The development of the outdoor product industry in Indonesia over the past few decades has created intense competition among local and global brands. Eiger, one of the local brands, has successfully gained significant popularity and market share. Eiger's success in building a strong and loyal brand amidst competition with global brands indicates effective marketing strategies and the ability to meet consumer needs and preferences.

Brand loyalty has been recognized as a significant source of competitive advantage, as it drives repeat purchases, positive recommendations, and willingness to pay premium prices [1,2]. However, building and maintaining brand loyalty is a complex and multidimensional challenge that involves the interaction of various factors such as brand experience, brand trust, brand love, and brand attachment.

Brand experience is seen as a key driver of brand loyalty. When consumers have pleasant and satisfying experiences with a brand, they tend to develop strong preferences and commitments toward that brand. Empirical research [3,4] confirms the positive influence of brand experience on brand loyalty.

Furthermore, brand love also plays a crucial role in building brand loyalty. [5] argue that brand love, which reflects a deep sense of love and passion for a brand, is a key antecedent of brand loyalty. This argument is supported by empirical findings from studies [4,6,7], which consistently confirm the positive and significant influence of brand love on brand loyalty.

Although previous research has investigated the relationships between brand experience, brand love, and brand loyalty, understanding of the mediating role of brand love in the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty remains limited, particularly in the context of outdoor product brands in Indonesia. Therefore, this study aims to address this gap by examining the influence of brand experience on brand loyalty mediated by brand love for Eiger products in Pontianak.

1. Theoretical Foundation

   1. Brand Experience

Brand experience is a multidimensional concept that captures consumers' subjective responses to brand-related stimuli. [8] define brand experience as sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioral responses evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part of a brand's design and identity, packaging, communications, and environments. Brand experience involves consumers' interactions with brands through various touchpoints, both directly and indirectly. This concept emphasizes the extraordinary experiences that involve multiple dimensions of consumer responses to brands.

[9] identify four dimensions of brand experience: sensory, affective, intellectual, and behavioral. The sensory dimension refers to the stimulation of consumers' senses through brand design, identity, packaging, or communication. The affective dimension involves emotions and feelings evoked by the brand. The intellectual dimension relates to the brand's ability to engage consumers in creative thinking or problem-solving. The behavioral dimension refers to physical actions and behaviors triggered by the brand.

1. Brand Love

Brand love is a concept that captures the strong and passionate emotional attachment of satisfied consumers to a particular brand [9]. Brand love reflects an intense and enduring affective bond between consumers and brands, characterized by feelings of love, passion, and devotion. Brand love goes beyond mere brand preference or attachment and involves a deep emotional connection.

[10] conceptualize brand love as a "consumer-brand relationship characterized by strong positive feelings toward the brand, high levels of engagement with the brand, and a tendency to use interpersonal love relationships as metaphors for the relationship with the brand." This concept emphasizes the depth and intensity of the emotional bond between consumers and brands.

1. Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty is a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a preferred product or service consistently in the future [11,12] conceptualize brand loyalty as the extent to which consumers exhibit repeat purchasing behavior towards a particular brand, possess a positive attitudinal disposition toward the brand, and consider only this brand when a need for the product or service arises. This concept emphasizes both the behavioral and attitudinal aspects of brand loyalty.

[13] propose a tri-dimensional approach to brand loyalty, consisting of emotional loyalty, cognitive loyalty, and behavioral loyalty. Emotional loyalty refers to consumers' positive feelings and affective attachment to a brand. Cognitive loyalty relates to consumers' positive beliefs and thoughts about a brand. Behavioral loyalty refers to consumers' tendency to repurchase a brand over time.

1. Hypothesis Development

The conceptual framework of the research is shown as follows:

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

Based on the literature review and the conceptual framework, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H1: Brand experience has a positive and significant influence on brand loyalty for Eiger products in Pontianak.

H2: Brand experience has a positive and significant influence on brand love for Eiger products in Pontianak.

H3: Brand love has a positive and significant influence on brand loyalty for Eiger products in Pontianak.

H4: Brand love mediates the influence of brand experience on brand loyalty for Eiger products in Pontianak.

These hypotheses aim to examine the direct effects of brand experience on brand loyalty (H1) and brand love (H2), the direct effect of brand love on brand loyalty (H3), and the mediating role of brand love in the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty (H4) in the context of Eiger products in Pontianak.

Research Design

This study employs a quantitative approach to test and prove the hypotheses through various tests and data processing. The quantitative method is chosen because the research data is in the form of numbers and the analysis uses statistics [14]. Based on its type, this research is survey research because it uses questionnaires in collecting data. This research is a causal associative study, which aims to determine the relationship between two or more variables [14]

Population and Sample

The population in this study is all Eiger product consumers in Pontianak City. The sample is taken using a non-probability sampling method - purposive sampling, with the following criteria for respondents:

1. Respondents aged 17 years and above.

2. Respondents as decision-makers for Eiger products.

3. Respondents have used Eiger products for at least 2 years.

The sample size is determined according to [15], where the minimum sample size in SEM-PLS is ten times the number of indicators used to measure one construct, or ten times the number of the most structural paths leading to one construct in the structural model. In this research model, there are 10 indicator items, so the number of samples is 10 × 10 = 100. The minimum sample size is 100 respondents. 

Data Collection and Analysis

This study uses two types of data: primary and secondary. Primary data is obtained from distributing questionnaires to respondents, while secondary data is obtained from Eiger Store in Pontianak, literature, and documentation. The primary data collection technique uses a questionnaire measured with a Likert Scale.

Data is analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling - Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) method with the help of SmartPLS 3 software. SEM-PLS is chosen for its ability to simultaneously test complex research models and accommodate constructs with reflective and formative indicators [15]. Model evaluation is carried out through two stages [15,16]

1. Evaluation of the measurement model (outer model) includes validity tests (convergent validity and discriminant validity) and reliability tests (composite reliability).

2. Evaluation of the structural model (inner model) includes path coefficient tests, coefficient of determination tests (R²), effect size tests (f²), predictive relevance tests (Q²), and Goodness of Fit (GoF) tests.

Hypothesis testing is done using the bootstrapping method. Mediation testing follows the procedure suggested [15,16] by considering direct and indirect effects and using the Variance Accounted For (VAF) approach.

Measurement Model Evaluation

Outer Loading

The outer loadings of all indicators were examined to assess the reliability of the measurement model. As shown in Table 1, all outer loadings were above the recommended threshold of 0.6 [15].The lowest outer loading was 0.620 for indicator X.3 of the Brand Experience construct, while the highest was 0.894 for indicator Z.3 of the Brand Love construct. These results indicate that all indicators were reliable in measuring their respective constructs.

Table 1. Outer Loadings

Source: Primary data processed using SmartPLS 3.9.2 (2024)

Construct Reliability and Validity

The construct reliability and validity were assessed using Cronbach's alpha, rho_A, composite reliability (CR), and average variance extracted (AVE). As presented in Table 2, all constructs achieved Cronbach's alpha and rho_A values above the recommended threshold of 0.7 [15], indicating good internal consistency reliability. The CR values for all constructs were also above 0.7, further confirming the reliability of the constructs. The AVE values for all constructs exceeded the minimum requirement of 0.5 [15], establishing the convergent validity of the constructs. The Brand Loyalty construct had the highest AVE value of 0.775, while the Brand Experience construct had the lowest AVE value of 0.596.

Table 2. Construct Reliability and Validity

Source: Primary data processed using SmartPLS 3.9.2 (2024)

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity was assessed using the Fornell-Larcker criterion, cross-loadings, and the Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio (HTMT). The Fornell-Larcker criterion (Table 3) showed that the square root of each construct's AVE (bold values on the diagonal) was higher than its correlations with other constructs, confirming the discriminant validity of the constructs. The cross-loadings (Table 4) revealed that each indicator loaded highest on its respective construct, providing further evidence of discriminant validity. The HTMT values (Table 5) were below the conservative threshold of 0.85 [15] indicating that the constructs were distinct from each other.

Table 3. Discriminant Validity (Fornell-Larcker Criterion)

 Source: Primary data processed using SmartPLS 3.9.2 (2024)

Table 4. Cross Loadings

 Source: Primary data processed using Smart PLS 3.9.2 (2024)

Table 5. Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT)

 Source: Primary data processed using Smart PLS 3.9.2 (2024)

Structural Model Evaluation

Path Coefficients

The path coefficients and their significance were evaluated using bootstrapping with 5,000 subsamples. As shown in Table 6 and the Inner Model figure, brand experience had a significant positive effect on brand love (β = 0.557, p < 0.001), supporting hypothesis H2. This suggests that a positive brand experience enhances consumers' love for the brand. Brand love, in turn, had a significant positive effect on brand loyalty (β = 0.549, p < 0.001), supporting hypothesis H3. This implies that stronger brand love leads to higher brand loyalty. However, the direct effect of brand experience on brand loyalty was not significant (β = 0.059, p > 0.05), rejecting hypothesis H1. This indicates that brand experience does not directly influence brand loyalty in this model.

Table 6. Path Coefficients

Source: Primary data processed using Smart PLS 3.9.2 (2024) 

Figure 2.  Inner Model

Source: Primary data processed using Smart PLS 3.9.2 (2024)

R-square (R²)

The R² values for brand love (0.311) and brand loyalty (0.341) suggest that the model explains 31.1% of the variance in brand love and 34.1% of the variance in brand loyalty (Table 7). According to Hair et al. (2017), R² values of 0.75, 0.50, and 0.25 can be considered substantial, moderate, and weak, respectively. Therefore, the R² values in this study indicate a moderate predictive power of the model for both brand love and brand loyalty.

Table 7. R-square

Source: Primary data processed using Smart PLS 3.9.2 (2024)

f-square (f²)

The f² values (Table 8) provide insights into the effect size of each construct on the endogenous constructs. Brand experience had a large effect size on brand love (f² = 0.451), while brand love had a medium effect size on brand loyalty (f² = 0.315). In contrast, brand experience had a negligible effect size on brand loyalty (f² = 0.004). These results suggest that brand experience strongly influences brand love, which in turn has a moderate impact on brand loyalty.

Table 8. f-square

Source: Primary data processed using Smart PLS 3.9.2 (2024)

Predictive Relevance (Q²)

The Q² values for brand love (0.209) and brand loyalty (0.245) were greater than zero, indicating that the model has predictive relevance for these endogenous constructs [15]. This means that the model can effectively predict brand love and brand loyalty.

Mediation Analysis

The specific indirect effects (Table 9) revealed that brand love significantly mediated the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty (β = 0.306, p < 0.001), supporting hypothesis H4. This suggests that brand experience influences brand loyalty indirectly through brand love. In other words, a positive brand experience enhances brand love, which subsequently leads to higher brand loyalty.

Table 9. Specific Indirect Effects

Source: Primary data processed using SmartPLS 3.9.2 (2024)

To further assess the magnitude of the mediation effect, the Variance Accounted For (VAF) was calculated. VAF is a measure of the extent to which the mediator variable absorbs the direct effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable [15]

The formula for calculating VAF is:

According to Hair et al. (2017), the guidelines for interpreting the VAF value are as follows:

• If VAF > 80%, it indicates full mediation.

• If 20% ≤ VAF ≤ 80%, it can be categorized as partial mediation.

• If VAF < 20%, there is almost no mediation effect.

Based on the analysis results, the indirect effect of Brand Experience on Brand Loyalty through Brand Love is 0.306, and the direct effect of Brand Experience on Brand Loyalty is 0.059.

or 83.8%

The VAF value of 83.8% indicates that Brand Love fully mediates the relationship between Brand Experience and Brand Loyalty.

Table 10. Variance Accounted For (VAF)

The VAF calculation and interpretation strengthen the findings regarding the mediating role of Brand Love in the relationship between Brand Experience and Brand Loyalty. The results suggest that Brand Love is a crucial mechanism through which Brand Experience influences Brand Loyalty. In other words, positive brand experiences enhance brand love, which in turn leads to higher brand loyalty. Managers should focus on creating compelling brand experiences that evoke emotional connections and foster brand love among consumers to ultimately drive brand loyalty.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of brand experience on brand loyalty, mediated by brand love, in the context of Eiger products in Pontianak. The findings provide valuable insights into the relationships between these constructs and their implications for brand management.

Hypothesis 1: Brand Experience and Brand Loyalty

The first hypothesis (H1) posited that brand experience would have a positive and significant influence on brand loyalty. However, the results did not support this hypothesis, as the direct effect of brand experience on brand loyalty was not significant (β = 0.059, p > 0.05). This finding is inconsistent with previous studies that have demonstrated a direct link between brand experience and brand loyalty [8,4]. The discrepancy could be attributed to the specific context of the study, focusing on Eiger products in Pontianak, where other factors may play a more crucial role in shaping brand loyalty.

The insignificant direct effect of brand experience on brand loyalty highlights the complexity of the loyalty formation process. It suggests that positive brand experiences alone may not be sufficient to foster strong loyalty towards Eiger products in Pontianak. Consumers may require additional elements, such as emotional connections or other mediating factors, to develop enduring loyalty. This finding underscores the need for marketers to look beyond creating exceptional brand experiences and consider the broader context of consumer-brand relationships.

Hypothesis 2: Brand Experience and Brand Love

The second hypothesis (H2) proposed that brand experience would have a positive and significant influence on brand love. The results strongly supported this hypothesis, with a significant positive effect of brand experience on brand love (β = 0.557, p < 0.001). This finding aligns with previous research that has established the link between brand experience and brand love [4]

The significant impact of brand experience on brand love underscores the importance of creating memorable and positive brand experiences to evoke emotional connections with consumers. Eiger's ability to deliver sensory, affective, intellectual, and behavioral experiences can greatly enhance consumers' love for the brand. Positive brand experiences trigger emotions, create meaning, and foster a strong sense of attachment, which are fundamental components of brand love [10]

Marketers should focus on designing and executing brand experiences that resonate with consumers on an emotional level. This can be achieved through various touchpoints, such as product design, store atmospherics, customer service, and brand communications. By consistently delivering exceptional experiences, Eiger can cultivate a deep emotional bond with its customers, leading to increased brand love.

Hypothesis 3: Brand Love and Brand Loyalty

The third hypothesis (H3) stated that brand love would have a positive and significant influence on brand loyalty. The results provided strong support for this hypothesis, revealing a significant positive effect of brand love on brand loyalty (β = 0.549, p < 0.001). This finding is consistent with previous studies that have demonstrated the crucial role of brand love in driving brand loyalty [10,9].

The significant impact of brand love on brand loyalty highlights the emotional nature of consumer-brand relationships. When consumers develop a deep emotional attachment and passionate feelings towards a brand, they are more likely to exhibit loyal behaviors, such as repeat purchases, positive word-of-mouth, and resistance to competitive offerings [10]. Brand love creates a strong emotional barrier that prevents consumers from easily switching to alternative brands.

Eiger should prioritize strategies that enhance brand love among its customers. This can be achieved by consistently delivering high-quality products, providing excellent customer service, and engaging in authentic and meaningful brand communications. Additionally, Eiger can foster brand love by creating a sense of community around the brand, encouraging customer participation and co-creation, and aligning the brand's values with those of its target audience.

Hypothesis 4: The Mediating Role of Brand Love

The fourth hypothesis (H4) proposed that brand love would mediate the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty. The results strongly supported this hypothesis, as brand love was found to fully mediate the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty (VAF = 83.8%). This finding shed light on the underlying mechanism through which brand experience influences brand loyalty.

The full mediation effect of brand love suggests that brand experience does not directly lead to brand loyalty but rather influences loyalty through the development of emotional connections and passionate feelings towards the brand. Positive brand experiences serve as the foundation for building brand love, which in turn drives loyal behaviours. In other words, brand love acts as a crucial link between brand experience and brand loyalty.

This study examined the influence of brand experience on brand loyalty, mediated by brand love, in the context of Eiger products in Pontianak. The findings provide valuable insights into the dynamics of consumer-brand relationships and offer practical implications for brand management.

The results showed that brand experience did not directly influence brand loyalty, contrary to the initial hypothesis. This finding suggests that positive brand experiences alone may not be sufficient to generate strong loyalty towards Eiger products in Pontianak. Instead, the study revealed that brand love fully mediated the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty. This highlights the crucial role of emotional connections and passionate feelings in the loyalty formation process.

The study confirmed that brand experience had a significant positive impact on brand love. Eiger's ability to deliver exceptional sensory, affective, intellectual, and behavioral experiences can greatly enhance consumers' emotional attachment to the brand. Positive brand experiences create meaning, evoke emotions, and foster a strong sense of connection, which are essential components of brand love.

Furthermore, the study demonstrated that brand love had a significant positive influence on brand loyalty. When consumers develop deep emotional bonds and passionate feelings towards Eiger, they are more likely to exhibit loyal behaviors, such as repeat purchases, positive word-of-mouth, and resistance to competitive offerings. Brand love creates a strong emotional barrier that prevents consumers from easily switching to alternative brands.

The findings of this study have important implications for brand managers. First, they emphasize the need to focus on creating exceptional brand experiences that resonate with consumers on an emotional level. Eiger should design and execute experiences that evoke positive emotions, create meaning, and foster deep connections with customers. This can be achieved through various touchpoints, such as product design, store atmospherics, customer service, and brand communications.

Second, the study highlights the importance of cultivating brand love as a key driver of brand loyalty. Eiger should prioritize strategies that enhance emotional connections and passionate feelings among its customers. This can be achieved by consistently delivering high-quality products, providing excellent customer service, engaging in authentic and meaningful brand communications, and creating a sense of community around the brand.

Third, the mediating role of brand love underscores the need for regular assessment and monitoring of emotional connections between consumers and the brand. Eiger should measure and track the level of brand love among its customer base, as it serves as a strong predictor of brand loyalty. Efforts should be made to continuously strengthen emotional bonds through personalized interactions, exclusive offerings, and brand community building.

Finally, the study contributes to the existing literature on consumer-brand relationships by providing empirical evidence of the mediating role of brand love in the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty. The findings extend our understanding of the complex dynamics between these constructs and offer a framework for future research in different contexts and industries.

In conclusion, this study emphasizes the crucial role of brand love in the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty. Marketers should recognize the importance of creating positive brand experiences that evoke emotions and foster brand love, as it ultimately leads to loyal customer behaviors. By prioritizing strategies that enhance brand love, Eiger can build a strong and enduring customer base in Pontianak. Future research should explore the generalizability of these findings in other contexts and investigate additional factors that may influence the relationships between brand experience, brand love, and brand loyalty.

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest

No funding sources

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