CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Advertiser’s primary mission is to reach prospective customers and
influence their awareness, attitudes and buying behaviour. They spend a
lot of money to keep individuals (markets) interested in their
products. To succeed, they need to understand what makes potential
customers behave the way they do. The advertisers goals is to get
enough relevant market data to develop accurate profiles of
buyers-to-find the common group (and symbols) for communications this
involves the study of consumers behaviour: the mental and emotional
processes and the physical activities of people who purchase and use
goods and services to satisfy particular needs and wants. Advertising
is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas,
goods, or services by an identified sponsor (Kotler and Armstrong,
2010). There are various forms of advertising like informative
advertising, persuasive advertising, comparison advertising, and
reminder advertising. Informative advertising is used to inform
consumers about a new product, service or future or build primary
demand. It describes available products and services, corrects false
impressions and builds the image of the company, (Kotler,
2010).Advertising can be done through print media which includes news
papers ,magazines ,brochures ,Audio media for example Radio, and visual
media which includes billboards, and television (Kotler and Armstrong
2010).
Sales performance describes the trend of collections in terms of
revenue when comparing different periods (MC Cathy, 1994). The sales
may be in form of offering products or services to consumers. A service
is any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another that is
essentially intangible and does not result in ownership of anything
(Kotler and Armstrong, 2010).Sales volume is the core interest of every
organization and is based on sales and profit .When volume goes up
profits rises and management in organizations is made easier.
1.1.1 ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE
The Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd is one of the biggest companies
in the non-alcoholic beverage industry in the country and is the sole
franchise bottler of The Coca-Cola Company in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Bottling Company serves approximately 160 million
people by producing and distributing a unique portfolio of quality
brands, bringing passion to marketplace implementation, and
demonstrating leadership in corporate social responsibility.
NBC Ltd started operations in Nigeria in 1951. Based in the city of
Lagos, it operates 13 bottling plants across the country. In addition,
we channel products through 59 warehouses and distribution centres.
The company employ about 4,800 people and indirectly support the jobs
of up to more than a million more in our value chain.
Nigerian Bottling Company aims to be customers’ most preferred
supplier, and conduct programmes to support more than 450,000 customers
who sell their products to consumers.
The company is part of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Group , one of the
largest bottlers of The Coca-Cola Company’s products in the world, and
the biggest in Europe. Coca-Cola Hellenic operations span 28 countries ,
serving more than 570 million people. The company is headquartered in
Athens and listed on the Athens, New York, and London stock exchanges.
- Products
- NBC produce, sell and distribute a wide range of beverages,
most of which are trademark products of The Coca-Cola Company. Our
product portfolio consists of:
- leading brands Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola light, Fanta and Sprite
- local brands such as Schweppes, Five Alive, Limca and Eva
The Nigerian Bottling Company continuously review
opportunities to expand its product portfolio in order to offer
consumers in Nigeria an increasing range of choices. Every measure is
taken to ensure that its products are of the highest quality.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The Nigerian Bottling Company carries out frequent advertising of
their products to increase their sales volume, through taking part in
charitable funds in Nigeria and even sponsoring sports .It advertises
using radio, television and newspapers.
Despite its efforts in advertising regularly the sales of
Nigerian Bottling Company industry have not improved to the desired
targets. The sales in Nigerian Bottling Company for the past four years
have not been steady.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study was to establish the impacts of advertising on sales volume of an organization.
1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
- To examine the forms of advertising used by The Nigerian Bottling Company.
- To establish the level of sales performance in Nigerian Bottling Company.
- To establish the relationship between advertising and sales in Nigerian Bottling Company industry
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- What are the forms of advertising used by Nigerian Bottling Company?
- What is the level of sales performance of Nigerian Bottling Company?
- What is the relationship between advertising and sales performance in Nigerian Bottling Company industry?
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Content scope
The study covered advertising as the independent variable and sales performance as the dependant variable.
Geographical scope
The study was cantered at the Nigerian Bottling Company industry
in Lagos because it is the headquarter of the industry where marketing
plan is carried out, and it has large sales volume
Time scope
The study looked at five financial years back that is 2006 to 2010
1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study will help firms understand the importance of
advertising. It will also enable them structure their adverts and
brands to make them more appealing in order to improve sales and lead
to better performance. As this study gives a clear insight into how
advertisement can influence consumer behaviour, many firms will be
encouraged into using adverts to market their products. When firms
start making more sales and profits as a result of advertising, the
economy of Ghana will be boosted, as more income from tax will be
accrued to the government of Ghana. The findings and recommendations of
this study will go a long way in helping firms to adopt good
advertising strategies, and appealing brand designs to help get more
consumers for their products and services.
1.8 PLAN OF STUDY
Chapter one of this study includes the general introduction,
background information about the study, statement of the problem,
objectives of the study, research questions, scope of the study,
significance of the study, and the limitation of the study.
Chapter two reviews all relevant literatures
relating to the study as well as the researcher’s views concerning
previous studies on the challenges of income taxation.
Chapter three includes the methodology applied in
collecting and analysing data, population definition, study site, and
limitations.
Chapter four presents the results of the study as well as data analysed, and the interpretation of the analysed data.
Chapter five includes a summary of the study, conclusion and recommendations based on the findings from the study.
1.9 STUDY LIMITATION
The only limitation faced by the researcher in the course of
carrying out this study was the delay in getting data from the various
respondents. Most respondents were reluctant in filling questionnaires
administered to them due to their busy schedules and nature of their
work. The researcher found it difficult to collect responses from the
various respondents, and this almost hampered the success of this
study.