Branding as an Entry Strategy to Overcome the Failures of New Products Introduced Under Protective Trade Environment in Sri Lanka

Marketers know that branding is vital in capturing and sustaining the market for a firm. However, what value that customers ascribe mainly to the brand name compared to other factors is not well investigated in Sri Lanka. To respond to the unhealthy economic outcomes arising due to Covid-19, Sri Lanka is implementing a policy framework in order to uplift the local production that the country needs for itself. The loan scheme such as ‘Made in Sri Lanka’ loans for local industries has beenintroduced to encourage producers to invest in import substitution industries to win this battle. However, failure of new products is prevalent in every part of the world. The purpose of this research was to investigate that how the new product developers can apply the merits of the branding to overcome the problem of new product failure.  Therefore, it was needed to study in deep that how consumers think about branding and how they respond to new brands and brand extensions. Hence , this study was designed to understand consumer decision making regarding brand name and other determinants. This study was conducted in two phases. The nature of the study was exploratory at the outset and then, it was converted to a descriptive study. A questionnaire was constructed and data collection was done in Colombo metropolitan area using sixty respondents. Findings show that brand name is dominant in some product categories but in some other product categories another factor seems to be playing a significant role. However, it is understood that the most of the other factors could be associated with the brand itself when the brand is built strategically. Therefore, marketing planners must first, study the product specific characteristics in line with the Sri Lankan culture, life styles, preferences of consumers and consumer attitude towards brand names, and accordingly they must design the new products before they are launched.