Consumer-Based Model for Business Sustainability of Malaysian Fashion Brands

Abstract

Malaysian Fashion Brands have faced fierce competitions in fast fashion industry coming
from short production-cycle and international fashion brands which have mushroomed every
major shopping malls across Malaysia. Therefore, MFBs cannot position themselves as a leader
in mass-production category. This study explores on Consumer-based Model adapted from
Keller’s Consumer-based brand equity Model (1993) to build Strong Brand Equity through
brand knowledge which cognitively built in marketing-mix over time with Independent Variables
of Brand Awareness, Brand Image and Purchase Intention to predict Dependent Variable of
Strong Brand Equity. Brand Loyalty are tested as a mediator and Community Engagement as
moderator in the relationships of IVs and DV. Quantitative research method is employed in a
non-probability convenient sampling technique. As many as 2850 questionnaires were
distributed with the success rate of 29.7%. After data screening, only 798 datasets were utilized
for statistical analysis using SPSS version 25 and SmartPLS version 3.2.8 on 6 constructs and 17
latent variables. The findings show that Brand Loyalty has full mediator effects meanwhile,
Community Engagement weakens the relationships between IVs and DV. Overall, MFBs are
perceived low in brand equity. Therefore, further efforts are needed to build Strong Brand Equity
for MFBs’ sustainable advantage