IMPACT OF BRAND IMAGE, PRICE IMAGE AND SERVICE QUALITY ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION : ANALYSIS OF APPAREL COMPANIES IN KARACHI

1. Associate Professor, Iqra University, Karachi, Pakistan. 2. Iqra University, Karachi, Pakistan. 3. PhD Scholar, University of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 27 November 2019 Final Accepted: 30 December 2019 Published: January 2020

The main objective of this study is to analyze the brand image, price and service quality dimensions in creating customer satisfaction in apparel industry in Karachi. Brand image, price image, service quality and customer satisfaction are the variables used in this research. The purpose of this study is to define, what elements of brand image, price image and service quality are affecting the customer satisfaction when taking a purchase decision. Furthermore, after investigating on the mentioned variables, new opportunities are opening their doors for the marketers to create a sustainable market in the future, and understand the buyer's black box which will broaden the marketer's scope and create awareness to enhance the customer satisfaction. Primary data is collected throughsurvey questionnaire from 270 respondents. Regression analysis is used to infer the data. The results show that there is a significant positive relationship between brand, price image, service quality and customer satisfaction.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Introduction: -
For the success of the apparel industry, fashion is considered to be the central (Priest, A., 2005), and is considered to be dynamic and extremely competitive (Newman, A. J., & Foxall, G. R., 2003). Fashion is an impression of both time and people whose activities impact the business; it is fundamental for apparel marketers to understand the factors affecting the market and forman in-depth understanding of the issues that influence the apparel business.
In the last decade, the apparel industry of Pakistan has shown an immense growth. As a result, the situation of intense rivalry among the primary apparel firms of Pakistan has developed because of new entrants into the segment to take advantage of this growth in this sector. Therefore, every organization is currently striving hard to dispatch fascinating items and services with the objective of attaining new consumers. These organizations with a phenomenal number of consumers are competing to retain their consumerbase (Hameed & Irfan, 2019). The apparel firms are striving hard to enhance customer satisfaction to ensure that these customers remain loyal and satisfied through their unparalleled brand image, improved quality and a better price image.
The Pakistani market consists ofbranded apparel stores and has demonstrated anenormous growth in late two decades. The establishment of storesis considerably improving the competitive perceived brand image, price and quality. To enhance the quality of their products, apparel stores aims to develop a brand image which encourages . Apparel chains market themselves on the basis of its servicescape including atmosphere and ambience of the store, pleasure from shopping, and service quality, each mentioned element enhance the brand image (Das, G., 2014), and brings consumer satisfaction and loyalty as an undetachable proof that abrand possesses(Labeaga, J. M., & Martos, M., 2007).

Research Problem:
Brand image, service quality, price image and customer satisfaction constraint are considered as an arsenal in advertising. As (Bennett, R., & Rundle-Thiele, S., 2004) stated that these elements are utilized as a marketing benchmarks for achieving certain objectives.
In today's competitive marketing landscape, communicating brand image, high quality service and better price image is imperative for apparel firms. The competition between the organizations is increasingly furious. According to (Webster Jr, F. E., 1994), customers have become the most important strategic resource for firms due to the competitive condition of the market. From many aspects it is evident that organization's profitability is highly dependent upon customer satisfaction. Companies must clearly understand the customer's concern for quality, functionality and practicality of a brand if they want to create satisfaction among its target audience (Fonvielle, W., 1997).
In recent era, the role of the marketing department is not only to make a market offering but also to fulfill and satisfy the customer'sneeds. According to (Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G., 2010), companies are now more concerned about creating customer value and bringing in customer satisfaction. Businesses are completely customer driven, and marketers must be the consumer oriented rather than being producer oriented. Therefore, in any business it is vital to work intimately with consumers to assure the customer orientation in its products.

Purpose of Research:
The goal of this investigationis to observe the aspects i.e., brand image, the quality of services and price image which influence satisfaction of the customers in Apparel industry and to evaluate the characteristics of brand identity, quality service, price image and satisfaction of the customer, and make recommendations for Apparel companies in Karachi. This research will evaluate the satisfaction of the customer based on the brand identity, price and quality of service in apparel industry and comparing with the literature available. Furthermore, the study will also recommend the strategies for building a superior brand image, a better price image and improved service quality. According to (Parasuraman, A., & Zeithaml, V. A., 2005), to compete in the market, superior service quality is considered to be the integral component.

Research Questions:
The below mentioned questions are needed to be addressed in this area of research that has its own significance 1. Does the brand image effect the customer satisfaction? 2. Does service quality effect the customer satisfaction? 3. Does theprice image influence the customer satisfaction? 4. Is there any relationship between the image of brand, price andservice quality which affects the customer satisfaction in apparel industry?
The significance of the study: This study provides apparel companies of Karachi the evidenceabout the effect of the brand image, service quality and the price on satisfaction of the customers so that they can bring in competitiveness in Pakistani market, and make them capable to draw customer's interest. Moreover, this research is also concentrated on the attributes in regarding brad identity, quality of the services, price image and satisfaction that how they can build a superior image in the eyes of the customers. According to (Grewal, D. & Levy. M., 2010), the important factor for the fashion apparel is the brand image as it indicates the personality of the person. Customers always do a relative comparison between cost and the benefit they acquire from a brand. To attain new and retain existing customers it is necessary for the marketers to understand and satisfy the needs and wants of the target audience (Jerry, C., & Olson, Z., 2005). This study is descriptive and will provide guidance to devise competitive strategies that can be reified promptly for a better understanding of apparel market landscape of Pakistan.

Literature Review:
In present prevailing condition, where rivalry, progressions and technological advancements are of prime significance, companies are considerably updating their services and goods. This rivalry among competing organizations is actually providing customers an since they have diverse options, their decisions of choosing a product becomes more complex (Ballantyne, R., Warren, A., & Nobbs, K., 2006). Additionally, (Keller, K. L., 2003), characterized that customer also deals with different attributes that brings in satisfaction to their needs and wants and then make a psychological frame work through which their relationship connects then with the brand. While (Bondesson, N., 2012), characterized that the aggregate synchronization of brand image and commitment to the brand: "why buyers pick", "select", "stay faithful to", or else "more than once buy" a product.
Brand Image: -Image of the brand can be described as the "perception of the customers that is perceived while purchasing the product or service". Brand image cannot be described as a tool for evaluating the customer satisfaction, there are other dimensions for satisfaction assessment available. To create the positive effect on brand image, customers should be satisfied with the quality of the product and services. Moreover, satisfied customers will spread positive word of mouth and show trustworthinesswhich leads to repeat purchase decision (Bennett, R., & Rundle-Thiele, S., 2004). indicates that to enhance the purchases of the branded products by the customers, the organization should have the worthwhile brand image that endows buyers to perceive their wants, that the brand fulfills and to distinct the brand from its rival. If the product or services provided by the organization hold a superior image by the customers then the company would gain a competitive advantage in the market place and also an upper hand on its rivals.
A branded products or services develop aunique perception as much as there are professionals in this field. "A brand is a logo, design, image, name, word or any additional characteristics that recognize one organization's item to the others" as stated by (AMA) American Marketing Association (2013). Also (Keller, K. L., 2003) described the brand image as the arrangement of conviction, thoughts and impression that an individual embrace in regards to product or service. Moreover, (Keller, K. L., 2003) also included that brand image is helpful to build up the customer loyalty and acquiring habits of customers. According to (Kapferer, J. N., 2011), store design, infrastructure, services, sales activities and convenience of the product are the main characteristics of the store image as they directly impact the customer satisfaction. So, the below assumption is constructed: H 1 : Brand image has a substantial affiliation with customer satisfaction.

Service Quality:
It is an evaluation of how well a business fulfills the required expectation of its customers. The quality of service depends upon the extent of expectations fulfilled from a particular product. Satisfy and loyal customers are play an integral role in retailing since years. When the customer feels satisfied with the services given by a store, they become loyal. The loyal customers contribute positively in developing a sustainable competitive advantage over competitors. In marketing, the importance of customer's benefit is studied over 20 years (Bryman, A., & Bell, E., 2015).
According to (Parasuraman, A., & Zeithaml, V. A., 2005), however, the quality of the service can be measured with five factors that is; reliability, empathy, tangible, assurance and responsiveness. Tangible include the availability of employees and the physical features that are being offered to the customer to increase customer satisfaction. Reliability is the ability to provide and to deliver the promised service level withoutany changes with complete accuracy. The same way as promised to be delivered. Responsiveness describes the interest level to solve the problems and help the customer and to respond quickly to their problem. Assurance is the understanding level and the attitude of the company's staff towards their customer. Empathy includes the understanding of the customers, giving consideration to the customers and caring about the customers. As per ( Customers analyze the value of the product by its price factor. So, if the price of the product is too high then it might be possible that the customer will not buy that product and will sacrifice his need. Thus, lower the prices of the product the lower will be the customer sacrifices (Zeithaml, V. A., & Parasuraman, A., 2002).
Pricing is a tool used to influence the customer's decision-making process. According to (Erdil,  Also, retailers have tricks to stress on the value for money in selling their own private brands. Thus, retailer aims to have a substantial influence on the satisfaction of the customer by creation the image of relatively low-priced products (Beristain, J. J., & Zorrilla, P., 2011). This has become the cause in developing below mentioned hypothesis.
H3: Price image has a substantial affiliation with satisfaction of the customer.

Customer Satisfaction:
A marketing term that is used for measurement of how a company provides services as well as its product with the purpose to meet customer expectations. Customer satisfaction is significant for both marketer and business owners because customer satisfaction provide a metric that they can be used for managing and improving businesses. Consumer satisfaction is subjected to the nature of the direction offered to customers and is one of the instruments to incentivize customers. As (Sivadas, E., 2000) suggested that the pleasant servicescape is achieved if the facilities like shop layout / aisles, cleanliness, well-shaped product displays exist and the spaces available to move around are present at the outlet. Increased competition alert retailers to upgrade their display and aisle strategies.
Here are two view points: transactional and combined, through which customer satisfaction has been examined. In a transactional view point, customer assess or create a verdict of a particular service experience or utilization circumstance (

Research Methodology: -
This researchis quantitative in nature that adopts a deductive approach by explaining the influence on satisfaction of the customer constructed on the image of brand, price and quality of the services in apparel companies of Karachi. This study obtains primary data and secondary statistics both for the research. The unit of analysis for the present study will be university going population, general public roaming in shopping malls and google survey is also used for data collection.

Multiple case study:
The research study has used multiple case study as methodology, and effect on customer satisfaction is examined built on the aspects of image of brand, price and service quality in apparel companies of Karachi. According to (Jacobsen, DI, Sandin, G., & Hellström, 2002), a case report is a concentrated study about a unit, a group of persons or an individual, which is intended to take a broad view over several units. In brief, case study is an upright practice to explain cases and to explore the idea for better understanding (Cousin, G., 2005).
This study is a multiple case study analysis as it observes a critical investigation of apparel firms that how to strategize businesses for attaining greater customer satisfaction. The case study has main focus on the customer satisfaction strategies with respect to brand image, price image and quality of the services, and the current practice on bringing the satisfaction of the customer to the highest level, and their implementation across the organization. The survey of literature and optional information will be utilized to recognize issues and possible subjects, and Customer Satisfaction Price Image

Service Quality
Brand Image 632 frame the premise of the quantitative research. Primary and secondary information is gathered with a specific end goal to assist the responseof the questions.

Approach:
The approach assumed for this investigation is deductive approach where the effecton the satisfaction of the customers built on the image of the brand, price, and quality of the service will be critically analyzed and compared with the literature.

Data Collection:
As this is an explanatory investigation about the consequence of brand identity, price image, and quality of the services on customer satisfaction, primary data gathering is mainly quantitative and examined quantitatively with a specific aim to accomplish higher quality among the research practice. With the purpose of comparing practices from literature, secondary data is also be utilized. As (Bryman, P., & Bell, E., 2015) characterizes quantitative research as an unmistakable research methodology that underlines measurement in the gathering and analysis of information.

Research Design:
A research, as indicated by (Mugenda, O.M., & Mugenda, A.G., 1999), is utilized to get data regarding the present status of the occurrence to demonstrate "what exists" regarding feature or conditions in a situation. This examination explains the consequence of the image of brand, price, and quality of the services on the satisfaction of the customer, so this research will be conducted by utilizing a survey questionnaire with the apparel companies of Karachi.

Sample Frame:
The populace of this research project comprises of all the students of university, general public roaming in shopping malls &google survey for this study. The aim of selecting them is because they must be having an experience and knowledge about the product they purchased from the stores and the problem associated with brand image, price image and quality of the service which affect the satisfaction of the customers.

Sample Method:-
The appropriate size of the sample in this study is minimum 270. Data is gathered from the customers who purchased products from the apparel stores in Karachi. The motive of picking this sample is availability of the customers in specific time slots, and it also benefits to keep study focused. As our population is limited, we have adopted non probabilistic based convenient sampling technique.

Analysis of Data:
To investigate the essential information gathered from the primary data, inferential measurements has been utilized to make the analysis insightful.

Inferential Statistics:
In inferential statistics, random data is collected from the population as a sample to depict and make inferences about the entire population. The purpose of using the inferential statistics is to answer or test the hypothesis. It is significant when it is not conceivable to inspect every individual from the population. (Satake, E., 2014). The reason for selecting this tool is to find out the influence on the satisfaction of the customer constructed on the identity of brand, price, and service in apparel companies of Karachi.

Ethical Considerations:
The study fulfils with the necessities for ethical bearing of investigation. Respondents care is taken to avoid possible uneasiness and is be dealt ethically. Respondents are requested to give consent and they have the chance to pull back from participation and being guaranteed that respondents are not been recognized in the study. Information is kept securely and is only be utilized for the motive of the research.

Results and Findings: -
In this study the data has been collected from 270 customers who purchased products from the apparel companies of Karachi, through survey questionnaires which helps us in revealing the results and findings of this research that what 633 actually the consumers perceive regarding theeffect of the image of the brand, price and quality of the service on customer satisfaction.
Analyzing the data: Reliability Statistics: Cronbach's Alpha N of items . 827 18 The Cronbach's Alpha for 18 items is 0.827 depicting that the research variableshave relatively high internal consistency by computing through SPSS reliability analysis. So, we can conclude from the above result that the overall study is considered to be acceptable and reliable. The above table shows the summary of the model where customer satisfaction is taken up as a dependent variable and other predictors as independent variables. This summary shows the relationship between dependent and independent variables. The coefficient of correlation between dependent and independent variable is 0.636 which depicts a strong positive relationship. And the adjusted R-square value shows that 39.7% change in customer satisfaction is due to these independent variables.

ANOVA:
1. Predictors: Constant, Brand image, Price image and Service quality.

Dependent Variable: Customer Satisfaction.
This table explained the analysis of variance for all of the groups showed that the sig value or p value which is 0.000 that is less than 0.05 indicates there is no difference in their means and hence research model is significant, therefore null hypothesis is rejected. The above table demonstrates the coefficients because of the brand, price image and quality of the service on customer satisfaction. The Beta coefficients exhibit the degree to which effectiveness of dependent variable changes because of the adjustments in the independent variables. The positive beta coefficients show that an adjustment in the independent variables prompts a positive change in customer satisfaction. The co-efficient table shows the value of hypothesis for the beta values of brand image which is (0.378) showing a positive relationship with its dependent variable. Price image which is (0.224) and Service quality which represents a beta of (0.348) shows a direct relationship towards customer satisfaction. The following is the equation used to anticipate the dependent variable (Y) from the independent variable (X). The regression equation after using the coefficient recognized in the above regression modelbecomes:

Doesbrand image effect the customer satisfaction?
The data has been collected from the customers which depicted that about 73% customers thinks that brand image plays a dynamic role in their purchasing as it gives them satisfaction. The brand has created a perception of quality, consistency and trust in the mind of the customers and they will go out of their way to buy a branded item as it gives them the safety image. Moreover, 63% customers also think that the brand they use make a statement about who they are and who they want to be. People became emotionally attached to the brand and view them as a part of their self-image. Also, customers generally avoid risk and seek safety so they usually opt for brand that offers safety and reduces the risk of disappointment.

Does service quality effects the customer satisfaction?
To keep up the great business association with the customers, apparel companies should maintain their service quality in order to gain customer satisfaction. Service quality must be associated with the company's competitive strategy. Data showed that 64.9% customers agree that they are more attracted toward the stores whose staff is cordial, provide best quality of the item and shows honest interest in solving their query.Moreover, data also depicts that 73% customers are mostly satisfy when the store willingly handles the product return and exchange, offers flexible modes of payments, and provides post purchase services.

Does price image influence the customer satisfaction?
The data that has been collected from the customers of apparel companies in Karachi shows that 79.6% customers strongly agree that price image do affect the customer satisfaction. In today's competitor world, customers easily switch their brand if they find the best quality of product in lower price. So, apparel companies should provide the best quality of products in reasonable price to keep their customers and to satisfy them. Data also reveals that 62.6% customers agreed that fair prices do attract them to buy from the particular brand. Customer shows loyalt y towards low-priced products and this will influence them to repeatedly buy the product.

Is there any relationship between the image of brand, Does price and service quality affect the customer satisfaction in apparel industry?
The data that has been collected from the customers of apparel companies in Karachi depicted that there is an association between image of brand, price and service quality that affect the customer satisfaction in apparel industry. The correlation between the dependent and independent variable is 58.6% which shows that there is strong relationship between them. 70.7% customers agreed that they are willing to buy the branded item as it gives them the safety image, also, the product's design is unique than the local products. Data also revealed that 62.6% customers are more satisfy with the brands who offer high quality goods and services at reasonable prices. For obtaining high customer satisfaction, apparel companies must adopt best strategy to be competitive with respect to quality and pricing, only then they can find loyal customers, profits and brand reputation.

Conclusion:-
It can be concluded that high prices of the products and not getting the superior quality of products will make the customer dissatisfy which is considered to be the great loss for the apparel companies as they will not be able to retain their customers and the reputation of their brand will suffer. As we know that needs and wants are changed now according to new dynamics of the market in this present era. Now the marketer needs to analyze the environment in such a way that will suits the customer and facilitate them in the most appropriate way. After scrutinizing the consumers and observing the changed behavior, we came to know that decisions are very much dependable on ease and convenience factor. In light of the fact, apparel companies must gain customer satisfaction by differentiating themselves from the competitors in retail sector and gain sustainable advantage.

Discussion:-
After reviewing the literature and our findings, it has come into knowledge that, there is a strong association between the brand image, price image and service quality as it affects customer satisfaction and overall cost of the organization directly. For the successful business, customer satisfaction plays a vital role. Satisfaction is the post result that customer experience which is contrary to service quality, brand and price image (Caruana, A., 2002). Customers have shaped an image on the basis of subjective impression and satisfied customers will probably give significant word of mouth and show faithfulness conduct that is, repeat purchase of commodity (Bennett, R., & Rundle-Thiele, S., 2004). Moreover, services quality of the store and prices of the products influences the customer satisfaction so it is necessary for the apparel stores to provide superior service quality and reasonable pricing of the products to retain their customers. Furthermore, apparel companies should have a good relationship with the customers and maintain the professional performance to keep the consumer's perception about the firm and also should make the price well-matched with the service and benefits so the customer satisfaction will increase. Apparel companies must know about the customer behavior in term of preference and build up their services in accordance to focused market demand and should effectively know how to manage image to expand the chance for success.

Implications:
The aim and purpose of this investigation is to examine on those features which affect the customer satisfaction as it contributes an essential role in apparel companies. It indicates customer loyalty as well as helps in identifying those customers who are somewhat reluctant for any other reasons. The research took place in order to find the possible solution for satisfying the customers and conclude that apparel companies must meet the customer expectation regarding brand image as it makes the respectable impression of them. Moreover, companies should show concentration in solving the customer query and the prices of the products must be set accordingly to attract the customers. Furthermore, companies must redesign their goods and the tactics of pricing for improving the satisfaction and retaining of the consumers to obtain more market share. Apparel companies must focus on these strategies in order to reduce uncertainty at all levels.

Limitations:
As every research project has limited scope, similarly the limitations of this research project bounding us from exploring the overall aspects of the research scope. As the data was only collected from the 270 respondents, where I have deeply understood the better mindset of the shoppers, but though it can be expanded to other people to get the generalize behavior and actions. For better understanding of results, more consumer insights are required to predict and conclude it in a more logical way.

Recommendations:-
In the lights of this research and finding, to satisfy the customers based on brand image, price image andquality of the service, the organization must have a look on this aspect because people expect more from the apparel companies so they should provide more amenities like product availability, variety of product designs, flexible mode of payment, superior quality of products, and affordable prices to purchase the products. In addition to that, companies must maintain its professional performance to build a good association with the customers. Furthermore, companies should make the prices of the product more compatible with the services. Also, organization must manage to involve the company's representative so that they can easily explain the salient feature of the product and also look after the post purchase problems. Customers most of the time not just make their decision on the basis of products and price but also it is based on a company's image for providing excellent customer service which creates word of mouth and also by creating the lenient and beneficial policies, the organizations will ultimately lead to grab maximum market share.