ABSTRACT

  This study had an aimed to examine the effect of brand image on sales in Guinness product Buea. Specifically, the study used three main attributes of brand image which are; brand strength, brand association and brand awareness.  This study adopted a descriptive research design, specifically a case study since it narrows its focused on the problem of sales in Guinness products in Buea. To arrive at the sample size of 40 a targeted population of 80 which include the   employees Guinness Buea and some cooperates customers of the brand. A primary data was used through structured questionnaires in the Likert scale. Data was analysis using the simple regression analysis technique. The respondents were obtained from these selected workers and customers of Guinness Buea using the convenient sampling technique of both the descriptive and inferential. This study findings shows that an increase used of the different attributes of brand image lead to increase in sales. Firstly, the study recommends that Management Guinness should implements the different features of brand image but should focused on brand association because it has a positive and significant effect on sales. Again, though most of these attributes of brand image are implemented, their effect on sales is still insignificant as in the case of brand awareness and brand strength. Finally, the researches should be carried out in a large scope for better results. 

  KEYWORDS: Brand Image and Sales.   

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1            Background of the study

 The power of selling is a great tool that anyone should never take for granted.  Worldwide, we all survive on the power of selling. Even to secure a job, you must really be good at marketing and selling yourself to the people you are looking up to for a contract, otherwise, if you are not good at that, then you lose out. The same goes for the selling of goods/products and services. If you are not a good marketer or seller, you won’t make any sales or profits and thus you will end up in losses. Sales play a vital role in the company’s/ organisation survival and current. (Apophia , (2021). sales are the heart of most companies. Sales facilitate relationship development, loyalty-building and trust between customers and the company/business entity. You need sales for business growth, lead conversions, customer retention and more. As the last stage of marketing, sales date way back to about a thousand years ago and the earliest or the first form of sales was the “Barter trade system”. This was the first and the foremost of all trade systems globally; it began way back in more than about a thousand years ago before the existence of coins and notes,         

 Outdoor marketing, personal selling, advertising, promotional merchandise and direct marketing are elements in marketing mix that promotes and increase sales. Brand image is also a promoter of sales of a company product. It is the current customer perception of the product. It gives a unique corporate bond within the minds of targeted customers.   It is the way in which a particular type of product is placed in the 2nd market. The product image conveys the emotional value and not just the mental image of the product. This how business differentiates themselves from their competitors and build customer loyalty. Brands provide opportunities to attract loyal and profitable customers, which will increase the company sales. Market segmentation and brands help in building image and in launching new brands. It is an aggregate of beliefs, ideas, and impression that a customer holds regarding the brand image as a big influence in the process of selling a product.                      

Sales have become an effective marketing tool that assist organisation to wax stronger in a developed country like U.S. (Oyedapo, (2012).  Identify sales as a key ingredient. Brand image has been a very important tool that increases sales in the increasing monopolistic competition.  In order to be able to survive in the midst of competitive competition, the company must be able to analyze the existing market share. Marketers must look further into the various factors like brand image of a products that influence buyers and develop an understanding of how consumers make purchasing decisions. Specifically, marketer must identify the people who make the buying decisions and the steps in the buying process. (Ataman B, (2012). One of the factors that can affect sales positively or negatively is the brand identity of a product.             

 In addition, brand identity is a marketing tool used by marketers to facilitates the sales of their products (Makki, (2014).  Brand identity is one element of the marketing mix that is very strategic towards increasing sales, especially to face competition between companies that produces similar product. It is how businesses differentiate themselves from their competitors and build customer loyalty. A strong brand identity can support and increase in sales, help a business attract new customers, and grow its market share. A well-designed brand can make your business more recognizable and memorable. Customers are more likely to do business with companies they know and trust. Moreover, it’s essential to create a strong visual identity that accurately represents what your business is all about. Amazingly, around 76% of female and 80% of male customers buy items from brands they recognize that have good attribute. Engaged customers with your brand are 52% more valuable than merely satisfied customers.

Sales in most developing countries like Ghana are used by businesses that have a broad variety of marketing techniques to increase their sales, gain market share, attract new users, and retain existing customers. These techniques include the brand image, labelling, pricing, distribution, product placement, advertising, and a variety of promotional activities.  Some companies in Ghana identify and implement effective, integrated marketing strategies, of products in Ghana. In the late nineteenth century, James Buchanan Duke used the cost advantages he gained from his adoption of James Bonsack’s mechanized rolling machine to aggressively market his product brand. (Kyei, EB, 2016). Duke’s marketing practices included setting relatively low prices, providing sophisticated brand image, carrying out promotions such as including picture cards in product packs and sponsoring various public events, and paying distributors and retailers to promote his brands.                           

Furthermore, the way consumer feels about a product can as well increase the sales of that product. Brand image is a strategy that has contributed to the sales   growth of many Companies in Ghana; Ghana markets for products have remained highly concentrated, with little price competition. There are many marketing practices tools used by Duke which continue to be important marketing tools for today’s companies, have long argued that their marketing efforts do not increase the overall goal. Therefore, every business bears a trade name from the small-scale market traders to the largest multi-national corporation. Brand image commonly referred to in the field of promotion and advertising Product. Brand image is one of the major components of business strategy that aims to identify a company’s product, and increase the sales of that product.   

The perspective focusing on psychological attributes of a product of consumer behavior states that consumers often choose products, services and activities over others because they associate these attributes with a certain life-style, a self-image or an ascribed status. They attempt to preserve or enhance their self-image by buying products that they believe are congruent with that self-image and by avoiding products that are not for that reason, marketing academicians and practitioners see the symbolic image of products or services as more important in their success than their physical characteristics and attributes. In today’s, brand image plays a vital role in expanding an organization.  A brand image is one of the most vital tools that is used to affect sales through a change in consumer’s buying habits. Today consumers are more aware of product than ever before. Consumers in the community are more aware of their status and prefer to use branded products to promote their intended purpose (Nasar et al., 2012). A brand image is considered the best way in which any business can used to increase their sales and   attract the attention of the people and enjoy a competitive edge. It is also considered a valuable tool for any business as it can change the behavior of a consumer. It can take an important part in expanding any business.                                    

Sales in Cameroon have marketing campaigns which assist organisation to achieve its objectives. The main aim of any organisation is to maximized profit, have largest market share and to become leader in a market competitive environment. In today’s brand image plays a vital role in growing the business of any organisation and   also affects the sales of that organisation. A brand image is one tool that is used to affects sales and it also change consumer’s buying habits. Today consumers are more aware of product than ever before. Consumers in the community are more aware of their status and prefer to use branded products to promote their intended purpose (Nasar et al., 2012). A brand image is considered the best way in which any business can attract the attention of the people and enjoy a competitive edge. It is also considered a valuable tool for any business as it can change the behavior of a consumer. It can take an important part in expanding any business.              

Moreover, brand image is the key driver of brand value, which refers to customer’s general discernment and feeling about a brand and has an effect on sales through the customer conduct. For advertisers, whatever their organisations’ promoting procedures are the primary motivation behind their promoting exercises is to impact customers’ observation and state of mind toward a brand, build up the brand image in customers’ mind, and empower shoppers’ real acquiring conduct of the brand, in this manner expanding deals, boosting the piece of the pie and creating brand equity. Brand image act as an advertising tools that plays an important role in improving the sales of a products in any business, because brand image is an implicit tool that can positively change people’s buying behavior, and advertising is the driving force of any business because it is an effective source to convey your message and stay in the hearts of customers. (Beret Abrum ,(2015).                 

Guinness is one of the brewery companies that uses sales to create awareness, reminds and persuades customer to purchase their products which will increase sales and lead to the organisational growth of the company. Brand image is increasingly gaining the great deal in marketing strategies among modern companies and it is generally connected with the sales of the branded products. To cope with this increasing demand, Guinness Buea and his marketers have intensified the brand image of their products to be unique from their competitors. This makes a product unique and different        from other products, thereby differentiating the Guinness products in monopolistic market. Product brand image comprises of design, logo and messaging. The idea of the Guinness product brand is to trigger an emotional connection in consumers and this connection will last throughout the whole life of the product. It makes the Guinness product have unique image and identity and this makes company to position all their products differently, added that product brand image helps in market segmentation, customer franchising and facilitates the sales   of products. The long term effect of brand image is expected to sustain corporate profit.                  

Finally, the ways consumer feel about a brand can swell increase the sales of that products. Brand identity is a marketing strategy used by marketers to sells out their product without any stress. Consumers who buy the Guinness product not minding other product are said to be loyal to such brand as they have internalized the purchasing to the points where it is no longer a conscious decision. Consumers have this notion that a brand speak to them and represent a lifestyle they have or aspired to have or even give them a special service they want, and it is important that organisation maintained and managed this relationship. Consumer’s use both rational and emotional consideration in deciding the brand to purchase. Brand image is formed by the consumers more than it is created by the company. It is a combination of consumer’s opinion and attitudes and therefore it has a direct impact on the consumers buying behavior as well as sales.  A consumer’s general perception about the brand will help in measuring the frequency of the consumer’s presence at the brand or the store. The purchase behavior of the customers is a key characteristic in determining the brands future and the long term position.

The controversies that exist in the literature on the link between brand image and sales on business organisaton. It is a widely held belief that negative brand information negatively influences all aspects of a brand, yet it is unclear if this is the case. Most previous research suggested negative brand information has a negative effect on attitude towards a brand and/or purchase intention (Ahluwalia and Gürhan- Canli, 2000; Dawar and Pillutla, 2000; Dentoni et al., 2011; Ullrich and Brunner, 2015). However, Berger et al. (2010) found negative online reviews increased book sales if an author was not well-known, and Ein-Gar et al. (2012) found a small amount of negative information improved consumers’ views about a brand if they had previously received positive descriptions about that brand. Both of these studies suggested more research is needed to better understand the responses that are likely to be triggered by negative brand information. However, brands also have to deal with negative brand information, as consumers access a wide variety of brand information through traditional and new media, including television, radio, online news forums, webcasts and smartphone apps. With the advent of the internet and the explosion of social media, the speed of information spread has increased dramatically, especially for negative brand information (Ward and Ostrom, 2006). As a result, people confront negative brand information more frequently than they did even a decade ago (Eisingerich et al., 2011).                                     

1.2 Statement of the Problem

 Many business organisations in the world are facing a lot of problems in their area of sales.  Many organisations do not have a good marketer who have ability to persuade or convince customer to purchase their brand and because of that it becomes a problem. Some marketers do not even know how their product are being used and sometimes when a customer purchases that brand and is asking for questions concerning the product, the sales person cannot even respond to that customer appropriately which can affect the sales.  Sales has become a strategic process, and buyers are better educated than ever before. They have changed and many sales teams are still playing catch up. Businesses have become more globalized than ever before, businesses having some form of international arm, amplifying the problems over and over especially when the product have a poor brand image customer will not be able to get important information and knowledge about the products and hence it will reduce sales.                        

In Most developed countries like in the USA, many states have regional restrictions in place as well as federal regulations. This means local jurisdictions regulate and tax beer and in some cases even prohibit the sale of alcohol. Sales order management need to make sure that catalogs, campaigns, pricing and taxation are set to match the regulations you and your customers must abide by. Also Managing your field sales representative is also a major problem which affect sales in the developed countries since sales representatives are a significant expense, managing their time and activities correctly. You want to manage their time (or give them tools to do so): plan their schedule, decide which customers they should visit based on your business needs, and most importantly make sure their time with the retailer is spent on what you think is important. You may want your representative to collect information about a competitor’s campaign, take stock, discuss debts and you need to find a way to efficiently communicate this to your representative and review what they have done. Another significant problem faced also is benchmarking: being able to keep track of and compare sales representatives’ performance. Who is not doing as well as the others and Who is excelling in pushing campaigns.

In the developing countries one of the problems faced by most companies is lack of proper training. Most of the organisations set high expectations but fail to provide proper training to the sales representative for handling today’s smart buyers. Lack of training is the primary cause of low sales productivity. Most of the representative face trouble meeting their sales goals. Most Company don’t even have training programmes for the developing of their marketer’s skills. Inability to handle criticism or rejection most sales persons cannot hear a “NO” and neither can they accept criticism. They get demoralized. This even affects their next deal as they cannot focus on the communication due to the disappointment from the rejection or criticism they faced. Companies use to face problem of criticism especially during the promotion period they turn to produce low quality product.

Cameroon has not been an exception where the market has turned into a battlefield where businesses are doing all it takes to surpass their competitors. If brasseries and kadji products are on promotion and Guinness’s product are not, it will affect the sales of Guinness because some of their customer will diverse their interest to the brasseries or Kadji product despites of the brand image of Guinness’s because their customers will be feel neglected and not motivated which will drop the sales of the Guinness product.  Due to the ongoing political Crisis in some parts of Country that is the North west and South West region  of Cameroon and Buea been located in the South West where    some of these products were banned and due to the feared nature of the environment caused by the crisis the Guinness company could not supply to the hinter land as before because they were afraid of kidnapping of their workers for ransom or seizure of their Vehicles by the fighters, all these can affect the sales of the Products.

The Guinness organisation has being undergoing quite a numerous problem in recent past. Today the Guinness organisation are characterized by complex relationship and high degree of interdependent task that can occur. People also have different values and perception towards difference product for instance.  The production manager for instance might decides to change the means of labelling and still retain its brand name in order to stream line few products which eventually might not be satisfactory and accepted by consumers. The problem also confirms to the facts that their customers’ needs might not be met due to the time and cost it will have caused the organisation to meet the demand. The welfare of the work force required by the organisation is another important part to look at due to the process of performing their assign duties. The socio economic system of the customers if not observed carefully it can also be a problem during sales.

The Guinness Buea faces problem with regards to their brand. The complexity to taste; Guinness beers taste is a bits complex and its quite difficult for people to get adjusted with it. This is a weak point for the brand as it is difficult to get new entrants for the products. Another problem that impacts on a brand image of the Guinness brand is poor customer service, various factors, including insufficient training and inadequate staffing.                     

However, several researchers report conflicting results on the influence of brand awareness and brand association on the sales of the product. For instance, (Akkucuk, (2016) reported that buying the Guinness was influenced by brand awareness. On the contrary, Akkucuk found that brand association did not have influence on the purchase behavior of Guinness buyers. ( Kyei, (2016) found that both brand awareness and brand associations had positive and significant impact on the sales of the products (Kyei, 2016). Alamgir et al. (2014) aligned with Kyei stating that when consumers went to purchase cars, they preferred to purchase the well-known and branded product. Having encountered with the above contradictions, the researcher developed the interest to assess the effect of brand image on the sales of Guinness products in Buea. Due to the controversies this research answers the following research question.  

1.3 Research Question

1.3.1 Main research question

What is the effect of   brand image on sales of Guinness product in Buea?

1.3.2 Research specific questions

How can brand strength have an effect on sales of Guinness Buea?

What is the effect of brand awareness on the sales of Guinness Buea?

How does brand association have an effect on sales of Guinness Buea?

1.4 Research objectives

1.4.1 Main objectives

To examine the effect of Brand image on the sales of Guinness product Buea

1.4.2 Specific objectives

To achieved the main objectives, the following target specific objectives needs to be achieved.

To assess the effect of brand strength on sales of Guinness product Buea

To determine the effect of brand awareness on sales of Guinness product Buea

To evaluates the effect of brand association on sales of Guinness product Buea.

1.5 Hypothesis

H₁: Brand strength has a strong positive and significant effect on sales of Guinness product Buea.

H₂: Brand awareness has a strong positive and significant effect on sales of Guinness product Buea.

H₃: Brand association has a strong positive and significant effect on sales of Guinness product Buea

1.6 Scope of the Study

It explains the extent to which   the research area will be explored in the work and specifies the parameters within the study will be operating. The scope is divided in to three areas that is geographical scope, time scope and thematic scope.