THE IMPORTANCE OF BRAND IN CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR AND PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESMENT

Abstract

In order to maintain or increase market share, every company tries to use the most optimal combination of marketing communication tools or marketing mix tools. There are a large number of products placed on the market from a large number of companies that need to distinguish one another from competing companies. The most important tool to differentiate from competitors is the brand of products. The aim of each company is to ensure that their product brand is brought to the attention of customers and that customers associate especially positive associations with its brand(s). We are of the opinion that if the first and then repeated purchase of customers of the same product of a given brand confirms that the product meets the required characteristics and quality they expect from the product, customers will not doubt the quality of the products sold under the brand and will regard it as quality. For this reason, the aim of the paper was to confirm the importance of the brand in consumer buying decisions and to find out whether consumers really perceive the brand as a guarantee of product quality. To meet the aim of the paper, we conducted a questionnaire survey, which confirmed the importance of the brand in consumer purchasing decisions and the perception of the brand as a guarantee of product quality. We also confirmed a statistically significant dependence between brand perception as a guarantee of product quality and the age of respondents, confirming the importance of demographic characteristics in the implementation of company marketing activities.