MENELUSURI JALAN MENUJU BRAND LOYALTY: PERAN SELFCONGRUITY DALAM CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE (Studi pada Pengguna Nike di Kota Semarang)

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the modern business era, customer experience plays a crucial role in achieving brand loyalty. Services accompanied by satisfying experiences can create an emotional bond between customers and the brand, which is vital for long-term loyalty. Nike, as a global icon in the sports industry, continuously strives to build customer loyalty through innovative customer experience strategies, such as mobile apps that provide exclusive content and product personalization through the Nike By You program. These strategies create strong emotional bonds and online communities, helping Nike maintain its competitive position. As a leading company in the industry, this study aims to investigate the impact of customer experience, customer engagement, and word-of-mouth on brand loyalty, with self-congruity as a mediating variable, focusing on Nike users. The research framework model developed between customer experience, self-congruity, customer engagement, word-of-mouth, and brand loyalty is based on theories and previous studies. Data collection conducted through online questionnaires gathered 281 respondents, but only around 270 met the criteria and requirements. The research criteria included respondents who have used or purchased Nike products at least once, are at least 17 years old, and reside in Semarang City. The results from the questionnaire data collection were analyzed quantitatively and structurally using the SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) method with the AMOS (Analysis Moment of Structural) 24 program. The findings of this study prove that customer experience has a positive and significant effect on self-congruity. Customer engagement has a positive and significant effect on self-congruity and word-of-mouth. Self-congruity has a positive and significant effect on word-of-mouth. Word-ofmouth and self-congruity have a positive and significant effect on brand loyalty. However, the hypothesis of customer engagement's effect on self-congruity was rejected as insignificant