Dissertation (Master of Business Administration)This study aimed at investigating the effect of branding on purchase process stages of bottled drinking water in Dar es Salaam city. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. The study comprised of one hundred and fifty respondents. Systematic random sampling was used to select 150 respondents from the study area. A combination of both secondary and primary source of data was collected in this study. The instrument used for collecting primary data was questionnaire and for collecting secondary data was collecting from internet, journals, and books. Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 and Excel software were used to analyze the data. It was found that, branding affects all stages of consumer purchasing process: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behavior or feelings stage. Thus producers of bottled drinking water should focus on building and maintaining strong brands so as to increase their market shares.