INTRODUCTION
One of the most recent ideas in the history of exchange relations is the marketing concept. The marketing concept is a management orientation that holds that the key task of the organization is to determine the needs and wants of target markets and to adapt the target organization to delivering the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than its competitors.
Economic history is well stocked with enough insight into the humble beginnings of present-day great corporations. Evidence abound that about all of the multi-national giant corporations in America, Europe and Nigeria were once cottage enterprises that grew as a result of the sheer ability and especially the marketing skills and efforts to produce and reproduce existing products better and cheaper.
The adoption of a customer orientation, which forms the basic assumption of the marketing function of a firm, places a high premium on customer satisfaction. This of course has very wide applications for all areas of the organization. One major implication is that if the firm or organization has to manage its limited financial resources profitably, there is an acute need to identify consumers’ needs and wants before actual production or provision of the goods is undertaken. In the absence of this, the company may be faced with the threat of product failure in the face of more competitive brands.
One of the most frequently used for identifying consumers’ needs and wants is the study of brands and brand preference patterns. Brand preference consists of a customer’s perception of a brand’s ability to satisfy his prescribed set of needs more than similar brands in the product class. A consumer’s preference for a particular brand among alternative brands is an indication that ceteris paribus, he will translate this preference to a purchase action when the situation arises. Consumer preference therefore is a crucial factor for management consideration especially in an attempt to implement the marketing concept. Since modern marketing holds the consumer as the centre-piece of all marketing actions, it appears logical to state that no fruitful marketing programme can be formulated and implemented without vigorously attempting to identify the tastes and preferences of the target market. The need for this becomes even more crucial in a developing economy like Nigeria’s at the threshold of technological take-off.
An understanding and determination of consumer preference and the factors that give rise to them ultimately becomes highly fundamental in planning and implementing the company’s marketing strategies. Brand and brand preference do result from both the nature of the product, the characteristics of the producer, the seller and the consumer as well as the prevalent situation. In an attempt to understand consumer preference on the basis of the nature of the product, one basic approach is consumer attitude measurement. Hence the inefficiency and ineffectiveness in the distribution management of the brewery industries in Nigeria prompted this research and also to investigate the factors responsible for this poor sales performance and also to proffer some workable solutions to them.
Numerous researches have been carried out to investigate the relationship between brand preference and consumer characteristics, characteristics of the product and the existing economic situation.
Most have used numerous measures which are not products of brand-specific to establish the relationship. Majority of these researchers have attempted to study consumer preferences and choice on the basis of personality, psychograghic and demographic characteristics.
However, Engel, Kollat and Black well pointed out that since World War II, economic and demographic variables have become less reliable determinants of products and brand preferences and choice, while personality variables have made minimal contributions to the understanding of consumer behavior.
The research work is embarked upon due to the problems encountered by the Nigerian Breweries Plc., in the course of branding and promoting their products.
Due to the fact that we have many brewers in the country today, there are many brands of lager beer in the market. The variety of brands of beer in the market has increased the consumer’s ability to exercise choice with less restraint. Therefore, the objective of the study is:
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The significance of brand and brand preference as a marketing tool such as this one is relevant in present-day Nigeria’s dynamic socio-economic environment to which the brewery industry belongs.
Products are subject to life cycles. A particular may emerge suddenly, enjoy rapid growth and reach a point of relative maturity and eventually move into a period of slow decline. The implication of this is that a company needs to identify consumers’ needs and wants before producing its brand of beer otherwise, chances are that it may be faced with a threat of product failure in the face of more competitive brands in its product class.
I therefore intend to find out among other reasons:
The study is focused on the beer industry with particular reference to Nigerian Breweries Plc and taking a cursory look at its lager beer and non-alcoholic beverages viz.:
These brands were selected because
The geographical coverage of this study was limited to Benin City because of time and financial constraints. The limitation of geographical coverage is occasioned by the need for greater effectiveness of the research, given the constraints of time and finance.
It is hoped however that the findings of this study will allow for a more meaningful comparisons to be made with findings of similar studies conducted in other towns in Nigeria. This is because most experts agree that Benin City is a microcosm of the behavior of the entire Nigerian Federation.
This study like many others had its fair share of limitations and constraints. Notable among this are prohibitive costs and short time interval available for the study.
The short time interval available for the execution of this study does suggest that a lot of relevant issues may not have been thoroughly examined. Despite the limitations outlined, it was ensured that this study was carried out with all amount of thoroughness given the prevailing circumstances. It is therefore possible to make valid assertions from the volume of data collected using appropriate evaluation techniques. As Jacob rightly asserts, anyone who buys or sells consumer research should be prepared to critically evaluate and distinguish that which is acceptable from that which is junk.
A hypothesis is a tentative answer to a research question. It is often stated in the form of a relationship between a dependent and independent variable (Agbonifoh and Yemore, 1999).
A hypothesis may be stated in a null form (Ho) or in the alternative (Ha).
Thus, the following hypotheses are to be tested:
Hypothesis I
Ho: Consumer buying decision is not dependent on their perception of a brand’s attribute.
Ha: Consumer buying decision is dependent on their perception of a brand’s attribute.
Hypothesis II
Ho: The way a product is branded does not affect its sales.
Ha: The way a product is branded affect its sales.
Hypothesis III
Ho: Branding does not affect the way a product is distributed.
Ha: Branding affect the way a product is distributed.
Some of the terms used in this research span across various disciplines vis-à-vis marketing, psychology, sociology, biology etc. In order to avoid misinterpretation, the following terms are hereby defined below:
ATTITUDE: An attitude is learned predisposition to respond in a consistent favourable or unfavourable manner with respect to a given object.
PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES: These are characteristic factors of a product that define its relative position (in terms of appeal to consumers) among other products or with a product class.
BRAND: It is a name, symbol, term or design that identifies one seller’s goods and services as distinct from those of other sellers.
BRAND IMAGE: It is the sum total of all consumer thoughts and feelings about the product or service.
BRAND PERCEPTION: It is the actual set of salient association linked to the brand in the consumer’s mind.
BRAND STRENGTH: It sis the emotional attachment consumers have with a specific brand. This is based on and can be measured by certain factors which will be enumerated later on.
BRAND LOYALTY: It is the extent to which a consumer remains faithful to the brand over time as revealed by consumers’ behaviors such as repeated purchase.
BRAND EQUITY: This is the value of a brand based on the extent to which it has high brand loyalty, name, awareness and perceived quality.
BRAND INVESTMENT: This is the extent to which consumers are willing to make personal sacrifices for the brand. For example, going to great lengths in search of the brand, paying a price premium for the brand, endorsement of the brand, etc.
BREWERY: An industry where beer is manufactured. It is a company that makes beer.
MARKET SEGMENTATION: This is a deliberate policy of maximum market demands by directing marketing efforts at significant sub-groups of customers or consumers.
REFERENCE GROUPS: This refers to groups with which an individual closely identifies himself so that they become for him standards of evaluation.
DEMOGRAPHY: This is the profile of the consumer which includes attributes like sex, age, education, marital status, occupation, income, family life cycle, family size, religion and nationality, etc.