THE EFFECT OF MARKETING MIX ELEMENTS (4P) ON CONSUMERS’ PURCHASING DECISION IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF SODA BRANDS

Abstract

The main objective of the study is focused on investigating how marketing mix elements affect consumer purchasing decision. Other objectives include to examine the attitude of consumer purchasing decision based on product, to examine the attitude of consumer purchasing decision based on price, to investigate the attitude of consumer purchasing decision based on promotional activities and to examine the attitude of consumer purchasing decision as regards place and distribution actions. The research population was Oyo State while the research sample was 384. The study adopted a convenient research sampling technique. The study made use of questionnaire for data collection and two different scales were adopted for the study. The scales include Mittal Consumer Purchase Decision scale and Malau Hamman 4p marketing mix assessment scale. The study has six sections. The questionnaire will adopt a five points Likert scale from section two to section six and the scale will range from Strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree. The questionnaire will be distributed electronically with the use of Google Online form survey tool. For scale reliability, Cronbach Alpha reliability test will be conducted while Pearson Moment Correlation analysis will be carried out for scale validity. The study made use of multiple regression analysis to test the research hypotheses. The result of the study shows that the four hypotheses were accepted. The result shows that product strategies, price strategies, place and promotion strategies all have positive relationship and impact on consumer purchasing decision. Based on the result of the study, the various marketing mix elements have been found to affect the ability of customers to purchase soda. Organizations must invest in the different strategies to help in the improvement of sales, market performance and gaining market share based on the market segment. Marketers must carry out detailed research on customer needs and develop products based on the needs of customers. The product must be a reflection of the society and location. For future studies, the promotional mix should be expanded based on the different promotional strategies which can be adopted based on their impact on consumer purchasing decision. The studies can focus on the impact advertisements, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and publicity consumer purchasing decisions.