This project work is based on “the
analysis of consumer brand switching
behaviours in soft drink market. “A case
study of Enugu metropolis” The following
are the objectives which the researcher set
to accomplish and these are:
i. To determine the impact
of marketing mix on the consumer brand
switching behaviours in soft drink market;
ii. To determine the factors
that promote consumer brand switching
behaviours in soft drink market: and
iii. To discover the relative
strengths of the various soft brands short listed for
this study, primary and secondary data
were used. The primary data was sourced
through specific research instrument (i.e
questionnaire) which is distributed and administered to
the consumers and dealers of soft
drink brands in Enugu metropolis.
Secondary data on the other land, was
sourced through authoritative textbooks, articles ,
newspaper and journals, computerized source, library
and past research work. The date
collected from the respondents through the
requestionnaire were analyzed using tables, frequencies
and percentages.
Based on the objective on the
objective of this study , the bourley’s formular
and chi- square (x2)
- test tool are been used to
determine the sample size and in
testing the stated hypothesis
stipulated for this study . based on the
data analysis, the following findings were
made and they are:
i. The amount of soft drinks consumed per
zonal areas in Enugu, metropolis
ii. The highest brand if soft
drink consumed in Enugu
iii. The reason’s for consumer brand
switching, which include the change of price,
taste, availability or unavailability of
product brand, packaging, quality, introduction
of new brand of soft drink, habit and image.
iv. The reason why
consumer preferred a particular brand of
soft drink .
Based on the finding’s so far
highlighted above, the researcher made the
following recommendations to manufactures and
they are:
i. The is the need for comprehensive
review of the pricing method, strategies
and policies employed by manufacturers with a
view to develop and sustain attractive
pricing levels for brands to ensure continuous
consumer patronage and also attract new ones.
ii. Manufacturers should also employ
all the marketing strategies available to the
such as packaging sizes, contents, bottle design,
taste, quality, pricing, persuasive advertising,
promotion campaign, new brand introduction
and line extension to exploit and
build the target latend demand and
potential market which characterize the Enugu
market with a view to increase consumption levels
as well as to diminute consumer brand switching
and gain brand loyalty. Finally, the
research wishes to con that the
Enugu soft drink market is highly undeveloped
and unsophisticated having one of the lowest per sub
zonal consumption levels and
currently having high consumer brand
switching and cannot sustain high brand
loyalty has significant marketing and economic
implications for this country marketing and
economic implications for this premise that
the following recommendation were
made above and must be adhere
with or else the reasons for brand
switching in soft drink market will step
up while the benefits of brand loyalty
from consumer will drastically fall. And
so, manufacturers should be very conscious of
recommendations made so far.
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background to the Study
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Objective of the Study
1.4 Research questions/ hypothesis
1.5 Significance of the Study
1.6 Scope of the study
1.7 Definition of Major Terms
Review of Related Literature
Meaning of Consumer Behaviour
2.1 An overview of branding
2.2 Consumer responses to branding
2.3 Nature of brand switching
2.4 Soft drinks brand
switching in Nigeria
2.5 Definition of consumer
behaviour
2.6 Factors influencing consumer
behaviour
2.7 A perception model
2.8 Maslow’s hievachy of needs
Research Methodology
3.1 Sources of Data
3.2 Primary data
3.3 Secondary data
3.4 Population of the study
3.5 Sample Size Determination and sample
techniques
3.6 Sampling Technique
3.7 Research Instrument
3.8 Validity/Reliability of responses
3.9 Questionnaire
3.10 Method
of data Analysis
3.11 Limitation
of the study
Data Presentation Analysis and Interpretation
4.1 Presentation, Analysis and
interpretation data
4.2 Testing of Hypothesis
Discussion of Findings, Recommendation and Conclusion
5.1 Summary of findings
5.2 Recommendations
5.3 Conclusion
Appendix
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The
chartered institute of marketing (1984) in England defines
marketing as “ the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating
and satisfying customer requirement profitable.
American marketing association (1960:1) also defined marketing as
“the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and
services to the consumers or users. In other words, all activities that are
undertaken to facilitate the flow of goods and services come under marketing.
According to Nwaizuggo (2004:8) modern marketing concept is built on three
foundation namely:
(i) Consumer satisfaction
(ii) Profitable sales volume
(iii) Integrated marketing
This means that consumers satisfaction must be at the centre of
any business motive.
The central aim of modern marketing
is all about ensuring the consumer satisfaction
and also to ensure that consumers always
continue to patronize the marketer’s brnad.
The American marketing
association defines branding as a name, term,
sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended
to identify the goods or a services
of one seller or group of sellers
and to differentiate them from those of
competitors. Oxford Advanced learner’s Dictionary
(2006: 170) defined branding as the
activity of giving a particular name and
image to goods and services so that people will
be attracted to them a tool of marketing
used for the purpose of product
identification among other uses.
Branding is also to win consumers
brand loyalty.
Brand name is the name given
to a product by the company that produces
it and this enable the consumers to
easily identify the products.
Modern marketing is facing a lot of challenges
which includes growing affluence and change
in the tast of consumers coupled with the
drift of market from a monopolistic
structure to that of a near perfect
competition consumer now have lots of
products alternative to choose from. The result
is a gradual elimination of the “concept
called “Brand Loyalty” and the emergency
of a new idea called “Brand Switching”.
Brand
switching is the act of discontinuing the
purchases of a product brand in favour
of another brand. The marketing
concept and Nigerian market structure (perfect
competition or rather monopolistic) brought about
product multiplicity in Nigeria. Lots of
product close substitutes now exist
and consumers are now dangling like
pendulum from one product brand to another.
Recently, brand switching has taken its toll on the
soft drink market in Nigeria. For instance,
we have soft drinks brands such as
coke, fauta, sprite, mountain dew, pepsi, 7 up, fayrouz,
clubsoda mirinda, shewpse, mirinda apple, kiest and
many more. A further study shows also
that consumers but switch from one brand
to another.
This
simply implies that the soft drinks marketers,
have been battling seriously on how
to over come this trend . Given the above,
the aim of the research is to carryout a
research into the causative favours of soft drinks.
This
will quide marketers against being
vulnerable to brand switching behavioiur of
consumers.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
kotler and keller (2006:193) define
consumer behaviour as the study of how individuals,
groups and organization select, buy, use and
dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences
to satisfy their needs and wants.
Schiffman and Kanuk (2007: 3) Defined
consumer behaviour as the behaviour that
consumers display in searching for,
purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing
of products and services that they expect will
satisfy their needs their behaiour are
focused on how individuals make decisions to
spend their available resources (time,
money, effort) on consumption related items.
That
includes what they buy, buy they buy
it where they buy it, how often
they buy, how they evaluate it after
the purchase, the impact of such evaluations
on future purchases and how they
dispose of it. To major psychological
disciples come into play when observing and
trying to explain consumer behaviour . the
first is cognitive psychology . cognitive
psychology is the study of all
knowledge related (mental)behaviors and they are
as follow: Attention, perception, memory,
comprehension and decision making and they play
an important role in consumer behaviour .
The
second psychological discipline that has theories
to explain certain phenomenon is “the study
of the manner in which the personality,
attitudes, motivation, behaviour of individuals
influence and influences by social groups
(Britaininca online).
The
affect and social influence and reference
groups links are two important topics
studied in social psychology that have an
important impact on consumer behavior.
However,
limited problems solving is that behavior
exhibited by a consumer, who is
deciding to try a new brand, responds
to emotional or environment appeal such as
the point of purchase display and this situation gives impetus to consumer exhibition
of brand switching behaviour.
Emotional appeal has not been the only stimuli responsible for
brand switching. The response of consumers to other marketing mix stimuli
such as the pricing of the various brands distributional strategy, product
design availability of product and quality may
also give rise to brand switch hehaviour.
Given the
afore mentioned facts, the main problem of this study is to
i. Make an inquest or determine the factors or
variables that give rise to brand switching among consumers of soft drinks.
ii. To ascertain the implications
of brand switching behaviour of consumers
on marketing strategies employed by manufactures
of soft drinks
iii. To inquire into how the
marketing mix such as price, production
design and quality, distribution and promotion
influences consumer of soft drinks to switch into
another brand.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
It is quiet unfortunate no marketer can afford to stay relaxed when its
products is loosing its market share to other competitors especially in a
free market economy like ours. Given this, the prime objective of this
study therefore is to:
1. To establish the impact of the marketing
mix on the brand switching behaviour of soft drinks consumers.
2. To determine the factors that promote brand
switching among soft drinks consumers
3. To discover the relative strengths of the
various brands enumerated for this study within a specified market.
4. To ascertain the effect of brand switching by
consumers on the rate of consumption of different brands within the market
under survey.
1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
For
the purpose of a clear result, the following hypothesis have been drawn and
will be tested
H01:
Consumers switching of soft drink brand is not significantly influenced by
price differences
H1: Consumers switching of soft drink brand is
significantly influenced by price differences
H02:
Availability of soft drink distributional efficiency does not constitute a
major factor in consumer soft drink brand switching.
H1: Availability of soft drinks distributional
efficiency constitutes a major factor in consumer soft drink brand switching.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the significance of the study:
- It will enable producers (marketers) to identify brand switching
causative factor among consumers
- It will go further to buttress the inevitable role of consumers
and general market research in the new business era.
- It will help brand owners to develop marketing strategies which
will enable them reduce the impact of brand switching on their product line.
Also the researcher hopes that the study would be relevant to
other consumer goods marketers engaged in competition with producers of close
substitute such as cosmetics and beverages.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The research work concentrated on
the analysis of consumer brand switching
behaviour of soft drinks. The scope of this study
will cover the selected company and house hold
within Enugu. Metropolis , but for maximum
precision to be attained in this study, the
employer’s of Nigerian bottling company
and consumers which are made up of all
house hold in Enugu Metropolis would be studied.
However,
the findings of this study could be applied
in the marketing of soft drinks and services
in Nigeria.
1.7 DEFINITION OF MAJOR TERMS
To ease the
complexity in the use of some terms in this study, some major terms have been
defined
(1) Branding:- This
is the process of establishing product
identify (Nwaizugbo 2004:113)
(2) Brand
Name:- This consist of
words, letters, and / or numbers that can
be vocalized. (Nwaizugbo 2004:113)
(3) Brand
Switching: This is the act
of discontinuing the purchasing of a product brand
in favour of another brand. (The chartered
institute of marketing 1984) in England.
(4) Consumer
:- Consumer is an
individual or a person who identifies a need
or desire, make a purchase, and then disposes of
the product during the three stages in the consumption
process (pre purchase issues, purchase issues and
post purchase issues. (SOLOMON 2008: 34)
(5) CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR: John Mowen defined consumer behaviour as the
study of the decision - making units and
the processes involved in acquiring consuming
and disposing off goods and services,
experience on ideas (Zita U.M. and Anyionu S.C 200: 2).
Department | Marketing |
Project ID Code | MKT0127 |
Chapters | 5 Chapters |
No of Pages | 103 pages |
Methodology | Chi Square |
Reference | YES |
Format | Microsoft Word |
Price | ₦4000, $15 |
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Contact Us On | +2349067372103 |
Contact Us On | +2349094562208 |
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