We investigate the potential of services as ingredient brands where past research has focused on tangible products.
We concentrate on industrial buyers to detect how ingredient service brands impact customer preferences on B2B markets.
In an experiment, we find a positive effect of ingredient service brands on buyers' perception of the end product's quality.
The effect is stronger when quality of the host brand is lower.
Ingredient service brands provide a cue to product quality of the end product, indirectly improving purchase intentions.