ABSTRACT
This project is focused on the role of advertising in supermarket business performance in Umuahia metropolis with special reference to Capital supermarket The topic was necessitated by the fact that supermarkets sell several goods at a time and advertising might be the most effective promotional tool for them to attract patronage. The research design adopted was descriptive research design’. This design was employed to enable the researcher study events as they existed. The work was guided by 3 research questions and 3 hypotheses. Data gathered were analyzed use the chi-square (X2) statistical summarization techniques. 8 staff of capital supermarkets as well as 369 customers of the business making the sample of 377 were studied and used for the analysis. From the findings made, it was revealed that advertising remains the most effective promo tool for supermarket operators; advertising creates awareness about new products; it helps supermarket operator in influencing patronage. Cost and choice of product to advertise are the greatest challenges of operators. The major recommendation of the study is that since advertising seems to go well with supermarket business, operators of such business should continue to use it to create awareness in order to sustain regular customer
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Declaration ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgement v
Table of Contents vi
List of Tables viii
Abstract ix
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study 1
Statement of Problem 5
Objectives of the Study 7
Research Question 7
Research Hypothesis 8
Signification of the Study 8
Scope of the Study 9
Limitations of the Study 10
Definition of Term 11
CHAPTER REVIEW
Literature Review
2.1 Overview of Advertising 12
2.2 Purpose of Advertising 14
2.3 Types/ forms of Advertising 15
2.4 Classification of Advertising 17
2.5 Qualities of Advertising 20
2.6 Roles of Advertising 21
2.7 Rules for effective Advertising 22
2.8 Advertising Media 23
2.9 Overview of Sup market 26
2.10 Effect of Advertising on supermarket 27
2.11 Difficulties of using Advertising in super market 28
2.12 Summary of Literature Review 29
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Brief introduction 31
3.1 Research Design 31
3.2 Area of the Study 32
3.3 Population of the Study 32
3.4 Determination of Sample Size 33
3.5 Method of Data Collection 34
3.6 Sampling Techniques 35
3.7 Method of Data Analysis and Presentation 35
3.8 Validity and Reliability of Instrument 36
CHAPTER FOUR
Presentation and Analysis of Data
4.1 Data Presentation 37
4.2 Data Analysis 38
4.3 Test of Hypotheses 41
CHAPTER FIVE
Summary of finding, conclusion and Recommendations
5.1 Summary of Findings 46
5.2 Conclusion 47
5.3 Recommendation 48
5.4 Suggestion for Further Studies 50
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Questionnaire Return rate 37
Table 4.2: Data analysis 38
Table 4.2.1: Do you use advertising tool in attracting patronage in the supermarket 38
Table 4.2.2: Which of the following advertising media do you use most 39
Table 4.2.3: How effective is the use of informational advertising in sustaining high sales volume 39
Table 4.2.4: Does the choice of media affect advertising of products by the supermarket 40
Table 4.2.5: Which of the following factors affect advertising most in the supermarket 40
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Business owners develop strategies to enable them have a competitive advantage, because a competitive advantage allows a company to produce or sell goods more effectively than other businesses. Of all the marketing strategies, advertising has become the most viable and commonly used strategy virtually in all classes of business.
Advertising is one of the mass communication tools available to marketers. As its name suggests, mass communication uses the same message for everyone in the targeted audience. This tool trades off the advantage of personal selling, the opportunity to tailor a message to each prospect, for the advantage of reaching many people at a lower cost per head.
Kotler (2003) sees advertising as one of the four major tools companies used to direct persuasive communication to target buyers and public noting that it consists of non-personal forms of communication conducted through paid media under clear sponsorship.
Dunn (2002) viewed advertising from its functional prospective; hence, he define it as a paid, non personal communication through various media by business firms, non-profit organizations, and individuals who are in some ways identified in the advertising message and who hope to inform or persuade members of a particular audience. Modern (2004) is of the opinion that advertising is used to establish a basic awareness of the product service in the mind of potential customer and to build up knowledge about it. Kotler (2003) sees advertising as one of the four major tools companies uses to direct persuasive communication to target buyers and public noting that it consists of non-personal forms of communication conducted through paid media clear sponsorship.
While writing on advertising nature and scope, Etzel et al (1997) succinctly capture all advertising as having four features viz:
- Verbal and/or visual message
- A sponsor who is identified
- Delivery through one or more media
- Payment by the sponsor to the media carrying the message
Advertising is employed by both large and small firms, well organized small firms like “supermarkets” have been adopting one form of advertising or the other. Anaele (2000) described supermarket as large scale retail business unit that deals mainly on household goods like fruits, fish, butter, tinned foods, frozen foods, fresh eggs, etc. Supermarkets have resemblance of self service stores in their organization. Goods sold in there have price tags like that of self service stores. The use of advertising in supermarket operations takes similar nature with those of companies and posseses some advantages.
Advertising performs several functions to firms or business. Modern (2004) identified the basic functions of advertising to conclude;
- Creation of awareness and knowledge about a new product or features of existing products that are introduced in the market.
- It creates liking for, preference for, conviction for and the purchase of a product.
- It equally tends to guide potential buyers on the uses of a given product.
- It also aims at increasing the sales volume for profit maximization.
- It has a long lasting impact on the viewer’s mind.
- Provides multiple presentations to the masses of the people with one message compared with personal selling that involved individual contact.
It is pertinent to note that companies or supermarket follow certain decision process in advertising their products. The objectives of the advertising are first of all set; the method of advertising budget is then selected, the type of message to use communicating the product is chosen. These are some of the challenges the management of businesses face in the employment of advertising tool.
Having established the basic objectives or ideas about advertising, it now becomes vital to examine how advertising helps specific businesses in attaining their business goals. To this effect, this piece of work focuses on the role of advertising on supermarket business performance in Umuahia metropolis with specific reference to Capital supermarket, Umuahia.
Capital supermarket is often regarded as the largest and most viable supermarket in Umuahia metropolis. It has been employing some competitive strategies such as advertising. This project now examines the extent to which advertising has helped the business to grow with a view to making some generalizations at the end of the study.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
There abound several competitive business strategies in the world of business today. Business owners are capable of employing standard strategies or even develop their own strategies to have a competitive edge over others. Modern (2004) observed that cost, leadership, differentiation, price strategy and advertising seem to be the most effective of all strategies in modern business operations.
Advertising for instance, helps firms to introduce their products, raise the consciousness of the public about the superiority of a given brand and raises the sales volume of the firms.
Anaele (2000) noted that some supermarkets in the United States are dubbed hypermarkets because of their use of advertising strategy at equal level of frequency with large companies. He noted that advertising has translated some supermarkets into large-scale firms.
Unfortunately, the advantages of advertising are barely evident in Nigeria supermarkets and they are yet to tap the benefits associated with it.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to examine the role of advertising on supermarket business in Umuahia metropolis with special reference to Capital supermarket. Other objectives include;
i) To examine the forms of advertising employed by supermarkets in Umuahia metropolis.
ii) To examine the advertising media used by supermarket businesses in Umuahia.
iii) To ascertain the extent to which advertising has helped Capital Supermarket in sustaining greater patronage.
1.4 Research Questions
The following research questions have been asked to guide the study;
i) What forms of advertising are used by supermarkets in Umuahia metropolis?
ii) What advertising media are commonly used by supermarket business in Umuahia?
iii) To what extent has advertising helped capital supermarket in sustaining greater percentage?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
Three research hypotheses have been formulated for testing. They include:
Ho: Television media are not the most effective advertising media for supermarkets in Umuahia.
Hi: Television media are the most effective advertising media for supermarkets in Umuahia.
Ho: Advertising has not helped capital supermarket in sustaining greater patronage.
Hi: Advertising has helped capital supermarket in sustaining greater patronage.
Ho: Cost is not the major problem for the use of advertising by the supermarkets in Umuahia.
Hi: Cost is the major problem for the use of advertising by the supermarkets in Umuahia.
1.6 Significance of the Study
This study shall be of immense benefits to the supermarket firms in Umuahia in various ways. First and foremost, it will enable the management of supermarkets to understand the role of advertising in sustaining greater patronage and its attendant benefits of increased sales and greater profit. The same vein, it will enable them to realize the most effective forms of advertising to employ as well as the most efficient advertising media.
The results of the study will also help the supermarket business to understand the processes involved in making advertising decision and how to tackle the challenges associated with them.
The results of the study will equally be a useful tool to future researchers who may want to consolidate this study or research on related topics. Moreso, it shall add to the volume of literature available in the marketing science.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This research work basically covers the role of advertising on supermarket businesses. It covers the basic concept of advertising, the purposes and most efficient forms and media available to the supermarkets. The work is delimited to capital supermarket Umuahia for effective handling of the materials and study analysis.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
The researcher encountered some challenges in the course of preparing this work. The major challenge was financial problem. The researcher had a limited amount of money to source the relevant materials needed for this work. It was a tedious task to get information from the internet, libraries, archives, magazines and journals.
Another major problem was time constraint. The time given for the submission of this work was so short that the researcher was stressed out in the course of facing other academic and personal problems.
The problem of administrating the questionnaires and lack of proper understanding on the part of the respondents on the use and needs of such questions.
However, irrespective of all these challenges, the purpose of which the work was set was achieved.
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