Brand extension of online technology products: Evidence from search engine to virtual communities and online news

Brand extension has been a subject of increasing interest and scholarly investigation for researchers in over a decade; however, little research has been directed toward understanding brand extension in the online context. The current study examines brand extension of online products and tries to find the key factors that determine the popularity of extended products in the online channels. Drawing upon the categorization theory, we propose a research model and validate it in the context of a search engine's brand extension to a virtual community service and an online news service. The findings indicate that perceived quality of a parent brand can be transferred to its extensions. Moreover, the perceived fit between the parent brand and a new product positively influences perceived quality of the extension. This study also finds that, in the online environment, the perceived tie between the existing product and the extension positively influences perceived quality of the extension. This research advances our understanding of the usage behavior between technology products sharing the same brand and provides insights into the marketing promotion strategies for IT products in electronic markets.