BRAND LOYALTY DETERMINANTS OF IMPORTED COSMETIC BRAND AMONG FEMALES IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Cosmetics product’s market has become intensive popular among consumers all around the world as well as Malaysia. This growing demand offers a good opportunity for cosmetic companies to promote their brands and increase their sales. Eventhough the usage of cosmetic product is increasing among both genders, but the dominant user is still female. Many researchers in Malaysia have been focused on the brand loyalty towards cosmetic brands in general but little to none focus specifically on imported cosmetic brands. After the foreign cosmetic firms enter the Malaysian market, they may face difficulties to adapt to the unfamiliar environment. Hence, the foreign cosmetics firms could face the problems to hold the loyalty of consumers that have differences in culture. The primary objective of this paper is to identify the determinants such as (brand image, price, promotion, trust and perceived quality) that affect the brand loyalty towards imported cosmetic brands among females in Malaysia. Convenience sampling was used and total 220 female respondents were interviewed who had used imported cosmetic products. Descriptive analysis and reliability measurement using Cronbach’s alpha. The associations between independent variables and dependent variable are analyzed using Chi-square test and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The results identify that brand image, promotion, trust and perceived quality are significant to brand loyalty unfortunately price is not. Based on the result, it is suggested that the companies should concern on trust determinant to increase their brand value, increasing and maintaining the quality of the products, formulating strategy to increase or maintain positive reputation in consumers’ mind. In addition, enhancing more promotion such as advertising and sales promotion yet still assure the quality of promotion to keep the perception of consumers’ towards the brand in good condition. Lastly, the price should align with the cost and quality.