Abstract

In marketing fields, sales promotion is one of the most important topics. Due to the changing market conditions customers are looking for convenience and value for money. This study was aimed at examining the effects of sales promotion on consumer buying behavior in the telecommunication industry of Cameroon case of MTN Buea branch.

The main aim of this work was to examine the effects of sales promotion on consumer buying behavior in the telecommunication industry of Cameroon, specific objectives of the study were to analyze the effect of consumer promotion on customer buying behavior in the Telecommunication Industry, to examine the effect of Trade promotion on consumer buying behavior in the Telecommunication Industry, to determine the effect of sales force promotion on consumer behavior in Telecommunication, from the research objectives, research questions were formulated and hypothesis stated in the null and alternative forms.

This study employed descriptive research designs with a total sampling size of 50 using random sampling technique. Also, both primary and secondary data source were used with the help of a questionnaire as an instrument of data collection. Results of the study found that sales promotion had a significance level of 0.012 which shows that the data is ideal for making a conclusion on the population’s parameter as the value of significance (p-value) was less than 5%.

The study also r that customer buy because the company provides coupons, short term reduction of prices on certain occasions like Christmas, appearance of sales persons is very vital in revealed that sales promotions are done in term of cash. Also, the study concluded that more services are bought when the company offer more discounts, customer discount positively influence customers purchase decision. The study further recommends that MTN need to set up a more effective sales promotion department with qualified staff who are innovative and creative coming up with ideas on effective sales promotion.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

In any organization whether profit or non-profit oriented, the main purpose of the organization is to meet its objectives. The objectives cannot be achieved in a vacuum. There must be a clearly set strategy that management should use in other to meet these objectives. Many businesses fail to realize that they cannot stay into business without any marketing strategies. This is because they are operating in a market that is monopolistic in nature.

This means that there was no intense competition from other organizations. But these days due to dynamic nature of the market and because consumer taste changes overtime, it has become imperative on the part of the business to look into their strategies and review them if at all they want to remain in business.

The marketing communication or promotional mix consists of the subset of marketing tools which are primarily communicational in nature. They are tools normally classified under promotion which is one of the controllable variables of the seven Ps (7Ps in marketing).

The promotional mix is made up of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity etc. The element in the promotional mix that is rapidly gaining additional recognition in most industries especially in the telecommunication industry in Africa and Cameroon in particular is the sales promotion. It is not enough especially for firms in developing countries like Cameroon to produce and just trust that consumers will became aware of such products. The firm has to engage in promotional activities.

Sales promotion is one of the most important strategies that marketers are focusing on nowadays and it is one of the most important techniques in the marketing communication or promotional mix. Sales promotion is increasing day by day thanks to the tough and massive competition and other developments that are taking place in the world today like globalization and technological developments. Moreover, sales promotion is one of the most amazing tools that support other marketing efforts like advertising to attract customers (Shimp 2003). Management of most organization therefore put sales promotion at the Centre  of their marketing strategies to influence the buying behaviour of consumers.

Sales promotion has become a vital tool for marketers and its importance has been increasing significantly over the years. In India, sales promotion’s expenditures by various marketing companies is estimated to be thousands of Crore and the emphasis on sales promotion activities by the Indian industry has increased from 500 to 600% during the last 3 to 5 years. In the year 2004, there were as many as 2050 promotional schemes in the Rs 80000 Crore, fast moving consumer goods FMCG industry (Dand et al 2005).

The immense role that sales promotion plays in the selling of products could be one of the most important reasons why businesses continue to use this tool to promote their products. The use of sales promotion techniques has been on the increase by most Cameroonian businesses in recent years. Following the economic recovery program, structural adjustment program and the subsequent trade liberalization, many companies in Cameroon have had to face competition from overseas companies that are aggressive in promoting their products. One of the companies that use sales promotion to dominate the market is MTN on its airtime services.

In Cameroon, sales promotion is one of the major strategies used by firms to dominate the market. This is common in firms where there is a high level of competition like firms in the telecommunication industry where each firm seeks to own a greater share of the market. It is therefore important to know the behaviour of your consumers in other to know whether engaging in sales promotion will meet organizational objectives and to know which sales promotional method to employ at a given time.

1.2 Statement of the problem

From the past, it is widely noticed that advertisement was used by many firms to dominate and win market share. But recently, sales promotion has become one if not the most strategic tool used by organizations to win and dominate the market especially in the world of increasing competition. Sales promotion can easily be seen in industries with high competition where each firm tries to occupy a greater share of the market especially in the telecommunication and brewery industries.

Although sales promotion is one of the tools of the marketing communications or promotional mix, it has different objectives from others. For example advertisement aims at creating, influencing and changing consumer’s attitude. Personal selling is aiming to have direct contact with buyers. The main aim of this connection is to persuade, inform and educate them.

Point of purchase communication is to attract consumers to purchase certain goods or services while he or she is doing a shopping. Sponsorship marketing is aiming to promote the brand when it is helping to do certain events. However, sales promotion has other objectives which are to stimulate consumers to purchase certain products or services at a lower price. They are incentives that are offered by manufacturers. Intense competition among the telecommunication networks in Cameroon has led to the application of various marketing strategies and tactics to win a good share of the market.

Sales promotion has been widely used by these networks in their attempt to outsmart their competitors. Meanwhile Sales Promotion which is a key ingredient in marketing campaigns and consists of a diverse collection of incentive tools is mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers but seen as lacking the capacity to influence the buying behavior of customers. Against this backdrop, this research is therefore structured to provide an answer to this question; To what extend does sales promotion influence consumer’s buying behaviour in the telecommunication industry of Cameroon?

1.3 Research Question

1.3.1 Main research questions

To what extend does sales promotion influence consumers buying behavior in the Telecommunication Industry of Cameroon?

• Specific Research Questions

1. How does consumer promotion affect customer buying behavior in the Telecommunication Industry?
2. To what extent does Trade promotion affect customer buying behavior in the Telecommunication Industry?
3. What is the effect of sales force promotion on consumer buying behavior in the Telecommunication?

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