ABSTRACT

The principal aim of consumer behavior analysis is to explain why consumers act in particular ways under certain circumstances. This study was carried out to examine the effect of advertisement on the buying behavior of toothpaste consumers in Abia State. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 300 toothpaste consumers for this study and data was elicited with the use of questionnaires. Descriptive statistics (such as tables, means, frequencies and percentages) as well as inferential statistics (Logit and OLS models) were employed for the data analyses. Chi-square and Correlation were used in the hypothesis testing. The result shows that majority (52%) of the respondents are females while 48% are males. Majority (35%) of customers were adult between ages of 46 and 55 years; although there were a few minors who participated in the survey. The result further showed that majority (77%) of the respondents use toothpaste while 23% do not, therefore implying that the minority of the respondents use other oral care materials other than toothpaste such as traditional powder, chewing stick and others. Brand name was the most important reason why consumers will prefer a particular brand. The regression result shows that media jingles, information on toothpaste pack, promotion and use of free samples were all positively correlated to toothpaste patronage. Similarly, level of education and annual income were positively related to patronage rate while sex, age and household size were negative. In addition, the use of billboards, radio, television, print media, promotions and celebrities positively influenced buying behaviour. Price rise of current brand and unavailability of preferred brands encouraged brand switch while impact of packaging, scheme of brands and advertisement impact were negatively related to brand switch. The test of hypotheses further agreed with the empirical findings that consumers’ patronage of toothpaste and brand switch were influenced by advertisement attributes. Similarly, sales promotion and advertisement significantly influenced consumers’ buying behaviour respectively. It was recommended that marketers assess the market segment that will appreciate specific promotion techniques in order to get maximum response, which will in turn result in increased sales. Nigerian toothpaste companies must learn from their western counterparts in identifying new competencies and perspective that will enable them respond to these changes, comprehensively and effectively.