Abstract:
Tea is the most widely consumed, most popular, and lower-cost beverage in the world next only to water. Sri Lanka is one of the top tea-producing countries in the world. Apart from the export market, the local market is also critical to sustain the tea industry. At present, a number of tea brands are available in the local market creating huge competition among them. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of brand awareness on the consumer purchase intention of local consumers. Referring to the literature, the brand equity model that explains the relationship of brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand association, and perceived quality with the purchase intention was selected as the conceptual framework of this study, and a structured questionnaire was developed accordingly. In this study, the primary data were collected from 200 consumers in the Colombo district of Sri Lanka selected via non-probability convenience sampling. Data were analyzed using descriptive and regression analysis. The regression results showed that brand awareness and perceived quality have a positive significant relationship with purchase intention whereas brand loyalty and brand association do not. According to the results, the study stresses the importance of creating brand awareness, thus the tea traders should use appropriate marketing communication tools to raise brand awareness. Further, the perceived quality of tea was revealed to be significant so that the tea traders take this into account in developing their products.
Keywords: Brand Awareness; Brand Association; Brand Loyalty; Local Tea Market; Purchase Intention; Perceived Quality
