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African Journal of Business Management Vol.3 (3), pp.070-079, March, 2009 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJBM ISSN 1993-8233 © 2009 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

The impact of marketing strategies on profitability of small grocery shops in South African townships

N. Chiliya1*, G. Herbst2 and M. Roberts-Lombard3

Department of Business Management, University of Fort Hare, P. Bag X1314, Alice, 5700, South Africa. Department of Business Management, University of Fort Hare, P. Bag X1314, Alice, 5700, South Africa. 3 Department of Marketing Management , University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, 2006, South Africa.

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Accepted 26 January, 2009

The study argues that a complete “paradigm shift” in the grocery shop business sector is necessary. This will result in interventions which improve the quality of strategic marketing decisions and consequently profitability of the grocery shops. Due to the lack of a model available on how marketing strategy affects the profitability of grocery shops, a comprehensive literature search was done and norms of marketing strategies were developed and subsequently used to benchmark the practices of grocery shops in Mdantsane, East London. The grocery shop owners or managers were asked their manipulation of the marketing mix variables in their effort to attain profitability. A total of 36 grocery shops were examined within the context of the research framework. Key words: Marketing strategies, profitability, Mdanstane, township. INTRODUCTION A marketing strategy is a method by which a firm attempts to reach its target markets. Marketing strategy starts with market research, in which needs and attitudes and competitors' products are assessed and continues through into advertising, promotion, distribution and where applicable, customer servicing, packaging, sales and distribution. Marketing strategy must focus on delivering greater value to customers and the firm...