The influence of company name in consumer variety seeking

Research traditionally regards the product attribute as the determinant in consumers' variety seeking. Research has focused mainly on examining variety seeking in the brands used, and assumes that consumers can clearly appreciate the product attributes and identify the variety they need. Therefore these theories do not incorporate the influence of the company name in the consumers' decision to purchase a brand. It is believed, however, that consumers' information processing is different when purchasing an unknown brand. In this paper, an attempt is made to explore what factors affect consumers' reliance on the company name — that is, the name of the corporation alone — in their decision to purchase a brand that has not been previously purchased.