Determination of customer based brand equity and its impact on loyalty for apparel brands among young students of Chennai City

Abstract

There is a fastidious saying that “Customer is a king”. Mahatma Gandhiji has also quoted that “Customer is the most important visitor on our premises”. Marketers and firms had understood that desire of the customers is very important for their brands. Customer passion is the drive of any brands. Brand equity refers the brand value. Methodology: Undoubtedly brands are the asset of the company. Customer based brand equity is to determine the customer attitude towards a brand. CBBE model was proposed by Aaker(1991) and K.L Keller(1992). Based on the model, the researcher has proposed a questionnaire construct which is administered to the young student’s community of Chennai city regarding the apparel brands which they patronize in their everyday life. 273 samples were collected from the young college students of Chennai. 10 samples were taken for pilot study to check the validity of the questionnaire and the responses. Research Gap: Earlier studies have proved that Brand Awareness, Brand Associations, Perceived quality and Brand loyalty are the dimensions of brand equity. In this study the researcher has slightly made an alteration by adding additional constructs namely Brand relevance and Brand differentiation (Brand Asset Valuator Model of brand equity) and attempted to prove all the 5 dimensions are having impact on brand loyalty. Author proved, perceived quality is the mediation construct to achieve the brand loyalty (outcome) using Structural equation modelling. Findings: Findings proved that Brand Awareness, Brand Associations, Perceived quality, Brand relevance and brand differentiation is having an impact on loyalty among young students of Chennai city.