ABSTRACT

The study focused on distribution strategies and marketing performance of soft –drink manufacturing companies in South-East, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to; examine the effect of mass distribution on the customer patronage of selected soft-drink manufacturing companies in South-East, Nigeria; investigate the effect of selective distributorship on the competitive advantage of selected soft drink manufacturing companies in South-East, Nigeria: examine the effect of mass distribution on the competitive advantage of selected soft-drink manufacturing companies in South-East, Nigeria and examine the effect of selective distributorship on the customer patronage of selected soft-drink manufacturing companies in South-East, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study was 660 staff in the sales, warehousing, logistics, public relations and marketing departments of the Nigerian Bottling Company plc and Seven UP Company plc respectively in South-East, Nigeria. A sample size of 249 (Two hundred and forty-nine) was drawn from the population using Taro Yamani statistical formula. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested with Simple Linear Regression models. The major findings in the study showed that: there is a significant effect of mass distribution on the customer patronage of the studied firms in South-East, Nigeria; there is a significant effect of selective distributorship on competitive advantage of the studied firms in South-East, Nigeria; there is a significant effect of mass distribution on competitive advantage of the studied firms in South-East, Nigeria and there is a significant effect of selective distributorship on customer patronage of the studied firms in South-East, Nigeria. Hence, we concluded that distribution strategies are predictors of marketing performance for the studied firms in South-East, Nigeria. We, therefore, recommended that management of soft-drink firms should pay adequate attention to distribution strategies that showed significant effect and relationship with each of the marketing performance constructs in order to improve on marketing performance.