A study on green cosmetic brand equity and purchase intentions

Abstract

The concept of sustainable development has recently become a significant issue among industrial, academic, and government sectors. As consumers have more green awareness of products, the markets of natural and organic products set to be flourish, the organic certification approach is then expected to be a crucial role between consumers and green brands. For the green cosmetic brands, it might bring more benefits to the brand than just being a proof of organic ingredients. The study conducted a quantitative questionnaire survey which was developed for this study and based on the four components of brand equity: brand associations, brand loyalty, perceived quality and brand awareness. Taking COSMOS-standard as an example, the study explores the influence it might have on green cosmetic brand equity and purchase intentions. Using snowball sampling for data collection, the total number of respondents was 867 and the number of valid questionnaires was 623. The statistical software SPSS 22.0 was used for the analysis. The results indicate that COSMOS-Standard organic certification has positive impacts on brand equity and purchase intention; significant differences on brand association and brand loyalty are caused by different disposable income; the effects on improving purchase intention works better on toiletries than facial care products. The cosmetic brands can see the results as suggestions on brand management and marketing strategies.