Influence of Promotion on Consumers’ Choice of a Supplier of Solar Energy in Mwanza Rural Area in Tanzania

Abstract

Promotion and consumer choice have become one of the major concerns among suppliers and consumers in many socio-economic sectors in developing and developed countries. How promotion influence consumers toward selecting a supplier or a product in a certain industry has not been broadly studied and is still imprecise. This study intended to investigate the influence of promotion on consumers’ choice of a supplier of solar energy in Mwanza rural area in Tanzania. For the purpose of this study, promotion refers to any kind of marketing communication tool or activity that suppliers of solar energy use as a strategy to communicate with consumers so as to influence their brand choice, create their brand loyalty as well as generating sales. In this study, a quantitative approach was adopted as well as the descriptive research design which is suitable and usually used when collecting information about the behaviour, habit, attitude, psychological and social matters of the people and that it reports how things are at present. The study used consumer theory which states the stages namely pre-purchase, service encounter and post-purchase stages that a rational consumer goes through in purchasing a service. Data was collected using questionnaires from 310 respondents who are the consumers of solar energy supplied by JUMEME Solar Company within Ukerewe District. Both stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select a sample size of participants from the target population. Descriptive statistical methods, correlation and regression analyses were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that promotion has a significant and positive influence on consumers’ choice of a supplier of solar energy in Mwanza rural area. The study concludes with recommendations that the solar energy suppliers should make more investment on advertising through traditional media such as radio and television as many customers have access and usually use those platforms to obtain information and news and also that suppliers should consider public relations and the word of mouth as tools of promotion that create great impact in changing the perception of the customers and consumers of solar energy in rural setting.