Evaluation of the Effects of Marketing Strategies on Consumer Patronage of Restaurants in Enugu (A Study of Mr. Bigg’s)

1. Introduction

Marketing strategies are those arsenals within the capability of marketing directors, managers and executives intended to be adopted to project an indomitable trajectory against marketing threats. Marketing is war and the marketer has to brandish his weapon judiciously in order to be a “Victor”. He must be robust and viable enough to convert his threats into opportunities, and his weaknesses in strength. There are countless marketing strategies at the disposal and threshold of the marketing professionals. However, every marketing strategy must recognize the kingship of the consumer. Perhaps most businesses fail because management relegates the indispensability of the consumer. And also forget that the system of government in any marketing system is a “Monarchical one, with the consumer sitting at the helm of affairs. With the above vignette, the study of the processes consumers undergo before any purchase is sine qua non to all businesses (manufactured products and services alike).

Onu (2005) “describes a consumer as a particular individual who makes a conscious decision to purchase goods or services from and patronize a particular firm or shop”. The attributes of a consumer include; freedom of choice in the purchase decision, conscious exercise of that choice which results in the selection of certain goods and services and the rejection of others, involvement at the point of service delivery, and continuous patronage of a particular shop or outlet.

Choice of preference for opportunity cost of products by individuals and groups enlarges so much in time and occasionally individual interests clash. The wasted time in decision making by individuals and groups and their willingness to part with their money is a big setback on sales and performance. The major decision a buyer makes in a group and how his choice influences others is a problem in consumer behaviour. Consumer choice is the totality of consumers’ decisions with respect to the acquisition, consumption, and disposal of goods and services.

According to Macinnis and Hoyer (2008), it involves more than just the way that a person buys tangible products. It also includes consumers’ use of services, activities, experiences and ideas. The challenge of getting the attention of and remaining in the mind of the consumers have steadily increased, requiring organizations to create nicely planned and comprehensive marketing communication programmes in order to achieve organisational objectives. All marketing efforts should be, consumer focused, consumer centric, consumer oriented, and consumer obsessed, backed by integrated marketing communications aimed at generating consumer satisfaction as the key to satisfying organizational goals.

For a business to succeed in a competitive market where different brands compete for patronage and consumers have freedom of choice, coupled with high running costs, there is need for proper understanding of what the consumers need, want, and what they feel about the company’s products and services. Organizations are required to be consumer-oriented and quality focused on utility creation to satisfy consumer’s needs (Eze, Nnabuko and Beredugo, 2014).

According to Salami and Ajobo (2012), the first introduction of fast foods to Nigerians within the context of what is obtained in the Western world was by the United African Company (UAC) when they opened the first Mr. Bigg’s restaurant in 1987. Since the introduction, consumer acceptance of fast food has continued to increase and many more fast food restaurants have sprung up like; Tantalizers, Crunchies, Friends, Sweet Sensation, Tasty Fried Chicken, Chicken Republic, Mama Cass, Chicken Lovers, Munchies etc.

However, fast food in the traditional sense is not new in Nigeria. These include fried/roasted plantain (Boli), roasted/fried yam (Dundun), fried bean cakes (Akara), beef kebab (Suya meat), roasted/cooked corn, and some local drinks. And this had been an age-long feature of many Nigerian towns serving snacks for those on transit. And those who cannot or do not have enough chance to cook.

This study is very important as it discussed in detail how the Means-End Chain theory works. It explained in details how consumers can make their brand choices considering product attributes, the consequences of product use and personal value attached with the purchase of the product. The description of this model in relation to consumer decision making process is what had been voided by researchers in Nigeria. And it is this void that this research had been able to fill.

2. Problem Statement

Every marketing strategy must bear the consumer in mind. Designing and developing a marketing programmes with a painstaking research on the consumer will lead into “misses or near misses” (Nwosu, 2001) problems for an organization. The consumer’s tastes and needs are dynamic, implying that every product should constantly seek ways to offer freshness in order to remain relevant in the market place.

The restaurant industry is no longer divided into distinct segments since the services offered do sometimes overlap. That is, restaurant businesses have little or no competitive differentiation (Okolo, Agu, Obikeze and Ugonna). Many of the fast food restaurants offer similar products or services. Therefore, the way and manner their services are provided are critical to gaining competitive edge. Many of the restaurants in Enugu provide undifferentiated products. Any service provider that seeks to enjoy competitive edge must respond to consumer needs so as to promote satisfaction and gain customer loyalty. Again, in the highly competitive restaurant, these may relate to inappropriate marketing mix which is unable to attract and retain consumers.

However, marketing strategies that emphasize and over stretch customer acquisition without initiating customer retention and sustenance is otiose and will never be sustainable. Most companies had crashed a short while after establishment as a result of dereliction of duty on the part of those managers that plan and develop such fruitless programmes. Marketing strategies need to establish a win-win situation with the customers for it to achieve a resounding victory for the company.

3. Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this quantitative research is intended to highlight factors affecting consumer choice of restaurant in Enugu metropolis with references to Mr. Bigg’s. The specific research objectives include:

4. Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses are postulated for this study:

5. Significance of the Study

Firstly, the management of companies, especially Mr. Bigg’s will find the information very useful. This is because it will highlight the benefits of maintaining long-term relationship with customer. Both the management of Mr Bigg’s and their customers will benefit from the Means-End Chain theory. This will guide them in making future important decisions for attracting and retaining their customers. And for customers, I will guide them in making important purchase decisions.

Also, the consumers will also find it useful as it will highlight the benefits they could derive from long-term relationship with marketers. It will urge them to engage in such relationship. Finally, the study will serve as some academic purposes. It will serve as a reference material to those who would carry out studies in related areas in the future.

6. Scope of the Study

This study focuses on evaluating the effects of marketing strategies affecting consumer patronage of Mr. Bigg’s restaurants in Enugu.

7. Relevant Literature

Overview of Fast Food Restaurant (FFR) in Nigeria

The history of fast food operation (Salami and Ajobo, 2012) could be traced to the beginning of subsistence farming. The family working in the farm usually took a respite and fed on roasted yam, plantain and maize preparation instantly as work progresses. Another instance of fast food preparation is during the harmattan when family members gather around an open fire to keep warmth. They usually roast all kinds of foods for consumption.

The fast food operation, in its modern form started in Lagos by Eddy king Burger, an expatriate resident in Lagos during the colonial days. A fast food restaurant (FFR) also known as a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) is a specific type of restaurant characterized by fast cuisine and minimal table service. Food served in fast food restaurants are cooked in large volume in advance and kept hot and is usually available ready to be catered away, even though there are usually available sitting arrangements. Some trace the modern history of fast foods in America to July 7, 1912 with the opening of a fast food restaurant called the “Automat in New York”. The Automat was a cafeteria with its prepared foods behind small glass windows and coin-operated slots. The company also popularized the notion of “take-out” food, with their slogan “less work for mother”. The American company, White Castle is generally credited with opening the second fast-food outlet in Wichita, Kansas in 1921.

Fast food has generally been designed to be eaten “on-the-go”, and often does not require traditional cutlery and is eaten as a finger food in most cases in South-Eastern Nigeria in fast food joints. Fast food outlets have become popular with consumers for several reasons. One is that through economies of scale in purchasing and producing food, these companies can deliver food to consumers at a very low cost. According to Ogunlade (2010) “food” is used as a collective term for the end products that consumers eat or drink. It is considered not merely as a collection of inputs to satisfy human nutritional requirements, but also possesses a multi-dimensional set of consumer-satisfying attributes such as taste, appearance, security, convenience etc. According to Raimi and Towobola, (2011) the term “fast food” was first recognized by Merriam-Webster dictionary in 1951. It refers to food that can be easily prepared and served very quickly in an outlet to consumers. It can be served directly from oven to table (sit-in) or presented in form of take-out packages or containers (take-away).

Common fast food menu found in outlets worldwide apart from drinks include pizzas, pies, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, fries, sandwiches, noodles, salads, potatoes, rice, chicken, ice-cream, coffee, mushroom, candies, fish, beef, etc. Also, various sizes, types and kinds of outfits exist worldwide for the purpose of retailing fast foods. These range from stands, wagons, carts, kiosks to restaurants; and modern day fast food retail outlets, better known as Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs). Fast food businesses are many and located everywhere with round the clock services where applied e.g. in convenient shops, drives, patrol and gas stations, hospitals, camps, schools, cash points etc.

According to Salami and Ajobo (2012), Nigerians were first introduced to fast foods within the context of what obtains in the Western societies by the United African Company (UAC) when they opened Mr. Bigg’s restaurant in 1987. Since the introduction of Mr. Bigg’s into the fast food industry, consumer acceptance of fast food has continued to increase. These include Tantalizers, Sweet Sensation, Tasty Fried Chicken, Chicken Republic, Mama Cass, Munchies etc. Some of the fast food chains like Mr. Biggs, Tantalizers and Tasty Fried Chicken. The latest big entrants are McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

With the exception of McDonalds and KFC none of the other fast food chains are known to operate under franchise agreements, even though many of them have outlets in the major cities of Nigeria such as Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Calabar, Warri and Asaba. The city of Lagos remains the headquarters of fast foods in Nigeria, though it has penetrated other cities and regions as well.

However, as more people migrate to the already crowded cities the demand for fast food is expected to rise. To meet demand, many local restaurants known as ‘Bukateria’ have sprang up in many cities alongside the Western-induced fast food restaurants to serve this additional population.

Consumer Satisfaction and Relationship Marketing

Customer satisfaction is an abstraction of reality as satisfaction differs from customer to customer, product to product and service to service (Kumbhar, 2011). A good number of companies had chosen customer satisfaction as an enviable approach to nurture customer orientation and centricity in the daily running of their business affairs (Emrah, 2010). Consumers vary tremendously (Lacobucci, 2000). Ola (2003) states that it is worthwhile for the organization to distinguish different customer groups and develop product and services tailored to satisfy their needs. Wendel (2000) explains that satisfaction is a condition in which an individual feels pleased when his needs and desires are granted. Okolo, Agu, Obikeze and Ugonna (2015) state that customer satisfaction is the nucleus of an organisation’s success.

Although many companies relegate customer satisfaction to profit making by holding tenaciously to the principle of continuous attraction without judicious retention, a few had discovered the long lasting benefits of de-emphasizing attraction and emphasizing customer retention and loyalty according to Okolo et al. It forms the basis upon which a customer repurchases a product (Mosahab, Mohamad and Ramayah, 2010). It is an individual’s state of mind after he had made purchase of a product and after having measured or weighed the performance against his expectation for the product or service to perform or meet the customer requirements (Wang and Shieh, 2006; Salami and Ajobo, 2012). It is an outcome to product evaluation process (Giese and Cote, 2002). It is the equitable state of mind that a consumer finds himself after the purchase and consumption of a product (Asma, Abdul, Muhammad, Muhammad and Naveed, 2015).

Harold (2001) sees satisfaction as an individual feeling of pleasure or contentment, resulting from perceived product performance in relation to his expectation. Thus, Okomba (2004) describes consumer satisfaction as a state of pleasure perceived by a consumer when his needs or wants are served through product offering. From all the above, it can be understood that satisfaction comes about when individual and, or collective needs are served. Customer satisfaction is at the core of customer retention which in itself is the essence of relationship marketing.

According to Perreaut (2002), firms can only achieve their marketing objectives by satisfying their customers. As a result, firms must satisfy their customers if they must attract new ones and retain existing ones. To achieve this, firms should determine customers’ needs which they will try to satisfy with their total and committed efforts. McCarthy (2001) agrees with this view when he observes that from immemorial, many marketing managers showed little interest in customer satisfaction, and produced whatever they could and try to sell them to customers. Such managers thought of customers as merely existing to buy the firms’ products rather than the firms existing to ensure customer satisfaction by serving their needs.

Munusamy, Chelliah and Mun (2010) argue that customer satisfaction measurement is a post consumption assessment by the user about the products or services gained. Consumers tend to organize information at various levels of abstraction which range from simple product attributes to complex personal values.

Relationship marketing is a marketing approach which is aimed at attracting, nurturing and sustaining good customer relationships across a company’s network (2012). “Relationship marketing involves creating, maintaining, and enhancing long-term relationships with individual customers as well as other stakeholders for mutual benefits” (Belch and Belch, 2001). It is simply being empathetic with the customer. It is feeling the way the customer is feeling (Mukhiddin, Dileep and Jalal, 2012). In their study, it was revealed that relationship marketing has a high influence on customer loyalty. Deliberately planned and delivered relationship marketing strategy breeds a competitive advantage for companies by generating a larger customer lifetime value (Kanagal, n.d.). Hunt and Arnett (2006) agree with his view when they advised that companies should identify, develop, maintain and nurture a relationship portfolio in order to garner competitive advantage.

Consumer bonding, which is another term for relationship marketing was defined by Smith (2001) “as a systematic way of maximizing consumer loyalty that makes the most of mass media to create awareness and brand identity and of data base-driven marketing to build customer relationships”. It moves the concept of relationship marketing closer to the everyday concerns of consumer marketers. It also unlocks the notion of bonds; the ties that cement the relationship between a product and its customers. Ugbaja (2004) sees relationship marketing as involving methods and tactics to develop long-term relationship with customers in order to retain them. This implies that an organization adopting relationship marketing philosophy must exceed customer satisfaction in order to retain them and develop a healthy relationship with their customers.

According to Vans (2000), since the development of relationship marketing, especially since the 1980’s, marketing managers have been emphasizing customer satisfaction which is the crux of customer retention. A key principle of relationship marketing is the retention of customers through varying means and practices to ensure repeat transactions from existing customers by satisfying their needs above those of competing firms through a mutually beneficial relationship.

This technique is now used as a means of counterbalancing new customers and opportunities with current and existing customers as a means of maximizing profit.

Consumer Behaviour

Consumers have got more knowledgeable, more informed, wiser, more sophisticated and more demanding (Mredu, 2016). Marketers must understand what their consumers need and want at a particular time. They must understand what affects and influences consumer behaviour, and their ultimate decision(s) as they purchase goods and services. The understanding of the factors that influence consumer buying decision is very relevant in packaging and initiating any marketing cum marketing communications programmes aimed at satisfying the consumer. To really understand the way consumers behave as they purchase goods and services, companies need to spend their time, energy, money, human and other important resources towards research (Hair, Bush and Ortinau, 2009) to first of all identify consumer needs and then discover ways and manner of providing solutions to those indentified needs. All these offer a formidable support in acquisition and retention of customers (Neha, 2012).

Consumer behaviour deals with all the responsibility of consumers in searching, buying and consuming products (Johns and Pine, 2002). It means all the deeds, actions and processes required to gather information, purchase, and even return goods and services. Kotler and Keller (2006) define consumer behaviour as “the study of how individuals, groups, and organisations select, buy, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experience to satisfy their needs and wants”. Its worthy of note here, that both groups and organisations mentioned in this definition shouldn’t be confused with organisational buying behaviour in industrial marketing; rather, these groups and organisations purchase to consume or use on their own, without any profit motive or intentions in mind; instead of buying for the furtherance of other marketing and merchandizing activities. Similarly, Kotler and Armstrong (2012; Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2010) define consumer behaviour as “the buying behaviour of final consumers— individuals and households that buy goods and services for personal consumption”.

The restaurant business is under services marketing nomenclature. Consumer decisions as they purchase goods are not exactly same as that of services. Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler (2006; Adrian, 2011; Gabott and Hogg, 1994) detail the search, experience and credence qualities of services that differentiate it from physical goods. Search qualities represent those observable features a product possesses. Search qualities are more associated with goods as one can perceive them before purchase unlike services. Experience qualities according to Zeithaml et al. and Palmer are associated with services as they can only be discerned during or even after purchase of the service (services are intangible, inseparable, perishable, variable and lacks ownership). Paradoxically, the credence qualities lie in the domain of services too. To the trio, credence qualities are difficult to perceive even after purchase and consumption.

Zeithaml et al. (2006) also partitioned consumer decision making process in three different but related categories. They include:

Making decision about which restaurant to eat is not that simple. If a consumer had not eaten in Mr. Bigg’s before the consumer embarks on what Kotler and Armstrong (2012) called “new task” buying situation in which he makes an extensive information search about competing restaurants in Enugu-Crunchies, Kumac, Bubbles, Celebrities, Happy Panda, Genesis, Dolphins, Emily, Roots, etc. In this search, lots and lots of expectation is built if Mr. Bigg’s is chosen amongst other restaurants. If this expectation is met over time, repeat purchase sets in. This repeat purchase attitude makes the consumer brand loyal (Akabogu, 2013). And Haghighi, Dorosti, Rahnama and Hoseinpour (2012) remark that brand loyalty is very relevant in the success and lifetime value of many businesses. Mattila (2004) views customer loyalty as a veritable aspect of consumer behaviour. When the consumer is satisfied the buying situation changes to that of “straight rebuy” in which he does not need more information about Mr. Bigg’s whenever he wants to go for a lunch. Also, along the line of patronage of Mr. Bigg’s, if the level of satisfaction of service begins to plummet, he also unconsciously embraces “modified rebuy situation”, (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012) and forges ahead to making more and better inquiries about Mr. Bigg’s as well as other above mentioned, competing restaurants. However, if on the contrary, he suffers totally from what is known as cognitive dissonance (below-the-belt performance of Mr. Bigg’s in relation to his prior expectations), Mr. Bigg’s will be totally displaced with a better restaurant.

Moreover, a simple model of consumer behaviour is typified by a stimulus-response model. It is represented diagrammatically below. The demonstration of this model starts with the marketing stimuli such as the 4Ps (Poduct, Price, Promotion and Place which could also be regarded as physical distribution) cum other stimuli which are otherwise known as marketing external environments such as (Economic, Political, Cultural and Technological); that influence the decision of the consumer. This model is otherwise referred to as the “Black Box” model. These marketing Ps and the marketing environments generate the stimuli which are projected on the consumer’s black box and influence the consumer to act or behave in a coordinated manner.

A whole lot of bombardments take place in the consumer’s black box thereby acting as a trajectory towards the consumer and influences his buying characteristics such as (culture, subculture, social class, reference groups, family, roles and status, age and life cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle, personality and self concept, motivation, perception, learning, belief and attitudes (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). These marketing aggression triggers the consumer into recognizable stages of decisions depending on whether he is embarking on any of the three major buying situations (straight rebuy, modified rebuy and new task). The buying decisions stages include- need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and post purchase behaviours. These stages may not be followed tenaciously or systematically. It all depends on the consumer, the physical product or service, timing, time, season, and buyer overall disposition.

Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior consists of two parts. These include the factors that influence the consumer’s buying characteristics and decision making process. To Njomo (2012), two main sets of factors influence consumer behavior. They are individual and group or social factors.

Individual Determinants of Consumer Behavior

These include: age, income, gender, lifestyle, personality, attitude, motivation, beliefs, mood and learning.

Age

It goes without saying that consumer’s preferences and tastes undergo considerable changes with age. For instance, the food requirements of an older person will differ significantly from those of younger ones. An older person may not likely purchase cholesterol ridden cuisines instead he may go for a more locally organic food such as ‘Garri’ with ‘Onugbu’ soup, goat meat pepper soup, ‘Akpu’ with ‘Nasala’ soup etc. While the young one will go for fried chicken, burger, meat pie, fried rice etc.

Income

A consumer’s lifestyle can change if his income increases or decreases. Income determines why, what, and when people buy goods and services (Quester and McGuiggan, 2004). The middle income, the, rich and the poor will definitely be served differently because of the income levels. A rich person will always get an exceptional out-of-the box services (Zeithaml et al., 2006). Sometimes, the poor are served casually.

Gender

The physiological differences between men and women result in different needs such as health, beauty products, cars and clothes, (Quester and McGuiggan, 2004). In Nigeria and at Mr. Bigg’s specifically, there is no demarcation in relation to whether one is a man or woman. Besides, the disparity between a man and woman in Nigeria regarding food is almost zero. No discrimination at all.

Personality

Personality influences the feelings, thoughts, intentions, and behavior of individuals (Mowen, 2000). In other words, how consumers view themselves relates to their consumption of goods and services. Ones income to a great extent determines his personality. If one positions himself as a professor, he will be served as one. If on the other axis one positions himself as an artisan, he will be treated as such.

Mood

Consumers in good mood are more likely to like a brand, product or service. On the other hand, consumers in a bad mood are likely to feel worse and downgrade their judgments of the product being sold especially when they interact with salespeople who seem to be unhappy, (Macinnis and Hoyer, 2008). Of course our mood is a function of who we interact with. When we are being served by a professional waitress, we will be delighted. But when a quack is involved, a clientele will be heartbroken and disappointed.

Memory

Our experiences about past services encounter matters. Memory refers to the process of retention of information about past events and ideas. It also involves the capacity to learn, to be influenced by prior experience(s) and to behave differently in the future as a consequence of an experience. This greatly plays an important role in a consumer’s choice of products and services.

Self Concept

This is related to what an individual possesses. And that is where the individual places himself. Individuals consume products and services based on the fact that the symbolic value of the products and services is congruent with his personal picture or image of himself. Thus, consumers use products to preserve and enhance their self image and avoid those that do not (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2010). When he perceives himself as one with prestige he expends extravagantly for palatable cuisines.

Lifestyle

This represents how one lives his life. Consumers love different kinds of music when they enjoy themselves. The perceive eating as a kind of entertainment and therefore wants to be entertained. A very serene atmosphere is also cherished by certain consumers. Lifestyle represents the external characteristics that pertain to how a consumer lives - the activities he engages in, his habits, his possessions, the interests he expresses, and what he sees as value in his life, reflected in the way he spends his time and money (Quester et al., 2004).

Motivation

Mr. Bigg’s frontline personnel need to understand that their clienteles want to be motivated to come again and again and again. A speedy service is a typical motivation. A banker who visits Mr. Bigg’s on a lunch during break would want services expedited. A motive is a need sufficiently stimulated to move an individual to seek satisfaction. Consumer motivation represents the drive to satisfy both physiological and psychological needs through product purchase and consumption (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2010).

Attitude

It affects how a consumer feels with a restaurant outlet. And this is formed after the consumer had had an encounter with an organization. If he had had a good experience, he wields positive attitude towards the organization, but on the contrary, the attitude will definitely be negative. “An attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way with respect to an object”. Attitudes can help gauge the acceptance of a product or service into the marketplace (Lake, 2009). The attitude of the services provider must be decent and mature. They should learn how to welcome customers with warmth. This invariably affects the mood of the customers.

Learning

Learning is very relevant in the life of consumers. This is because what they learn today affects their behaviour subsequently. It is “a process by which individuals acquires purchase and consumption knowledge as well as the experience that they apply to future related behavior” (Ranju and Mukesh, 2009). A consumer who learns about a product or service behaves rationally when making a decision than one without any knowledge about the product or service.

Perception

Mr. Bigg’s need to position itself as a corporate citizen. It must wield a good image in the mind of its myriad of customers. This kind gesture accrues goodwill for the company and therefore leads to good reputation. Perception is defined as “the process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent manner based on his needs, values and expectations” (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2010).

Social Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior"

Social factors that influence consumer behavior include: reference groups, social class, family and culture.

Reference Groups

In consumer behavior, a reference group is defined as a group that serves as a point of reference for an individual in forming certain values. It is where an individual belongs. All reference groups have distinctive norms of behavior. Thus, as a member of the group, you are expected to adhere to these norms; if not, sanctions may be applied to you. Peerage as a reference group influences individual behaviour such that if ones peer group or even opinion leader has adopted Mr. Bigg’s restaurant, the likelihood that they will follow suit. Companies should target people in the same membership group (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012).

Social Class

A social class is defined as the division of members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct status or classes, so that members of each class have relatively the same status and members of all other classes have either more or less status (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). This greatly influences their choice of goods and services (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2010). An individual’s social class will determine the restaurant he will patronize. These classes can be upper class, middle class or the lower class. These classes will cherish different restaurants.

The Family

In a more dynamic sense, the individuals who make up a family can be described as members of the most basic social group who live together and interact to satisfy their personal and mutual needs. In this regard, the family or household plays a key role in shaping the consumption behavior of not only the individuals within the family but the family at large (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2010). If ones family likes patronizing Mr. Bigg’s, he or she will not like to switch to another brand even when he leave his immediate family to establish his own.

Culture

Culture is the adaptation of a people to the conditions of life. It distinguishes one group of people from another. Thus, the learned beliefs, values and customs of a peoples’ culture serve to direct their consumption of goods and services. Certain food menu may be forbidden by a particular culture and therefore affect patronage negatively. In Israel, pork meat, crabs, prawn, lobsters, shell fish is regarded as unclean (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2010). If for instance, Mr. Bigg’s want to operate in Israel, it must avoid those cuisines to remain in business.

The Consumer Decision Making Process

The consumer decision making process is made up of five stages. These include: need or problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase evaluation.

Need Recognition

The disparity that takes place between a consumer’s perceived real or actual condition and that of his ideal condition initiates a problem state (Onah and Thomas (2004). This occurs when a consumer is faced with a problem. That is, when a consumer realizes a difference between what he or she perceives to be the ideal or desired state (the situation the consumer wants to be in). According to them, need recognition is triggered when a consumer is exposed to either an internal or external stimulus. Internal stimuli are occurrences one experience such as hunger or thirst. External stimuli are influences from outside sources such as someone’s recommendation of a new restaurant, a brand name mentioned by a friend or an advertisement on television or radio (Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2006).

In Abraham Maslow’s need hierarchy, needs are categorized into five levels such as the psychological needs; food, water and sleep, safety and security needs; shelter, protection, and security, social needs; acceptance, friendship and affection, ego needs; prestige, accomplishment, success and self-esteem, and self actualization needs; self-fulfillment and enriching experience (Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2006). Because Mr. Bigg’s is a services company, management needs to know the calibre of person they are serving to ensure retention. A wealthy man will most likely eat a palatable meal in a secure environment. He wouldn’t mind paying extra price for a particular meal. On the contrary, a poor customer may not bother to eat a sumptuous meal because of his financial muscle.

Information Search

In many buying situations, once the consumer has recognized the problem, he starts looking for information. Consumer information search entails the mental and physical activities undertaken by consumers to obtain information on identified problems. Gabbott and Hogg (1994) note that the search for information can either be internal or external. It is internal when an individual cudgels his brain to retrieve previous buying experience stored in his memory. On the other hand, external information could be got from personal and non-personal sources. The personal sources entail gathering information from people around while obtaining information from the mass media is the external source.

Mredu (2016) observes that people of Jaipur City in Rajasthan now prefer to gather external information from the social media. In other words, they perceive it to be more personal and credible than the traditional mass media. It is a learning process by which consumers become aware of alternative products or brands, specific stores, specific trading centers, prices of products, terms of sale and consumer services (Cant, Brink and Brijball, 2006). In service which Mr. Bigg’s belongs, information could be got through personal and non-personal means (Zeithaml et al., 2006). They argue that customer rely more on personal word-of-mouth communication as it is more credible. This is because it communicates experience qualities more than manufactured goods that are more associated with search qualities.

Evaluation of Alternatives

Consumers are exposed to a broad range of products and services to select from on a daily basis. The product options are not only varied but complex and sophisticated; hence, the need to evaluate the available options. It is important to highlight that different consumers employ different evaluative criteria - the standards and the specifications used to compare different products and brands (McDaniel, Hair and Lamb, 2008). A clientele may not easily select from an alternative as he cannot take decision not until the service is rendered. This is because of the inseparability characteristics that services possess (Palmer, 2011). By inseparability it means that services is first paid for, produced and consumed simultaneously.

Purchase Decision

The consumer makes a purchase decision when he/she believes that the product’s benefits will satisfy his desired needs. The decision is based on the assumption that the alternatives generated have all been evaluated accurately and that the one chosen will best solve the consumer’s problem (Danziger, 2004). One pays for a meal ordinarily before he consumes it. And production and consumption is simultaneously. It differs from manufactured product because one can perceive a physical product and assess it based on its physical features before he pays for it.

Post-Purchase or Postexperience Behaviour

All purchase behavior as a continuous process must entail consequences for the buyer. In the post-purchase evaluation process, the consumer examines the level of satisfaction derived from the product. In other words, the consumer finds out whether the product solved his problem or satisfied the need (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 2000). In services, perishability characteristics entails that services cannot be returned, stored, reused, saved or even resold (Palmer, 2011). Although these characteristics may stand, there are ways through which services badly produced can be recovered. Zeithaml et al. called it recovery of services.

Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty derive great profit for a firm that recognizes it as one of the paramount strategies used as a decoy to trap customers (Li and Green, 2011). A satisfied customer hardly allows a gamut of all information to filter into his conscious and subconscious mind. He becomes so rational that his reaction towards any advertised product is that of “selectivity”. His exposure becomes selective, attention becomes selective, retention about a particular product or service attributes becomes selective and he embarks on selective distortion of all information that might persuade him to switch from his prior brand of product or service (Belch and Belch, 2001).

In relation to services where restaurant business belongs as part of hospitality industry, Zeithaml et al. (2006) state that switching from one brand to another may pose a hiccup. The cost of switching may be very high due to perceived risks; as the consumer has no guarantee of his satisfaction from the new company serving similar service. For Zeithaml et al., some companies producing similar services may not be available also. The social relationships he has established with the present brand in terms of the front line customer executives, other customers and the service production atmosphere, becomes hard and bizarre for the customer to forfeit.

Bobalca (2013) defines customer loyalty “as a behavioural result of consumers’ preferences for a specific brand from a set of similar ones. It is a psychological agglutination to the product or services being consumed or used (Rai and Mehda, 2013). Once a customer is attached to the offer, his attitude towards the product or service is that of 100% and it will take an avalanche of marketing communication messages to move the customer from the latitude of acceptance of the offer to latitude of rejection of the same offer in his current state (Nwosu and Nkanebe, 2006).

Consumer Perception

The goal of perception is to imbibe information about the world and make reality out of it. “It is the process by which sensations are selected, organized and interpreted” and its study focuses on what is added to these sensations in order to give meaning to it (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard, and Hogg 2006). However, it would be a wrong assumption to think that everyone sees the world the same way. The term perception corresponds to the attributes that consumers value the most in a set of alternatives. Schiffman and Kanuk (2012) simply define perception as “the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture”. However, there had been no single professional consensus about the definition of what perception is. It has different definition in academic parlances. The ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses makes a consumer adjusts and adapt in his environment.

It can also be defined as the way in which an object, an idea, an advertisement are understood and interpreted. More so, individuals act and react on the basis of their perception, not on the basis of reality (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2012). They suggested that perception is not just a collection of inputs from our sensory system. Instead, it is the brain's interpretation of stimuli which is based on an individual's genetic makeup and past experiences. Although the senses play a major role in our perception and conception of events, our interpretation of a sensation may lead to false perception.

Relevance of Consumer Perception in Business

In the business world, no business exists without customers. Business must have its own customers; those who buy, consume or use, or those who benefit from a company’s offer. Metaphorically, customers remain the livewire of most businesses. Today, businesses around the world understands the impact consumer perception wield on their businesses and as such are beginning to feel empathy for customers in order to have a better understanding of what motivates purchase. The major difficulty they face is that they respond to an unknown but complex environment (Bradley, 2005).

Stinnett (2005) explains that it is only when the customers’ perceptions of the brand, the products and the services are known, that one understands whether or not the business experiencing growth. Basically, customers don’t just choose one brand over the other by accident; they choose for specific value they attach the product (Stinnett, 2005).

Moreover, organisations survive in business through attraction and retention of customers and strategically revering the customer, aimed at building a long-term relationship with the customer and ultimately offering them satisfaction (Gerald, and Steven 2004).

Factors Influencing Consumer Choice

Olise, Okoli and Ekeke (2015) in their study discover that consumer behaviour is influenced by consumer demographics, service quality, environment, perceived value, atmospheric quality and modernity. According to Blackwell et al. (2006), in terms of motivation for purchase, products or services are either purchased to fulfill informational needs (also called think products) or transformational needs (also called feel products). However, the kind of motivation that drives the purchase of product influence to a large extent how one reacts and responds to the process. Consumer perceptions are influenced by many external and internal factors such as cultural, social, psychological and economic factors, making the way in which customer perceives products and service highly subjective.

Price

Price and velocity of service delivery or services production process have been perceived by (Medeiros and Salay, 2013) in their study, as the most important factors in making purchase decision relating to restaurant businesses. Price can be described as the amount of money a customer has to pay or exchange for goods or services (Eze and Ozo, 2005). It is considered as one of the most important factors affecting the consumers’ perception of a product. Chankarachan (2013) also suggests that undoubtedly price is one of the most important product information cues and its perception is simply the process by which consumers interpret it and attribute value to a good or service. How a customer perceives price, either as high, low or fair will have a strong influence on both purchase intentions and patronage of organisations (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2007).

How a company prices its products depends on its pricing objectives and such objectives could be marketing based, e.g. pricing to achieve a certain market share or to position the brand so that it is perceived to be of a certain quality. A high-priced item may be perceived of being high in quality because of the image created by manufacturers through advertising (psychological pricing strategy). Similarly, a global product may be perceived to be of deluxe quality as quality is believed to be a function of workability or performance.

Kurtulus and Okumus (2010), note that price provides a clear indicator of product or service costs. Thus economic theory also assumes that buyers have sufficient and accurate information about prices. But the truth remains that buyers try to maximize their benefits when they are choosing among available brands in a related product category. However, for price consciousness consumers, price has more influential role in their buying decision process.

Perceived Quality

Customers perceived quality of a product or service is based on a variety of informational cues which they associate with such products or services (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2010). Customer service is the assessment of the overall services excellence (Wang and Shieh (2006). It is the disparity between customer perception and expectation of a company’s service delivery process and outcome. Consumer perception of quality is generally measured in terms of product and services. According to Noel (2014), products are items purchased for specific use, while services are activities that deliver its benefits. Restaurants are good example offering both products (food) and services. It is a non-pure services firm (Zeithaml et al., 2006).

Perceived Value

Customer judgment based on his general evaluation of his expected net benefit from the consumption or use of a product or service is what is known as customer perceived value (Aibek and Zainal, 2015). It is a vital element of strategic management (Raquel and Angeles, 2007). “Perceived value is the consumer’s overall assessment of the utility of a product based on perceptions of what is received and what is given” It is a consumer’s overall assessment of a product or service utility based on expectation and performance of the product (Demirgunes, 2015). It is a relevant aspect of customer satisfaction (Hashed, Salniza and Hamid, 2012; Saif, 2012).

Almoatazbillah, (2012) said that companies tend to differentiate their product offering from competitors and aim to secure competitive advantage based on established values attached to them. Companies can improve customer buying intention by increasing product values. They suggest that product values can be improved by increasing and modifying product attributes. Higher product value determines the level of relationship a firm establishes and sustains with its varied customers. Perceived value generates customer confidence and trust (Aibek and Zainal, 2015). “It is the consumer's overall assessment of the utility of a product based on perceptions of what is received and what is given” (Zeithaml, 1988).

Customer perceived value is in tandem with customer purchase interest, confidence, satisfaction and loyalty (Chinomona, Okoumba and Pooe (2013; Demirgunes, 2015). Customer loyalty is a function of perceived value (Yang and Peterson, 2004). Almoatazbillah (2012; Lin, 2003) remark that perceived customer value “is the trade-off between perceived benefits and perceived sacrifice”. He asserts that perceived value are product features while perceived sacrifice include purchasing, logistics, pricing and installations. He submits that improving customer benefits and reducing customer sacrifice will yield more perceived value to the customer.

Means-End Chain Theory

This is a very old theory that is everlastingly germane in describing consumer’s perception of the consumption or use of goods and services. It was developed by Jonathan Gutman for merchandized products (Zinas and Mahmud, 2011). It is a theory of consumer behaviour (Esmaeil, 2014). It aids the understanding of the association between product value and consumer behaviour (Manyiwa and Crawford, 2002). The theory stipulates that a consumer perceives the purchase, consumption or use of physical products and services as a means to an end. That is to say that his relationship with the products and services he encounters is not an end in itself. The end would definitely be the benefits derivable from the consumption or use of the product. Consumer purchases a product as a means of fulfilling an objective (Zanoli and Naspetti, 2002). A consumer buys a pair of shoes for protection, beauty, and prestige. Leao and Mello (2007) affirm that there are three hierarchical model levels of consumer relationship with products and services.

These levels include perception of the attributes of the products (goods and services), consequences of the consumption or use products and personal value attached to the products (Esmaeil, 2014; Arsil, Li and Bruwer, 2016). Consumers associate product attributes with their usage consequences (Zanoli and Naspetti, 2002). (Esmaeil (2014) states that consumers are much more interested in the consequences; their experience with the use or consumption of the products or services, rather than the attributes of the products.

By consequence of use of products, it simply means that consumers anticipate and expect the products or services to yield a desired result (Arsil et al., 2016). In other words, it equally represents the inability of the products to yield desired benefits. If it yields the required benefits, the consumer makes a repeat purchase and may become brand loyal; if the benefits become consistent. However, if the benefits fall short of expectation, the consumer experiences “cognitive dissonance”, and may switch over to competitors if the dissonance is not resolved amicably.

As a result of this perception, consumers are meticulous in the stages they pass through in making the choice of product they want at a particular time at a given price (Leao and Mello, 2007). According to them, the Mean-End Chain model affirms that consumers attach values to the products they buy. They submit that all purchase actions have consequences and that these consequences are directly related with product or services features.

Products and services are purchased based on the expected ability to satisfy consumer needs and wants. Leao and Mello state that the nucleus of the Means-End Chain model is the consumer decision making process that appears in stages. This is because it is through these stages that a consumer purchases products and services which are means through which the end, which is satisfaction, is obtained. If the means are done right by purchasing performing and satisfying products and services, the consumer will be duly delighted. But if the means are not handled properly, the consumer will be dissatisfied.

Arsil et al. (2016) in their study on “Using Means-end Chain Analysis to Reveal Consumers’

Motivation for Buying Local Foods: An Exploratory Study”, discover that the model or chain is veritable indices to showcase the value consumers attach to buying local foods. They support Leao and Mellow and in their opinion conclude that consumers’ knowledge of a product aids him in evaluating the attributes, consequences of use of that product and personal value (Zanoli and Naspetti, 2002). For them, this chain had helped consumer in making critical and rational decision that help them make relevant choices for their products. It is a roadmap to the drivers of consumer product choices.

The model is basically an attribute-consequence-value sequence (ACV). Leao and Mello (2007) also reveal the amplified or modified version of the sequence by adding adjectives to the initial ACV to form six levels such as: attribute was amplified into concrete attribute (CA) and abstract attribute (AA); consequences amplified into functional consequences (FC) and psychological consequences (PC) and finally, value was amplified into instrumental values (IV) and terminal values (TV).

Furthermore, it is a model that encourages consumer-oriented marketing approach. It is a robust driver of quality products and services both in food and other industries (Costa, Dekker and Jongen, 2004). They establish that it helps in the buyer decision making process by acting as a motivation for the evaluation of product alternatives and final selection of needed product(s).

8. Methodology

The researcher employed survey method by administering structured questionnaire to gather primary data from customers of Mr. Bigg’s restaurants in Enugu Metropolis. The scope of the study is on the effects of marketing strategies on consumer patronage of Mr. Bigg’s in Enugu. The population of the study includes customers of Mr. Bigg’s which is indefinite and therefore, Topman’s formula was used to determine a sample size of 340. Content validity was used to determine the validity of the instrument by giving allowing marketing research consultants and lecturers of marketing department to modify and make the necessary corrections so that the instrument can measure what it ought to measure. The value of the test of reliability is 0.90 which was conducted using Cronbach’s Alpha which indicated that there is internal consistency of the instrument. Chi-Square data analysing technique was applied in testing the hypotheses.

Hypotheses.

Summary of Findings

The findings of this research work are as follows:

9. Conclusion

Customers have grown very sophisticated that are even more aware than most marketing executives on the adoption of some marketing strategies to impact positively on their company’s bottom-line. A whole lot of marketing strategies could impact on the patronage of a services industry like that of Mr. Bigg’s restaurant. Individual factors such as age, income, personality, motivation, self concept, etc as well as social factors such as social class, reference group, family, culture etc affect patronage. Similarly, relationship marketing strategies, loyalty strategies, and consumer perception of Mr. Bigg’s offerings affects consumer patronage.

10. Recommendations

The following recommendations are made:

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