Perceived authenticity of online-only brands (OOBs): a quali-quantitative study with online consumers

What is it about?

Consumers authenticate online-only brands (ie brands that operate exclusively online) on five dimensions. They are honesty (ie true to customers), connection (ie add meaning to people's lives), continuity (ie survive time and trends), craftsmanship (ie quality, different and rare products), and accessibility (ie convenience and affordable prices). Other dimensions have been well documented, but accessibility has been neglected from the branding literature. Our work suggests consumers authenticate OOBs, in comparison to brick-and-mortar brands, differently as evidenced by the appearance of the 'accessibility' dimension.

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