An assessment of the relationship between distribution practice and sales volume in the case of Meta brewery

Abstract

The study sought to assess the relationship between distribution practice and sales volume in the case of Meta brewery. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: To show in what way and the extent in which, distribution channel affect the sales volume of the company, and to point out the significant factors influencing the distribution channel system of Meta Brewery? A distribution channel consists of the set of people and firms involved in the transfer of title to a product as the product moves from producer to ultimate consumer or business user. Diverse distribution channels exist today, A company wants a distribution channel that not only meets customers’ needs but also provides an edge on competition, and for the purpose of this study, an organized approach is required which comprises of four Sequence decisions: (i) specifying the role of distribution (ii) selecting the type of channel (iii) determining intensity of distribution (iv) Choosing specific channel members - that is selecting specific firms to distribute the product. The study focused on the staff of marketing department, commercial department including, sales representatives, operation department and equivalent staffs of Meta Brewery from selected Addis Ababa and around major markets. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Purposive judgmental proportion technique was carried out to arrive at a representative sample for the study and 74 willing employees were found to participate in the study and taken as a target for the sample size. The researcher used primary source of data which was obtained through a semi-structured questionnaire. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used as an aid in the analysis. The findings indicate that Product type competition has become intense, so has channel penetration. Majority of the company’s activities were focused on product availability and on time delivery system. The demand was driven by using push strategy and there is unbalance between the pull & push activities. This is attributable to the fact that the company had facing marketing problems including changing client attitudes and societal needs, increasing competition and the need to find alternative or substitute products which limits the company to focus on the push activities. Effective marketing is essential for helping them meet these challenges and maintain vitality, viability and relevance in today’s turbulent environment. The result further indicated that the company had a procedure of tracking and analyzing the words of its consumers. The research has opened up the venue for future studies to investigating the effect of distributional methods on sales of companies in the context of emerging economies like Ethiopia.