Brand Attribute Transfer in Online Marketplaces: Bidirectional Spillover Effects between Seller and Marketplace Brands
(A2026-133421)

AUTHORS

Florian Weyerh�user, Saarland University/Institue for Retailing and International Marketing (H.I.MA.); Bastian Popp, Saarland University

ABSTRACT

Online marketplaces are increasingly mediating retail exchanges, yet brand-level consequences of marketplace-seller interactions remain underexplored. This research examines bidirectional spillover effects between three marketplace brands and a brick-and-mortar seller brand, focusing on transfers of perceived brand localness (PBL) and environmental sustainability. Across two experiments with German consumers, participants evaluated marketplace and seller stimuli. Study 1 tests whether associating a marketplace with a seller perceived as local and sustainable enhances marketplace PBL, sustainability, brand attitude, and purchase intention. Study 2 examines the reverse pathway: whether linking the same seller to a marketplace perceived as less local and less sustainable diminishes the seller’s attribute perceptions and outcomes. Results show attribute transfer in both directions, with PBL and sustainability crossing organisational boundaries and indirectly shaping purchase intentions.