Consumers Brand Preference of Soft Drinks:

A Comparative Analysis of Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola Products Among Dire Dawa University Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyzing consumer preferences for soft drink brands, specifically Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola, in Dire Dawa, taking Dire Dawa University students as a population. This study used both primary and secondary data sources of data and employed descriptive and Inferential statistics to analysis it. The findings shows that brand comprehension had the lowest mean for both coca cola and Pepsi. However, coca is better than Pepsi with low mean differences. This suggests that both Pepsi and Coca Cola have struggled to establish a clear positioning, resulting in customers having difficulty forming a coherent perception of the brand in comparison to its competitors. Additionally, there is a strong and meaningful impact observed between brand awareness, brand comprehension, brand advertisement, brand experience, and consumer brand preference and it appears that Coca-Cola and Pepsi employ distinct advertising and sponsorship strategies to appeal to different consumer groups. Consequently, individuals' age, income, gender, and taste preferences seem to influence their choice of soft drink product. The study indicated that Brand Awareness, Brand Comprehension, Brand Advertising Brand Experience were strong, positive and significant predictor for Students’ preference. It is recommended in the future researchers could specifically study the impact of social media content and awareness on youth purchasing behavior of the industry between Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola.