METHODOLOGY Study design The study undertaken by the researchers is an exploratory study.

The study sought new insights, asked questions or assessed how branding influences consumers purchasing decision. Study type A combination of both qualitative and quantitative data collection was used by the researchers for the research. The quantitative data gave the researcher a numerical data of a particular number of respondents that behaved in a certain way. The qualitative data on the other hand provided a wider understanding of behavioral variables. Sampling, Sampling technique/method and sampling size The researcher used the convenience sampling in the selection of the research or sample units. A total sample size of fifty(50) was chosen for the purpose of this study .The researcher intended using a larger sample size but due to financial and other constraints a size of fifty(50) was used. The researcher employed the convenience sampling technique because he conveniently selected consumers or customers who purchases or have ever purchased Unilever product. The researcher used questionnaires and interviews as the main methods of data collection. Questionnaires were administered which was for the sampled populace. It was used to obtain information from consumers of Unilever Company. Interviews were also conducted with the management and other staffs of Unilever Company Limited. The researcher used structured type of interview where pre-designed questions were used to obtain the information. The purpose was to seek information and easy assessment of the information. The interview used was personal interview. This helped the researcher to obtain the information needed within a shorter period.

Define population The target population for this research work is made up of consumers in Sunyani and the sample is fifty (50) consumers or customers who purchases or have ever purchased Unilever product. The people who answered the questionnaire included students, women, men, etc. The researcher focused on this population because he was studying the role of packaging on the buying behaviour of the general public i.e. consumer and people who have ever purchase a packaged Unilever product were the best respondents as they can provide relevant information. Data collection methods The methods that were used for collecting the data are questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaires designed contain open-ended and close-ended type of questions. The open-ended questions were to allow the respondents the chance to express themselves freely on certain issues while the close-ended questions were aimed at limiting the respondents to provide answers from the options given them in the questionnaires so as to avoid deviations and limit the provision of irrelevant information. Empirical Evidence Oliver (1999) also defined brand loyalty as deeply held commitment to re-buy or re-patronize a preferred product/service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetition of same-brand or same brand set purchasing, despite situational influence and marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching behaviors. A research undertaken by Akoto (2004) on the study of consumers perception on product branding and its effects on their purchasing decision making process. The main objective was to explore the effect of branding on consumer decision making.

The study revealed that branding and packaging captures the attention of the prospective buyer which then develops into purchase decision. The study further revealed that product brand superiority contributes to the appeal of a new product and may itself have value which increases consumers motivation to buy a brand. The study also revealed that the quality of the branding is the primary determinant of the consumers perception of the product quality. The study also shows that product packaging really has an influence on consumers purchasing decision making but there are other factors that influence consumers purchasing decision making besides packaging. An example of such factors is pricing (Akoto, 2004)