Optimising the marketing mix to influence consumer purchasing decisions in liquor outlets

Retailers, Wholesalers, Marketers, Alcohol distributors and Manufacturers continuously fight for volume growth and market-share gain within the total alcohol market. Most of the answers of how much each can gain over a period of time remain a mystery that can only be answered by the consumers. The consumers determine who will have more share of wallet or share of throat more than the other. This is also equally applicable to brands, packs and the various alcohol categories that exist in the market. Why is it important, you possibly wonder? It is important because the alcohol market is an integrated part of our society; it contributes immensely to the South African economy and its value chain is enormous in value. Consumption expenditure increased from R3 513 039 000 in 2004 to R8 558 232 000 by 2013 in the Eastern Cape alone. In the last 10 years there has been an increase of new products that are being introduced into the market across all categories ranging from traditional alcoholic brands to flavoured and ready to drink brands. This presents an opportunity to alcohol consumers, alcohol shoppers and sellers alike. This opportunity meant that the consumer is spoilt for choice and retailers / wholesalers have an opportunity to list more brands which could possibly result in increased margins. Further to the above, South African marketers face both market challenges as well as proposed legislation regarding advertising of alcohol products. Some of the challenges include marketing clutter, competition, diverse nature of the South African consumer, infrastructure issues, government legislations, social media and digital platforms. The liquor industry of the Eastern Cape contributes approximately R7,7 billion to the Gross Geographic Product of the economy of the Eastern Cape through direct and indirect impacts; Approximately 23 620 permanent jobs are supported by the Eastern Cape liquor industry annually; Tax revenue attributable to the liquor industry in the Eastern Cape is R3,9 billion; and the economic impact of the liquor industry on gross capital formation is in the region R3,4 billion per annum. The purpose of this research is to optimise the marketing mix to influence consumer purchasing decisions in liquor outlets within the Border district within the above context. The objective of this study is to identify the marketing mix that influences consumer purchasing decisions in liquor outlets. The study will be conducted within the Border district. The Border district consists of various geographies within the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The area of the study will focus on key municipalities namely; Buffalo city, Amathole, Chris Hani and Joe Gqabi municipalities. The target sample size for this study was 360 consumers. A survey questionnaire was used to measure respondents’ preferences, attitudes, motivations and perceptions. The respondents were instructed to highlight the answer that best described them and / or their preferences. Questions were asked and the respondents had to highlight to what extent they agreed or disagreed with the question. Key findings are that there is high level of agreement that price and promotions influence consumer-purchasing decision in liquor outlets. The highest percentage of respondents are in agreement that beer is a first choice of drink and a second is spirits. 69% of the respondents agree that they change from the usual drink to a different drink when they go out. This can be attributed to the notion that consumers like to badge and want to be seen drinking brands that will be deemed socially acceptable in public, or brands that are the latest trend. The key benefits from the study include improved ability for marketers to reposition brands, give clear recommendations for drinking occasions and better understanding on how to efficiently distribute alcohol portfolios, extend brands and introduce limited editions

An assessment on the economic impact of internal savings and leadings as a development strategy for rural communities in Zimbabwe: the case of Ward 16 in Insiza North District

The purpose of this study was to assess the economic impacts of internal Savings and Lendings (ISALs) project as a development strategy on the intended beneficiaries of Insiza District in Zimbabwe. Objectives of the study were to establish the effect of ISALs on the household incomes of the intended beneficiaries; to determine the factors influencing the level of ISALs participation of the beneficiaries in the activities and to determine whether ISALs have had an effect on investments through Income Generating Activities (IGAs) of the intended beneficiaries. Beneficiaries needed to sustain themselves after the MSFLSP project had ended which was mainly a five-year livelihood project. Zimbabwe project Trust (ZimPro) therefore developed its community-based savings-led initiatives known as ISALs to reach a large group of extremely vulnerable poor people with limited savings and borrowing capacity, especially women in rural communities. Furthermore, the study adopted the Sustainable Livelihood approach as its analytical framework as this framework places the poor in the centre of analysis and ascertains the extent to which interventions recognize people’s livelihood as a basis for action and whether priorities of the target group are linked to the design and scope of the interventions. The study population for this study comprised of sixteen (16) members in the Matabeleland South Food and Livelihoods Security Project (MSFLSP). The sample studied was purposively selected to include people who were involved in the ISALs project. Prior authority was from the area district commissioner, police, and ZimPro. A mixed methodology approach was used in data collection and a case study survey was the research design was used. Data was collected using the focus group discussions and questionnaires. Data was analyzed using descriptive techniques and SPSS package was also utilized. The findings were presented in tables, charts and columns which were followed by brief explanations of the same findings, were then interpreted and recommendations made as well as suggestions for further studies. Results from this study indicated that the ISALs interventions was actually effective in that it improved the household incomes of the beneficiaries. Providing for the young ones in terms of education and access to health facilities was also found to be effected by the ISALs intervention as savings and lendings were used for the purpose with 87.5% utilizing the funds on that. The study also found out that the quality of knowledge and flexibility of policies on ISALs by beneficiaries contributed to their increased levels of participation indicating that those perceived to be poor needed to be educated on the importance of pulling together and not necessarily rely on outside help. Culture and tradition were found to be limiting factors for the few non participants as they opted to look for finances elsewhere and consume the little they had

Problems experienced by educators in the training of technology at Etwatwa schools.

M.Ed.The study was geographically confined to Etwatwa Primary and Secondary Schools in the East Rand. The purpose of the study was to benefit the educators especially at Etwatwa Schools with the knowledge on how they can be effective and to get proper training in the facilitation of technology, and how they can equip themselves in acquiring knowledge on Technology Education. In order to remedy the situation at Etwatwa Schools in conjunction with the effects on the training of technology educators employed there, a platform was prepared to conduct a research. The relevant literature was thoroughly studied and basic data were collected through interviews. The interview schedule consisted of open-ended questions that were administered among the technology educators at primary and secondary schools at Etwatwa. Permission for conduction interviews in schools was requested from Gauteng Department of Education and was granted. The research findings revealed that most of the technology educators were not trained to facilitate technology, and even those few who got formal training were not in a position of handling or dealing with the challenges, that this new learning area is offering. The project did not aim at generalization of results but a simple, in-depth understanding of the education situation at Etwatwa Schools in regard to the effects on the training of Technology educators. A set of recommendations was therefore made to remedy the situation at Etwatwa Schools concerning the training of technology educators. One of the recommendations was that technology educators could engage themselves in programmes like F.D.E (technology education) that runs for two years on part-time bases at our local universities

Energy levels in medium weight nuclei from the (p, n) reaction.

http://www.archive.org/details/energylevelsinme00loviU.S. Navy (U.S.N.) author