CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

In any organization whether profit or nonprofit oriented the main purpose of the organization is to achieve its objective. The objectives cannot be achieved in a vacuum there must be a clearly set strategy that management should use in order to meet these objectives.  Sales promotion became an essential motivating factor in the area of marketing in any organization whether in the Telecommunication firms or any other company.

Sales promotion is an initiative undertaken by organizations to promote and increase sales, usage or trial of a product or services (Aderemi, 2003). Sales promotion refers to the provision of incentives to customers or to the distribution channel to stimulate demand for a product. It is an important component of an organizations overall marketing strategy along with advertising, public relations and personal selling. Sales promotion acts as a competitive weapon by providing an extra incentive for the target audience to purchase or support one brand over the other. It is particularly effective in spurring product trials and unplanned purchases (Aderemi, 2003). Many businesses fail to realize that they cannot stay in business without any marketing strategies. This is because they were operating in a market that was monopolistic in nature. This means that there was no intense competition from other organization. But these days due to dynamic nature of the market, and consumer taste changes every day it has become imperative on the part of the business to look into their strategies and review them if at all they want to remain in business. 

The marketing communication mix consists of the sub sets of marketing tools that are primarily communicational in nature. They are tools normally classified under promotion which is one of the controllable variables of the 4ps of marketing promotional mix, is made up of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and publicity. The element in the promotional mix that is rapidly gaining additional recognition in most industries especially in the brewery industry in Nigeria is the sales promotion. It is not enough mostly in developing countries like Nigeria in manufacturing to merely produce and trust that consumers will become aware of such products.

The researcher intends to identify the level of depending on sales promotion and its importance to Telecommunication consumers and customer alike.  The researcher deliberated on the effectiveness achievements and the results. The merits and demerits associated with sales promotion are also highlighted.

1.2   Statement of the Problem

Service providers like the Telecom operators’ needs to provide offerings or services that satisfy consumer needs and expectations to ensure the company’s economic survival.  Intense competition among the telecommunication networks in Port Harcourt has led to the application of various marketing strategies and tactics to win a good share of the market. Sales promotion has been widely used by these networks in their attempt to outsmart their competitors. Mean while Sales Promotion which is a key ingredient in marketing campaigns and consists of a diverse collection of incentive tools is mostly short term designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers but seen as lacking the capacity.

Against this backdrop, this research examines the extent to which sales promotion strategies and sales performance in the telecommunication industry in Port Harcourt.

1.3   Purpose of Study

The general purpose of the study is to determine Sales Promotion Strategies and Sales performance in telecommunication firms. The Main objectives of this study are:

1.     To examine the relationship between Price reduction and sales Performance in telecommunication firms in Port Harcourt.

2.     To examine the relationship between Coupons and sales performance in telecommunication firms in Port Harcourt.

3     To examine extent to which sample influences sales performance in telecommunication firms in Port Harcourt.