The Role of Branding in Reducing Customer Stress: A Survey Study in the Electrical Appliance Retail Sector in Sulaymaniyah Governorate

Today, companies compete to offer customers a wide variety of choices, constantly developing and shaping new needs and desires. This abundance of options can lead to customer confusion and stress, as choosing from the available options requires making more decisions. The main research problem focused on mitigating customer stress and its impact on companies, brands, and marketers. Specifically, the research addressed the issues of substitution versus completion and choosing more versus choosing better, which are key topics in contemporary marketing. The study aimed to examine the role of branding in reducing customer stress within the electrical appliance retail sector in Sulaymaniyah. The researcher employed a descriptive-analytical approach. A questionnaire was developed specifically for this purpose and distributed to a group of marketers. A total of 109 valid questionnaires were returned and analyzed using various statistical methods in SPSS. (V.24), and to achieve the research objectives, a hypothetical model and several hypotheses were developed and tested. The results of the statistical analysis showed strong correlations and statistically significant effects of branding on reducing customer stress. The research also presented several recommendations, the most important of which is that marketers should assess their brands' contribution to customer stress and establish appropriate policy frameworks to mitigate it. These frameworks include adopting policies of "replacement versus completion" or "maximum choice versus optimal choice.