Impact of brand equity and loyalty on consumer behavior for clothing industry in Sri Lanka

The brand equity concept is used by many companies worldwide. Having brand equity within the organization will help to produce better competition in the market and also the sensitivity of the consumer will change, so through brand equity functions the company is hoping to gain brand loyalty. This study attempts to link a positive relationship between Brand Equity and purchase intention. In south Asian developing countries Sri Lanka has been the first to have an open economy policy. A study shows that developed countries customers prefer domestic products whereas developing countries prefer foreign products rather than the domestic products.(Bilkey and Nes,1982). With this situation Sri Lankan has had a very high competition for good international products. Therefore a product with high brand equity can have a big market share and high level of brand loyalty for its brand. A brand has been defined in many different terms. “a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them” that can be useful to identify the goods from supplier in view of differentiating those suppliers from their competitors (Kotler and Keller, 2006). Further explanations, a powerful brand influence attitudes of customers and makes a strong product association through the brand (Ukperbor and Ipogah, 2008).