Marketing Communication Tools and Consumer Buying Behaviour in Selected Supermarkets in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

Consumer buying behaviour has remained a complex construct to be easily comprehended by marketers and therefore studies have asserted the construct may be best understood via marketing communication tools stimulus designed and implemented in the organisation. However, empirical studies investigating consumer buyer behaviour in retail supermarkets have remained scant and anecdotal especially in Kenyan context where some supermarkets have gone bankrupt and others are struggling for going concern. It is against this background that this study sought to examine the effect that marketing communication tools have on buying behaviour of consumers in selected supermarkets in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The specific objectives that this study sought to achieve include: to investigate the effect of advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing, and digital marketing on buying behaviour of consumers of selected supermarkets in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study was anchored on Stimulus-Response Model, Attention, Interest, desire, and Action Model, and Hierarchy-of-Effect Theory. The research design adopted for this study included descriptive and explanatory designs. The consumers of selected retail supermarkets operating in Nairobi Central Business District, Kenya were the study's population, with a sample size of 370 customers established using the Yamane method. Convenience sampling technique was used to select study respondents. The study made use of questionnaire as an instrument for the collection of primary data. validity (face, content, and construct) and reliability (test showed an overall average alpha coefficient of 0.78 which is above the threshold of 0.70 set as benchmark for measuring reliability of research instrument, and therefore indicated internal consistency) of the study instruments were done to determine the appropriateness and adequacy of the research items. The analysis of data collected was done via descriptive and inferential analytical methods Personal sales, direct marketing, and digital marketing, according to the findings, have had a substantial impact on consumer buying behaviour at selected supermarkets in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Advertising and sales promotions, on the other hand, were shown to have no effect on consumer behaviour therefore marketing firms may still need to focus their efforts on increasing advertisements and promotion in sales as instruments in attracting customers' desires on what is offered in the market. It is recommended that Kenyan supermarket managers use the findings to better understand people's perceptions of market offerings and information exchange on what defines public behaviour.