Online product and/or service brand offerings in South Africa

Abstract

The Internet has forced most companies to consider online brand building strategies. This strategic consideration depends on the determination of the status quo of the brand at present. The former is crucial as identified success drivers of online brand initiatives are neither uniformly nor generically applicable to all online brand offerings. It is thus suggested that the applicability of success factors to online brand offerings depends on the appropriateness of the brand’s context, which in turn is determined by benchmarking the brand against categorised characteristics of existing online brands. This paper summarises and categorises South African online brand offerings over a three year period and applies the findings for elucidatory purposes to a three dimensional Brandscape Model. After managerial implications have been discussed, the study concludes with recommendations for future research.