RESEARCH PROPOSAL

IMPACT OF SALESMAN BEHAVIOR & TRADE MARKETING

ACTIVITIES ON CUSTOMER STRATIFICATION WITH
MODERATING ROLE OF PRODUCT PERFORMANCE

SUBMITTED BY

Zeeshan Siddique Khan

F20MGMT3E03082
MS SCHOLAR

RESEARCH SUPERVISOR: Dr. Suhail Sharif

DESIGNATION: Assistant Professor

ADVANCED STUDY AND RESEARCH BOARD

____________________________

(Convener)

____________________ ___________________

Member Member

_____________________ ___________________

Member Member
Table of Contents
Chapter 1..................................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................3
Chapter 2..................................................................................................................................................5
Literature Review................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Factors Influencing Trade Marketing Activities................................................................................5
1. Sales Promotions.............................................................................................................................5
2 Point of Sale Promotions..................................................................................................................6
3 Category Display...............................................................................................................................6
4 Salesperson Behavior:......................................................................................................................6
2.2 Problem Statement...........................................................................................................................7
2.3 Objectives..........................................................................................................................................8
2.4 Research Question............................................................................................................................8
2.5 Hypothesis.........................................................................................................................................8
Chapter No 3............................................................................................................................................9
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................................9
3.1 Data collection..................................................................................................................................9
3.2 Sample Size.......................................................................................................................................9
3.3 Data Collection Techniques..............................................................................................................9
3.4 Data Analysis.....................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

Customer satisfaction refers to the perceived value or expectation of a customer

regarding product or service which he/she buys. The study of (Singh, 2006)‘The
importance of customer satisfaction in retention to customer loyalty and retention’
describes as emotional reaction of customer towards product or service it also can be
described as the difference between customers expectation and actual benefits of
product or service for the fulfillment of customer need. (Kotler, 2000) describes
satisfaction as feeling of pleasure of a person after getting desired results from product
or service. (Hitt, Franklin, & Zhu, 2006) considered it the crucial objective of any
organizations to satisfy targeted customer need to gain competitive advantage by
satisfying customer needs and it can a profitable relationships with customers and it can
be considered as the prime goal of any organization. (Chattopadhyay, Glick, & Huber,
2001) describes that customer satisfaction is linked with willingness of a customers to
pay for higher prices of a product or service. Product selling includes many processes
and salesman behavior is one of the key elements in customer satisfaction. (Ul Zia &
Akram, 2016) found in their study that the salesman’s behavior can put impact on
customer satisfaction. Salesmen can be considered as front line soldiers of any
organization as they directly interact with the customers and their behavior can play a
key role for the customer satisfaction (Fornari, 2018).

Trade marketing can be defined as a series of actions or the purpose which need to
identify, plan and manage effectively for optimal use of company's resources to gain
competitive advantage and serve customers in better way (Кегенбеков, Алипова, &
Бидашева, 2021).

Trade marketing is a marketing tool which focuses on “Push Strategy” to increase

consumer demand for product or services. Trade marketing is a new way of thinking for
improving the relationships of suppliers and retailers who can suggest the product to the
customers (Weerathunga & Pathmini, 2015).

Product performance is related to the customer feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction

who uses any product or service. Product performance shapes the response of
consumer whether it satisfied the need of costumer or not, if product performance is
good then it will satisfy the needs of costumer and will give organization loyal customers
and vice versa (Görgens, Greubel, & Moosdorf).

Fast moving customer goods (FMCGs) can be called as buyer bundled products which
are those items which sold rapidly and at a reasonably least efforts. These include soft
drinks, confections, cosmetics, dry products, and different consumables (Ali &
Muhammad, 2021).

Customer satisfaction is the key performance indicator for measuring the performance
of any organizations. Customer satisfaction is also key performance indicator retail
industry of Pakistan. Many researches have been conducted to see the impact of trade
marketing activities and sales-man behavior to evaluate customer satisfaction. But this
area has still gap for further research. The study will explore the problems related to
salesman behavior and trade marketing with mediating role of product performance on
customer satisfaction (Qomariah, Fahrurrozi, & Rozzaid, 2020).
Chapter 2
Literature Review

Customer satisfaction is a prime element of any organization towards success of its

marketing goals. Customer satisfaction will decide that customers will make additional
purchases and recommend the product to others or not. Therefore it is necessary to
understand the factors which influence the customer satisfaction and it is very important
for a company keep in view these factors before designing its marketing plan (Oliver &
Swan, 1989).

Product performance is the response or actions of customer towards a specific product

which he buys and uses. Product performance can be determined by the components of
product (Osteras, Murthy, & Rausand, 2006). Many studies have been conducted on
customer satisfaction with regard to products or services (Swan & Oliver, 1989) but
there are few studies on the impact of salesperson behavior and trade marketing
activities on customer satisfaction. Salespersons are the front line workers who directly
interact or communicate with the customer. This is why; salesperson's behavior has
great impact on customer satisfaction (Grewal & Sharma, 1991).

Trade marketing allows manufacturers to establish and use the Push strategy to push
the products through their marketing channels like distributors and they push product to
the retailers to increase sale of product. Trade marketing is a tool which increases the
consumer demand for product or services by sales promotions or special events held by
the company. Special trade incentives are offered to buy the products in large quantities
to increase the level of sales by building relationships with the distribution channels.
Trade marketing also focuses on shopper marketing who sales the products (Fornari,
2018).
2.1 Factors Influencing Trade Marketing Activities
1. Sales Promotions
Globalization of the businesses increased the number of competitors who are using
different tactics for boosting their sale volume. Sales promotion is one of the powerful
tools which are being used by the marketers to change the perception of a brand and
increase sale volume. Market competition is increasing day by day so marketers have to
go for different strategies or techniques to attract the customers and sales promotions is
very effective tool to compete in the market to put impact on customer buying decision
(Khan, Tanveer, & Zubair, 2021).

2 Point of Sale Promotions

Point-of-sale promotions (POS) are getting more attention of the marketers and
manufacturers as it puts immense impact on customer decision making. It is very helpful
to compete in the competitive environments. Point-of-sale promotions refers to
temporary marketing efforts to focus on the point of sale on which it can be refer to the
“incentive to buy” (ITB) and “reason to buy” (RTB) instruments (Keller 2003), which are
based on the provided information to the customers (Johnen & Schnittka, 2020).

3 Category Display
Some studies utilized the value strategy which considered the product location (Tsai &
Huang, 2015) and also studied the factors of category allocation problem (Chen,
Chiang, & Storey, 2012). The past researches (Cardinali & Bellini, 2014) studied that
competition between stores is getting more extreme day by day and it is utilizing of
purchasing products for showing the arrangements of variety of products in store
spaces (Niemiec, Champine, Vaske, & Mertens, 2020).

4 Salesperson Behavior:
4.1 Ethical& Listening Behavior

Ethics are necessary for execution of sales, many studies have shown that ethical
behavior of salesperson creates loyal customer for the company. Moral sales
promotional activities for the customers results in huge sale volume for the company. If
a salesperson gives correct information then customer will be more satisfy with product
or service offered by the company and the trust and it will create pool of loyal customers
for the company (Lussier, Hartmann, & Bolander, 2021).

4.2 Customer Orientation

Customer orientation is related to the benefits offered on sales which focus on customer
needs and consider these key attributes of a salesperson (Drucker, 1994). It can be
define as an order of needed practices which are necessary for helping the customers
to make settlement on purchase choices. Salesperson's customer orientation focuses
on customer needs or want regarding any product or service (Habel et al., 2020).

4.3 Supply Uncertainty

Supply uncertainty from firm’s perspective refers to miss judgment in its supply chain
(Carson, Madhok, & Wu, 2006). The uncertain situations take firm’s ability to compete in
the market and this result in choosing of unconventional choices by the firm. The firm
remains less sure about the future results of their marketing efforts if the supply chain is
uncertain (Madhani, 2020).

Model of study

Salesman Behavior
Customer Satisfaction

Trade Marketing

Product Performance

This model provides IV relationship with DV and impact of Moderator on DV, IV are
Salesman Behavior and Trade Marketing and DV is Customer Satisfaction while
Product Performance is Moderator. In this study will explore Salesman Behavior and
Trade Marketing relationship with Customer Satisfaction with moderating role of Product
Performance which is defined in theoretical framework with context of retail industry.
The respondent of research will be shopkeeper, retailers, distributors, salesmen and
customers. The research will be conducted through survey questionnaire.

2.2 Problem Statement

This study will explore the impact of salesman behavior and trade marketing activities
on customer satisfaction in FMCG industry by using moderating effect of product
performance.

2.3 Objectives
 To recognize the role of salesman behaviors and trade marketing activities in
satisfying customers of FMCG industry
 To know the effect of product performance on customer satisfaction

2.4 Research Question

Do the salesman behavior and trade marketing activities impact on customer

satisfaction with moderating effects of product performance?

2.5 Hypothesis

H1: Salesman Behavior and Trade Marketing activities positively in Customer

Satisfaction.
H2: Salesman Behavior and Trade Marketing activities positively to increase the
Customer Satisfaction.
H3: Product Performance moderate positively Salesman Behavior & Trade Marketing
activities and Customer Satisfaction.
Chapter No 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research is a primary study and is quantitative in nature. In this study we will
investigate the relations of dependent variables, independent variables and mediating
variables through testament of the hypothesis.
3.1 Data collection
In this study we will use the questionnaires survey to collect the data. The data will be
collected through different retail market experts, distributer, retailer whom are working in
retail market for customer satisfaction design Google form and disperse on social media
and hard form to take their response of their last shopping experience through this we
can measures salesman behavior.
3.2 Sample Size
Sample size of this study will be 300, we adopted this sample size. The sampling
techniques will be used is convenience and snow ball sampling because retailer market
of Division Bahawalpur is most flourishing. Most of the market experts are familiar and
known to me and it will support for timely accomplishment of the required data.
3.3 Data Collection Techniques
Research data will be collected through questionnaire survey and this questionnaire will
be distributed through emails, Google form and as well as in hard form among the
respondents. The questionnaire will be developed on five Liker scales 1 for strongly
disagree and 5 for strongly agree.

3.4 Data Analysis

The data will be analyzed through the Smart PLS because it is more supportive in
Graphical interface and for presentation of a variance base structural equation model.
Both the structural and as well as bootstrapping analysis will be performed sequentially
and results will be interpret after the analysis.
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