BALOGUN Michael Ayomide
&
ODIA Edith Onowe
Department of Marketing
Faculty of Management Sciences
University of Benin, Benin City
Abstract
The study examined the impact of bottling companies’ marketing mix variables: product strategy, promotion strategy, price strategy and place strategy on dealers’ sales performance in Benin metropolis. As a cross-sectional survey, study employed quantitative and correlational research designs. A total of 50 dealers, the major distributors of the Nigerian Bottling and Seven Up Bottling companies constituted the sample for this study. Purposive sampling technique was employed in selecting the sampled dealers in different areas in Benin metropolis between March and April, 2023. Descriptive and inferential analyses including percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, and regression test were performed for data analysis. The findings indicated that the marketing mix variables adopted by the bottling companies are effective in the areas of product strategy, promotion strategy, price strategy and distribution strategy. In a similar manner, findings clearly showed that sales performance of the dealers is significantly high. No significant relationship was found between product, promotion strategy and dealers’ sales performance except price and place strategies. It was therefore recommended that bottling companies should give special attention, time and resources to pricing and effective distribution of products to improve market coverage and profitability.
Keywords: Marketing mix, Sales performance, 4Ps, Bottling companies.