The Influence of Brand Awareness, Social Media Marketing, Product Quality, and Price on Purchase Intention of Wardah Products Among Employees of Pt Pou Yuen Indonesia With Word of Mouth as a Mediating Variable

Abstract

The increasingly intense competition in the national cosmetics industry requires Wardah to comprehensively understand the factors shaping purchase intention, particularly among productive-age employees with high social media activity. This study analyzes the influence of brand awareness, social media marketing, product quality, and price on purchase intention of Wardah products with word of mouth as a mediating variable. A quantitative causal method with a survey approach was used, involving 220 employees of PT Pou Yuen Indonesia who had used Wardah products, selected through purposive sampling, and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) with SmartPLS 3.0. The results show that brand awareness has no significant effect on purchase intention or word of mouth. Social media marketing has no significant effect on purchase intention but is significant toward word of mouth. Product quality and price each have a significant positive effect on purchase intention and word of mouth. Word of mouth has a significant positive effect on purchase intention and mediates the effect of price, product quality, and social media marketing on purchase intention, but does not mediate brand awareness. The R-Square value for purchase intention is 0.596 and for word of mouth is 0.424. Companies are advised to maintain product quality and competitive pricing, optimize interactive social media marketing, position word of mouth as a key marketing strategy, and strengthen brand awareness through influencer collaboration.