Presenting the imitative brand model in buying behavior of luxury brands in internet businesses using Grounded Theory

A copycat brand is a product that is introduced to customers following the main or leading brand and by taking as an example the distinctive features of appearance or function by which the primary brand has turned into a leading brand. Therefore, the purpose of this The research is to present the imitative brand model in the purchase behavior of luxury brands in internet businesses using Grounded Theory.

The nature of the current research is exploratory and qualitative data is used in it. The statistical population of the research are the experts and professors of PhD in marketing management in the universities of Mazandaran province. In this field, the researcher used the snowball method to reach theoretical saturation, which achieved theoretical saturation after interviewing 13 elites and experts. Qualitative data has been collected using structured interviews and data analysis using the qualitative method of Grounded Theory.

Causal factors affecting the imitator brand model in the purchase behavior of luxury brands include brand development, weak resources and facilities, existing threats and existing opportunities. And the influential contextual factors include brand preference, content imitation tendency, appearance imitation tendency, imitation brand tendency factors, mental patterns, customer evaluation and attitude. Also, intervening factors include environmental factors, legal factors, and corporate factors. The main strategies include drafting a legal annex, drafting an ethical annex, buying decision strategies, graphic strategies, brand personality creation, knowledge strategies, imitation strategies, innovative strategies, marketing strategies, advertising strategies. And finally, the consequences, which are the final result of causal factors, strategies, background factors and intervening conditions, include commitment to the store, word of mouth advertising, repeated purchases, behavioral loyalty, attitudinal loyalty, profitability and increasing market share.

This research was started by using the Grounded Theory to find the imitative brand model in the buying behavior of luxury brands in internet businesses, and by using the qualitative method, it has completed its development course and reached a model. At the end, the suggestions derived from the researcher's experiences are stated.