MARKETING OF LAUNDRY DETERGENTS AND SOAPS IN A DEPRESSED ECONOMY. A CASE STUDY OF LEVER BROTHERS NIGERIA PLC

Abstract

The economy of Nigeria has continued to witness a decline in the productivity of e real sector since the beginning of 198os. This has recently been made worse by the lut in the oil sector, N igeria's main exchange earner. The financial crisis in the Asian ountries has also affected growth in most countries economy including Nigeria. These conomic environment is likely to persist for the remaining part of the century. It is erefore imperative that any business organisation that hopes to survive this hostile conomic period should strive to do it right in all its facet of business undertakings. It is the light of this, that this project is undertaken to assess the current practice of soap d detergent marketing by LBN PLC, with a view to understanding the satisfaction level of users of soaps and detergents, and parameters that would enhance soap and detergents marketing by LBN PLC.

The scope of this study is limited to the marketers of LBN soaps/detergents and two local government areas of Delta State, Oshimili and Aniocha North. To achieve these research objectives, a set of 300 questionnaires was randomly administered to respondents. And upon the analysis of the completed questionnaires a number of findings emerged. Prominent among these findings were that price and availability play a remarkable role in successful marketing of laundry soaps/detergents in Nigeria. Price- elasticity of demand is highest amongst the low income earners.