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BRAND SWITCHING BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS IN THE HAIR CARE SERVICE

ABSTRACT

Thisproject work was an attempt to investigation the brand switching behaviour of consumer in the Hair Care Service Market in Enugu Metropolis. The main objectives were: Establish the impact of the marketing mix on the brand switching behaviour of Hair Care Service Consumer. Determine the factor or variable that promotes brand switching among hair care service market consumer. Based on the objectives above, four hypothesis were formulated.  The populations of the study were drawn from the consumer (users) of hair care service in Enugu Metropolis.  Top man’s formular methods were used to determine the sample size.  Questionnaire and personal interview were use to elicit information from respondents simple table and percentage were sued to analyzed data collected.  Based on the analysis, the following findings were made:  it was observe that consumers will probably switch away from their brands because of increase of price.  The researcher observed that the major variable that influences consumers in switching from one brand to another include differences and change in prices, availability and unavailability of hair care service brands and the desire for new experience to taste something different.  Therefore, the researcher made the following recommendations. Manufactures should embark on our expensive and critical house assessment of their distributional strength, scope and efficiency in all their requires of operations this will identify their weakness and will also locate area for improvement.  An intensive and comprehensive and continuous consumer and market research should initiated and sustained to minor consumption pattern and trends of consumers. 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Brand switching is perhaps one of the most ignored and undiscussed issues underling branding decision which are regularly encountered by manufacturers and products of brand products. This situation may exist due to the nature of produces or brand owner’s goals of objectives. One of which usually Is to generalize a positive and sustained brand preference and loyalty.

Mc Carthy and Perrault (1990:235), defined branding as the use of a name, term, symbol or design or a combination of these to identify a product it includes the use of brand names, trade-marks and practically all other means of product identification. The advent of branding in the middle ages was according to them as a result of medieval guide efforts to require crafts people to put trade work on their products to protect them and their customers from inferior quality. Today, branding is such a strong force that hardly anything goes unbranded. In developing marketing strategies for products branding has become a major products strategy facing manufacturers and markers of hair care services market in Enugu metropolis.

Semenik and Bamossy 1993, as noted earlier, the most Obvious aim of manufacturers and owners of Hair care services in Enugu metropolis from branding their products has been to develop brand loyalty or positive brand associations which to a great extent explain the influence on a consumer to repeatedly choose a particular company’s product over competing products. In building loyalty Hair care services manufacturers, over the years have emphasized products benefits attributes through advertising messages sales promotional activities integrated marketing communication and efforts coupled with recent effort at applying the social marketing concept. All these are aimed at applying the social market concept. All these are aimed at getting the consumer past the point of brand non-recognition, product test or trial to the points of brand adoption. The consumer testing a particular brand and consequently adopting it, most probably makes a conscious decisions to test and use the new brand and thus abandons or discards the previous brand. By so doing the consumer exhibits a behaviours that is crucial and is the subject matter of this study and that behaviour is brand switching. Consumer brand switching behaviour should be as important as their brand preference to Hair care service manufacturers because any overt promotional appeal or overture aimed at generating brand preference among existing consumers inadvertently produce brand switching tendencies on response, within the same group of consumers. Therefore, it should be clear to brand owners that if their brand is not generating brand loyalty then it is attracting little loyalty and thus provides a high tendency for consumers to switch to other brands. An inquiry into the nature of causative factors that give rise of brand switching among consumers or users of Hair care services will provide an opportunity to manufacturers to guard against vulnerability to brand loyalty-encouraging activities of competitors so it is the task of this study to reveal the factors and variables which, directly or indirectly gave rise to brand switching among consumers of Hair care services with emphasis on.

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Studies of consumer behaviour revealed that consumers generally exhibit three different kinds of purchase behaviour. They include expensive problem solving, limited problem solving, routine problem solving and these buying behaviour have important marketing implications. The routine problem solving or habitual purchase behaviour connotes a situation where a consumer does not devote much attention to his purchase task, often refered to as low involvement behaviour. According to Howard (1998). This behaviour gives rise to states of decisions repeat purchase and brand loyalty. This is a desirable position for most if not all hair care services manufacturers in Nigeria.

Conversely, in deciding to try a new brand other than a current brand or respond to emotional appeal or environmental appeal as point of purchase display, the consumers is placed with limited problem solving. This situation according to Hawkins et al (1992) gives rise to consumer-exhibtion of brand switching behaviour. The response of the consumer to another marketing mix stimuli such as pricing of different brands, distributional strategy impact and effort, product design and quality interplay may also give rise to brand switching behaviour.

1.3       OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

With the discovery and identification of the twin consequences of short, medium and long term marketing strategy overtures towards the consumer namely; brand loyalty and brand disloyalty (switching), it therefore becomes the prime purpose of this study to:

1.   Establish the impact of the marketing mix on the brand switching behaviour of hair care services consumers.

2.   Determine the factors or variables that promote brand switching among hair care service market consumers.

3.   Discover the relative strengths of the various brands enumerated for this study with a specified market.

4.   Ascertain the effort of brand switching by consumers on the rate of consumption of different brands within the market under survey.

1.4       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions were formulated for the purpose of this research work.

1.   How many hair care services manufacturers do we have in Enugu Metropolis

2.   How many hair care services market is there in Enugu Metropolis? 

3.   What is the marketing communication mix variable mostly used in reaching the consumers.       

4.   How often do hair care services consumers switch to other brands.

5.   Is hair care service market segmented?

1.5       RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

For the purpose of a clear result the following hypothesis have been drawn and will be tested.

Ho: Consumer switching of hair care service is not

significantly influenced by price differences.

Hi: Consumer switching of hair care service is significantly

influenced by price differences .

H0: Availability of hair care service (distributional

efficiency) does not constitute major factor inn consumers of hair care service brand switching .

H2: Availability of hair care service (distributional

efficiency) constitute major factor in consumers of hair care service brand switching.

H0: Low brand loyalty, among consumers of hair care

service does not exist.

H3: Low brand loyalty, among consumers of hair care

service  exist.

H0: Ownership of hair care service market does not

inhibits effective marketing effort of executives.

H4: Ownership of hair care service market inhibits

effective marketing effort of executives.

1.6       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is believed that the findings of this study will be of immense help to hair care service manufacturers and marketers in the following ways.

1.   It will enable the producers to identify the factors that will give rise to brand switching among consumers.

2.   It will expose the importance of continuous consumers research and market monitoring in an expanding and increasingly competitive consumer market.

3.   The study will also help brand owners to develop marketing strategies which will enable them reduce the impact of brand switching by repositioning their products to attain loyalty, it is also the hope of the research that the study would be relevant to other consumers goods manufacturers engaged in competition with producers of close substitutes a similar goods such as cosmetics and beverages.

Finally, the findings of this study should also be helpful to retailers, particularly in articulating and remodeling their purchase and merchandise policies so as to stock in relative depth and breath, different goods and their close substitutes.

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