Building Customer Brand Loyalty Through Product Differentiation in a Competitive Marketing Environment: A Case of Multinational Organization in Nigeria

The survey focused on building consumer brand preference through product differentiation in the food and beverage industry a case of multinational organization in the south western part of Nigeria. The paper attempted to determine the attitude of consumers towards product differentiation. It also looked into the effects of product differentiation strategy on consumer purchase decision and the identification of the relationship existing between product differentiation and band loyalty. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents who were gainfully employed and categorized as decision makers. Both primary and secondary data were the sources of information collected for the study. A structured Questionnaire was used in the collection of the data, while likert scale was used to measure the variables of the study. Regression analysis along with spearman’s rank correlation analysis was employed in finding out the relationships existing between variables while Kolmogrov Smirnov goodness of fit test was used to test hypotheses of the study. The results showed that the factors of consumer purchase decision such as product image, product positioning and brand loyalty have positive relationship with product differentiation. Results of regression analysis showed that there is a 0.989 change for every unit change in product differentiation. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient ( rs = 0.875) also showed a positive relationship between brand loyalty and product differentiation. It was also revealed that 95.06 percent of brand preference is explained by product differentiation. The study concluded that product differentiation has a significant relationship with consumer brand preference.