Promotional Strategies and Market Acceptability of Champ Malt Beverages in Owerri Municipality.

Abstract:

Market acceptability refers to the degree of consumers’ willingness to adopt, purchase, use, and continue using a product or service in a given market over time. The study adopted a survey method to determine the influence of promotional strategies on market acceptability of champ malt beverage in Owerri municipality. The young adults and middle-aged persons between 18 and 50 years constituted the study population of 301,000, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The convenience sampling technique was deployed and a sample size of 400 determined using Taro Yamane formula. The research instrument (questionnaire), designed in a four-point Likert Scale format was used to elicit responses from the respondents in Owerri municipality. Two hypotheses and two research questions guided the study. The primary and secondary data sources were accessed. The questionnaire was subjected to face-to-face validity by presenting it to the marketing experts to ensure its alignment with the study objectives. In-depth interviews, including focus group discussions were conducted and the reliability coefficient of the instrument, 0.92 was determined using Cronbach’s Alpha technique. With the Pearson Correlation and multiple linear regression analytical techniques, hypotheses one and two were tested respectively at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that promotional strategies had strong positive relationships with market acceptability of champ malt beverage in Owerri municipality, and exerted significant positive influence on consumer purchase decisions. The study provided insights into the impressive sales turnover of champ malt in the rural areas instead of Owerri municipality.