Sociological Factors Affecting Customers Behaviour In The Marketing Of Some Selected Consumer’s Goods

Project and Seminar Material for Marketing

Abstract

The aim of this study was to establish the determinants of customers buying behaviour of fast-moving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town, Lagos state, Nigeria. The study was conducted using a structured questionnaire which was designed to elicit information on the sociological factors affecting customers behaviour in the marketing of some selected consumer’s goods. A total of 134 respondents were selected from the population figure out of which the sample size was determined. Data collected will be analyzed using frequency table, percentage and mean score analysis while the nonparametric statistical test (Chi-square) was used to test the formulated hypothesis using SPSS (statistical package for social sciences). The cultural, social, personal and psychological factors had a significant positive influence on consumer buying behaviour. The cultural factors positively affected the consumer buying behavior of fast moving consumer goods. The social factors have a positive significant influence on consumers purchasing behaviour of FMCGs. The personal factors have an adverse effect on consumers buying behaviour and the psychological factors have positive influence. The results of the study may be helpful to the management of organizations that deal with fast moving consumers in guiding them to come up with local and global strategies.

Chapter One

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

This chapter presented in the following order; background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, hypothesis and significance of the study. Consumer is a person who desires, needs and requires marketing components in their capacity as buyer. Typically, marketers are defined to have the ability to control the behaviours of customers, but actually they have neither power nor information for that. Marketer may influence their buying behavior but not control (Durmaz, Çelik and Oruç, 2011). Consumer behaviour deals with many other issues; the mental, emotional and physical activities that people engage in when selecting, purchasing, using and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy needs and desires (Pariest, Carter and Statt, 2013).

Fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) are types of goods that are purchased for almost immediate consumption (Majumdar, 2014). The average consumer spends a lot of their total budget on FMCGs (Celen, Erdogan, & Taymaz, 2015). It is therefore important for organizations to understand what activities companies that sell FMCGs do in order to achieve customer value and hence maintain competitiveness (Burt, 2014).

At present, the competitive market forced producers to produce goods based on customer needs (Tafler, 2014). The study of consumer purchase behavior, which was initially known as consumer behavior, offers relevant information regarding consumers and their consumption patterns. Consumer behavior plays a key role for all marketing activities which have the main use of promoting and selling buying products (Fratu, 2011). Basic theory consumer behaviour theory suggests that consumers make product choice decisions based on the advertised images they form of different brands (Myers & Sar 2015).

Globally, the United Kingdom Gilbert (1992) uncovered that it is important to uncover the characteristics of buying as a product as they have an implication for the nature of consumer behaviour. Zhou (2013) conducted an analysis between Chinese and foreign consumer behaviour. In foreign countries, the development of paid leave system is more mature, and most people travel in the paid vacation time. While in China, paid leave system is only in large enterprises, and people can go on vacation or leave out. The Spring Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival of home culture makes peoples’ travel time
received a very big restriction.

African consumers tend to shop for extended family and community members, while Western consumers are more likely to purchase for immediate family (Matondo, 2012). Eric (2012) researched to study the influence of sales promotion on consumer buying behavior in the telecom industry in Ghana. In the same vein, Antwi-Boateng, OwusuPrempeh and Asuamah (2013), while assessing the factors influencing the consumption of pork and poultry meat in Ghana, found that consumers preferred poultry meat to pork and consumed more poultry than pork. Nkang and Effiong (2014) studied the influence of consumer’s perception on pork and poultry meat consumption in Calabar South Local Government in Cross River State, Nigeria. They found age, marital status, source of market and occupation of the consumers were positive but were not statistically significant at 5%.

Locally, with rising cost of commodities, the consumers in Nigeria are pretty cost conscious. In Kibera, Nairobi-Nigeria, consumers are using energy saving cooking stoves since it helps them save money (Lambe &Senyagwa, 2013). In line with observations by De Groote and Kimenju (2008), culture influences consumers’ buying behavior. In Nigeria for example, consumers are buying indigenous food for their personal health benefits. This trend has made consumers to buy such vegetables from supermarkets that have aligned to such individual consumer needs.

In Nigeria, consumers are increasingly choosing to buy traditional vegetables nationally with the current hype for traditional foods benefits from health practitioners (Grivetti & Ogle, 2000). This change in cultural perspective is influencing consumer buying behavior (Kimiywe, et al., 2007). Moreover, consumers from Western Nigeria buy less white maize flour while those from Central Nigeria buy more of the fortified maize meal (De Groote, & Kimenju, 2008). In addition, although consumers appreciate the role genetically modified foods play in alleviating food shortage, they are not willing to buy these food products. This is because the same consumers fear possible health repercussions (Kimenju, De Groote, Karugia, Mbogoh, & Poland, 2005). Consumers make buying decisions every day and many people do not even know the factors that drive them. Fast Moving Consumer Goods are always used commodities in most households and the purchasing decision can be made routinely without any conscious activity.

1.3 Statement of the Problem

The rapid expansion of supermarket business with reported huge footfalls does not explain how this industry is still experiencing dismal sales performance (Oxford Business Group, 2016). In a bid to turn around their performance, supermarkets are desperately increasing sales promotions in the hope that they will attract more consumers (Rallapalli, Ganesan, Chintalapudi, Padmanabhan & Qiu 2014). The reason as to why this is a critical challenge is due to the fact that supermarkets are still conducting business as usual. They are simply increasing the usual promotions such as price discount offers and branded promotions.

Srivastava and Kumar (2013) analysed that FMCG sector is a vital contributor to India’s Gross Domestic Product. Over 73% of FMCG products are sold to middle class households in which over 52% is in rural India. As a result, private labeling has become a major threat to FMCG brands that now have to differentiate their brand benefits even more strongly (Ranu, 2014). According to Aperio (2014) retailers are actually building trust better than FMCG brands because they get higher visibility in store, more shelf space, knowledge of promotional programmes, which means they can be more competitive. This is a major threat to other FMCG brands (Fox, 2014).

Strategic leveraging on consumer buying behavior determinants would enable the supermarkets to grow their businesses sustainably. The previous studies have not dealt with the determinants of customers buying behaviour in supermarkets in Festac Town, because of this backdrop, this study is unique by concentrating on FMCG, because it makes a customer to visit a supermarket on a routine basis. This study established the determinants of customers buying behaviour in supermarkets in Festac Town.

1.4 Objectives of the Study

1.4.1 General objective

The general objective of the study was to establish the determinants of customers buying behaviour of fast-moving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town.

1.4.2 Specific objectives

The study was guided by the following specific objectives:

To determine the cultural factors affecting customers buying behaviour of fastmoving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town
To establish the psychological factors affecting customers buying behaviour of fast-moving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town
To identify the social factors affecting customers buying behaviour of fastmoving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town
To assess the personal factors affecting customers buying behaviour of fastmoving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town

1.5 Hypotheses

Ho1: There is no significant effect of cultural factors on customers buying behaviour of fast-moving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town
Ho2: There is no significant effect of psychological factors on customers buying behaviour of fast-moving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town
Ho3: There is no significant effect of social factors on customers buying behaviour of fast-moving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town
Ho4: There is no significant effect of personal of customers buying behaviour of fastmoving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study will be beneficial to the consumers in that they had more knowledge about fast moving consumer goods in supermarkets and the importance of outlet, they may learn about the different factors affecting their buying decisions. Both current and new entrants in the retail sector, especially the supermarket sub sector will find the findings useful in gaining customer loyalty and increasing the traffic of customers who visit their outlets. They may get guidelines for maximization of returns on their investments through attracting customers.

The Government of Nigeria will get valuable source of information on the FMCG industry, which is a major contributor to the economy. It may help the government come up with ways to mitigate challenges of FMCG and support the development of the industry.

The outcome of this research may beneficial to the management of organizations that deal with fast moving consumer goods in guiding them to come up with local and global strategies. These are strategies that may help them to invest more into the businesses and develop within the industry. This study may be helpful to other researches and academic institutions to learn about Nigeria’s fast-moving consumer goods in supermarkets.

Customers may benefit from this study when the various supermarkets incorporate new customer attraction strategies. Customers will enjoy more and better services. When their motivation is focused on, customers will be more contented with services making their shopping experiences enjoyable.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The study sought to establish the determinants of customers buying behaviour of fastmoving consumer goods in supermarkets in Festac Town. This was achieved by looking at the cultural, personal, social and psychological factors effecting consumer buying behavior. The study was conducted on consumer buying behaviour of fast-moving consumer goods in supermarkets in Eldoret. This study was based on selected supermarkets customers in Eldoret. It includes a target of respondents who have disposable income to spend on fast moving consumer goods in supermarkets. The study was conducted in between April to August 2018.

1.8 Limitations of the study

The limitations of the study were the fear of anonymity on the side of the respondents. This was eliminated by the assurance that the study was for academic purposes and that the findings are not to be shared to any other party. FMCG includes a lot of products which are numerous to count and hence a study may select a few of them. The study focused only on selected fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) in supermarkets in Festac Town.

Chapter Five

Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1 Conclusion

The cultural factors positively affected the consumer buying behaviour of fast-moving consumer goods. The social factors had a positive significant influence on consumer buying behaviour of fast-moving consumer goods. The psychological factors had a significant positive influence on consumer buying behaviour of fast-moving consumer goods. The personal factors negatively influenced the consumer buying behaviour of fastmoving consumer goods.

The cultural, social, personal and psychological factors had significant influence on consumer’s buying behaviour of FMCGs in supermarkets. Therefore, continuity of businesses seeking profit depends on a good analysis of the consumer behaviors and factors affecting consumer behaviors, as well as it depends on the ability of the businesses to adapt to and guess the changes in their environment.

5.2 Recommendation of the Study

The study made the following recommendations;

The study recommends that the supermarket management should continuously study customer tastes and preferences to inform their packaging. The company should ensure regularly innovation of branding to be used in the market to keep their customers engaged with their products.
The study recommends that the supermarket management should not be taken for granted cultural factors rather, they should be identified and studied since customers purchase and consumption of FMCGs are based on them. Retail outlets should appreciate the dynamics of culture and religion while designing FMCG sales outlets, since most people are less restricted by these factors while choosing their FMCGs.
The supermarket management should consider family, friends and neighbors as the most important factors that affect their customer buying decision making when selecting FMCGs. Therefore, there was need for the management to maintain their customers since they will market their retail outlet.
Consumers always base their selection on beliefs and attitudes of psychological factor. The supermarket management should put into consideration the psychological factors such as the attitude towards FMCGs and attractiveness in order to attract buyers / customers.
As such, supermarket management need to evaluate consumer their needs, values and expectations, when they are designing FMCGs for the Nigerian market. This can be enhanced when the supermarket achieves quality on a dimension that consumers consider to be important. There is a need to make sure that investments in quality occur in areas that will resonate with customers. Finally, it is it is important to understand the little things that consumers use as the basis for making a judgment of when it comes to purchasing decisions.
An individual’s decisions are influenced by personal factors such as a buyer’s age and life cycle state, occupation, economic situation and lifestyle. Therefore, the retail outlets should appreciate the dynamics of personal factors while designing FMCG sales outlets, since most people depend on them while making decision of purchasing FMCGs.
The study recommends the need for supermarket management to consider consumers’ demographic characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, occupation, education and income when designing the FMCG products to offer into the Nigerian market. This is because demography factors are vital and measurable statistics of a population that s helps to locate target market.

5.3 Recommendation for Further Studies

This study only looked on the cultural, social, personal and psychological factors influence on consumer’s buying behaviour of FMCGs in supermarkets. Other studies should focus on other factors apart from those investigated and other products sectors such as service industries. This study was limited to supermarkets in Festac Town, thus future studies should be carried out in other towns and cities in Nigeria in order to make comparisons.

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