Factors Affecting Customer's Intention to Buythe Products of Low Voltage Breakers Supplied by Electrical Engineering System (EES) PLC

Abstract

As construction of buildings and factories is increasing in Ethiopia, the demand of low voltage circuit breakers is booming from time to time.There are different suppliers of low voltage circuit breakers in Ethiopia. ABB, Legrand, CHINT are some of the most known brands of low voltage breakers. Hence there is a fierce competition between the suppliers of breakers; maintaining or increasing market share is a matter of survival for the competitors.In the case of this study Electrical Engineering System plc. (EES plc) is one of the ABB breakers suppliers in Ethiopia. Even though ABB breakers are well known for their reliability and long durability, EES plc is not penetrating the market as it should be. Since the current sales is 3% while the potential market share is 30% of the total circuit breaker market, finding the factors affecting the market share is a matter of surviving in the industry. Before attempting to increase the market share of EES plc, it is essential to figure out the factors by which the demand and intention to purchase could be affected, as purchase intention is used to predict the demand of a product. By assessing variables like perceived product quality and price,location of EES plc,and others, factors affecting the intention to buy ABB breaker supplied by this company were located. To conduct the study quantitative approach and causal research design was chosen.This was done by the help of distributing questionnaires to retailers and end user customers of breaker, as well as interviewing some of the clients.The collected data has been analysed by descriptivestatistics of frequency andregression model with the help of SPSS software.The major findings were thatperceived product quality, promotion, experience of customer on ABB breaker, location of EES plc, are significantly related to the customer's intention of buying ABB breakers. While perceived price of product is insignificant for influencing the demand of cuircuit breaker provided by EES plc and intention to buy ABB breaker. As customers seeking original breaker cares for quality not cheap price.Theseoutcomes of the study are significant in enabling the organizations to develop appropriate marketing strategies so as to gain a competitive edge in the market and enlarge the organization’s market share and grow the EES plc revenue.