Effect of brand popularity as an advertising cue on tourists’ shopping behavior

This research shows that brand popularity as an advertising cue positively affects purchase intention in the context of tourist shopping. More importantly, it reveals that the effects of two popularity cues (destination-popularity cue vs. tourist-popularity cue) on tourist shoppers’ brand choice can be different according to product characteristics and situational factors. When product involvement, preference heterogeneity and time pressure are high, tourist shoppers tend to choose a brand with a tourist-popularity cue rather than one with a destination-popularity cue. Unexpectedly, however, the effects of the two popularity cues on brand choice are not influenced by tourist shoppers’ involvement with gift recipients in the context of buying a souvenir as gift for others.