SOLD BY: THE RELEVANCE OF PRODUCT PACKAGING AND BRANDING IN THE MARKETING OF SHOPPING GOODS
(A case study of Royal Ceramic Nig. Ltd Abuja, Kaduna Road, Suleja)
ABSTRACT
This research work is aimed at determining the relevant of product packaging and branding in the marketing of shopping goods with special reference to Royal ceramics Nigeria limited. The organized field work, interview, observation, questionnaires and other documentary materials formed the sources of data and information for this research .All data collected were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and with the use of tables, frequency and percentage. Seventy (70) questionnaires were distributed but fifty (50) were filled and returned properly. Finally recommendations and conclusion were drawn based on the findings.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Packaging and branding have becomes very important activities in the production and marketing of goods and services. Packaging can be defined as all the activities in production planning that involve designing and producing the container or wrappers for a product. Packaging is obviously closely related to labeling and branding because the label often appears on the package and the branding is typically on the label. Packaging plays two basic roles, protection of the content and communication about the product. As a protecting tool, it helps in the storing, reduction of damage and loss of goods in transit, minimized pilferage and tempering of products in the course of handling. Is a protective device against product damage, contamination, evaporation and chemical change. Packaging helps to identify a product and thus may prevent substitution of competitive goods. Packaged good generally are more convenience.
Packaging as a means of communication involves a series of marketing activities. A firm may package it product in such a way as to increase profit possibilities. Package may be so attractive that customers will pay more just to get the special package.
Packaging as a salient salesman- when a product tends to sell itself without the company promotion then we say the package is serving as a salient salesman. Branding on the other hand means the use of a name, term, symbol or design or a combination of these which is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of seller and to differentiate them from those of competitors. Brand encourages repeat sales- if a product proves satisfactory to a customer; brands make it easy for the consumer to locate that product for repurchase.
Brands simplify sales promotion – effective sales promotion depends (mainly) on branding or identifying the products. Through branding, the quality and quantity of production can be controlled. This means that poor quality which might reflect unfavorable another products and discourage future trade-could be traced back to the quality producer. With the increase in the number of similar production in the marketing today which has in term led to the persistent increase in the level of competition among producers, individual firm do not only improve on the quality of their product, but try to differentiate their products from those of competitors. This can be achieved through the use of attractive and distinctive packaging and branding.
Hence, this project aims at finding out whether or not packaging and branding are really relevant in the marketing of shopping goods with special reference to royal ceramics Ltd, area sales office Suleja on the Abuja, Kaduna highway.
1.1 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
Historically, Royal ceramics Ltd was established in the year 1992 in Nigeria at Suleja on the Abuja-Kaduna highway about 45km from the capital city of Abuja. Royal ceramics remains the first and art pioneering ceramics unit in sub-Saharan Africa, producing wall tiles, floor tiles, porcelain tiles, red clay blocks and sanitary wares under a single roof.
THE PERFORMANCE
In product terms an early commitment to quality was made, also the development of portfolio of production acceptable and specific to the taste and heeds at Nigerians has been a man plank from the earliest days. Royal ceramics products are distributed all over Nigeria and we understand that a good percentage of their products find their way to some of our neighboring countries such as Niger, Chad and Cameroon. In Nigeria they are the leading source of locally produced ceramic – ware and it is estimated that they have nearly 40% of the market share. Royal ceramics stockists and distributors numbering 72 are uniformly distributed geographically all around Nigeria. They team of marketing professional keep touring all-round the country periodically to ensure top quality customer service and also to be in touch with the ground reality of the competition from other local and foreign producers. Royal tiles both wall tiles and floor tiles are available in variety of 750 standard designs and also custom designed tiles in special sizes and designs are also made available for special customers. We market wall tiles, vitrified floor tiles and glazed floor tiles in the thickness range of are 6mm to 12mm. The tiles sizes that are usually available are 6×6, 8×12, 8×8, 12×12 and 16×16. Sanitary ware is available in patented Italian designs and also custom made designs in various colors. The popular colors are white, sky-blue, grey and light pink. Royal has got sophisticated wing for producing quality products by testing raw materials before production, every stage to production and also finished products. The R&D (Research and Development) holds the responsibility for developing of body, ensuring the production department to produce the right product with right specifications.
Services- Royal has got a service department to educate the lying techniques to tillers and mason and also to attend the queries of customers. They act as a bridge between the company and customers.
The initial investment was USD $ 20million, and over the years the addition and modifications have increased the investment level to well over USD$30million.
THE BRAND
The business of a company is centered on serving the consumer with the high quality product. Through the large distributor network, and strong brand developed over one a decades, Royal tiles remain one of the most widespread and population brands in West Africa.
WALL TILES AND FLOOR TILE PLANTS
The 2 plants are capable of producing wall tiles, vitrified floor tiles and glazed floor tiles in the thickness range of 6mm to 12mm. the tiles sizes that can be made in this plant are 150mm x 150mm, 200mm x300mm, 200mm x 200mm, 300mm x300mm and 400mm x 400mm. OR you can still use short form of it by saying 150m x150m =6 x 6, 200mm x300m = 20 x30, 300m x300m =30 x30, 400m x 400m =40 x40 . All the equipment has been sourced from SACMI, Italy and the plants are capable of producing 4million square meter of tiles per annum. The production lines are equipped with multiple printing stations, enabling the production of multiple coloured tiles. Royal have a large stock of a variety of punches and in- house screen lab to produce innumerable designs for the market. To improve the quality of product and save on the foreign exchange from importation Royal had recently begun manufacturing frits for their own purpose and for other industries in Nigeria. Royal now have the capability to produce 20MT of first a day a significant boost to the local economy.
THE PEOPLE
The unit employs 2, 200 Nigeria directly and indirectly and 30 Indians expatriates, it is estimated the another 8000 Nigerians are employed in the various sectors such as mining, supply of raw materials, distribution of finished products e. t .c they provides accommodation to their employees.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
It is an established fact that companies irrespective of where they are situated, what and how they produce, who their shareholders are etc., face one form of problem or the other. These problems are often caused by such factors as: high level of competition, political instability fuel scarcity, competitors copying their design, qualified personnel, and raw materials.
Actually, their raw materials yard is capable of holding nearly 50,000 tons of raw materials at any given time. Considering the extended rainy season in Nigeria such a huge storage capacity becomes a necessity. But had it being some imported items such as transparent & opaque frit, zinc oxide, color pigments, printing base, magnesium silicate etc. which they import from Spain, Italy India and other European countries are found in Nigeria the product would have being at a cheaper rate.
On several occasions, the government has raced embargo on the importation of raw material and machineries which has in turn made it very difficult for manufacturers to supplement home supply with imports. Competition is another problems that most companies are now facing today and this has force them to decide new strategies to enable them gain some competitive edge over their rivals. The development of implementation of efficient and effective strategy involves a lot of money, time etc which would have been challenged towards the achievements of other organization goals. Since packaging and branding add to lots of price ,it is argued in many ways that whether it should continue or not, it is against this back-ground that the researcher carried out this research work to find out relevant of product packaging and branding in the marketing of shopping goods with special reference to Royal ceramics Ltd.
1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The importance of this study includes the following.
- To develop and transform the researcher theoretical knowledge in to practice one specially as it relates to packaging and branding.
- To shows the relevance of product packaging and branding in the marketing of shopping’s goods.
- To serve as a reference materials for research work in related fields.
- To help researchers in the field of study identify and access the important of packaging and branding in marketing of shopping goods.
- To satisfy one of the basics condition for the award of Higher National Diploma (HND) in department of marketing Nasarawa Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa state.
1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main aims and objectives of the study include the following:-
1 To find out if packaging and branding have any impact on company (Royal ceramics Ltd) turnover.
2. To find out whether or not packaging and branding help to lower the manufactures cost of distributions and promotions.
3 To find out whether or not packaging and branding facilities products differentiations.
4. To determine whether or not packaging and branding provides the much needed information about a product.
5. To find out why Royal ceramics Ltd uses packaging and branding in the marketing of their products.
6. To provides the researcher with an insight in the field of study.
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Packaging and branding are very important activities in the production of marketing of goods and service in all manufacturing industries will be very difficult if not impossible considering the cost involves time constraint. Base on these, the study is confirmed to Royal ceramics Ltd Nigeria. The relevance of products packaging and branding in the marketing of shopping goods is the essence of this research works.
1.6 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS
To decide on the outcome of the study, the following hypothesis are formed to be tested as well as to obtain meaningful information that will aid the marketing of valid conclusions and recommendations.
HI: Packaging and branding are relevant of shopping goods
HO: Packaging and branding are not relevant in marketing of shopping goods.
Note: HI: means alternative hypothesis
HO: means null hypothesis.
1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
In the course of writing a project of the nature one encounter are difficulties which include among other: the problems of locating respondent’s .some of the few that were located responded to the questionnaire reluctantly. The researcher also found it difficult to obtain vital information from the company (Royal ceramics Ltd, Nigeria)As much information are considered very crucial for the survival of the organization, in the same vein ,the project work is much tasking as it was not easy to obtain material ,the cost involves in typing ,photocopying and binding as a student .Inadequate time was another problem the researcher encountered, since the researcher has to share the available time among his normal academic work and the project work both of which are time consuming.
Consequently, very short time was left for this write-up which thus meant that the work was done in haste in order to meet up with the submission date. Lecturing which is the main task of every lecturer tends to limit the frequency of project supervision.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
The terms below have been defined in relation to the context in which they are used in this study for the sole purpose of clarity.
MARKETING: According to the institute of marketing U.K, marketing is defined as the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably while American marketing Association considers marketing as the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and service from producer to consumer or user.
PRODUCT: Njioku (2000) says that product is the object of a market offer by the firm or producer to the consumer or user.
BRANDING: Is a way of distinguishing a company’s product from those of competing products by assigning names or symbols to these product.
BRAND: Njioku (2002:69), on his own parts, a brand is a name, term, symbols or design or a combination of them which is intended to identify the goods or service of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.
BRAND NAME: Consists of words, letters\ or numbers which may be pronounced e.g. Toyota, Honda etc.
BRAND MARK: Is the part of the brand which appears in the form of symbol, design, or distinctive coloring and lettering, it can be recognized by size but cannot be vocalized.
TRADE MARK: A trade mark is a brand which is given legal protection because under the law it has been used exclusively by one seller. It therefore follows that trademarks are brands and include words, letters number, etc. which may be pronounced as well as pictorial design
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