MEASURING BRAND EQUITY OF COSMECEUTICALS – A CASE USING CONSUMER BASED BRAND EQUITY MODEL

Abstract

Objective: This study intends to operationalize brand equity and form a standard measure of it that could be used across cosmeceutical products to measure brand equity. It attempts to provide an indication of a set of items that can contribute to brand equity.Methods: A survey instrument containing the said brand equity concept was administered to a sample pool of 200 select beauticians and consumers of a leading Indian Cosmeceutical brand identified using stratified random sampling method, from among the universe of the users of the product in Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu.Results: The results obtained confirm that the dimensions, viz., brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand association, and brand image were found to significantly contribute to brand equity in cosmeceutical products. The regression confirms that perceived quality and brand associations are not causal drivers but are only indirect drivers of brand equity. Further, the dimension perceived quality was very strongly related with both brand loyalty and brand image, and brand loyalty was very strongly related with brand association among the beauticians segment of the sample. In the case of the brand equity dimensions among consumers, the brand association was very strongly related with brand awareness, perceived quality, and perceived quality was very strongly associated with the brand image.Conclusion: The outcomes of the study confirm that cognitive components of perceived quality and brand association were less contributing to brand equity and the affective component of brand loyalty had stronger underpinning on brand equity construction and hence play an important role in brand management. The brand equity structure gives a very good clarification of brand equity drivers and also their relationships, to formulate a cause and effect model. The model can form a basis for more action-based tactical and operational marketing strategies.