1. Introduction
In recent years, the Vietnam retailer distribution sector is considered to be developing quite strongly, with the total retail sales of consumer goods and social service revenue increasing rapidly. Consumers can easily find a wide range of goods in the market including local and foreign products, at different prices, serving different client groups. Besides the traditional markets and street stores, there has been an increase in the number of supermarket systems and large commercial centers in big cities, especially in Ho Chi Minh city. Currently, with the explosion of domestic and foreign supermarket systems that have reputations in the Vietnam market such as Co.opmart, Big C, AEON, Lotte, Vinmart, Emart, Bach Hoa Xanh, …, the retail distribution is dealing with more and more difficulties and challenges in attracting new clients and retaining existing customers. The main challenges in the context of integration is the competitive pressure on domestic retailers. Domestic businesses would deal with several difficulties and challenges in competing directly with international firms. Therefore, understanding and satisfying the requirement of consumers are critical to a company's long-term survival and development.
In the view of challenges of competition and a higher customers’ demand for the quality of life, brand equity plays an important role in the long-term existence and development of retail businesses. Brand equity symbolizes the relation that consumers share with the brand and the way they react to the brand and its products. Therefore, the research influence of brand equity on customer purchase decision of retailers distribution was conduct to exam the relationship between the brand equity of a retailer and the customer purchase decisions. Moreover, this study may serve as a reference for distributors to build effective strategies and develop in the Vietnamese retail industry.
2. Literature Review
2.1. The basic of concepts
Brand Equity
A brand is a signal that identifies the source of the product and protects both the client and the manufacturer from competitors who may provide products that look to be identical (Aaker, 1991). Brand equity refers to a critical marketing asset (Ambler, 2003; Davis, 2000) which can create a special relationship that distinguishes the connections between the company and its stakeholders (Capron & Hulland, 1999; Hunt & Morgan, 1995) and fosters long – term purchasing behavior. Yoo, Donthu, and Lee (2000) believed that after obviously understanding the aspect of brand equity, business can invest in order to increase intangible asset, promote brand wealth as well as raise competitive barriers. According to Falkenberg (1996), increasing brand equity is an essential goal for businesses, which is accomplished by attracting connections and sentiments among potential customers.
Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities which are associated with a brand name and symbol that contribute to or detract from the value offered by a product or service (Aaker, 1991). However, Keller (1993) defines brand equity is the influence that brand knowledge has on customer’s reaction to a marketing of brand, with the impact happening when the brand is known and the consumer has strong, positive brand associations.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness involves brand recognition and brand recall. Brand recognition refers to a person's ability to distinguish a specific brand from a group of brands. Brand recall refers to which a person is able to remember a brand when presented with a product category or need (Keller, 1993). There are several levels of brand awareness such as brand recognition, brand recall, top of mind, brand dominance, brand knowledge and brand opinion (Aaker, 1991). Brand awareness indicates how much a brand can be understood by the consumer or extents to which customers identify and recognize a brand (Rungsrisawat & Sirinapatpokin, 2019). Likewise, Dodds, Monroe, and Grewal (1991) believed that brand awareness is an important component in consumer buying intention and some brands will accumulate in consumers' mind to affect customer purchase decision.
Brand Association
A brand association is defined as anything connected in memory to a brand (Aaker, 1991). In addition, Aaker (1991) believed that brand associations may give value to customers by providing a reason for consumers to buy the brand and by making positive attitudes or feelings among consumers. A brand association can be created through the association with attitudes, attributes or benefits (Keller, 1993). According to Ahsan, Azam, Raihan, Imam, and Islam (2020), brand associations are brand attributes that come to mind when customer discuss about a brand.
Brand Loyalty
According to Keller (2003), brand loyalty is the nature of the customer and brand connection. Brand loyalty is defined as a situation that indicates how likely a customer will change to another brand, particularly when that brand makes alteration, either in price or in product feature (Aaker, 1991). According to Oliver (1997), brand loyalty is described as a sense of commitment to repurchase a preferred product or service in the future, regardless of marketing strategies or contextual factors that may change customer behavior. Assael (1998) defined brand loyalty as customers satisfying their previous experiences with the same brand, which leads to repurchase in customers.
Perceived Quality
Perceived quality (PQ) is another essential factor of brand equity and it is described as a customer’s perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service (Aaker, 1991; Lehmann, Keller, & Farley, 2008). Likewise, Akkucuk and Esmaeili (2016) believe that perceived quality relates to customers' knowledge of what they see and feel when they look at and touch a product of a company. According to Zeithaml (1988), perceived quality is not the real quality of products or services; alternatively, it is described as the general view of customers about products or services of a brand. This argument is reinforced by Bhuian (1997) definition of perceived quality as the customer's assessment of a product's additional values. Moreover, positive perceived quality may influence customer purchase decision, facilitate differentiation of brand, enable the execution of brand extension, allow companies to establish premium prices and perceived quality is linked to corporate profitability (Aaker, 1991).
Pricing Policy
Price plays an important role in the configuration of brand equity proposition (Aaker, 1991). Price is generally a significant element affecting customer purchase behavior. Consumers respond to discounter costs because of the values and benefits that discounted prices provide. According to Sato (2015), price is a broad phrase that encompasses a wide range of factors, and each firm is unique. Therefore, each business should choose pricing policies and strategies that work best for them, especially in the competitive market. Businesses can set prices in a variety of way. In small companies, the owner determines the pricing. While in large ones, high level managers or administration can set the price which is generally based on the objective they want to achieve. Therefore, price policy may be seen as a philosophy of each individual business.
2.2. Purchase decision
According to Prasad and Jha (2014), customer buying decision can be defined as the way toward social occasion and data processing, selecting and evaluating the best option in order to deal with a specific issue and make a purchasing decision. Consumer purchase decision - making may be an unpredictable process and buyer can rely on the data on a specific item as well as their own experience to make a buying decision.
Schiffman and Kanuk (2007) found that customer generally search for information relevant about a specified consumption - related demand from their past experiences before seeking information from other sources. In other word, previous purchase experience is considered as an internal source of information on which a customer depends before making a decision. Furthermore, numerous customers' decision tends to be created by combining previous buying experience, marketing programs and non - commercial information sources.
According to Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel (2001), in order to understand customers' purchase decisions, marketing managers should grasp their consumption procedure as well as the benefits of organizational products and services in their views. The authors also stated that when customers plan to buy specific items, they go through a number of stages that impact their purchase decision process and post - purchase behavior.
2.3. Hypothesis
To examine the relationship between brand equity dimensions and purchase decision, the following hypothesis have been developed:
H1: Brand awareness has a positive impact on customer purchase decision for retailers distribution.
H2: Brand association has a positive impact on customer purchase decision for retailers distribution.
H3: Brand loyalty has a positive impact on customer purchase decision for retailers distribution.
H4: Perceived quality has a positive impact on customer purchase decision for retailers distribution.
H5: : Pricing policy has a positive impact on customer purchase decision for retailers distribution.
Based on the research, literature review and hypotheses development, Figure 1 shows a research model.
Figure 1: Research model framewok
3. Methodology
3.1. Scale development
There are five components of brand equity in research model including (1) Brand Awareness, (2) Brand Association, (3) Brand Loyalty, (4) Perceived Quality, (5) Pricing Policy.
Table 1: Research scale
3.2. Sample and data collection
Non-probability convenience sampling was used in this study and data was collected using questionnaires that comprised of survey questionnaire. This study uses a 5 point Likert - scale questionnaire instrument to collect information.
Hair, Anderson, Tatham, and Black (1998) stated that the minimal sample size for exploratory factor analysis is five times the total number of observed variables (n=5*m). In this study, there are 26 observed variables. Therefore, the minimum sample size is N = 5 x 26 = 130.
3.3. Data analysis
The Statistical Package for Social Science 22 (SPSS - 22) were used to analyze the collected data. The following stages are used to analyze the collected data:
Stage 1: Test validity by Cronbach’s Alpha. The scale is evaluated in this study using the following criteria: the observation variables will be eliminated when the correlation of the total variable is less than 0.3 (these variables make little contribution to the description of the concept to be measured). Cronbach's Alpha reliability greater than 0.6 will be used to select the scale in this study.
Stage 2: EFA (Exploratory factor analysis). The conditions for analyzing exploratory factors must satisfy the following requirements: 0.5 ≤ KMO ≤ 1; Bartlett's test has Sig < 0.05; Factor loading ³ 0.5; Percentage of variance > 50%.
Stage 3: Regression analysis. Regression determines the weight of each independent component influencing the dependent factor, resulting in a regression equation. In this study, the dependent variable is purchase decision, while the independent variables are brand awareness. brand association, brand loyalty, perceived quality and pricing policy.
4. Results and Discussion
4.1. Descriptive
Descriptive statistics were used in order to analyse the results of the current research, to find out the percentage and the frequencies of the selected respondents. The structure of the study sample is presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Sample descriptive
4.2. Result of reliability test by Cronbach’s Alpha
The results show that the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of the scales has the following values: Brand Awareness (0.897), Brand Association (0.871), Brand Loyalty (0.886), Perceived Quality (0.944), Pricing Policy (0.889), Purchase Decision (0.885). In conclusion, the result of Cronbach’s Alpha with six factors indicated that the reliability coefficient of all observed variables is greater than 0.6. Moreover, the total variable’s correlation coefficients of observation variables in the scale are greater than 0.3. As a result, all observed variables are accepted and will be used in the next factor analysis.
4.3. Result of Exploratory factor analysis
4.3.1. Factor analysis for independent variable
According to the result of scale reliability assessment above, the researcher performed a factor analysis of 20 observation variables of independent variables influencing customer purchase decision for retailers distribution in HoChiMinh city.
The table 3 shows that the KMO coefficient is 0.913 (0.5 ≤ KMO ≤ 1). In addition, the result of Bartlett's test is 3813.753 with Sig. = 0.000 less than 0.05. As a result, the data used for factor analysis is appropriate.
Table 3: The result of KMO and Bartlett's Test
The table 4 shows that at a value of Eigenvalue ³ 1 with factor extraction method, varimax rotation allows extracting 5 factors from the observation variable. Total value of deviation is 77.864% > 50%: satisfactory.
Table 4: Eigenvalues and covariance deviations
Table 5: Result EFA of independent factors Component Items
According to the EFA result, 20 variables have a loading factor coefficient greater than 0.5, which is satisfactory. As a result, no variables are removed from the scale. In conclusion, there are 20 observed variables are accepted and will be used in the next factor analysis.
4.3.2. Factor analysis for dependent variable
The table 6 shows that the KMO coefficient is 0.831 (0.5 £ KMO £ 1). In addition, the result of Bartlett's test is 669.036 with Sig. = 0.000 less than 0.05. As a result, the data used for factor analysis is appropriate.
Table 6: The result of KMO and Bartlett’s Test
The table 7 shows that the Eigenvalue coefficient of the factor is 3.431 (greater than 1). In addition, total value of deviation is 68.619% > 50%: satisfactory.
Table 7: Eigenvalue and covariance deviations Initial Eigenvalues Component Total % of Variance Cumulative % 1 3.431 68.619 68.619
The table 8 shows that after performing factor rotation by the varimax method, five observed variables have formed a single convergent group with all convergence values greater than the minimum standard of 0.5.
Table 8: The factor rotation matrix of the dependent variable
4.4. Result of test model
The table 9 shows that significance level of the dependent variable (purchase decision) for independent variables is 0.000 (less than 0.05). This indicates that there is a strong correlation between the dependent variable and the independent variable. Because the independent variables have a strong correlation with the dependent variable, the study will put into the model to explain the dependent variable.
Table 9: Pearson correlation analysis
According to the result of the analysis (Table 10), the value of the adjusted R square is 0.593. This proves that five independent variables are put into the model have an impact on the change of independent variables (59.3%), while the remaining 60.1% are due to external variables. Because adjusted R square is more than 50% so this study gives management implications.
Table 10: Model summary
In Anova analysis (Table 11), the significance level is 0.000 (less than 0.05), F=73.724. Thus, the linear regression model was constructed in accordance with the whole.
Table 11: Anova analysis
Table 12: Result of dependent variables’ linear regression Coefficientsa
4.5. Discussions
The result of VIF at table 12 indicates that multicollinearity does not occur because the VIF of each variable is less than 3 (Knock & Lynn, 2012). The regression coefficient significance level of BL is more than 0.05, so this variable is removed. There are BAW, BAS, PQ and PP are less than 0.05, so these independent variables have a meaningful explanation for the dependent variable and BL is excluded from the model.
Firstly, PQ has a positive impact on retailers distribution's customer purchasing decisions and this is the factor that has the strongest influence on customer behavior (b=0.411, Sig=0.000). This result is similar to the study of Nigam and Kaushik (2011), Rungsrisawat and Sirinapatpokin (2019), and Le (2021). It reflects the reality for customers when shopping at the supermarket they are very concerned about the quality of service provided. Especially during the Covid19 outbreak in Vietnam. Secondly, PP also has a positive impact on customer consumption decisions (b=0.211, Sig=0.000). During the Covid period, retailers have implemented price stabilization programs to share difficulties with consumers when the amount of essential goods is not adequately supplied by Vietnam's decision to social distancing. Thirdly, BAW has significant effect on consumer decisions and this is the third most influential factor in this saver (b=0.110, Sig=0.049). Such as: Co.opmart is one of the businesses supplying consumer goods with the slogan “Friend of every home” that has gone deep into the subconscious of customers who are housewives. In addition, since 2005 Co.opmart has been among the top 500 retail companies in Asia. Fourthly, BAS is a factor that has positive impact as consumer behavior (b=0.097, Sig=0.038). However, in this study the BL factor for the distributors brand was statistically significant at 90% (b=0.077, Sig=0.053) in relation to the consumer decisions of the retailers customers. As such, the regression results showed that BAW, BAS, PQ and PP variables meant research and that the H1, H2, H4, H5 hypotheses were accepted at 95% and H3 at 90% significance.
5. Conclusion and Implications
5.1. Conclusion
The objective of this research is to examine the impact of brand equity on customer purchase decision. As a result, the researcher investigated several components such as brand awareness, brand association, brand loyalty, perceived quality and pricing policy that affect customer purchase decision. The result of this study provides important information about the influence of brand equity on customer purchase decision.
The study is conducted 251 surveys from customers who bought products at retail distributors in Ho Chi Minh city, which is based on a Likert scale from 1-5 in order to evaluate the impact of brand equity on customer purchase decision. In addition, this study used statistical methods, scale evaluation through reliability test Cronbach’s Alpha, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), regression analysis and analytical validity test difference of the sample. The results of the regression analysis are shown by the following equation:
PD = 0.110 * BAW + 0.097 * BAS + 0.411 * PQ + 0.211 * PP
According to the theoretical model, there are five elements namely brand awareness, brand association, brand loyalty, perceived quality and pricing policy that influence customer purchase decision for retail distributors. After the completion of a survey and data analysis, the results revealed that majority of the respondents believed that brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality and pricing policy influenced their purchase decision at retailers chain. The results from correlation and regression analysis showed that biggest contributor was from perceived quality (41.1%), meaning majority of the respondents felt that perceived quality has the greatest impact on their purchase decision. The second strongest correlation and contribution was from pricing policy, accounting for 21.1%. Brand awareness was the third contribution, taking up 11% and brand association had the least impact on customer purchase decision, accounting for 9.7%.
The study also helped to expose that a product is purchased on basis of brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality and pricing policy.
5.2. Implications
From the results of the research, it has been observed that perceived quality has the most significant role in purchase decision (β = 0.411). This result showed that the high quality products at distributors already recognized and accepted by major respondents, which means distributor at HoChiMinh city provides high quality products over time. Therefore, retailers distribition should focus on perceived quality in order to improve customer purchase decision.
Pricing policy is the second factor affecting consumer purchase decisions for retailers chain (β=0.211). Customers consider that pricing policies are always in line with their preference. Moreover, good pricing policy could encourage customers to buy more products so retailers should choose pricing policies and strategies that work best for them as well as attract customers, especially in the competitive market.
Brand awareness is the third factor affecting consumer purchase decisions for retail distributors (β=0.110). Most respondents are aware of reatiler’ brand and quite familiar with Big C, Co.opmart, Vinmart, ... Besides, customer can know what the retailer’s brand looks like or recognize retailer’s brand among other competing brands. Therefore, reatailers distribution should build and develop their brand to attract more customers.
Brand association is the least factor affecting consumer purchase decisions for retailers distribution (β=0.097). When customers remember distributors, they can quickly recall its symbol or logo. Moreover, retailer’s brand is different from its competing brands so they should enhance their image in order to attract customers.
5.3. Limitations and future research
As with any study, there are several limitations in this study. The first limitation is the time and location of the survey, which means that many consumers who bought products for retailers distribution in Ho Chi Minh city could not be surveyed. Secondly, this study focused on five components of brand equity, namely brand awareness, brand association, brand loyalty, perceived quality and pricing policy, ignoring important elements of brand equity such as advertising, reputation, commercial image and so on. The third limitation is the sampling method used in this study for the reason that convenience sampling is a non - probability sampling, which is not representative of the entire population in Ho Chi Minh City. Finally, this study only used a sample size of 251 respondents, which is only guaranteed by the theory of sample selection. If the sample size is bigger, the study's value will be higher.
Given the promising results that were achieved as well as the limitations of the study stated above, there are numerous potential avenues for further research that might be explored. Among these future researches should increase the sample size by conducting more surveys of consumers who bought products for distributors and consider other components of brand equity such as advertising, reputation, commercial image and so on that can impact purchase decision of customers for retailers distribution.
References
- Aaker, D. A. (1991). Managing Brand Equity Capitalizing on the Value of Brand Name. New York: The Free Press.
- Ahsan, S. M. H., Azam, M. K. G., Raihan, M. Z., Imam, I. B., & Islam, M. N. (2020). Impact of Brand Equity on Consumers Purchase Decision of Smart Phone - A Study on University Students in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 20(6), 36-41.
- Akkucuk, U., & Esmaeili, J. (2016). The impact of brands on consumer buying behavior: An empirical study on smartphone buyers. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), 5(4), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v5i4.551
- Ambler, T. (2003). Marketing and the Bottom Line: Creating the Measures of Success. London: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.
- Assael, H. (1998). Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action (6th ed.). Ohio: South Western College Publishing.
- Bhuian, S. (1997). Marketing cues and perceived quality: Perceptions of Saudi consumers toward products of the US, Japan, Germany, Italy, U.K. and France. Journal of Quality Management, 2(2), 217-235. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1084-8568(97)90004-3
- Blackwell, R., Miniard, P., & Engel, J. (2001). Consumer behavior (9th ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers.
- Capron, L., & Hulland, J. (1999). Redeployment of Brands, Sales Forces and General Marketing Expertise Following Horizontal Acquisitions: A Resource-Based View. Journal of Marketing, 63(2), 41-54. https://doi.org/10.2307/1251944
- Davis, S. M. (2000). Does brand asset management strategy matter?. Brand Asset Management: Driving Profitable Growth through Your Brands, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 3-18.
- Dodds, W. B., Monroe, K. B., & Grewal, D. (1991). Effects of price, brand, and store information on buyers' product evaluations. Journal of marketing research, 28(3), 307-319. https://doi.org/10.2307/3172866
- Falkenberg, A. (1996). Marketing and the Wealth of Firms. Journal of Macromarketing, 16(1), 4-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/027614679601600102
- Hair, J. F., Black, W., Babin, B., & Anderson, R. (1998). Multivariate Data Analysis. Prentice Hall.
- Hunt, S. D., & Morgan, R. M. (1995). The Comparative Advantage Theory of Competition. Journal of Marketing, 59(2), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.2307/1252069
- Keller, K. (1993). Conceptualizing, Measuring and Managing Customer-Based Brand. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.2307/1252054
- Keller, K. (2003). Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring and Managing Brand Equity (2nd ed.). Pearson.
- Kock, N., & Lynn, G. (2012). Lateral collinearity and misleading results in variance-based SEM: An illustration and recommendations. Journal of the Association for information Systems, 13(7), 546-580. https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00302
- Lehmann, D. R., Keller, K. L., & Farley, J. U. (2008). The structure of survey-based brand metrics. Journal of International Marketing, 16(4), 29-56. https://doi.org/10.1509/jimk.16.4.29
- Le, Q. H (2021). Factors Affecting Consumer Purchasing Behavior: A Green Marketing Perspective in Vietnam, Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 8(5), 0433-0444
- Nigam, A., & Kaushik, R. (2011). Impact of brand equity on customer purchase decisions: An empirical investigation with special reference to hatchback car owners in central Haryana. International Journal of Computational Engineering & Management, 12(April), 121-128.
- Oliver, R. (1997). Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Prasad, R. K., & Jha, M. K. (2014). Consumer Buying Decisions Models: A Descriptive Study. Innovative Space of Scientific Research Journals, 6(3), 335-351.
- Rungsrisawat, S., & Sirinapatpokin, S. (2019). Impact of brand equity on consumer purchase intent. Utopia y Praxis Latinoamericana, 24(6), 360-369.
- Sato, K. (2015). Dynamic pricing with customer purchase postponement. International Journal of Industrial Engineering, 22(1), 159-170.
- Schiffman, L. G., & Kanuk, L. L. (2007). Reference Groups and Family Influences. Consumer Behaviour, 9th ed., Pearson-Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 310-55.
- Yoo, B., Donthu, N., & Lee, S. (2000). An examination of selected marketing mix elements and brand equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(2), 195-211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070300282002
- Zeithaml, V. (1988). Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: A means-end model and synthesis of evidence. Journal of Marketing, 52(3), 2-22. https://doi.org/10.2307/1251446