The extent to which value proposition influences consumer choice for beer brands in Nairobi.

Abstract

The beer consumer is always unconsciously asking "what is in it for me?" since the beer market is made up of products that are functionally similar. The challenge to the marketer therefore is to distinguish his products from competition by extending the brand identity to include the emotional and self expressive benefits. The objective of the study was to determine the extent to which value proposition influence choice of beer brands in the consumer decision making process. It also sought to find out if some benefits influence brand choice more than others and if there exists other important factors that also influence choice of beer brands. Finally, the study sought to establish whether the influence of value proposition indicators differ along certain demographics variables like gender and age. The research design was a descriptive survey with a population sample of 200 respondents who were selected from Nakumatt and Uchumi supermarket in Nairobi's Westlands area. Out of 200 respondents targeted, 191 responded thus having a 95.5% response rate. The data was analyzed using The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The study revealed that, value proposition influences consumer choice of beer brands but at varying degrees. Clearly, the brand manager must therefore focus his attention and resources in creating and communicating emotional and functional benefits of their brand in order to beat competition and lead in their product category. The study suffered a major limitation as it was conducted primarily in Westlands area of Nairobi and hence did not take into account views from other parts of the country due to limitation of time and resources. The researcher suggests that similar research should be carried out on another setting preferably rural. Also, another study may be carried out to find out whether value proposition benefits are equally important for non alcoholic beverages