“Factors contributing to

Brand Equity and its

Impact on Purchase
Intention of Sunridge
Foods”

SUBMITTED BY:
Zulfiqar Ali Sajwani (03205)
Muhammad Omar Arif (00945)
Michelle Pinto (12186)
Final Research
Ramsha Arif (03222)
Hassan Abbasi (13429)

Paper
SUBMITTED TO: Dr. Wajid Rizvi

SUBMITTED ON: 28th Dec. 2018

MA Project
 MA Research Paper- Sunridge
Abstract: This study explores the impact of various factors contributing to an increase in the brand equity of
Sunridge Atta. Use of Brand Awareness model leading to Perceived Quality, Brand Association, Brand Loyalty and
ultimately to Brand equity is highlighted. This study further explores the impact of Brand equity leading to
customer’s willingness to pay Premium and increasing Purchase Intention. In addition to the literature review and
focus group, a survey from a sample size of 250 females above 21 years to 50 years of age was collected. The
findings revealed that the brand loyalty is positively influenced by Brand Awareness, Perceived Quality and Brand

quality with every batch processed.

I. INTRODUCTION:
Sunridge Foods (SFL), a company
established in 2015, marked the beginning
of a new journey and introduced a branded
100% whole wheat flour, also known as
“Chakki Atta” to the market, with the sole
aim of providing the softest whole wheat
roti to their consumers. To stay true to their
company vision i.e. “Provide safe, nutritious
and tasty food for everyone”, Sunridge is the
only National Player with presence in 25
cities, being produced on Pakistan’s first and
only State of the Art Milling Technology
introduced in the form of PESA Mill. This
enabled Sunridge to provide the best and
successfully earn the trust of its consumers.
Operating with a capacity of processing
3,600 tons of wheat per month, the PESA
mill can match the output of around 20
conventional Chakki mills, as per OEM
claims.
Sunridge has 3 SKUs:
1. Rs. 265 for 5 kg (Star SKU)
2. Rs 525 for 10 kg
3. Rs 50 for 950 g.
Sunridge Chakki Atta gives a “6 Hour Soft
Roti” promise with consistency in taste and
quality along with a confidence of healthy
and hygienic Atta free from all dust, dirt and
impurities.

It has taken SFL two years to set up its Research Question:

operations after kick starting the business.
The primary cause behind this protracted
setup time was the installation of state-of-
the-art PESA Mill at Port Qasim, Karachi.
SFL’s PESA Mill offers a revolutionary,
fully automated end-to-end milling process,
making it one of SFL’s major Unique Selling
Propositions (USP). Virtually eliminating
manual handling, this mill removes the risk
of contamination and ensures top-notch
Since the launch it has started exporting to
USA, Middle East and Srilanka. However,
for it to be the first choice for “Chakki Atta”
purchased locally, there is a dire need for
some specific marketing efforts to gauge the
purchase intentions of the citizens of
Pakistan.
Since its inception, Sunridge is striving hard
to become an established brand in the
market and become customers’ ‘top of the
mind’ brand. However, despite several

2

promotional efforts including 360-degree
campaign, Sunridge is unable to achieve the
expected sales and its percentage of sales is
on a declining trend on year on year basis.
So, the management problem can be
summarized:
● To raise the brand equity of
Sunridge
● To improve the sales growth of
Sunridge Chakki Atta on year on
year basis
● To make Sunridge the first choice
of customers in the Branded Flour
category.
II. RESEARCH MODEL AND
HYPOTHESIS
DEVELOPMENT:
Sunridge Foods (SFL), began its operations
in 2015 and introduced Branded Flour with
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MA Research Paper- Sunridge
the name ‘Sunridge’ in Pakistan. Despite,
management’s efforts of promoting Sunridge
via various communication channels, it is
unable to reach the expected Sales Target.
Thus, the purpose of our research is to
identify the various factors leading to
decline in percentage sales of Sunridge.
After reviewing several research papers, it is
concluded that brand awareness significantly
impacts the perceived quality, brand
association and brand loyalty. This brand
awareness then leads to increase in brand
equity which further leads to Brand
preference, willingness to pay High prices
and raises the Purchase Intention. The same
has been explained by [CITATION Isa13 \l
1033 ] via below mentioned Research
model, which is used as reference in our
research.
Brand Awareness, Perceived Quality and
Brand Association:
In line with the model, the growth of brand
value is explained as a process of consumer
learning in which consumer awareness of
the brand leads to attitudes which will in

turn affect brand loyalty. In concurrence
with this Fishbein and Ajzen (1975),
Konecnik and Gartner (2007) and Buil,
(2013) use the theory of reasoned action to
describe the link among attitudes, intents
and behaviour. In the world today, a brand
has become one of the basic motives for the
consumers’ choice of a food product. The
consumers link quality to brands.
(Vraneševic´, 2003) says that they will first
consider the brand as a symbol of quality.
Moreover, quality of the product adds to the
overall product experience and hence links
to brand loyalty and subsequent purchase.
Although the method followed in the field of
food sciences, technology inclusive, is based
on the concept of objective quality, Martínez
‐ Carrasco et al.(2012) says the focus on
consumer behaviour is based on the model
of perceived quality. When there is no
difference in the physical characteristics of
products the consumer will evaluate the
brand of the consumer. Therefore, the
consumer’s main interest does not lie in the
objective features of the product. Rather, the
subjectively perceived product attributes
play an important role as portrayed by
Becker (2000) and Vraneševic´(2003) goes
on to say that the perceived brand ,
strengthened through awareness , helps in
determining characteristics of a product
especially product quality. In contrast
Kapferer, (1997) and Mohan Kathuria
(2013) say that for rice , sugar , wheat ,
flour and other commodity food products
brands exist due to risk perceived. If the risk
that the buyer perceives, is eliminated, the
brand has no benefit anymore. It then only
acts as a guide or a means of added value.
Kapferer (1997) states that when the risk
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MA Research Paper- Sunridge
perceived is higher when the unit price is
higher, or the effects of an unfavorable
selection are more pronounced dominated
by the distributor's brands. In this case, the
opportunity cost of the next best choice is
considered in the mind of the consumer.
Also, as an outcome of the affordability and
growing need, a new perception that
packaging is healthy and of high quality
results in a rapid increase in sales of branded
and packed food.
Christodoulides and Chernatony (2010) and
Romaniuk (2017) argue that brand
awareness comes prior to brand associations,
as buyers can be informed without recalling
an important group of brand associations,
but they cannot have one without having
awareness of the brand first. Pike et al.
(2010), Keller and Lehmann (2003), Pike et
al. (2010), Keller (1993) Pitta and Katsanis
(1995) add to this by saying that the
development and robustness of brand
associations, including perceived quality
depends on brand awareness.
However, as Aaker (1996) said it is
important to understand that brand
awareness has multiple levels such as recall,
top-of-mind, brand opinion, recognition
brand knowledge, and brand dominance.
These are different for well-established and
upcoming brands. Brand recognition is
important for new brands, but for older
brands, recall and top-of –the mind is
significantly higher.
Implications and Hypothesis:
The connection between the brand equity
factors studied reveal and we also infer that
brand awareness positively affects perceived
quality and brand associations, which leads

to increased purchase intentions and
subsequently increases sales of the product.
Hence summarizing the views studied it can
be said that brand awareness can affect
perceptions and attitudes and reflects the
prominence of the brand in the customers
mind. Moreover, brand awareness is an
important metric for new brands.
Managers could use customer-based metrics,
coupled with financial metrics to gauge
product performance and for benchmarking
in different categories. This will prevent the
use of one strategy for all products. Most of
the articles under scope of this review agree
that brand awareness positively affects
perceived quality and brand associations and
that both are pivotal in determining overall
brand equity. However, the consumers’
structure of brand associations portrayed in
concept maps have not been included in
traditional network analysis. Moreover, a
limited scope of product categories, brands
and chosen countries have been used for the
studies, as the idea of branding in
commodity food products is considerably
new. Similarly, in some analysis the market
share of the brand, the income category of
the sample and the volatility of the measure
were not considered. It is therefore,
necessary to verify the capacity of a branded
commodity product to generate the desired
effect:
H1: Brand awareness positively affects
perceived quality
H2: Brand awareness positively affects
brand associations
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MA Research Paper- Sunridge
Significance of Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty has been evidenced as am
essential construct in various studies, and
the significance has been emphasized by
[ CITATION Ngu11 \l 1033 ]. It was
highlighted that there is a substantial cost
involved in getting new customers onboard
and therefore it is vital for marketers to keep
the existing customers hooked. Researchers
have measured brand loyalty through
diverse indices including but not limited to
the times the product is bought & share of
products in a closet within a certain category
[ CITATION LuJ15 \l 1033 ] & along with
the requirements in the share of category
[ CITATION Rom13 \l 1033 ]. [ CITATION
Esm15 \l 1033 ] believes that high brand
loyalty is a testament of the brand attitude
being effectively managed. This makes
brand loyalty a construct of high interest and
involvement for marketers.
Impact of Perceived Quality on Brand
Loyalty
This study is aimed to reflect on the impact
of perceived quality on brand loyalty, which
has been hypothesized to be positive. The
review of various researches informs us that
there exists a strong correlation between
perceived quality and brand loyalty. There
was an investigation conducted by
[ CITATION Ngu11 \l 1033 ] to see the
impact of perceived quality on brand loyalty
for international shampoo brands, where it
was identified that there is a positive
relationship between perceived quality and
brand loyalty in Thai and Vietnamese
markets. This relationship was supported by
another research by [ CITATION Erd12 \l
1033 ], where a research on 564 Gen Y
individuals regarding ready to wear clothes

was conducted, which concluded that
perceived quality affects brand loyalty in a
positive way. However, this research
highlighted that there is another mediating
construct involved in this process, which is
brand attitude, which has also been
highlighted by [ CITATION Esm15 \l
1033 ]. Whereas the introduction of brand
attitude as a construct comes as a useful idea
for developing research methodology,
sufficient evidence has been found to test
the relationship between perceived quality
and brand loyalty.
Impact of Brand Association on Brand
Loyalty
The role of brand association in establishing
brand loyalty has been approached by
[ CITATION HaH10 \l 1033 ] as pivotal.
However, [ CITATION Erd12 \l 1033 ]
believes that there are intermediary
constructs involved in the relationship of
brand association and brand loyalty. It was
emphasized in this research that the
relationship has a hierarchy where brand
associations result in brand attitudes which
get translated into brand resonance and
subsequently brand loyalty. Therefore, it was
concluded that brand loyalty stands at the
top of this flow where the brand achieves a
supreme relationship with the customer after
all the other states have passed.
[ CITATION Rom13 \l 1033 ] on a vice
versa relationship in contrast to the impact
of brand associations on brand loyalty, and
believed it is brand loyalty that translated
into brand associations and not vice versa. It
was substantiated in this research that there
is not much evidence available to prove the
impact of brand associations on future
buying behaviour and therefore this
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MA Research Paper- Sunridge
relationship stands under a debatable
contest. Overall, much evidence exists that
motivates our hypothesis of impact of brand
association on brand loyalty to be
investigated.
Implications
Brand loyalty has been targeted as an
achievement by marketers for it helps them
achieve sustained profitability for the
company. Investigating the role of perceived
quality is imperative for it is the idea of how
the brand is being imagined in the
consumer’s mind that ultimately kick starts
the process of consumer purchase. If the
perceived quality has been positively
approached for the brand, it can resonate
into brand loyalty. Similarly, brand
associations are key to understand for a
marketer, for it helps him/her understand the
relationship elements that can lead to a
consumer’s attachment or detachment of the
brand. This ultimately helps the marketer to
identify the key ingredients required to make
his/her marketing campaigns translate into
tangible conversions i.e. purchase intentions.
Therefore, understanding the highlighted
relationships is imperative for marketers, for
they will develop insightful findings for
further investigations proposed in the model.
H3: Perceived quality has a positive impact
on brand loyalty
H4: Brand associations have a positive
impact on brand loyalty
Significance of Brand Equity:
Brand equity has been defined as
arrangement of assets and liabilities
associated to brand symbol or name, which

increases or decreases from the worth of
service or product provided by the company
(Yousefi Darestani and Najafi, 2014). Brand
equity can further be referred as
representation of brand’s existing market
position and anticipated unrealized
prospective of its products or service (Nath
Sanyal and Datt, 2011). Emphasizing its
importance (French & Smith, 2013) brand
equity helps customers to resist competitor
strategies as a function of value obtained by
the firm from the brand as well as helps
customers in understanding the information
associated with the product through the
brand leading to repurchases. This provides
opportunity for brand managers to take
prudent management decisions, for
assessing sustainable marketing decisions
(Tong & Hawley, 2009).
In this manner brand equity assists in
obtaining customers willingness to opt for a
brand, though their loyalty and willingness
(Sasmita and Mohd Suki, 2015). In simpler
understanding brand equity is the
approximated price of the product or service
which consumer is willing to pay for a
brand, with comfort and trust. Importance of
brand equity is of utmost significance for
brand managers and therefore, make all
possible efforts to establish the management
decided brand equity for the products they
offer.
Relationship between Perceived Quality
and Brand Equity:
Realizing that there is no specific
measurement scale developed from the
perspective of customers as stake holder of
brand equity (Yousefi Darestani and Najafi,
2014), developed methodologies from
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MA Research Paper- Sunridge
existing available models to draw out one.
Quality, reputation and benefit were the
three outlines of customer’s expectation in
their model. Following suit (Nath Sanyal
and Datt, 2011) looked for direct
relationship between quality of the product
and brand equity. Before going on for
research, Like Yousefi and Najafi, they also
pointed out the scarcity of intellectual work
done on this subject, to their category of
product (medicine drugs in India). When
referred to perceived quality, as an important
marketing function of brand equity, they
worked upon evaluating outward and
underlying benefits associated with the
product and determining which has more
weightage. (He and Li, 2010) also
researched on determining implication on
brand equity through distinctive attitudes of
perceived quality.
Relationship between Brand Association
and Brand Equity:
Researchers (Tong & Hawley, 2009),
(Sasmita and Mohd Suki, 2015) and (French
& Smith, 2013), realized the significance of
the two important marketing constructs, i.e.
Brand Association and Brand Equity.
(French & Smith, 2013) Agreeing with
majority researchers agreed that brand
association is completely intangible and is in
the minds of the consumers. They used the
brand mapping technique to measure brand
association. Utilizing Aker’s model of brand
equity Structural equation model technique
was used by (Tong & Hawley, 2009), to
determine significance of Brand Association
of sportswear industry in China. Which
became the first of its kind research.
Through quantitative data analysis (Sasmita

and Mohd Suki, 2015) also studies effects of
brand association on brand equity. Agreeing
with previous researchers they began
research with a mindset that affiliation
between brand equity and association is
clear and powerful.
H5: Perceived Quality has a positive effect
on Brand equity.
H6: Brand Association has a positive effect
on Brand equity.
Impact of Brand Loyalty on Brand
Equity
Upon review, many past researches have
defined brand equity in their own
terminology. Brand equity can be viewed as
multi-dimensional construct which has a
positive impact on which increase the capital
value of a brand and in turn can lead to
positive correlation with Brand Loyal and
allow companies to charge a price premium
[ CITATION Paula2016 \l 1033 ]. Another
explanation of brand equity is that it can be
analysed in two parts, first on a firm-based
brand equity and on a consumer-based brand
equity [CITATION Ped15 \l 1033 ]
Brand equity is the determination of the
worth of the brand [ CITATION Neb15 \l
1033 ].
Price premium has somewhat similar and
generally accepted definition which is that
the price premium is linked to value of the
brand [ CITATION Neb15 \l 1033 ] and
consumer will be willing to pay unreal
prices because of its value[CITATION Joh14
\l 1033 ].
Brand Loyalty has been described in
multiple ways, one such perspective is that
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MA Research Paper- Sunridge
brand loyalty is viewed on a perceptual
level, which is being defined as a cognitive
evaluation during the purchase process
[ CITATION Paula2016 \l 1033 ]. Another
view is that brand loyalty has a positive
correlation with perceived quality and thus it
the consumer perception which is being
defined as the factor for loyalty [ CITATION
Ped15 \l 1033 ]. Another perspective is that
brand loyalty is the sustainability of the
company volumes and revenues in the
longer run[ CITATION Joh14 \l 1033 ].
Relationship between Brand Loyalty and
Brand Equity:
In our search for linkages which are present
in our model we analyse how scholars have
previously linked them in their own
researches. Brand equity and awareness has
been surprisingly been seen as forming a
negative correlation [ CITATION Paula2016
\l 1033 ] and it has been suggested that
brand loyalty is the driving factor towards
forming higher brand equity [ CITATION
Ped15 \l 1033 ] .
Relationship between Brand Equity and
Price Premium:
Premium pricing has is being positively
correlated towards differentiation
particularly technological and market-based
innovation [ CITATION Neb15 \l 1033 ]. A
different view is seen price premium can be
seen as result of perceived quality of a brand
and that the most effective tools for those
are social image , uniqueness , home country
origin and the most important driving factors
are corporate social responsibility and brand
awareness[ CITATION Joh14 \l 1033 ].
One key finding was the that brand loyalty
and perceived quality have a very strong

linkage and suggest that is a by-product of
brand awareness and perceived quality
which directly leads to higher brand equity
and in turn higher brand loyalty
[ CITATION Ped15 \l 1033 ].
For the purpose this study and based on
above findings we will be testing the
following hypothesis:
H7: Brand equity has a positive correlation
on increasing Brand Loyalty
H8: Brand equity has a positive impact on
the ability to charge premium pricing
Purchase Intention:
[CITATION Moh131 \l 1033 ] highlights the
significant difference of concepts between
purchase intention which is thinking to
purchase anything and actual behaviour, in
which actual purchase is been made.
Purchase intention is the positive attitude of
customer towards a brand [ CITATION
Flo12 \l 1033 ] and [ CITATION Sha14 \l
1033 ] referred intention to purchase in
future as repeating the purchase behaviour.
For [ CITATION Ram18 \l 1033 ],
customers’ belief to purchase again is a
positive sign for an organization. We define
‘Purchase Intention’ as customers’
inclination towards purchasing a Brand.
Relationship between Brand Equity and
Purchase Intention:
Even though [CITATION Moh131 \l 1033 ]
attributed various demographic factors such
as upgraded life styles, increase income, etc.
to improving responses of customers
towards Brand, [CITATION Isa13 \l 1033 ]
believes that it is the strong Brand Equity
that positively motivates customer
willingness to buy and pay premium as well.
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MA Research Paper- Sunridge
So, the stronger the brand equity, the more
predictable becomes the customers’
behaviour and translates into actual action.
This behaviour further translates into
improvised Financial results for the
organization [ CITATION Flo12 \l 1033 ].
For [ CITATION Sha14 \l 1033 ], customers
need to have some additional value while
doing cost benefit analysis of the brand and
making buying decision and this additional
value is conveyed to customers via strong
Brand Image and Brand Equity.
H9: Increase in Brand equity leads to
improvised Purchase Decision.
III. RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY:
3.1 Instrument Development:
In this study, we have used the
triangulation technique in which we
have employed both Exploratory
research (Qualitative Research) and
Conclusive Research (Quantitative
Research). As part of exploratory
research, we initially conducted
Secondary research which included
analysing various literature (Research
papers, etc.) from renowned Journals.
For primary research, we have
conducted two focus groups; one focus
group was conducted by users of flour
who purchased their flour from their
neighbourhood Chakki and the other
group was conducted on the users of
branded flour who did their purchasing
from retail stores. Table 1 presents
research variables with number of items
and their sources.
 MA Research Paper- Sunridge

Table 1: Operationalization of IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND

research variables RESULT:
The data for surveys was gathered through
online surveys in which a total of 256
respondents filled the surveys.
Quantitative analysis was conducted to
analyse the data collected. The tests
conducted on this were test of
dimensionality or in other words factor
analysis, reliability tests, independent t test,
S.No Research Item correlation analysis, relationship analysis
Sources
. Variables s and chi square test. The details of which are
Brand the following:
1. 4 Yoo et al
Awareness
Perceived Table 2: Descriptive statistics and
2. 4 Pappu et al
Quality Factor Analysis
Washburn,
Brand Judith H.,
3. 2
Association Plank,
Richard E.
Brand
4. 3 Yoo et al
Loyalty
Brand
5. 3 Yoo et al
Equity
Price Netemeyer et
6. 3
Premium al
Purchase Voon, Ngui &
7. 5
Intention Agarwal

Table 2 indicates that all the factors passed

3.2 Sample and Data Collection:
Based on the findings of the focus group we
moved on to Conclusive research, in which
Descriptive Research I.e. Survey was
conducted. We formulated a Questionnaire
and conducted the Survey via Personal and
Online forums. Thus, our research design
consists of both exploratory (Focus Groups)
and Descriptive (Surveys).
10
the test of validity. For this purpose, we used
KMO and Bartlett’s test.
As shown in the table above all the factors
had a KMO of above 0.5 and Bartlett’s test
of significance showed that all factor values
were significant and less than 0.05
Table 3: Validity and Reliability
Testing
Table 3 highlights reliability of the factors
and as shown in the table, Cronbach’s
Alpha > 0.7 for all the factors, which means

that all factors are reliable and can be used
for further tests.
The Hypotheses from H1 to H9 were tested
using below mentioned analyses:
Correlation Analysis
Table 4
In table 4, the relationship between Brand
Awareness and Purchase Intention was
investigated using Pearson product-moment
correlation coefficient. There was a
statistically significant and strong, positive
correlation between the two variables
[r=0.555, n=256, p<0.05], with high levels
of Purchase Intention associated with high
level of Brand Awareness.
Table 5:
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MA Research Paper- Sunridge
In table 5, the relationship between Brand
Awareness and Purchase Intention was
investigated using Pearson product-moment
correlation coefficient. There was a
statistically significant and strong, positive
correlation between the two variables
[r=0.555, n=256, p<0.05], with high levels
of Purchase Intention associated with high
level of Brand Awareness.
In table 6, the relationship between Brand
Loyalty and Perceived Quality was
investigated using Pearson product-moment
correlation coefficient. There was a
statistically significant and strong, positive
correlation between the two variables
[r=0.652, n=256, p<0.05], with high levels
of Perceived Quality associated with high
level of Brand Loyalty.
Table 7:
In table 7, the relationship between Price
Premium and Purchase Intention was
investigated using Pearson product-moment
correlation coefficient. There was a
statistically significant and strong, positive
correlation between the two variables
[r=0.803, n=256, p<0.05], with high levels
of customer’s willingness to pay associated
with high level of Purchase Intention.
Regression Analysis
 MA Research Paper- Sunridge

Table 8: predictors account for 49.7% of the variance

in Brand Loyalty, F = 84.949, p<.05,
R2=.503. Both predictors were showing
statistically significant predictive beta
coefficients Brand Awareness β1 = 0.72
p<.05, Brand Association β2 = 0.435 p<.05,
Perceived Quality β2 = 0.287 p<.05 with b0
= 0.548 p < .05.
Chi Square Test:
Table 10:

Multiple linear regression analysis was used

to develop a model for predicting influences
of Brand Equity, Brand Loyalty and
Purchase Premium on Purchase Intention.
The two predictors account for 84% of the
variance on Purchase Intention, F = 446.503,
p<.05, R2=.842. Both predictors were
showing statistically significant predictive
beta coefficients Brand Equity β1 = 0.363
p<.05, Purchase Premium β2 = 0.454 p<.05,
Brand Loyalty β2 =0.237 with b0 = -0.300 p
< .05.
Table 9:

In table 10, the Pearson Chi-Square row,

we can see that χ (1) = 0.9975, p < 0.05.
This tells us that there is statistically
significant association between family size
and monthly expenditure on Atta. Cramer’s
V depicts a moderate strength of association
between the variables

Multiple linear regression analysis was used

to develop a model for predicting influences
Brand Awareness, Brand Association and
perceived quality on Brand Loyalty. The two

12

One Way ANOVA:
Table 11:
In table 11, a one-way between-groups
analysis of variance was conducted to
explore the impact of monthly incomes on
purchase intentions. Subjects were divided
into six groups according to their income.
There was no statistically significant for the
six income groups [F (5, 250) =1.268,
p=.278]. The effect size was small,
calculated using eta squared, was 0.02.
Post-hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD
test indicated that purchase intentions were
highest for those with an income bracket of
Rs.90, 000-99,999, and lowest for those with
an income bracket of Rs.70, 000 - 79,999.
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MA Research Paper- Sunridge
V. DISCUSSIONS:
To analyse our hypothesis, we conducted
both quantitative and qualitative studies.
Both methods enabled us to gain useful
pieces of information pertaining to our
research
Qualitative Study:
Two focus groups were conducted. The
focus groups, gauged firstly general aspects
such as daily usage of flour and flour
purchasing habits and secondly other useful
insights into the participant’s knowledge of
flour, their perceptions of ideal flour,
branded flour and quality of flour, their
emotional association to flour and to Chakki
and retail brands. Lastly their openness to
pricing was also gauged.
Moreover, a questionnaire was circulated to
an audience with certain screening
characteristics to get insights related to our
constructs namely brand awareness, brand
association, perceived quality, brand loyalty,
brand equity, price premium and purchase
intentions. The questionnaire about
contained some questions pertaining to
certain general aspects such as age, income,
and purchase habits as well. Responses were
collected and analysed
Quantitative Study:
The responses, approximately 256 in
number, were given on a Likert scale and
then analysed on statistical software. The
sample adequacy was checked via factor
analysis and the reliability of the scale was
checked via Cronbach Alpha. Consequently,
reverse coding was done where needed
Moreover, connections were made between

the constructs and correlation, regression,
Chi Square tests and One-Way ANOVA
were conducted to determine the link
between general aspects and the specific
constructs on purchase intentions of the
product in context.
VI. CONCLUSION AND
MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
Understanding the factors contributing to
purchase intention for any product is key to
ensure sustainability of sales growth in the
long term. For a brand like Sun ridge which
aims to become a household brand for Atta,
this research serves as a key indicator on
where the brand stands on the various
marketing constructs and the action plan that
needs to be devised to stimulate the sales
growth, which seems stagnated for now.
Whereas the purchase behaviour of Atta
seems to be a simple decision, there are
multiple complex factors that come into play
which further trickle down to the decision
making of the product in general and brand.
As per the results achieved from the
proposed model in the context of Sunridge’s
purchase behaviour suggest that brand
awareness, brand loyalty, and customer’s
willingness to pay have positive influence
on purchase intentions. This study also
probes further through quantitative analysis
to identify the relationship between
perceived quality and brand loyalty, where
there was a strong influence of perceived
quality on brand loyalty. Results based on
multiple regression analysis reflected that
predicting influences of Brand Equity, Brand
Loyalty and Purchase Premium on Purchase
Intention was evident, along with predicting
influences Brand Awareness, Brand
14
MA Research Paper- Sunridge
Association and perceived quality on Brand
Loyalty.
In terms of identifying the associations
between family size, monthly expenditure
and frequency of Atta purchase, it was found
out that there is a statistically significant
association between family size and monthly
purchase of Atta, also between family size
and monthly frequency of purchase of Atta.
However, the strength of associations was
moderate and weak respectively. The
research also identified that the income
segment of Rs.100, 000 and above reflected
high preference for branded Chakki atta.
Lastly, it was identified that that purchase
intentions were highest for those with an
income bracket of Rs.90, 000-99,999, and
lowest for those with an income bracket of
Rs.70, 000 - 79,999.
Research Limitations:
Both qualitative and quantitative data
collection processes were subject to certain
limitations. In the quantitative study
convenience sampling was used. The use of
this sampling technique limits the
generalizability of the study. Likewise, data
was collected only from Karachi in the
qualitative study). This also limits the
factors contributing to brand awareness.
Furthermore, the research assumed of
Sunridge having substantial brand equity
despite being in the market for only 3 years.
The research can be further refined by far
reaching data collection across Pakistan and
conducting further exploratory research on
factors contributing to brand awareness.
 MA Research Paper- Sunridge

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 MA Research Paper- Sunridge

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