Abstract: With the rapid development of the novel-tea beverage industry, market competition has significantly intensified. To enhance competitiveness, novel-tea beverage enterprises have increasingly adopted cross-border innovation strategies aimed at upgrading product quality, optimizing the consumer experience, and strengthening brand loyalty. However, the theoretical and empirical understanding of how cross-border innovation enhances brand loyalty is still limited. Utilizing quantitative empirical methods, this study investigated the impact of horizontal and vertical cross-border innovation on consumer brand loyalty based on survey data of 1 900 young novel-tea beverage consumers. The findings reveal that both forms of cross-border innovation contribute to strengthening brand loyalty, with upstream cultural integration within vertical cross-border innovation demonstrating the strongest effect. Furthermore, cross-border innovation primarily influences brand loyalty indirectly by satisfying consumers’ quality demands and enriching consumption experiences, with quality appeal serving as the core mediating mechanism. Additionally, the selection of cross-border innovation strategies is contingent upon enterprise positioning: high-end brands benefit more from horizontal and upstream cultural cross-border innovation, while mid-to-low-end brands achieve brand loyalty enhancement through scenario-based downward cross-border innovation. Based on the above conclusions, this paper proposed some countermeasures and suggestions on how to carry out cross-border innovation marketing.

Key words: novel-tea beverages, cross-boundary innovation, willingness to pay premium, brand loyalty