ABSTRACT
his paper focuses on top brand preferences survey amongst undergraduates in Benson Idahosa University (BIU) Benin City, Nigeria. The objectives of this paper were: to determine the brands perceived as superior by BIU students, to find out the reasons / factors or attributes that makes them prefer these brands; to ascertain the benefits they derive from these brands and to suggest useful strategies arising
from this study to brand managers. Survey research design was employed for this study. The population of the study was undergraduate students in Benson Idahosa University – Benin City, Nigeria with a total student population of about three thousand five hundred students (3,500) and 565 final year students as at the time of the study. A sample size of two hundred and thirty five final year students was employed for
the study. A self-developed questionnaire aimed at capturing the issues of the research interest was employed. It was found out that students in the BIU community perceive Fidelity bank as top choice bank, same for ATM services category, then Samsung phone products, HP laptops, Jumia online shop, Whatsapp social network, Uche supermarket, Osas Business Centre, Victor’s hair salon, Desti Meals, Bravo noodles,
Simon Peter water, Coca Cola, Five alive juice and Toyota brand for the various sampled brands in the BIU community. It was also found that the students prefer these brands because of good quality, reliability, availability, accessibility, confidence in the brand name, comfortable physical environment of service delivery, loyalty to the brands and physical appearance / attraction to the of brands. Based on the findings,
this paper recommends therefore that brand managers should ensure high quality in goods and services; managers should ensure that the value of a product is worth its price, ensure products are accessible, easy to use, consistency in quality, especially for services, should be sensitive and responsive to the complaints of consumers, and ensure quick corrective measures to remedy defects. There should be a proper feedback
mechanism to ensure openness in communicating with customers. Also brand managers and service providers should adopt a guarantee policy on their brands to foster trust in the minds of consumers, thereby promoting loyalty to the brands, continue to promote good customer relationship and ensure that the environments in which services are provided are conducive.
KEYWORDBrand, Brand Equity, Brand Preferences.