Effect of customer complaint management on brand image in corporate communication process: A research on Turkey's most popular online shopping brand in 2020

In today's intensely competitive environment, it is very important for brands to create customer satisfaction and loyalty. When brands cannot provide customer satisfaction, they both lose their customers and may pay a price for sharing their thoughts with their environment, social media, and consumer complaint sites. Businesses might encounter a disadvantage such as the negative perception of the image of their products and new customers not preferring the brand. Resolving the customer complaint makes the customer who has reported a problem feel valued and satisfied. The customer, whose complaint is resolved and satisfaction is ensured, can provide that the brand image is perceived positively and that the brand wins new customers by sharing this situation with the surroundings. Today, the significant increase in production and service quality makes it difficult to keep competition and customers. Therefore, the correct management of customers' complaints and brand image play a crucial role in the success of brands. The complaint management process is carried out by the institutions that manage the brands. Effective execution of corporate communication becomes important for the success of institutions and their brands. In this thesis study, the effects of managing customer complaints, which is an important part of corporate communication, on the brand image of Trendyol DSM Group A.Ş. brand, which was selected as Turkey's most popular online shopping brand in 2020, are explained with the analysis of the data obtained from the customers. Within the choice of the study center, the record breaking of e-commerce in 2020 and the reality that online shopping brands have an important place in our lives due to the epidemic have the impact. In order to achieve the objectives determined within the scope of the research, scan research, one of the quantitative data collection techniques, is applied. In this direction, the survey technique was used and the obtained data were analyzed. "Cronbach Alpha", the internal consistency coefficient for reliability analyses of the scales used in the study, was calculated and the descriptive research model was adopted. Simple linear regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the variables in the research and to test the hypotheses. With the study, it was concluded that the successful management of customer complaints and the sub-factors of this success positively affect the brand image after the complaint. The fact that Trendyol DSM Group A.Ş., which is the subject of the research, was selected as the most popular online shopping brand in Turkey in 2020, when the epidemic emerged, has been associated with the corporate communication of the business in complaint management.