Consumer Behavior and Marketing Mix Influence on Brand Shoe Selection

This project investigates consumer behavior and its impact on brand selection within the footwear industry. The study explores the influence of cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors on consumer decision-making processes when choosing brand shoes. It examines the marketing mix elements (product, price, place, promotion, process, people, and physical evidence) and their effects on consumer choices. The research methodology includes a survey with 246 respondents, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze data. Key findings indicate that consumer behavior factors and marketing mix strategies significantly affect brand selection. The project provides recommendations for footwear suppliers to better understand consumer needs, improve product offerings, and refine marketing approaches. The project also includes a detailed literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion.

Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE........................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
1.1. Background Of The Study................................................................................................1
1.2. Statement Of The Problem................................................................................................3
1.3. Objective of the study …………………………………………………………..…………………………………………3
1.3.1. General Objective..........................................................................................................5
1.3.2. Specific Objectives....................................................................................................5
1.4. Research Questions...........................................................................................................5
1.5. Scope Of The Study..........................................................................................................5
1.6. Delimitation Of The Study................................................................................................6
1.7. Definition Of Terms/ Operational Terms..........................................................................6
1.8. Organizations Of The Study.............................................................................................7
CHAPTER TWO.......................................................................................................................8
2. REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE..............................................................8
2.1. Theoretical Literature Review..........................................................................................8
2.1.1. What Is A Consumer Behavior?....................................................................................8
2.1.2. Types Of Buying Decision Behavior.................................................................................9
2.1.1.1. Complex Buying Behavior..............................................................................................9
2.1.1.2. Dissonance-Reducing Buying Behavior.......................................................................10
2.1.1.3. Habitual Buying Behavior............................................................................................10
2.1.1.4. Variety-Seeking Buying Behavior................................................................................11
2.1.2. Consumer Decision Making Process...........................................................................13
2.1.2.1. Steps In Decision Making Process..........................................................................13
2.1.2.1.1.Need Recognition........................................................................................................13
2.1.2.1.2.Information Search......................................................................................................14
2.1.2.1.3.Evaluation of Alternatives..........................................................................................14
2.1.2.1.4.Purchase Decision.......................................................................................................14
2.1.2.1.5. Post- Purchase Behavior............................................................................................14
2.1.3. Factors that affects consumer buying behavior...........................................................15
2.1.3.1.Social factors..................................................................................................................15

2.1.3.2. Cultural factors …………………………………..……………………………………16
2.1.3.3.Personal factors..............................................................................................................16
2.1.3.4.Psychological factors.....................................................................................................18
2.1.4. Brands..........................................................................................................................18
2.1.4.1. Brand Equity.................................................................................................................20
2.1.6. Marketing Mix (7Ps)........................................................................................................20
2.1.6.1. Price..............................................................................................................................20
2.1.6.2 Product...........................................................................................................................21
2.1.6.3 Place...............................................................................................................................21
2.1.6.4 Process...........................................................................................................................21
2.1.6.5 Promotion.......................................................................................................................21
2.1.6.6 People.............................................................................................................................22
2.1.6.7 Physical Evidence..........................................................................................................22
2.2. Empirical Literature Review...........................................................................................22
2.3. Conceptual framework of the study................................................................................25
CHAPTER THREE....................................................................................................................26
3. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY................................................................................26
3.1. Description of the study area..............................................................................................26
3.2. Research design and approach............................................................................................26
3.3. Population and sample design.............................................................................................27
3.3.1. Population of the study....................................................................................................27
3.3.2. Sampling techniques........................................................................................................27
3.3.3. Sample size determination method..................................................................................28
3.4. Data source and type...........................................................................................................30
3.5. Data collection procedure...................................................................................................30
3.6. Instruments of data collection.............................................................................................30
3.7. Validity and reliability test..................................................................................................32
3.8. Ethical consideration...........................................................................................................33
CHAPTER FOUR.......................................................................................................................34
RESULT,DISCUSSION AND INTREPRETATION ..............................................................34
4.1 Demograpical profile of the Respondents............................................................................34
4.2. Types of shoes respondents wear........................................................................................39

4.3. Most preferred brand by respondents..................................................................................40
4.4. Major reasons to choose brand shoes..................................................................................40
4.5. Place where get brand shoes..............................................................................................41
4.6. Source of information about brand shoes...........................................................................41
4.7. Influence Marketing Mix on brand selection......................................................................42
4.8Major factors that affect consumer buying decision.............................................................44
CHAPTER FIVE……………………………………………………………………………...47
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION..................................................47
5.1. Summary.................................................................................................................................47
5.2. Conclusions.........................................................................................................................49
5.3. Recommendation................................................................................................................50
References..................................................................................................................................51
Appendixes Questionnaire

List of Tables
Table 1: Respondents gender................................................................................................... 34
Table 2: Respondents age......................................................................................................... 34
Table 3: Respondents original premise ………........................................................................ 35
Table 4: Respondents brand preference..................................................................................... 39
Table 5: Respondents reason to choose brand shoes ................................................................ 40
Table 6: Respondents information source about brand shoes ................................................... 41
Table 7: marketing mix ........................................................................................................... 42
Table 4: major factors affect consumer behavior ...................................................................... 44
List of Figures
Figure 1: Consumer buying process.......................................................................................... 12
Figure 2: Maslow Hierarchy .................................................................................................... 18
Figure 3: conceptual frame work .............................................................................................. 25
Figure 4: Religious of respondents ........................................................................................... 35
Figure 5: Marital status ............................................................................................................. 36
Figure 6: Educational background ........................................................................................... 36
Figure 7: Family size ........................................................................................................... …37
Figure 8: Occupation..................................................................................................................38
Figure 9: Monthly income ......................................................................................................... 38
Figure 10: Types of shoes ........................................................................................................ 38
Figure 11: Most preferred shoes ................................................................................................ 39
Figure 7: Place where get brand shoes ....................................................................................... 41
Figure 8: Source of information ................................................................................................. 41

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research was to study how different factors of consumer behavior effect on
decision-making during brand shoes selection. Consumer behavior consists of four factors:
cultural, social, personal and psychological. And secondly is to study how marketing mix is
influenced on sale, mainly focus on customer’s brand choices and market’s expansion. In order
to attain these objectives a sample of 246 respondents participated in data collection or
answering questionnaire. Non-probability convenient sampling was adopted for selecting the
respondents. The thesis was divided into a theory part and empirical part. The theoretical part
discusses the basics of factors affecting purchase decision, decision-making process, marketing
mix and brands equities. The empirical part of the thesis includes a survey that was carried by a
self-administered questionnaire. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were
applied in this study. The result of the study has indications that social, personal, cultural and
psychological factors have effect on a consumer’s buying behavior in selecting of brand shoes.
Marketing mix has influence in brand shoes selection. The researcher recommend brand shoes
supplier to produce or supply as they have to identify the need of consumer and develop deep
understanding their consumer regarding to quality , design and comfort ability and influence of
marketing mix on their product deliverance.
Key words: consumer behavior, decision-making process, marketing mix and brand equity

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Chapter one is about introduction of the study. This chapter contains background of the study,
statement of the problem, research question, objective of the study, delimitation of the study,
scope of the study and operational definition
1.1. Background of the Study
Consumer market includes all the individuals and households who buy or acquire goods and
services for personal consumption. According to Kotler and Armstrong (2010), currently, the
world consumer market consists of more than 6.6 billion people who annually consume an
estimated $65 trillion worth of goods and services. Among these consumer goods shoes are one
of the basics. Currently, different types of shoes are produced by different companies in different
countries to different consumers around the world. These Consumers around the world vary
tremendously in age, income, education level, tastes and preference even though they buy an
incredible variety of goods and services. But these diverse customers relate with each other and
with other elements of the world around them affect their choice among various products,
services and companies.
Customers buying behavior is enormous, and highlights the importance of the customer at the
center of the marketer's universe. Each customer is unique with different needs and wants and
buying choices and habits are influenced by habit, and choice that are in turn tempered by
psychological and social drivers that affect purchase decision processes. It is a complex multi-
dimensional variable. Customer buying behavior is critical for influencing not only product
purchase decisions but also important marketing decisions for commercial firms, nonprofit
organizations, and regulatory agencies. Applications of customer buying behavior decisions lie
on marketing strategies, regulatory policies, social marketing, and informed individual. Buying
Behavior is the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using products.
Customer buying behavior is the sum total of a consumer's attitudes, preferences, intentions and
decisions regarding the consumer's behavior in the marketplace when purchasing a product or
service. The study of customer behavior draws upon social science disciplines of anthropology,
psychology, sociology, and economics
The study on consumer behavior in the footwear industry enables us to analyze one’s buying
decision. Footwear is a necessity and is therefore bought by the consumers of every income

group whether at the top of the pyramid or at the bottom of the pyramid. The present project is an
attempt to understand the differences in buying patterns of footwear of people belonging to
different income groups; the difference in buying patterns of men and women. Category
motivators identified are price, looks, purpose, brand name, style, variety and durability.
Today, as a result of changing world business environment, global competition isintensifying,
foreign firms are expanding into new international markets and home markets are no longer as
rich in opportunity. Local companies that never thought about foreign competitors suddenly find
these competitions in their own back yards (Kotleret al., 2005).
According to UNIDO (2002), the African footwear sub-sector seems isolated from the fast pace of
technological innovation taking place globally. Lack of design capabilities, of operator, supervisory
and manager skills, and of knowledge of more appropriate material inputs and marketing techniques,
all combine to cause poor productivity and a low level of competitiveness. Even in the local market,
high operation costs and a lack of attention to what the market demands in shoes in terms of quality
and price, allow cheap Asian products and second hand shoes to penetrate the market.
There is insufficient production of non-footwear leather products, such as leather garments, in the
Eastern and Southern Africa sub-region, although this situation has improved somewhat since the
early 1990s. This is a major loss of opportunity to an industry capable of the small-scale production
that can offer the comparative advantages of cheap labor, low capital requirements and relatively
simple technology.
Concerning Human resources development issues training agencies and institutions have been
established by donations received through co-operation programs and have been supported by regular
investment programs. However the training and technical assistance infrastructure in the leather
supply chain has substantial shortfalls both in facilities and services.
Manufacturing industries in Sub-Saharan Africa have generally been stagnant or shrinking for
the last three decades (Bigsten and Söderbom, 2006). As Collier and Gunning (1999) and
Fafchamps (2004) and many others argue, industrial development in Africa has been hindered by
a my raid of problems ranging from high transportation costs, high transaction costs due to
imperfect information, and imperfect contract enforcement tohighlyriskybusiness and political
environments. Moreover, both the provision of public services and the development of grass-
rootisinstitutionsandsocialcapitaare considered to be insufficient in Africa to cope with such
problems.
The history of the leather industry in Ethiopia started 88 years ago, when the then Asko Tannery,
now known as TikurAbay Shoe Factory, was established. The production of leather shoes in

Ethiopia dates back to the late 1930s when Armenian merchants founded two shoe factories in
Addis Ababa. These factories nurtured a number of shoemakers, who opened their own factories
across the country.
The leather-shoe industry in Addis Ababa is exceptionally successful in Africa. We believe that
this is a case worth investigating since it is expected to provide insight into the key to successful
industrial development. A major finding is that the growth of this industry was driven initially by
the massive entry of new enterprises established by former employees of the existing shoe
factories but more recently by the growth in enterprise sizes due to improvements in the quality
of products, marketing, and management. Such improvements were first made by highly
educated entrepreneurs and subsequently followed by other enterprises. While the followers have
grown in size, the leading enterprises have grown faster. Such a development pattern appears
similar to the experience of successful cluster - based industrial development in China, Taiwan,
and Japan, as is recently reported by Sonobe and Otsuka (2006 a).
Thus, study on consumers’ shoes preference has immense value to shoe companies through
providing actual information about shoe consumers, these in turn help them better understand of
their target consumers and designing market offers according to the need and want of their target
consumers.
1.2. Statement of the problem
Companies in this industry make footwear, including athletic, casual, and dress shoes as well as
boots, sandals, and slippers. Major companies include NIKE, Sketchers USA, and Wolverine
World Wide (all based in the US), along with Adidas (Germany), Asics (Japan), Salvatore
Ferragamo (Italy), and Yue Yuen (China), a subsidiary of Pou Chen (Taiwan).Worldwide, about
$180 billion worth of footwear is exported annually, according to the International Trade Centre.
Top exporting nations are China, the US, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands.
The US footwear manufacturing industry consists of about 200 companies with sales of about $2
billion. Many of the major shoe companies in the US are mainly owners of brand names that
contract to have shoes made by independent manufacturers in other countries. Some large US
producers, such as New Balance, make a portion of their shoes in the US; some smaller
operations manufacture all their shoes in the US. About 98 percent of all footwear sold in the US
is imported, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association.
Ethiopian footwear sub-sector produces men’s casual shoes and children’s shoe-uppers made
from pure leather. Leather factories sell these products to domestic market and directly to

overseas importers and wholesalers as well as direct buying offices (Embassy of Ethiopia in
United Kingdom, 2010). As it is obvious Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa
and the 10th largest in the world, the country had to be one of the major shoes producers and
exporters in Africa as well as in the world having comparative advantage of raw material and
cheap human resource advantages. Despite this fact, many studies indicated that the shoe
companies found in the country face strong competition from shoes and other leather products
imported from abroad.
According to World Bank group (2006), the domestic market for footwear at present suffers
from fierce price competition from synthetic footwear imported from China at much cheaper
prices. Though low in durability, these low quality Chinese shoes are considered somewhat
stylish and fashionable in design and heel heights and are available for men, women and children
in all local shops. Tegegne (2007) mentioned that the domestic shoes market has been flooded
with cheap imports from Asia, particularly from China and this has inflicted heavy impacts on
the sector, and threatened its competitiveness in the domestic market. Altenburg (2010)
indicated, leather and leather products industry is stuck in a low-quality trap in which problems
at all levels of the value chain are mutually reinforcing. That is inappropriate techniques at the
stages of livestock management, tanning, and transport undermine competitiveness in high-value
leather product markets, and low quality of final products translates into low prices and under-
investment at all stages of the value chain. Sutton and Kellow(2010) also pointed out that the
leather footwear of Ethiopia face strong competition from shoes and other leather products
imported from china and elsewhere.
But, failure to do so may result in disaster for a company’s products. In this regard, Kotler et al.
(2005) noted that firms which delay taking steps and stay at home to play it safe may not only
lose their chances to enter other markets, but also risk of losing their sales to companies from
neighboring countries who have invaded their home markets.
However, the consumer’s buying decision of shoes is still remained as open that need to be
assessed. For this reason, this study conducted to assess factors that affect consumer buying
decision in the selection of brand shoes. Since understanding of what consumers’ choices and
why they prefer is branded for shoes manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, it will lead to
more accurate merchandise mix and marketing programs.
1.3. Objective of the study
1.3.1. General objective

The general objective this study is assessing factors that affect consumer buying decision
in the selection of brand shoes in Addis Ababa.
1.3.2. Specific objectives
 To identify major determinants factors of mostly preferred brand shoein Addis Ababa
 To identify major factors that affect consumer buying decision regarding brand shoes
selection
 Assess influence of Marketing Mix as determinant ofbrand selection in Addis Ababa
1.4. Research questions
To assess factors that affects consumer buying decision in the selection of shoes brand in
Addis Ababa, this study focus on the following basic research questions.
What are major determinants factors of mostly preferred brand shoe in Addis Ababa?
What are major factors that affecting consumer buying decision regarding to brand
selection?
How does Marketing Mixed influence shoes brand selection in Addis Ababa?
1.5. Scope of the study
The scope of the study is determined by three major scope measurements. The first one is
conceptual scope; this study focuses on the factors that affect consumer buying behavior in
the selection of branded shoes. This indicates that the main concept of the study will about
consumer behavior and brand selection. In terms of geographical area this study will covers
Addis Ababa city administration branded shoes user and supplier. This implies Addis Ababa
city administration is the geographical scope the study. Finally, the scope of the study is
described in terms of time completion. This study will take 3-6 consecutive months.
1.6. Delimitation of the study
The study will conduct in Addis Ababa city Administration branded shoes user and supplier.
The main variables of the study may social, economic and personal factors affect decision
behavior of consumer. Different theory and model will be used in the study to review the
concept of consumer behavior and consumer buying decision making process.
This study is descriptive in nature and focused on brand shoes selection. And collected data
will analyze by SPSS software and presentedin table and percent.
1.7. Definition of terms/ Operational Terms

Brand: A brand is a name, design, symbol or other feature of international top ten shoes brands
in 2018 G.C.
Brand equity: describes brand value that determined by consumer perception of and experience
with the brand.
Consumer behavior: Consumer behavior can be defined as the decision-making process and
physical activity involved inacquiring, evaluating, using and disposing of goods and services
Khan, 2006.
Consumer: generally refers to any one engaging in any one or all of the activities involved in
acquiring, evaluating, using and disposing of goods and services (Khan, 2006).
Consumer buying decision: process involves series of related and sequential stages of activities
Price:- is the amount the consumer must exchange to receive the offering (Solomon et al
(2009).
Place includes company activities that make the product available to target consumers (Kotler
and Armstrong (2010).
Product means the goods-and-services combination the company offers to the target market
(Kotler and Armstrong (2010).
Promotion includes all of the activities marketers undertake to inform consumers about their
products and to encourage potential customers to buy these products (Solomon et al (2009).
People are all human actors who play a part in service delivery and thus influence the buyers’
perceptions; namely, the firm’s personnel, the customer, and other customers in the service
environment (Zeithaml et al (2008).
Physical evidence is the environment in which the service is delivered, and where the firm and
customer interact, and any tangible components that facilitate performance or communication of
the service Zeithaml et al (2008)
Process is the actual procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities by which the service is
delivered – this service delivery and operating systems (Zeithaml et al (2008).
Personalfactor: the individual factors to the consumer that strongly influences their buying
behavior.
Psychological factors: are factors that talk about the psychology of an individual that drive his
actions to seek satisfaction.
Socialfactor: factor that is prevalent in the society where consumers live in.

1.8. Organizations of the study
The study is presented in five chapters. The first chapter consists of background of the
study, statement of the problem, objective of the study, significance of the study, definition of
terms, research design and methodology, organization of the paper. The second chapters also
present review of related literature which has greater importance in showing a direction of multi-
modal transportation and logistics theories from different scholars prospective. The third chapter
deals with the data presentation and analysis and interpretation of the study. The four chapters
also include summary of interpreted data. The five chapters also incorporate conclusion and
recommendation based on the real finding of the research.
CHAPTER TWO
2. REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
The literature review part of this study has theoretical literature review, empirical literature
review parts andConceptual framework of the study. The theoretical part presents the summary
of theories forwarded by different scholars pertaining to the subject under study at different
times. Whereas the empirical part contains summary of similar or related research findings
obtained from other earlier researches. And conceptual frame work was designed based on the
concept of the study.
2.1. Theoretical Literature Review
2.1.1. What is a consumer behavior?