BRAND ASSETS AND CHOICE CRITERIA OF FAST-MOVING CONSUMER GOODS AMONG UNERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

Branding is increasingly becoming important in organizations as a competitive strategy. Brand assets are perceived to influence the consumer choice of various brands, but the extent to which the various assets do this is not clear. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of brand assets on the choice criteria of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) among Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) students of the University of Nairobi. The study adopted the descriptive cross-sectional research design, with the population being BCom degree students of the University of Nairobi. The study targeted 90 conveniently selected students, 30 in the regular programme, 30 in module 11 (day class) and 30 in module 11 (evening class) . Of the 90 students targeted, a total of 55 responded, mainly from module 1 and module 11(day) class, which was a response rate of 61 percent. Validity and reliability was done by first issuing the questionnaires to 4 students and checking their responses. The questions were also thoroughly checked to ensure that they were correct, before doing the final study. Descriptive analysis as well as factor analysis, and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The study found that brand assets, namely, brand awareness, brand association, brand loyalty and perceived quality have a positive influence on the selection criteria that a customer makes. Brand awareness, brand association, and perceived quality have a positive influence on the selection criteria, while brand loyalty has a negative influence. The results of this study demonstrate that in making decisions, marketers need to always be guided by the various brand assets. It is therefore recommended that manufacturers and marketers consider these assets in marketing their products. Since this study was based on BCom students in one campus of the University of Nairobi, the findings may not be generalizable to all the students. A wider study focusing on several universities may therefore shed more light on the choice behavior of the student