Factors that influence consumer preference of Century bottling company limited Versus Harris international products around Wandegeya.

Abstract

Changes in preference affect the level of demand for various goods. Knowing and understanding customer preferences is vital for marketing success. Consumer preferences can change due to changes in fashion, habit, price, quality, income level, and other factors. Successful businesses understand how to leverage the different factors influencing consumer buying behavior for effective marketing and maximizing sales. Therefore, this study investigated the key tactics that influenced consistency in consumer preference of Harris International products over Century Bottling Company Limited and ways to improve Century Bottling Company Limited’s performance. The researcher used primary data collected from the selected sample by a questionnaire. It helped to obtain the required data and explore the key variables addressed to the sample. Closed-ended questions were used to simplify data processing and analysis. Qualitative data were coded by assigning figures to various options, data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), and it was presented in tables using frequencies and percentages. Analysis was done at two levels; Univariate and bivariate levels of analysis. The study used a sample size of 107 respondents. Most of the respondents strongly agreed that quality (49.53%) influences their consumer preference followed by promotion (31.78%), product accessibility (29.91%), packaging (27.10%) sequentially. There is a significant relationship between consumer preference and age, education level, quality, and promotion. There is an insignificant relationship between consumer preference and gender, packaging material, and accessibility. The study recommended that for a company to improve the consumer preference of its products, they should improve on the quality of the products and know the cohort that they need to sell to be in a position to match their needs with the age group. Knowing the education level of the target customers is important because it determines what information to provide to them to increase the preference of consumers for the products. Companies must split their target market, with an extra segment, the one of gender for better coverage of the market. Also, discounts attribute a lot to both genders but from the market scope that discounts are suggested to focus on women consumer-candidates.