Brand image and purchase intention: The mediating roles of brand equity and customer satisfaction in online food delivery services

In today's highly competitive digital landscape, firms increasingly rely on strategic branding to achieve sustainable competitive advantages. Grounded in Brand Equity Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study extends existing branding research by examining the structural relationships influencing purchase intention in the online food delivery (OFD) context. Thailand provides a relevant empirical setting as one of the most mature OFD markets in the APAC region, where food delivery services have evolved from a luxury into a “Daily Convenience Economy” essential. Data were collected from 385 Thai consumers who actively use online food delivery applications and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS 4. The results indicate that brand image, brand equity, and customer satisfaction exert significant direct effects on purchase intention. However, consistent with a mature digital service market, the direct effect of brand image on customer satisfaction is non-significant, suggesting that brand image must be translated into tangible brand equity to enhance customer satisfaction. These findings contribute theoretically by clarifying the differentiated roles of brand image and brand equity in mature digital platforms and offer managerial insights for Super-App operators in emerging economies seeking to strengthen consumer trust and sustained usage through integrated brand-ecosystem strategies.