Online retail is growing rapidly, but fierce and global competition poses a challenge for retailers seeking to compete on values beyond price. Research in product and physical retail branding shows that building a relevant brand image can increase consumers’ willingness to pay a premium over competing brands with similar products. However, the academic literature lacks understanding of how branding can influence consumers to pay a price premium in the growing online retailing sector, which is frequently conceptualized as distinct from traditional product marketing and traditional retailing contexts. This study aims to address this gap by developing a conceptual framework of online store brand image on willingness to pay. Six brand image dimensions: Social prestige, Digital Fulfillment, Sustainability, Digital Inspiration, Price, and assortment are identified. In order to highlight the unique contribution of price premium as the outcome, rather than loyalty and willingness to buy, which have been discussed within online retailing, this study also examines how the six online retail images influence brand loyalty. Results show that Social Prestige and Sustainability Image of the retailer have the strongest impact on willingness to pay a premium, followed by Digital Fulfillment and Digital Inspiration, while Digital Fulfillment and Price Image influence brand loyalty the most. In groceries, Digital Fulfillment Image dominates both outcomes. Sustainability Image impacts price premium, especially in fashion and electronics, but less so regarding loyalty. Social Prestige image consistently predicts both outcomes across categories, and Digital Inspiration impacts hedonic products more than utilitarian ones.

This paper investigates whether the organizational identification among retailer employees can be influenced by advertising aimed at consumers. The results of an experimental study of employees at a large grocery retailer show a positive impact of advertising exposure on organizational identification. Employee perceptions of advertising effectiveness (and not their feelings of pride with regards to the advertising) are found to explain this effect. The results suggest that advertising can serve an important human resource role tool by helping retailers build organizational identification amongst its employees. Further managerial implications are discussed in the paper.