Product Differentiation Strategies and Sales Performance of Bread Manufacturing Firms in Aba, Abia State, Nigeria (Published)
The study focused on the effect of product differentiation strategies on sales performance of bread manufacturing firms in Aba, Abia State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to examine the effect of feature-based differentiation on sales performance of bread manufacturing companies in Aba, Abia state, Nigeria;; ascertain the effect of innovation-based differentiation on sales performance of bread manufacturing companies in Aba, Abia state, Nigeria; investigate the effect of price-based differentiation on sales performance of bread manufacturing companies in Aba, Abia state, Nigeria; and ascertain the effect of brand-based differentiation on sales performance of bread manufacturing companies in Aba, Abia state, Nigeria.The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study consisted 370 management and administrative staff of selected bread manufacturing firms in Aba, Abia State. A sample size of 190 (one hundred and ninety) was drawn from the population using Taro yamane statistical formula. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested with Simple Regression analysis… The major findings in the study showed that there is a significant effect of feature-based, innovation-based, price-based and brand-based differentiation strategies on sales performance of bread manufacturing firms in Aba, Abia State. Hence, we concluded that firms that apply meaningful, customer-focused product differentiation strategies are more likely to experience higher sales performance in Aba’s competitive bread market. We, therefore, recommended that bread firms should invest in customer loyalty program to retain customers to their product and product feature and branding should be prioritized to improve shelf appeal, among others.
Keywords: Product differentiation strategy, brand-based differentiation and sales performance, feature-based differentiation, innovation-based differentiation, price-based differentiation