Influence of Brand Equity on Consumer Purchase Choices Among Pay Tv Subscribers in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The competitive potential of any company is significantly influenced by the brands held in the company‟s portfolio. To firms, strong brands create competitive advantage, customer loyalty and attract premium prices for its products thus increasing profit margins. Consumers benefit from the added value that strong brands provide, leading to satisfaction, loyalty and re-purchases. This study was conducted to determine the influence of brand equity on consumer purchase choices among pay TV subscribers in Nairobi. The study adopted the Aaker (1996) brand equity model to determine the influence of brand awareness, association, perceived quality and loyalty on purchase choices among pay TV subscribers in Nairobi. The population of interest was pay TV subscribers drawn from two main strata in Nairobi CBD. The study employed cross-sectional design. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires administered to 100 pay TV subscribers of DSTV, Go TV, Startimes, Zuku and Azam. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of frequencies and percentages. Pearson correlation was used to test association among variables and regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between dependent variable and independent variables. The study revealed that brand equity influenced consumer purchase choices among pay TV subscribers. The findings also revealed that among the brand equity properties, perceived quality had the highest influence on purchase choices, in addition, there was a significant relationship between brand equity properties and purchase choices among pay TV subscribers, F=13.360 p=0.000<0.05. The researcher recommended that in order to strengthen brand equity, pay TV service providers need to improve on all dimensions of brand equity. Pay TV service providers also need to pay more attention to subscribers‟ concerns regarding TV content, customer service efficiency as well as consistency in service provision. On the basis of the study, further studies can be carried out on individual pay TV service providers, since different providers have positioned and packaged their services differently hence factors influencing purchase may be varied.