Promotion as a Strategy of Manufactural Tools for Consumer Loyalty (A Case Study of Coca-cola Company in Port-Harcourt)
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following objectives were agreed to guide this study:
- To know whether coca-cola company embarked on sales promotion.
- To know the nature and extent of sales promotion carried out by firm.
- To know if sales promotion activities influence consumer loyalty.
- To know which promo-tools bring out the desired result in terms of consumer loyalty.
- To know if consumers complain about the sales promotion and the nature of such complaint.
- To know how the firm addressed consumers complaint if any
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK
The independent variable in the study is Promotional Strategy. It is the combination of the different channel that can be used to communicate the promotional message to the consumers. The channels to be used are advertising, public relations and publicity, personal selling, sales’ promotion and direct marketing tools that the company uses to persuasively communicate customers’ value and build customer relationship. (Armstrong and Kotler, 2009)
Asikhia (2000) viewed marketing promotion strategy as the design and management of a marketing sub-system for the purpose of informing and persuading present and potential customers and clients. The promotional elements are organic, for example, advertising can be seen as the taking of the horse to the stream while personal selling is forcing the horse to drink some water
Osuagwu (2002) submitted that promotion strategies are of substantial importance in the efficiency and effectiveness of a company’s marketing efforts. He further argued that marketing promotion elements play varying roles towards the achievement of corporate marketing goals and objectives. Adetayo (2006) opined that the overall promotion effort usually includes several individual promotion campaigns. He defined promotion campaign as an interrelated series of promotion activities designed to accomplish a specific objective. The goal of promotion management according to Adetayo (2006) is to ensure that all the individual elements of the promotion mix work together to accomplish the organization’s overall promotion activities.
According to Enikanselu (2008) company that wants more than “walk in” sales must develop an effective program of communication and promotions. Successful promotion is an essential ingredient in marketing strategy. Prospective buyers must learn about both the products’ distinctive wants satisfying characteristics and its availability. Establishing and maintaining communications with target market segment are the main tasks assigned to marketing promotion. Osuagwu (2002) identified the objectives of promotion as information, stimulation of demand, product differentiation, accentuating product value, and maintain stable product sales. The elements of marketing promotions mix are involved in communicating information to customers, clients or potential users about goods or services on offer. Their fundamental aim is to prompt customers, clients or potential users to take positive action by placing orders, making enquiries and purchasing on a continuous basis. The elements in the promotional mix are not mutually exclusive. A firm will require some mixture of two or more of them depending on the type of product or service including its life cycle; the market competitions, the marketing promotions’ objectives, among others. The amount of money available and other resources of the firm will also affect an organization’s promotional mix. The promotional tools in promotional strategy describe the tools or weapons available to the marketing communicator whose major role is persuasive communication. The two most prevalent promotional elements and the most important in terms of marketing cost and impact are personal selling and advertising. Other elements of promotion are publicity, sales’ promotion though of less importance, but in certain situations make significant contributions. Various authors in their books and presentations essentially focused on these four main promotional tools (Perner 2008; Osuagwu 2002; Adetayo 2006), and Smith and Taylor (2002). Each of the elements is briefly described. Armstrong and Kotler (2009) defined personal selling as personal presentation by the firm’s sales force for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationship. Enikanselu (2008) opined that personal selling involves two or more persons communicating directly with each other face to face, and person to audience.
Advertising is any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization, good, service or idea by an identified sponsor (Berkowitz et al., 2000). Sales promotion represents an eclectic collection of various promotional incentives designed to stimulate volume or speed of purchase. (Blattberg & Neslin, 1990)
Fiske (1980) defined public relations as a form of communication management that seeks to influence the image of an organization and its products and services. Public relations usually focus on communicating positive aspect of the business. Enikanselu (2008) described Publicity as a non-personal form of demand stimulation and is not paid for by the person or organization benefiting from it.
Market share and Profitability are the two dependent variables in the study. Market share is one of the marketing metrics that is constantly talked about in the field of marketing as a discipline. Market share compares the revenue of the firm with the total revenue of the market in question over a period of time. It is calculated as below;
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to Promotion as a strategies of manufacturals tools for consumer loyalty ( a case study coca-cola company in pH)
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items; things the researcher is interested in getting information on Promotion as a strategies of manufactural tools for consumer loyalty ( a case study coca-cola company in pH). 200 staff of coca-cola company in pH was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was Promotion as a strategies of manufacturals tools for consumer loyalty ( a case study coca-cola company in pH). In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of Promotion as a strategies of manufacturals tools for consumer loyalty
Summary
This study was on Promotion as a strategies of manufacturals tools for consumer loyalty ( a case study coca-cola company in pH). Six objectives were raised which included: To know whether coca-cola company embarked on sales promotion, to know the nature and extent of sales promotion carried out by firm, to know if sales promotion activities influence consumer loyalty, to know which promo-tools bring out the desired result in terms of consumer loyalty, to know if consumers complain about the sales promotion and the nature of such complaint, to know how the firm addressed consumers complaint if any. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of coca-cola company in portharcourt state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made production managers, marketers, senior staff and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
On the basis of the findings of this study, it can be concluded that Sales promotion strategies (price promotion, premium, bonus and free sample) jointly and independently predict consumer loyalty expect premium which has negative influence but not significant. This is largely due to consumer unfamiliarity with the tool. Thus, it is suggested that manufacturers and sellers should use more of premium in their promotional efforts. This will help ignorant customers to be better informed about premium and their uses.
RECOMMENDTION
That manufacturers and sellers should continue apply price promotion, bonus and free sample because of their robustness influence on consumer loyalty.
Manufacturers also need to pay more attention to their customers in order to understand their needs and expectations as well and to keep in touch with them.
Customer’s satisfaction surveys should be conducted in a systematic and continues way.
Finally, there should be enhanced and computerized distribution system, this strategy create performance and proficiency on field managers and supervisors monitoring sales on consumers and complaint.
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