity of retail businesses, brand equity based on customers in general These documents are from domestic and foreign researches on brand equity that have been published in the period from 2009 to 2017, partly showing the novelty of the dissertation The dissertation has built a research model on brand equity of consumer electronics supermarkets based on Keller (2013, 1993) and the subsequent successive studies of some other authors such as Swoboda et al (2016, 2009), Allaway et al (2011), Jingfeng and Zhilong (2009) In the previous studies of brand equity in Vietnam, most of the studies approached according to Aaker's (1991), so the application of Keller's approach to the research model (2013, 1993) could be considered as a new contribution to academic research on brand equity in Vietnam The dissertation has also contributed to the development of new observed variables In previous studies of supermarket brand equity, the scale was designed and developed with several tangible products Therefore, using consumer reviews on products to evaluate the services of electronics stores is not appropriate The dissertation has inherited the scale from the world's research on customer-based brand equity combined with qualitative data collection methods (group discussions, expert interviews) to adjust the wording of the observed variable in the brand equity research model of electronics supermarkets to best describe the content of the variable In addition, adding the observed variables of the research variable on "Delivery and installation services" and "Payment and refund services" based on the actual business situation of electronics stores; observed variable on "Origin of goods" in the research variable "Brand product assortment" based on consumer needs and concerns for electronics products Practical contributions of the dissertation Research results have shown that for consumers in Hanoi city, the factor affecting the brand equity of electronics stores is most clearly related to the In-store atmosphere This means that consumers are more interested in where electronics products are sold and how they are sold than depending on the product portfolio that electronics stores sell Consumers are also more interested in "emotional" factors such as the usefulness and attitude of the sales staff, the level of installation staff and the quality of the delivery service after the purchase process Factors of material benefits that might be received and the willingness to share information; Vehicle storage area; Repair service, warranty; Brand product portfolio and the availability of goods are the next influencing factors This shows that when the electronics supermarket chains have a high degree of similarity in the list of business goods, the difference of the brand comes from intangible factors (shopping space, supply services level and salesperson) The dissertation made the first contribution to the use of quantitative research data to identify the factors and evaluate the effects of these factors on the brand equity of electronics stores in Hanoi The research on supermarket’s brand equity has not been selected for a few specialized types of supermarkets and especially for electronics, the number of these studies is not much Therefore, the research results of the dissertation could become a clear evidence of the impact of retail marketing factors on the brand equity of electronics stores in customers' minds The results of the data analysis show that the scales of the observed variables have good reliability, so this set of scales could be applied in customer surveys about brand equity of electronic supermarkets Based on the results of this investigation, the board of directors of these electronics supermarkets would have information about the current situation of their brand equity and the factors affecting it From there, the adjustments necessary to enhance the brand equity of the electronics supermarket could be proposed and implemented accordingly From the research results on the model and the theory of brand equity, the dissertation has made several proposals to improve the brand equity of electronics stores in Hanoi These recommendations revolve around the problem that many limitations of electronic supermarkets are their brand Strategy Moreover, the proposal of optimizing the operation of the electronics supermarket when operating in the chain business is also the practical contribution of the dissertation based on balancing short-term financial goals and brand objectives in the long term Dissertation structure In addition to the Introduction, the dissertation is structured into chapters: Chapter "Overview of the research on brand equity of retail businesses" summarizes the research on brand equity of retail businesses based on the approach of two views of the author Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993) Besides, several domestic and foreign studies that are causally related to the content of the dissertation are also detailed Chapter "Theoretical basis for customer-based brand equity" presents a summary of some approaches to brand equity in the world and in Vietnam; Presents detailed contents of Keller's viewpoint (2013, 1993) Chapter focuses on the access to brand equity of electronics stores with the content of constituents and focuses on factors affecting brand equity Chapter "Research models and methods" focuses on the research model, data collection methods and data analysis methods used in the dissertation Chapter "Data analysis results" refers to the statistical results after data analysis and discusses the research results Chapter "General assessment and recommendations" refers to the overall assessment of the brand equity situation of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi based on research results and recommendations for stakeholders aim to improve customer – based brand equity of electronics supermarkets 5 CHAPTER OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH ON BRAND EQUITY OF RETAIL ENTERPRISES 1.1 SUMMARY OF RESEARCH PROJECTS ON ASSETS OF ENTERPRISES BRAND RETAIL 1.1.1 Overview of foreign research works on brand equity of retail businesses Around the world, there have been many studies on the brand of retail businesses and the brand equity of retailers Much of the content of these studies focuses on the brand equity of retail businesses under the approach of consumers Also from here, a lot of fragmented content that mainly goes in two research directions: Following the approach of Aaker (1991) with a four-element brand equity (Brand awareness, Perceived quality, Brand loyalty, Brand Associations); And according to Keller's (1993) approach to brand equity is a distinct effect due to the existence of brand knowledge which the result of past marketing programs that businesses implement to impact touch customers' minds Many studies use the model of Aaker (1991) with the dissertation that this model has the basis of scale research and is easy to apply to administrators However, for the retail sector, for supermarkets, and for retail businesses, brand equity is not merely "things that are attached to and add to the value of the products they have offer " It is important to recognize that the brand equity of a retail business is more complex than the brand equity of the product, and that ultimately makes the difference in the attitude and behavior of consumers is associated with retailers when that brand is always the preferred choice Therefore, many researches on retail businesses (convenience stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, specialized stores, shopping malls, department stores, etc.) carry out indepth research on branding retailers’ images - a core content of Keller's (1993) approach to brand equity The author himself has continued to develop his views over the past twenty years, and most recently introduced a model of brand equity under customer approach based on each content in branding These studies have some of the following: Firstly, the number of model building research and hypo dissertation testing accounts for the majority Only two studies by Ailawadi and Keller (2004) and Hartman and Spiro (2005) use analytical methods to summarize and propose a new theoretical framework Besides, only the work of Sonnenberg and Erasmus (2008) is to use qualitative data to draw research conclusions Second, the construction theory models are based on the theoretical framework of brand equity of Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993) In addition to some original models applied for testing under different conditions, there are some model development works such as Jara and Cliquet (2012) from Keller model (1993) or as Pappu and Quester (2008) from Aaker's model (1991 or like GilSaura et al (2013), Jinfeng and Zhilong (2009), Chen (2011) are a combination of two models Third, these studies all focus on the type of retail business that is supermarket, hypermarkets, shopping centers and retail stores of businesses Only a few studies of Pappu and Quester (2008) and Dabija (2012) conducted research with specialized stores Fourth, food and fashion sectors are the two categories with more research than the remaining categories (Electronics, Furniture, DIY) The study of electronics retail businesses has studies of Thang and Tan (2003), Swoboda et al (2016, 2009), Dabija (2012), Das et al (2012), GilSaura et al (2016), Rubio et al (2017) Fifth, retail features (Commodity List / Product Category / Brand List, Location / Location / Accessibility, Atmosphere / Shopping Space / Interior Space, Setting Design and Arrangement / Arrangement, Sales Services, Customer Service / Customer Service, ) are mentioned in one of two forms That is (1) Factors affecting customer reviews and feelings about retail businesses Accordingly, the retail characteristic of the retail store being studied is a set of valuesprovided to customers in retail services These retail characteristics exist in the mind of the customer in terms of associations and depending on the strength / weakness, relevance and uniqueness of the association, customers may have different reactions to the brand Most of these studies are based on Keller's (1993) point of view that retail marketing decisions made by retailers have an important influence on the creation of a brand image - a potentially difficult structure It is possible to measure directly by observing variables that could only be partially measured through customer behaviors and attitudes These are (2) the elements that make up the composition of brand equity These retail characteristics were studied as the elements that make up Perceived quality, Brand Awareness, Brand Associations, Brand Loyalty Most of these studies use Aaker's (1991) point of view that corporate retail marketing decisions affect the creation of the four key components of brand equity, and that retailers should consider these components to make appropriate adjustments to the marketing program of their business 1.1.2 Overview of domestic research on brand equity of retail businesses In Vietnam, research on brand equity of retail businesses is still limited in number Most of the research is focused on finding the constituents of brand equity in some areas such as education and training (researches on assessments of university graduates) such as research by Le Thi Kim Son et al (2015), Ha Xuan Quang et al (2014), Nguyen Tien Dung (2017); Production sectors for agricultural products associated with the origin (such as Thai Nguyen tea, Da Lat vegetables, Binh Thuan dragon fruits) such as Do Thi Bac (2005), Do Duc Kha (2008), and Ngo Thi Ngoc Huyen et al (2014) Besides, there are a few other studies associated with the brand's equity (such as cars, gold products, bottled beverages) such as those of Tran Trung Vinh (2013), Le Tan Buu and Le Dang Lang (2014), Le Dang Lang (2015) The common point of these studies is that following the approach of Aaker (1991), using models and testing hypotheses based on the primary data collected For electronics retailers and supermarkets, two studies have been conducted to find out the impact of retail marketing factors on brand equity (value), namely: image assessment of marketing communication, quality of salespeople, warranty on the assets (value) of the brand of the metal and electronics retail industry in Ho Chi Minh City (Le Tan Buu and Le Dang Lang , 2015); looking for the influence of advertising and promotion on brand equity on consumer goods supermarkets in Hue city (Hoang Thi Anh Thu, 2017) In addition, there are two more works related to retail businesses and electronics supermarket chains and closely related to the research subject of the dissertation That is the study of An Thi Thanh Nhan (2010) with related content on the brand image of retail businesses and Phan Thi Thu Hoai (2014) with related content about the differences of specialized supermarket chains but specifically the electronics supermarket chain in Hanoi 1.2 SOME MODELS OF RESEARCH ON FACTORS CONNECTING BRAND EQUITY OF RETAIL ENTERPRISES 1.2.1 Several research models on the components of brand equity of retail businesses following Aaker's approach Inheriting the brand equity model of Aaker (1991), several researches on brand equity of retail businesses have developed the following: Firstly, when researching the brand equity of retail businesses (at the organizational level), it is advisable to include additional observation variables associated with the brand association associated with the organization and brand personality (Pappu et al , 2005) The scale set for brand equity associated with the product should be adjusted when using that scale for retail businesses (Pappu and Quester, 2006a, 2006b) Brand equity of department stores and specialized stores of retail businesses, then conclude that brand equity is an important measure of marketing and each type of retail store (such as a specialized store or department store) there exists a difference in brand equity based on consumer customers (Pappu and Quester, 2008) Second, the emergence of the term "consumer-based brand-retailer-channel equity" (roughly translated as brand equity- retail businesses - retail channels from a customer perspective) in Londoño's (2016) Inheriting from the point of view of Aaker (1991), the authors have approached brand equity as "a collection of debt and acquired by the link between brand, retail business and retail channel, name, symbol that increases or decreases the value provided by goods or services (or a combination of both) to customers (actual and potential) " The basic assumption of this approach is based on the authors' perspective on the comprehensiveness of value from the combination of brands, retail businesses and retail channels Since then, the model of brand equity that the authors developed based on the original model of Aaker (1991) with three components: Brand Awareness and Brand Associations, Perceived quality, and Loyalty with respect to the brand The result of this model is the intention of the customer To test the theoretical model, the authors interviewed 180 customers, collected data via the Internet, directly re-visited the pharmacy and other locations The product chosen by the authors is a hair care product for men in the United States, which is sold by a UK retail business with a well-known website in Scotland Although the development of a "new" term, in the author's work has not fully explained and does not have enough necessary evidence on the reason of combining two elements of brand equity, Brand associations and Brand Awareness are a common element (apart from the evidence of the work of Yoo and Donthu (2001) Next, the sampling method and the survey site of the authors are not fully provided According to information in the research, 180 people are men (presumably the potential customers of the product being surveyed) in the two cities with a total population of 60,000 convincing enough for readers 1.2.2 Several research models on the components of brand equity of retail businesses according to Keller approach Inheriting the brand equity model of Keller (1993), several researches on brand equity of retail businesses have developed the following contents: Firstly, brand equity is understood as the differentiated effects of brand awareness and brand meaning from consumer reactions to brand marketing programs (Berry, 2000) Since product image is the main element of physical goods brand, enterprise image is the main factor to build awareness of service brand (Luc Thi Thu Huong, 2014), therefore, brand meaning could be considered as a different part of brand equity when competitors are all brands with similar brand awareness (Berry, 2000, p 201) The meaning of a brand is directly and strongly influenced by the customers' experiences with the brand, the results of the services they receive, the interaction of customers with employees, to form that continues to directly affect the brand equity of the service provider From that, it could be said that for customers, the service experience through the process of contacting and interacting with service providers would achieve the highest value both in terms of functional benefits and attachment The power of consumers to the retail business and its brand equity would be more harmed to the negative reactions of consumers regardless of the benefits that the business brings The transparency in information would also be the factor that makes retailers unable to "obscure" their operating policies Not only they need to offer pricing wisely, but retailers also need to consider extra cost factors such as convenience, superior quality, and service guarantees Participation in social networks towards creating brand-beneficial user communities is considered one of the most important suggestions for retailers (Berry et al., 2010) Second, each type of retailers’ brand will have its own brand equity Brand equity of a retail business, in particular the retail brand image, is made up of a number of factors that are directly related to product branding activities and a number of other relevant factors such as store characteristics, retail brand personality, retail business personality, and corporate values and symbols (Jara and Cliquet, 2012, 2008) The results of this study were developed from the approach of Keller (1993) and from the points of Berry (2000) that the brand of a retail business is different from the brand of a manufacturer produced by retail activities This is a service activity, and the service brand is made up of tangible characteristics (related to the product) and intangible associations (related to the consumer experience with the seller business) 1.3 SOME MODELS OF RESEARCH ON FACTORS AFFECTING BRAND EQUITY OF RETAIL ENTERPRISES 1.3.1 Research of Swoboda et al., Swoboda is one of the authors with many in-depth studies in retail branding with works including Swoboda et al., (2016, 2013a, 2013b, 2009) Access to the retailer brand equity is the information about the retail business that exists in the mind of the customer, that is customer knowledge and brand associations about the retail business as a strong, unique, and attractive brand The retailer's brand equity is a hidden structure, meaning that it could not be measured directly but instead needs indirect measurement through various observed variables The retailer's brand equity is influenced by the retail attributes - or marketing decisions of its executives - and influences consumer loyalty 1.3.2 Research of Takahashi (2014) Takahashi (2014) conducted a research model on the brand equity of retail businesses on three types of retail food products, namely supermarket chains nationwide, regional and supermarket chains Accordingly, the brand equity of a retail business is influenced by the variables of the retail store brand and its ownership policy, which in turn creates distinct brand associations, creating emotional loyalty and consequently behavioral loyalty 1.3.3 Research of Allaway et al Research by the authors (Allaway et al., 2011) suggests that the brand equity of supermarket chains is the result of an overall branding effort across the supermarket chain over time, including its implementation Daily marketing messages through services, products, prices, and sales promotion decisions are experienced by consumers at the stores Finally, this creates emotional loyalty to the brand Remarkably, the research results show that the brand equity of the supermarket is different according to each market segment corresponding to each target customer group, and the combination of input variables could be the key, helping supermarkets exist and maintain their competition The choice of customers is not only because of the location of the supermarket and the price of products sold at that supermarket The study identified eight variables "related to supermarket strategy to enhance customer experience in pursuit of their loyalty and increase sales", namely: Services, Quality product quantity and product portfolio, Bonus Programs, Customer Retention Activities, Pricing, Shopping Space, Locations and Community Participation Creating the emotions and cohesion of customers with the supermarket will provide an opportunity for the supermarket to have a stronger brand than just supplying ordinary goods (Allaway et al., 2011) 1.3.4 Research of Jingfeng and Zhilong (2009) The research of Jinfeng and Zhilong (2009) is the next development research based on the results of Yoo and Donthu (2001) New to this study is (1) The term brand equity is changed to retailers brand equity and aspects of brand equity are changed accordingly; (2) The structure of brand equity is divided into two groups: Brand Loyalty for retail businesses and the remaining group (including Awareness, Associations, Perceived quality); (3) Include some retail marketing variables in the structure of the store image, based on the research results of Decarlo et al (2007) The study surveyed 530 consumers in Wuhan (China) about ten supermarket chains with five international brands and five national brands These are chains Walmart, Carrefour, Lotus, Metro, Bellevue; A.Best, Hualian, Zhongbai, Wushang and Zhongshang The data analysis method used is the SEM structure model 1.3.5 Research of Beristain and Zorrilla (2011) The study of Juan Beristain and Zorrilla (2011) inherits from the viewpoint of Aaker's brand equity (1991), in that perspective, the authors think that "The brand equity are a collection of assets and debt and is associated with the store's brand, thereby increasing or decreasing the value of the store-owned retail business and / or its customers " Another point worth noting is that research also shows that the image of the store, in a broader view, is not only the result of the store's marketing programs, but also the results of actions and strategies and social activities that the retailer (owns the store or is related to it) implements Therefore, in this study, the authors believe that "Store images are a collection of brand associations that are commercial, social and strategic associated with the store" 1.3.6 Research of Calvo-Porral et al., (2013) The study of Calvo-Porral et al (2013) is based on the research of Yoo and Donthu (2001) and building a model of the store's brand equity based on Aaker's point of view (1991) The research team has developed research, thinking that the inputs of the store's brand equity are perceptions, the store's commercial image, and the price images of the store's products that deliver to customers The study has similarities with Beristain and Zorrilla (2011) when price separation becomes an independent variable and parallel to the reputation of the store and its commercial image 1.3.7 Research of Le Tan Buu and Le Dang Lang (2015) Research by Le Tan Buu and Le Dang Lang (2015) has inherited the model of Aaker (1991) to evaluate the factors affecting the quality of salesperson and warranty quality to brand equity of hardware and electronics retail The study used the SEM method to evaluate the influence of the independent variables: Quality of sales staff, Quality of warranty to the four components of brand equity are brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality, and brand loyalty The model test results show that most correlation tests between independent and dependent variables are statistically significant, only the correlation between the warranty quality and brand associations deny result The study carried out a survey of 614 customers selected by the convenient sampling method The selected retailers to survey are Nguyen Kim, Thien Hoa, Cho Lon, Phong Vu, Hoan Long, The gioi di dong and Vien thong A The set of scales was developed from Yoo's research and Donthu (2001), in which the scale for sales staff quality and warranty quality is inherited from several previous studies related to electronic goods 1.3.8 Research of Hoang Thi Anh Thu This study aims to identify the components of customer-based brand equity for the consumer retail supermarket industry in Hue City, and to identify the correlation between the Advertising and Promotion variables The study inherited Aaker's Brand equity model (1991) with the identification of the Brand equity components including four components: Brand Awareness, Brand Associations, Perceived Quality, and Brand loyalty The overall brand equity element is determined based on the scale of Yoo and Donthu (2001) 1.4 The gap research From the content of the research overview, it could be noticed that the study of brand equity in enterprises has paid the attention of domestic and foreign scholars for many years This is reflected in some of the studies summarized in the previous section In particular, the research on brand equity of retailers has shown the discoveries on the constituent elements of brand equity in the field of retail services and about the factors affecting Brand equity Remarkably, the research subject is a supermarket (a single store) and a supermarket chain (many supermarkets have the same brand name and the same owner) have become the object of study by many authors in different countries In Vietnam, researches on brand equity of supermarkets and retail enterprises in general are still limited in the number of researches published at the time of the dissertation's research Most of the studies approach from Aaker's point of view (1991) and use the scale set developed from studies from this perspective Among those studies, the research on brand equity constitutes more focus than studies on the factors affecting brand equity Up to now, there have been only two studies on the factors affecting the brand equity of supermarkets and these two projects have selected only two retail attributes to perform the assessment Notably, specialized supermarkets such as electronics stores currently not have independent research on brand equity according to Keller model approach (1993) This is both an opportunity and a challenge for the dissertation when building a 10 research model The opportunity is that the dissertation can inherit the research results on the factors affecting the brand equity of supermarkets/ retail businesses, thereby, exploiting the observed variables and the measured scale Factors included in the research model are retail attributes that are included in the brand equity research model However, the challenge is that Keller's scale (1993) has not been tested in many studies, leading to the application in the research model of the dissertation need to consider and carefully consider from the expert opinion Stemming from the above reasons, this is the research gap for the dissertation's research topic From this, it could say that: Firstly, the number of researches on brand equity of electronics stores, especially in the Hanoi market, is limited This allows the dissertation to exploit new content so that it could be applied practically to the business activities of electronics stores in Hanoi and specialized supermarkets in general Second, the research on brand equity of retail businesses is about one or several retail attributes as a factor affecting brand equity based on customers These factors are location, staff, service, atmosphere, product assortments, prices, staff, etc This shows the inheritance of the dissertation when evaluating impact factor on brand equity of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi city Third, a significant number of researches on customer-based brand equity follow the quantitative research method In particular, the model building, hypothesizing, and finding, analyzing data have proved the relevance and reliability of the research model Since then, the dissertation will inherit the research findings that previous studies have discovered to add to the argument for this research 11 CHAPTER THEORY OF CUSTOMER BASED BRAND EQUITY Customer – based brand equity and its components 2.1.1 The concept of customer - based brand equity Until now, the concept of "Brand equity " is still quite controversial and "it is considered an important strategic content but almost difficult to measure" (Marketing-dictionary.org, 2019) Access to customer – based brand equity today still mainly follows two approaches of Keller (1993) and Aaker (1991) Although Aaker's (1991) approach to brand equity receives a lot of attention from research scholars, especially when there is a scale development for this concept, it stands in the corner In terms of consumer psychology, the Keller (1993) approach is thought to be more appropriate (Schmitt, 2012) However, this approach has not been completed on the quantitative scale as Aaker's approach Therefore, this dissertation used a combination of Keller’s approach and subsequent development studies related to retail businesses and specialized supermarkets 2.1.2 Components of customer – based brand equity Whether in view of customer – based brand equity does still aim to find factors that influence customers' behavior during the purchase and use of products and service Keller's approach on brand equity has been developed over the past twenty years based on the view that brand equity is a consumer 's different reaction to brand marketing programs, and this differentiated reaction is the result of brand knowledge - an introduced concept is all brand thinking, perception, images, experiences and beliefs (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p 325) ) The formation of brand equity in the minds of customers is explained based on the branding process: from the stages of brand awareness, creating brand associations, attitudes toward the brand, and attachment associated with the brand To distinguish the level of brand equity, the brand resonance pyramid was introduced to evaluate "customer mind-set", from which the brand could determine the current position in the minds of customers and influences on how customers respond to brands in the market Introducing a "brand resonance pyramid" is the steps to build brand equity in the minds of customers because the brand resonance pyramid would consider how brand positioning affects the thinking, consumer perception and actions towards the brand and the extent to which they spread their love and loyalty to the brand Such brand equity will be "significant" if the brand is able to reach a level that makes customers highly loyal (proactive, positive, and cohesive) (Keller, 2013, p.107) However, if the brand has not yet reached a resonant level, it does not mean that the brand has no brand equity in the minds of its customers Therefore, it could be said that brand equity comes from the moment consumers can identify and distinguish one branded product from another branded product The introduction of the term "brand resonance" by Keller (2013) can be considered as a classification approach on "brand equity" whereby brand equity is something that can be measured and decentralized (1) Brand awareness (2) Brand performance (3) Brand imagery (4) Brand assessments (5) Brand emotions (6) Resonance brand 2 Measure brand equity based on customer perspective Measuring customer – based brand equity is still a topic of much debate among researchers This debate also stems from different approaches to the nature of brand equity The first group consists of observation variables that the Aaker's (1991) inherited and following views of have developed Accordingly, consumer choice behavior is represented by 12 observed variables such as "only option" and "always select" even if the characteristics of competitors are equivalent One way of research is that brand equity could be measured directly, and that measurement is expressed through the behavior of a customer's choice This research group comes from the approach of Aaker (1991) and is developed by quite a few other authors such as Arnett et al (2003); Pappu and Quester (2006); Yoo and Donthu (2001), Several other studies such as Swoboda et al (2016) show that brand equity is a hidden structure, meaning that it could not be directly measured but instead It is indirect measurement through different variables The study inherited the results of Verhoef et al (2007) when using four observed variables as a scale for brand equity of retail businesses The approach of these studies is that a brand has a brand equity, that is, a strong brand that is remembered and retained in the customer's mind The second group, typically represented by Keller (2013), the set of observed variables and scales for brand equity recommended consists of six groups Each group bases on the constituent components of customer-based brand equity to ask evaluation questions However, this scale has not been proven through many studies, so it is difficult to say that this scale is convincing enough for researchers 2.3 Customer - based brand equity of electronics supermarket 2.3.1 The definition of electronics supermarket Based on Vietnam’s legal and marketing was mentioned, within the scope of study of this dissertation, electronics supermarket is a retail store specializing in business with the sale be conducted directly and on self-service (or elective) technology, with a list of business goods being electronic products - electronics, a large business and service space with parking and parking transportation, convenient payment methods, the principle of arrangement and display of attractive goods, and disclosure of sale price information Electronics supermarkets might be identified by the word "supermarket" attached to the specific part of the trade name or not 2.3.2 Customer based brand equity of the electronics supermarket from the Keller perspective Based on Keller's approach (2013b, 1993b), in this dissertation, the concept of brand equity of consumer electronics supermarkets in terms of consumer is defined as the different effects of brand knowledge to consumer reaction to brand marketing activities of electronics supermarkets 2.4 These factors affect customer-based brand equity of electronics supermarket 2.4.1 Macro environment’s factors Political factors For electronics stores and retail enterprises in general, the legal factors affecting supermarket and enterprise's business activities are expressed mainly in the official regulations of law Besides, in the context of Vietnam's economic integration, the agreements signed between Vietnam and other regions and territories should be considered as a factor affecting the business environment of enterprises Economic factors Regarding the brand equity of electronics stores, consumer demand and average household spending are factors in the economic factor group that receive more attention These two factors represent purchasing power and ability to pay for specific products of consumers, and these two factors are influenced by the overall economic situation of the country If the difficult economic situation (with the increase in the number of unemployed people, with few jobs, the income does not increase or even decrease, the inflation level rises) will directly affect the spending of individuals and households family The inevitable consequence in these contexts is that consumers are forced to cut back on spending on unnecessary items, giving priority to essential consumer products But that for businesses trading in electronic products - electronics is a serious challenge Social - Cultural factors Characterized by having a young population (aged 15 years and older) reaching more than 70 million people (by the end of the second quarter of 2018), Vietnam has 13 a young workforce (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, 2018) That means consumer spending would likely continue in an uptrend For electronics supermarkets, what is more interesting is the set of potential customers (generation of Z consumers - those who were born in 2000 and later) would have purchasing behaviors, there are different points What is different from the previous generation - the generation of consumers Y (those born between 1981 and before 2000), and the generation of consumers X (those born between 1966 and 1980) and the generation of consumers "baby boomers" (people born between 1946 and 1965) Different consumption behavior would lead to the influence of different factors on the shopping journey Technology factor For electronics stores and retail enterprises in general, the development of technology, typically the Internet, is a contributing factor to the modern business method 2.4.2 Microenvironment’s factors Targeted customer As analyzed above, depending on the interests of each age group, it is possible to divide the target customer base of electronics supermarkets into different customer groups From here it is found that customers of electronic products - electronics are remarkably diverse in age Telecommunications products such as mobile phones will have a greater appeal than other products for young customers, while electronic products - refrigeration - household appliances would belong to customers living independently Competitors As a modern retail channel, electronics supermarkets directly compete with other electronics supermarkets, with e-commerce websites, and exchanges in the distribution of electronic products, electronics and appliances information technology, telecommunication In addition, electronics supermarkets also compete with traditional retail channels such as small traders in traditional markets, individual business households (families) with small shops retailing electronic and electrical products It is impossible not to mention individuals who business on social networks with several specialized products such as electronic components and accessories Suppliers The manufacturing business is one of the important partners of retail supermarkets and is an upstream member of the retail supply chain For electronics supermarkets, reaching an agreement on the price, the warranty policy - exchange, payment, payment policies, goods policy for manufacturing businesses could be an important advantage to increase competitiveness in the market Besides, maintaining a "good" relationship between the two sides would help to stabilize the business activities of the two sides General public The public can influence an organization in achieving its goals, especially when those goals are related to brand image building, maintaining the position of the business in the organization community Public groups include financial circles, media, public authorities, social activists, local authorities, etc In operations, businesses need to understand that benefits from business activities and need not go against or detract from the interests of the public Because if it does not benefit the community, or diminishes that common interest, the business operation of the retailers would not be sustainable in the long term Therefore, businesses need to show responsibility to the community in their area to ensure that the cooperation and support for their brand is the best possible 2.4.3 Internal environment’s factors Financial sources Financial resources are an important factor affecting the budget used for marketing activities and brand development of businesses Several factors include cash holdings, debt and equity levels, access to capital for future development, and relationships with important financial stakeholders (e.g., bankers, customers, and shareholders) (Ennew and Waite, 2007) Financial resources could be considered as a significant resource, playing an important role in planning marketing and branding strategies in the future Human Resources Human resources make an important contribution to the creation, maintenance, and enhancement of corporate brand equity Human resources are not only expressed in 14 the number of employees, but also in the specific skills and qualifications that an organization's employees could meet and exceed their initial expectations For service-providing businesses, human resources could be considered a vital part of the business The nature of service is something that could be difficult to use the senses to see, so customers and stakeholders communicate with employees and communicate with businesses and experience the service is provided Infrastructure Facilities include facilities, equipment, etc that enterprises are exploiting (maybe enterprises own or only have rights to use) For an electronics supermarket, facilities might include properties on the land that the supermarket has the right to use, equipment for sales and sales management, and equipment for service, for media activities such as banners, signs, fairground frames, etc The facilities, for electronics supermarkets, are a brand expression for customers This means that facilities are tangible things through which customers are impressed and could experience the brand Other forms of intangible assets Marketing decision The inseparable relationship between marketing activities and brand activities Every marketing decision has an important influence on the brand of the business For electronics supermarkets, as a retailer, decisions on retail marketing are important decisions for retailers to pursue their business goals in the key market segment and the exact time specified Several important marketing decisions in the retail sector are identified, including: Product portfolio decision, retail price decision, service decision, atmosphere decision, business decision operations and store experiences, media decisions, and location decisions (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.557) 2.5 General introduction to the study geographical area 2.5.1 Scale and growth rate of retail market of electronic products Vietnam's retail market continues to be perceived as an attractive market (Tran Hai Dang, 2016) and for the retail market of consumer electronics and electrical appliances, there is still room for businesses to enter the market According to research by GfK Temax, the retail sales of consumer electronics and electrical products in 2017 was VND 197.4 trillion, VND 217.49 trillion in 2018 and by the end of the third quarter of 2019 reached 158.46 thousand billion VND 2.5.2 Channels of electronic product - electronics retail in Hanoi city In the Hanoi market, electronic products - electronics can be purchased through two traditional retail channels: Traditional Market, small electronics store; and modern retail channels are Supermarkets, Shopping Centers and via Internet-based applications 2.5.3 General introduction of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi city The number of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi city, by the end of March 2019, includes a total of 109 electronic supermarkets In which, Dien may Xanh is the chain of electronics stores with the largest number of sales points with 59 points of sale, spread across most districts of Hanoi City Followed by Mediamart with 26 points of sale, Pico with 13 points of sale and HC with points of sale Finally, DigiCity has electronics stores Cau Giay and Tu Liem districts (including Bac Tu Liem and Nam Tu Liem), Dong Da, Ha Dong and Long Bien have many selling points of many electronics supermarkets In terms of the volume of business goods (SKUs), by the end of March 2019, Mediamart is trading more than 11,000 SKUs throughout the system; Pico is trading nearly 6500 SKUs throughout the system; HC has 6248 SKUs throughout the system; DigiCity has nearly 5000 SKUs throughout the system Particularly, Dien May Xanh, up to the time of the statistical dissertation, there are nearly 5500 SKUs in the whole system However, after that, the system of Tran Anh and Dien may Xanh joined after a period of one year of parallel operation, so the number of SKUs changed significantly 15 CHAPTER MODELS AND RESEARCH METHODS 3.1 Hypotheses and research models 3.1.1 Factors affecting brand equity of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi city and research hypo dissertation Accessibility Brand product assortment Salesman Product’s price and the possible physical benefits In - store atmosphere Communication activities and community efforts Customer service Service delivery, installation Payment and refund services Repair service, warranty 3.1.2 Research model 3.2 Research approach The research purpose of this dissertation, as mentioned in the previous part, is to identify and clarify the influence of retail marketing factors on brand equity of electronics stores based on customers perspective This is a type of causal research with the goal of determining the relationship between the independent variables - the dependent variable In addition, the characteristics of the customer – based brand equity are researched and described from the perspective of customers who come to buy As such, descriptive research is more appropriate than discovery research because discovery research is often conducted to gain insights into research issues while descriptive research is designed to describe the characteristics and functions of research Therefore, this dissertation uses a simultaneous qualitative and quantitative approach 3.3 Method of data collection - Collecting secondary data: Collecting data from reports of market research units, regulatory agencies, associations; from relevant scientific works; books, newspapers, and magazines; internet on electronics market in recent years - Primary data collection: To collect primary data for the study, the author has implemented the following methods: 16 + The method used questionnaires: Author surveys sampling method non- die power, the questionnaire was adapted directly with the audience as individuals who consumers are living and working in the area urban districts of Hanoi city The total number of customers emitted in the survey was 300 people The entire survey was carried out and supervised by B & Company Limited (a market research company based in Hanoi) + Group discussion method: Randomly selecting a group of individual consumers who have purchased goods at electronics supermarkets to serve for preliminary data collection, thereby screening and evaluating observed variables and research scales + Evaluation of experts: conducted in the form of in- depth interviews, face-to-face meetings, telephone, and email exchanges to grasp the situation of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi and the suitability of the scale and research variables in the research model 3.4 Research design The questionnaire was built according to the process with three main steps: (1) Building a draft questionnaire from the overview of previous research works; (2) Adjust the draft questionnaire by qualitative research method (Group discussion) to form a preliminary questionnaire; (3) Preliminary data collection with sample size of 137 to assess the reliability of the scale (via Cronbach's Alpha coefficient) and the relevance of the scale to the study content (via EFA discovery factor analysis) After conducting the preliminary survey, the questionnaire was consulted with experts and adjusted some contents to form a questionnaire for official data collection 3.5 Pilot study In the preliminary data collection, the chosen sampling method is the non-random sampling method, with the specific method being convenient sampling The reason for choosing this method is because the convenient non-random sampling method helps to check the content of the questionnaire, evaluate the completion time, and estimate the costs involved In addition, to ensure the representativeness of the sample of the whole, the selection of elements should be based on the administrative boundary of Hanoi City Convenient sampling is often used in exploratory research to determine the practical meaning of a research problem and to pre-check questionnaires to complete questionnaires and to make rough estimates of current issues care 3.6 Data collection The official data collection is carried out by the questionnaire through direct interviews with customers living in the urban districts of Hanoi The author's customer survey data collection was commissioned by the author for a field research team of B & Company Co., Ltd - a market research services company based in District Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi Each interviewer group will be divided by district area Each group will be responsible for finding and interviewing candidates according to the standards Interviewers approach respondents at home, following the interview process Interviewees must meet ICC / ESOMAR standards in market research and project research requirements - Vietnamese citizen, currently living in Hanoi for one year or more - DO NOT work in related industries (advertising, marketing, market research, finance, banking, and prohibited jobs under Vietnamese law) - Do NOT participate in market research within the past six months 3.7 Data analysis Based on the collected information, conducting statistics, analyzing, and comparing, comparing data and information to make general assessments on the current situation of brand equity of the above electronics stores Hanoi City area In addition, some survey data will be processed by Microsoft Excel 2016 and SPSS 20 software 17 CHAPTER RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS 4.1 Statistical results describing the frequency with respect to the sample information 4.1.1 Data collection of Pilot study Firstly, most customers participating in the survey were from 1981 to 2000 Female customers accounted for more with 77 respondents (accounting for 55.79%) The two groups with less representation in this survey are those over 55 and those under 18 The age groups are divided based on Nielson, KPMG, PwC, etc Second, the group of customers who are married and currently living with their spouses dominates, accounting for 50.3% of the respondents The other half of the respondents are unmarried, with 59% of them being independent and the remaining 41% living with family Bases for selecting measuring ranges are based on classification criteria of the General Statistics Office However, the preliminary survey results show that this classification needs to be adjusted in the next study due to the concerns of respondents in answering the question Thirdly, most customers participating in the survey are mainly from private enterprises with staff positions The number of department managers and senior managers participating in the survey is negligible Personal income in a month is from 2.8 million to less than million/ month Based on the classification of Occupation and Position based on the classification of the General Statistics Office; The base of income division based on the regional minimum wage (in 2018) and the +2 hops are subjective choices of the author However, the fact that data collection also recognizes that the question of income is considered a rather sensitive question, resulting in the data provided is not enough for professional data analysis 4.1.2 In the official data collection Firstly, the percentage of age groups in the survey respondents are relatively even In particular, the age group from 25 to 34 years old has the largest number, with 91 people (accounting for 30.3%) including the proportion divided among male and female respondents This group is the group with the largest buying experience in Pico and HC (31 people bought in Pico and 24 people bought in HC), Dien may Xanh and Mediamart have the same number of respondents choosing to buy (18 people) The 35- to 44-year-old age group is the second largest group of respondents, with 72 respondents, accounting for 24% Male respondents in this age group have a larger number of female respondents and the number of people who bought goods at Mediamart supermarket is 34.7% of the total respondents in this age group The age group from 18 to 24 years old has a total of 62 respondents, accounting for 20.6% of the total number of respondents Female respondents accounted for 67.7% and the number of respondents who bought products at Dien may Xanh accounted for nearly 50% of the total respondents From 45 to 54, there were a total of 54 respondents (18%) and men from this group accounted for 61.1% of the group HC and Mediamart electronics stores are the two brands chosen by many respondents in this group (33.3% for each electronics supermarket brand) The age group from 55 to 59 years is the age group with the lowest number of respondents (with 21/300, equivalent to 7%) For this age group, except for Dien May Xanh, at least, the remaining selected electronics supermarket brands are equivalent Secondly, at the request of the survey, respondents were searched and selected evenly in the urban districts of Hanoi In particular, the districts of Hai Ba Trung, Hoang Mai, Thanh Xuan and Dong Da have more respondents than the remaining districts (13% and 10.6% for the remaining districts, respectively) Among the remaining counties, only Ha Dong district had a smaller number of respondents (18 respondents, accounting for 6%) Third, "Office workers" is the main occupation of the most respondents in this survey (with 82 respondents, accounting for 27.3%) Followed by self-employed people (with 57 people, accounting for 19%), students / students and freelancing (with 53 people for each occupational 18 group, accounting for 17.6%) Professional respondents (doctors, engineers, teachers, ) have 24 people (accounting for 8%) The number of respondents who are factory employees, factories, and retirees account for about 5% for each group Only people (accounting for 1%) of the interviewees identified themselves as housewives Fourthly, the participation of respondents in the decision to buy products at the electronics supermarket as the sole decision maker accounted for 48.6% while it was the participation of other family members to 51.4% for decision making 4.2 Descriptive statistical results with research variables Descriptive statistical results for the study variables provide basic information about the study variables Such information includes: Average value; Median values; Common value; Standard deviation Having descriptive statistical results will basically show the shape of the study variable: concentration and dispersion, from which, combined with the remaining analysis results to draw appropriate conclusions 4.3 Assessment of reliability and scale valuesof observed variables Based on the results of Cronbach's Alpha coefficients and the EFA discovery factor analysis results, it is found that the scale of the observed variables ensures reliability and ensures convergent and differential values That allows us to conclude that this scale is consistent with the observed variables of the study variable 4.4 The average difference by testing samples One-way ANOVA model and T - test T-test and ANOVA One-way test results show: Firstly, there is no statistically significant difference in the brand equity of electronics stores from the perspective of customers to the different electronics supermarkets in Hanoi Second, there is no statistically significant difference in the brand equity of the electronics supermarket in terms of consumer customers of consumers of different occupational groups at the present time There is no statistically significant difference between the brand equity of an electronics supermarket between office workers and self-employed people, students, and self-employed people subjects (Engineers, Doctors, Teachers, ) and self-employed people The remaining groups did not see a statistically significant difference Thirdly, there is no statistically significant difference between age groups, income groups, and gender of the brand's brand equity of consumer electronics stores 4.5 Refine the research model and test the research hypotheses After conducting EFA discovery factor analysis, the adjusted research model consists of 39 observed variables of independent variables and observed variables of dependent variable These observed variables were once again consulted with experts in retail and market research to exchange and discuss the results of data analysis Based on these observed variables, the independent variables are renamed to match the contents of the observed variables 19 4.6 Discussing results of researching factors affecting brand equity of electronics stores based on customer perspective The research model of the dissertation is based on the approach of Keller (2013, 1993) and the results of research on brand equity of retail businesses in recent times around the world The research results of the dissertation have contributed to affirm the similarity with the research results of a number of studies such as research on brand equity of hypermarket chains of Jinfeng and Zhilong (2009), Allaway and et al (2011), Takahashi (2014), Swoboda (2016, 2009) The hypothesis test results show that the independent variable F7: The installment purchase policy and provider have Sig.> 0.5 shows that the impact level on the dependent variable is not statistically significant Therefore, the hypothesis of the positive relationship between the variable F7 and the dependent variable is still inconclusive The regression equation shows the impact of factors on the brand's asset of the electronics supermarket: Customer – based Brand equity of electronics supermarkets = 0.125 * Brand -Product assortment and the availability of products + 0.184 * Parking area + 0.238 * In store atmosphere + 0.197 * Physical benefits and the willingness of sharing information + 0.235 * Attitude and usefulness of salesman + 0.222 * Delivery service and installation staff + 0.178 * Repair service, warranty In this equation, In-store atmosphere has an important influence on customer-based electronics supermarkets (+0.238); The attitude and usefulness of the salesman is the next most influential factor (+0.235); Delivery service and installation staff are the third most impactful factor (+0.222); This is followed by physical benefits and the willingness of sharing information (+0.197); Next is Parking area (+0.184); Next is the Service of repair, warranty (+0.178); And finally, the Brand – product assortments with the lowest impact level (+0.125) 20 The results of this study showed that the difference between brands of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi city is no longer in the list of products sold Instead, customers choose a point of purchase based on more intangible factors Customers seem to care more about factors outside the product portfolio, for example, they feel comfortable shopping, are they convenient, how are services to customers, etc There is a strong agreement with some previous research results, especially the research group of Swoboda et al (2016), thinking that specialized retail stores should focus more on providing services 21 CHAPTER GENERAL REVIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Brand equity based on the customers of electronics stores in Hanoi 1.1 Some successes Electronic supermarkets have created brand awareness for consumers Brand awareness is measured by the ability of consumers to recognize and name the brand The survey results showed that all respondents could identify and name the brands of electronics stores they know in Hanoi Although it is not possible to conclude that many consumers in Hanoi city have a brand awareness for electronics stores, in a certain angle, this shows the mark of the supermarket electronics in the minds of consumers Among electronics supermarkets, the Dien May Xanh brand is the brand with the highest number of people who need no suggestions (253/300) Followed by Mediamart, HC and Pico with equal numbers (168, 167, 143 respectively) This shows partly the result of brand communication activities that The gioi di dong Group and Dien may Xanh have implemented in the Hanoi market area For the brand of Mediamart electronics supermarket, the brand awareness is mainly through selling points located on the big street surfaces, attractive decoration with red tones The expansion of Mediamart-branded electronics supermarkets has also helped to improve brand awareness The remaining two electronics supermarket brands, HC and Pico mainly appeared in the selling area (also the two brands with less points of sale than Green Electronics and Mediamart) Electronics supermarkets have created a suitable brand association in the minds of consumers Based on the research results, in general, consumers did not go to electronics supermarkets to find lower prices than other electronic product sales channels (such as e-commerce trading platforms) Consumers seek reassurance at the electronics supermarket - an existing sales outlet and a large-scale business enterprise However, consumers are still seeking the benefits that can be received through discounts and gifts for customers And for returning customers, electronics supermarkets have not been able to clearly demonstrate the benefits that these customers have when returning to buy at their own supermarkets The author personally said that in recent years, electronics supermarkets have been racing to lower prices and compete on price of products This has long-term consequences, and one of them is letting customers depend too much on the price of goods when choosing a point of purchase In the end, it was the electronics supermarket that suffered when it was under pressure from importers' suppliers The circle for electronics is now: Import average quality goods (maybe even a few technical errors) to have a lower price than competitors, sell to consumers with low prices, consumers use unhappy goods, consumers have prejudices and give up that electronics supermarket Therefore, the author personally believes that leaving the brand association of "low price" may be a suitable thing for long-term business activities of the electronics supermarket Instead of "low price" brand associations, electronics stores are gradually shifting to other more appropriate brand associations related to the physical benefits that customers can receive, such as "gifts." "," promotion " Electronic supermarkets have initially created a strong attachment to consumers Based on the research results, positive reviews for electronics supermarkets are available The number of customers who think they will return to buy at Pico supermarket in the future is 92 customers, at HC electronics stores is 102 customers, at Mediamart electronics stores is 98 customers, in Dien Green machine is 158 customers These figures are just figures based on a sample of the survey that cannot represent all consumers in Hanoi However, the customer commitment and commitment to electronics stores is also a success and it is the business of the owners of the electronics supermarket chain to take advantage and exploit the values that a Customers can bring it to themselves 1.2 Some limitations encountered 22 Restrictions on identifying brand positioning, brand communication activities outside the organization It can be said that up to now, electronics stores have almost no longer need to implement plans related to improving brand awareness of consumers in Hanoi That is because in nearly 20 years of the retail model of specialized supermarkets (for electronic products - electronics), consumers, especially in big cities like Hanoi, have known electronics stores as a retail channel for durable consumer goods of high economic value However, if merely brand awareness, it will not be enough to hold old customers and attract new customers to the direct shopping space of electronics stores Therefore, it is necessary to show more of the electronics supermarkets, or the communication about the differences of the electronics market, to create unique brand associations, appropriate and strong enough for super Consumer electronics can always be an option to consider in the buying process of consumers 1.3 Several causes are identified Enterprises owning electronic supermarkets are focusing too much on short-term goals, leading to (1) cutting budget for marketing in general and brand in particular; (2) cut back on employee incentives and policies, resulting in limited employee quality; (3) cost pressure constrains budgets for market development and customer relationship maintenance All cost-related pressures cause business leaders to choose solutions or cut back on spending or find ways to open more investment Talking to Mr Nguyen Anh Duc - Marketing Director of Pico supermarket chain, he said that at the present time, many electronic supermarkets are forced to cut costs, including expenses for transmission activities Brand communications and other marketing expenses are often chosen to cut back The reason is because the current tools to evaluate the marketing effectiveness of the programs are very limited, the cost is high due to the price per square meter of business floor (the area of electronics supermarkets with the number of Less selling points such as Pico, HC) Therefore, cutting costs is inevitable, and that is the loop of: limiting marketing costs - results are not as expected further cutting marketing costs - results are not as expected These causes are also expressed with the same implications in the research of Dao Xuan Khuong (2017, pp 141–142) when it is assumed that the three causes of consumer results assess the quality of service delivery of Specialized supermarkets in general in the city of Hanoi are still poor because of (1) Staff; (2) Management capacity; and (3) The ability to understand customer expectations Accordingly, businesses need to have policies to train employees, improve management capacity and research capabilities as well as show customer understanding Perspective viewpoints and directions for domestic trade development to 2025, vision to 2035 The Hanoi market together with Ho Chi Minh city market are two key markets of Vietnam In the Capital Region, Hanoi has been affirmed as the regional city of the region with an urban cluster model with a modern multi-center system, major transport hub, research center, financial and trade services, culture, tourism and social infrastructure services in Southeast Asia (Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2011) Consumers tend to choose products smarter, have more economical, easier (in procurement, in use) and shoppers are much more proactive about choosing where to buy (supermarkets, shopping malls) or refer to information channels from various sources on the Internet However, going to the place of sale to touch, touch and try operation is also mentioned as a consumer habit of consumers for high-value goods such as electronics products Viewpoints and directions for managing brand equity of electronics stores in Hanoi 5.3.1 Proposed viewpoints Brand equity should be considered as an intellectual property in an enterprise, as part of an intangible asset of the business Accordingly, brand equity should not only be considered as having completed and obtained a certificate of registration of trademark protection of the owner or having 23 protection certificates for the objects of the property other intellect Brand equity of electronics supermarkets should be seen more broadly in relation to other types of businesses' assets From the perspective of consumers, the brand equity of the electronics supermarket should be a competitive advantage of the business when it is likely to influence the buying behavior of consumers and maintain the cohesion of, they are at different levels However, asset management of the electronics supermarket brand requires simultaneous consideration of the business on many different aspects, not merely a single aspect, and should be linked to the retail attributes of the supermarket Marketing The brand equity of the electronics supermarket under the aspect of consumers are important requirements to ensure the sustainable development of the electronics supermarket and the business that owns the electronics supermarket in general Because organizations and businesses could benefit users, the community in the business area and for the business itself, that organization could receive support and have the stickiness, loyalty from customers and partners in business activities Managing the brand equity of electronics stores needs to have multi-dimensional views, in which the factors that directly affect consumers such as decisions on retail prices, product categories - brands, and operations communication activities with the community, about the arrangement of the space inside and outside the shopping area, about employees, about services such as delivery services, installation services, repair services, repair services, the warranty should be more concerned Besides, the remaining factors, which belong to the intrinsic side of the business such as organizational process, remuneration and compensation for employees, etc., should also be considered and adjusted to promote the work create the ultimate value proposition for consumers, the public as well as for the people who work and collaborate with electronics stores Managing brand equity of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi city based on the research results of selected behaviors of consumers living in Hanoi city The proposals below can be considered for application in other market areas outside of Hanoi The planning and implementation of a brand strategy to enhance the brand equity of the electronics supermarket is the responsibility of all employees, managers, units that cooperate with the electronics supermarket and enterprises that own the super electronics, in which the marketing department plays a key role in technical expertise The research scope is limited in terms of retail marketing factors affecting brand equity in the minds of consumers in Hanoi City Therefore, proposals related to brand equity enhancement will be focused primarily on the impact factors of the brand equity of the electronics supermarket that has been studied 5.3.2 Business trends and brand equity management activities of electronics supermarket in Hanoi city Chain business trends Business trends that combine online and offline The trend of increasing consumer experience 5.4 Recommendations for electronics supermarkets in Hanoi city based on applying the research results From the above analysis, the dissertation offers several solutions to enhance the brand equity of the electronics supermarket from the perspective of consumer customers in Hanoi The proposed solutions are based on the ability to solve the problems and challenges posed by the brand equity management activities of electronics stores and develop the existing platforms and consider the factors forecasted trends Brand equity management is approached from the perspective of strategic management with the implication of the ability to utilize the resources of the business to build and maintain a competitive advantage (advantage of difference.) Future The brand management level of electronics supermarkets is recognized at two levels based on the organizational structure of 24 electronics stores, which are: Enterprise level (with the role of manager, owner whole string); Supermarket level (as the person who carries out the activities) 5.5 Recommendations for State management agencies on commercially Recommendations to Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Industry and Trade and Hanoi City People's Committee 5.6 Recommendations for Vietnam Retail Association Recommendations to Vietnam Retail Association in supporting and consulting member units CONCLUSION Brand equity is important to customers and represents the value of the business in the market For electronics supermarkets, in the context of competitive pressure today, electronics supermarkets need to pay special attention to improving brand assets based on customers and should be considered as a competitive advantage in the long term of the whole system The author has personally found that the limitations of the study may influence the conclusions of the study and the need for additional evidence Firstly, for the sample size Due to limited resources, the sample size of 300 people on the scale of consumers in the Hanoi city market is limited Limitations of small samples may lead to erroneous results in data evaluation and representativeness of the sample Secondly, for the method of data analysis and processing Although the method of using Cronbach's Alpha coefficients (to assess reliability) and the EFA discovery factor analysis (to evaluate the discriminant value and convergence value of the scale) is often used in studies The study of influencing factors, however, according to Nguyen Dinh Tho (2011, p 406), in order to evaluate the discriminatory value, it is necessary to examine the correlation coefficient between the two concepts by the MTMM (MultiTrait-MultiMethod) method In this dissertation, the MTMM method has not been used, so, from the perspective of studying the conclusions from the results of Cronbach's Alpha and EFA analysis, it is more reference than absolute Third, for reviews of the retail market and recommendations for businesses owning electronics supermarket chains Due to the inadequate access to internal information of electronics supermarkets in the organization of operations, business strategy planning, etc., the recommendations are based on analytical results only of the researcher In addition, due to the inability to access and schedule interviews with representatives of the Vietnam Retail Association, the proposals for the Vietnam Retail Association are made based on the understanding of the individual authors dissertation  ... Particularly, Dien May Xanh, up to the time of the statistical dissertation, there are nearly 5500 SKUs in the whole system However, after that, the system of Tran Anh and Dien may Xanh joined after... of arrangement and display of attractive goods, and disclosure of sale price information Electronics supermarkets might be identified by the word "supermarket" attached to the specific part of... branding process: from the stages of brand awareness, creating brand associations, attitudes toward the brand, and attachment associated with the brand To distinguish the level of brand equity, the