“Determinants of purchase intention during COVID-19: A case study of skincare products in East Java”

During COVID-19, consumers of skincare products pay more attention to safety and comfort. In such a crisis, consumers seek skincare products with brand effectiveness, high quality, and persuasive reviews by social media influencers. This study investigates the influence of brand effectiveness, product quality, and celebrity endorsers on purchase intention of halal skincare products in the pandemic. The study employed a survey of halal skincare users in East Java, Indonesia. A purposive sampling of 180 female respondents was analyzed; they were followers of Safi-Skincare Instagram and aged 18 and over. Descriptive statistics indicated that religious background strengthened the factors influencing the purchase intention towards a skincare product. The data were then analyzed using multiple linear regression with a statistical level of confidence of 95%. The result showed that brand effectiveness, product quality, and celebrity endorsers significantly affect purchase intention in Indonesia during the pandemic. The study concludes that Muslim standards reinforce rigid standards applied to skin-care products with a halal logo, supporting good quality performance and encouraging stronger purchase intention. This study contributes to understanding consumer behavior in the pandemic using a purchase intention framework that can be applied to the safety and comfort of other consumer products.


INTRODUCTION
Even in the COVID-19 era, the need for skincare products still becomes a necessity for most women.This is because skin health, especially face care, is an important investment in the future (Nurhayati-Wolff, 2021).The study found a trend in the use of skincare and sun care products (Chouhan et al., 2022).Global cosmetic products are valued at USD 380.2 billion and are projected to increase 5.3% in 2027.In Indonesia, there is phenomena of a growing global brand of skincare products with the proliferation of imported beauty products.Therefore, consumers must be careful, especially Muslim consumers, regarding the haleness of a product that affects stimuli to purchase such products.
The strength of emotional response towards stimuli could be favorable or unfavorable when consumers find the halal label that meets the religious aspect (Fathoni, 2020).Response, namely affective attitude, also includes emotions such as love or anger, satisfaction or frustration, moods of boredom or relaxation in response to stimuli (Peter & Olson, 2010).The stimuli of the skincare products in the COVID-19 era focus more on the religiosity aspects of innovation and Islamic aspects reflected in a halal brand (Borzooei & Asgari, 2014).
When consumers look for a product, it is not enough to identify the brand on its packaging.Customers will find out the high-quality product as well as the halalness in the minds of Muslim consumers (Nurhayati & Hendar, 2020;Riptiono, 2020).Therefore, consumers' affective mood towards quality is vital for companies to influence consumer behavior.Consumers will be critical when choosing a product, meaning that they always want to get good quality products based on their cognitive aspects (Kartikasari & Albari, 2019;Mhlongo & Mason, 2020).From a Muslim perspective, one aspect of the quality guarantee is the halalness label present on the packaging.
As part of the consumer analysis theory, celebrity endorsers would increase the attention paid and help bring cultural meaning (Peter & Olson, 2010).The use of public figures in marketing activities of a product or service will receive public attention (Reed, 2012;Schiffman & Wisenblit, 2015).Promotional activities using celebrity endorsers are intended to attract consumers' attention; thus, consumers are expected to be interested in the marketed products (Peter & Olson, 2010).When someone has an idol, he/she will try to follow the development of this idol, follow the idol's lifestyle, and use products that this idol usually uses.Consumer purchase intention arises after getting a stimulus from the product they see.After that, consumers will feel an interest in trying the product until finally the desire to buy it arises so that consumers can have it (Kotler & Keller, 2009, p. 15).Specifically, Yousaf (2016)  A large number of the Muslim population in Indonesia was one of the reasons why halal-brand of skincare products were launched in Indonesia in 2018.However, limited studies researched the impact of COVID-19 on beauty products, particularly in consumer purchase decisions in Indonesia.

Brand effectiveness
The brand is defined as "a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination thereof, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors" (Kotler & Keller, 2009, p. 258).The use of a brand reflects the identity of products or services offered by the seller to the extent of leveraging the company's equity (Sudaryanto, 2015;Grassl, 2000;Liu, 2020).The brand could create an experience of the product and the producer's image.
Brand experience and affective commitment determine brand loyalty (  (Grassl, 2000).In this issue, the positive perception development regarding the symbol, words, or color needs to be considered.Rule of thumb shows that the number of "syllables" in the brand name must not exceed three.This is relevant with the limited memorizing cognitive aspect of the consumer when recalling the brand (Peter & Olson, 2010).
In conclusion, brand effectiveness involves brand experience, brand image, and relationship to brand knowledge.Brand allows consumers to evaluate products of the same kind differently.One brand can develop positive affective, then its expected influence buying intentions (Espejel et al., 2008

Product quality
The overall features and characteristics of a product or service depend on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 143).In addition, the quality of a product will be a consideration for consumers when making their choice.Therefore, companies are competing to develop products with better quality than the quality of competing products to increase consumer purchase interest.
The quality of products is the basis of strategy in a business that provides goods or services to satisfy consumers, eventually creating purchase intention in consumers (Hoe & Mansori, 2018) (Garvin, 1987).Finally, the most referable concept defines eight dimensions of product quality (Hoe & Mansori, 2018): 1) performance refers to the main operating characteristics of the product; 2) feature is the secondary aspect of performance as the additional characteristics that able to attract customers; 3) reliability is the probability of malfunction or failure of the product when it is being used within specific periods; 4) conformance is the rigidity of the product, and operating characteristics that meet the existing standard; 8) perceived quality is reputation in regard to comparing quality among them that not constantly perfects.
Research conducted towards 180 adult respondents mentioned that products quality represented in halal product both exclusion and inclusion of brand becomes the focus of concern for Muslim consumers (Mukhtar & Butt, 2012).A similar study was conducted on Malaysian market analyzing the quality of engineering industry performance.It was shown that features and conformance have no relationship with satisfaction that potentially creates repurchase intention (Hoe & Mansori, 2018).While durability and features have a significant influence on satisfaction.
As the aesthetics, perceived quality, and serviceability dimensions are affective, this paper will only employ the rest five indicators: performance, reliability, feature, durability, and conformance.

Celebrity endorsement
Celebrity endorsers are supporters of an advertisement that helps a product being advertised and become more attractive (Chi et  analyzed 316 valid questionnaires and found that celebrity endorser influences purchase intention in Spain.Specifically, celebrity trustworthiness is significant at 0.01%; on the contrary, celebrity expertise and attractiveness have no significant influence.Companies have widely used celebrity endorsers to communicate their products to consumers.This is a strategy to promote products through the popularity of celebrity endorsement.Celebrities enjoy public recognition and have attributes such as attractiveness and expertise (Batra & Homer, 2004).
These people are public figures, namely artists, athletes, or other famous people who, of course, have fans.Fans will pay attention to their idols, from appearance to products used by their idols.Companies will take advantage of this to attract consumers' attention.Endorsers are often referred to as direct sources or speakers who deliver a message and/or demonstrate a product or service (Schimmelpfennig, 2018) The urge arises because of pressure due to unmet needs, so individuals will try to do something to reduce the pressure through behavior that is expected to meet their needs.If an individual has a high motivation for a product, there will be an urge to control the products and vice versa.Thus, purchase intention arises because of the urge to meet individual needs.
This study aims to identify the influence of brand effectiveness, product quality, and celebrity endorsers on the dependent variable, namely purchase intention.
Based on the abovementioned, this study proposes the following hypotheses: H1: Brand effectiveness has a significant effect on purchase intention.
H2: Product quality has a significant effect on purchase intention.
H3: Celebrity endorser has a significant effect on purchase intention.

METHODS
This study is explanatory research designed to confirm or refuse existing research hypotheses (Malhotra & Birks, 2007).This paper is fundamental research by which the data used will remain original and primary.The study uses a quantitative research approach employing SPSS statistical tools.
The tributing questionnaires.The results showed that the variables of brand effectiveness (X1), product quality (X2), celebrity endorser (X3), and purchase intention (Y) have r-arithmetic r-table with a significance value of 5% (0.05).Thus, it is concluded that the statement can be used as a data collection tool because it has been proven valid.
The questionnaire was also reliable if Cronbach's alpha is greater than 0.60.All instruments in this study were reliable, with Cronbach's alpha > 0.6.As part of the requirements for multivariate data analysis, responses were tested for normality using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test method with a degree of confidence (α) of 5%.Brand effectiveness (X1), product quality (X2), celebrity endorser (X3), and purchase intention (Y) are included in the data that is normally distributed it has a value of 0.995, meaning that the result is greater than the significance level of 0.05.After testing the instrument, the hypotheses are tested.The t-test is used to determine how far each independent variable ex-plains the dependent variable; in this case, whether each independent variable influences the dependent variable with a significant level ≤ α (0.05).

Operational variables
The variables and indicators used in this study are presented in Table 1.

Descriptive statistical analysis
The demographic characteristics of respondents are presented in Table 2.  Most respondents have an income of less than Rp.1,500,000 (67.2%), while 20.6% of respondents have an income of Rp. 1,500,000-Rp 2,499,999.6.1% of respondents have an income of Rp 2,500,000-Rp 3,499,999, and 6.1% of respondents earn more than Rp 3,500,000.

Multiple linear regression
This study uses multiple linear regression analysis.This analysis is used to determine the effect of predictors on the predicted variable.For example, the predictors in this study are brand effectiveness, product quality, and celebrity endorsers, while the predicted variable is purchase intention.The data were then coded and proceeded using SPSS, presenting the results in Table 3. Note: *** -α = 0.01.
Table 3 present the summary of multiple linear regression.Adjusted R 2 represents the strength of the predictors brand effectiveness (X1), product quality (X2), and celebrity endorser (X3) on predicting the purchase intention (Y) with the power of 44%, while the remaining 66% depend on the research model.These results can be obtained by the following multiple linear regression equation where X1 -brand effectiveness; X2 -product quality; X3 -celebrity endorser; Y -purchase intention.
Equation 1 obtained a constant value of 6.442, which means that if the value of the independent variables of brand effectiveness (X1), product quality (X2), celebrity endorser (X3), is equal to zero.The purchase intention (Y) value is 6.442, assuming the other variables that can affect purchase intention are considered constant.Besides, the variable coefficient of brand effectiveness is positive at 0.265, which means that any increase of one unit in the brand effectiveness variable will result in a 0.265 increase the interest buying.
The coefficient value of the brand effectiveness variable has a positive value of 0.265 and a significant value of 0.000, where the value is below 0.05.Thus, it can be seen that brand effectiveness has a positive and significant effect on halal-skincare products' purchase intentions.
The coefficient value of the product quality variable has a positive value of 0.208 and a significant value of 0.000, where the value is below 0.05.Thus, it can be seen that product quality has a positive and significant effect on halal-skincare products' purchase intentions.
The coefficient value of the celebrity endorser variable has a positive value of 0.196 and a significant value of 0.002, where the value is below 0.05.Thus, it can be seen that celebrity endorsers have a positive and significant effect on halal-skincare products' purchase intentions.

The influence of brand effectiveness on purchase intention
The first hypothesis (H1) indicates that brand effectiveness has a significant effect with adjusted R 2 = 44%, p-value = 0.000 < α/2 = 0.005.It can be obtained that H1, which states that "brand effectiveness has a significant effect on purchase intention," is accepted.The relationship shown by the regression coefficient is positive, meaning that the concept of brand effectiveness used by a skincare product will generate purchase intention in the minds of consumers.This study shows that brand effectiveness has a significant effect on purchase

The influence of product quality on purchase intention
The second hypothesis (H2) indicates that product quality has a significant effect with adjusted R 2 = .44%,p-value = 0.000 < α/2 = 0.005.The results of the t-test concluded that H2, which states that "product quality has a significant effect on purchase intention," is accepted.The relationship shown by the regression coefficient is positive, meaning that the quality of skincare products will generate purchase intention in the minds of consumers.Therefore, a skincare product as a skincare brand with the tagline "Halal, Natural, Tested" is expected to maintain and improve product quality.The results of this study are in line with Kartikasari and Albari (2019), Hoe and Mansori (2018), and Mirabi (2015), who stated that product quality has a significant effect on purchase intention.
The quality of skincare products that contain natingredients can generate purchase intention in consumers.The content of natural ingredients in skincare products is also reflected in a tagline, namely "Halal, Natural, Tested."Across demographic characteristics, the majority are students who behave critically in choosing products; thus, they will choose products of good quality.This is in line with Awan et al. (2015), Nurhayati and Hendar (2020), Yasid et al. (2016), and Yener (2015).Product quality is an essential aspect of the marketing strategy, with the COVID-19 pandemic condition prioritizes hygiene and product benefits for health.

The influence of celebrity endorsers on purchase intention
results of multiple linear regression analysis against the third hypothesis (H3) indicate that celebrity endorser has a significant effect with adjusted R 2 = 44%, p-value = 0.002 < α/2 = 0.005.Therefore, based on the results of the t-test, it can be concluded that H3 stating "celebrity endorser has a significant effect on purchase intention" is accepted.Furthermore, the relationship shown by the regression coefficient is positive, meaning that celebrity endorsers who convey information about skincare products in promotional activities can generate purchase intention in consumers.The results of this study are in line with Respondents in this study were dominated by respondents aged 18 to 25 years, with a percentage of 75% being Generation Z, which is in line with Peter and Olson (2015, p. 336).
In promoting products using celebrity endorsers, the skincare industry also uses social media, especially Instagram.The use of social media (e.g., Instagram) in the COVID-19 pandemic tends to increase.Thus, many consumers will pay attention to Instagram posts containing information about products delivered by celebrity endorsers.Celebrity endorsers of skincare products are a stimulus for followers of Instagram accounts to buy specific products.

CONCLUSION
This study found that based on the demographic data, most consumers of skincare products with the halal label in East Java, Indonesia, are students, women, Muslims, with an income < IDR 1,500,000 who have critical thinking of heal-care awareness.
The brand effectiveness has a positive and significant effect on purchase intentions.The emotion and specific responses towards halalness of products embrace an affective behavior of liking or disliking a specific brand.This response creates a cognitive process of memorizing the experience of buying a skincare product in the COVID-19 era.
Product quality is also vital.Performance and conformance trigger the higher intention to purchase in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic.Another indicator would be the second opinion.The rigidity of the standards applied the products with good quality performance with halal logo meets the Muslim standard.
The use of religious celebrity endorsers in skincare marketing conveys that the celebrity endorsers will attract consumers from their religious backgrounds.The era of the COVID-19 pandemic drives the number of people accessing social media, especially Instagram.This can be used for promotional activities using celebrity endorsers through Instagram depending on the religiosity of a celebrity who does truth messages.
studied the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in Islam perspective in Muslim countries.It was found that Islam does not prohibit advertising.Similarly, Osei-Frimpong et al. (2019) researched the effect of celebrity endorsers on purchase intention in Malaysia.
(Schiffman & Wisenblit, 2015)er receiving a stimulus from the product a customer sees, from there arises interest in trying the product until finally the desire to buy it arises(Kotler & Keller, 2016).According to Peter and Olson (2010, p. 336), purchase intention is the action before deciding to purchase that is potentially influenced by advertising with women have a more powerful effect.Similarly, intention is a motivation of the urge within the individual to do something(Schiffman & Wisenblit, 2015).
(Hair et al., 2014)study is the followers of the Safi-skincare Instagram account in Indonesia, with a total of 287,000 followers as of November 2020.The study employed a purposive sampling technique, with the respondent criteria being female respondents who are at least 18 years old and have individual Instagram accounts.The number of samples in this study was 180 respondents with the affordable number of sampling for multivariate data analysis, i.e., ten times to indicators(Hair et al., 2014).The questionnaire is distributed online using a Google Form link, provided via the Direct Message (DM) feature on Instagram.Furthermore, the respondents were encouraged to complete the task individually.

Table 2 .
Characteristics of respondents