M. Tech. Marketing / Environmental research has been growing fast in recent years, especially since global warming is becoming a major challenge to the world. Other problems include: damage to the environment, shortage of natural resources, and continuous climate change. Today, a large number of consumers around the world indicate that they are concerned about the environment; and they consider the environment in their purchasing decision-making. Furthermore, these consumers indicate that they are willing to pay more green products. This study focuses on awareness and the willingness to purchase green products of respondents residing in the City of Tshwane. Furthermore, significant linear relationships between the respondents' awareness, their willingness to purchase, the influence of green advertising, eco-labels, and the social factors in relation to green products were determined. Lastly, differences between respondents' demographic characteristics and their awareness and willingness to purchase green products were statistically analysed.

M. Tech. Marketing / The constant changes in consumers' way of life are accompanied by a growing number and variety of food-related diseases that tend to increase the health perceptions in terms of food products that people consume. Consumers now support actions to enhance a healthier lifestyle and to be more sensitive to factors that affect their health. For enterprises that are involved in the food production system, it becomes one of the most significant issues to understand what food products are good for people's health and what the determinants are of consumers' purchase intentions that encourage or discourage their purchase intentions in terms of food products. Little research has been done previously on the critical determinants that encourage or discourage consumers' purchase intentions when buying health foods in the South African context. Based on the scant literature on these concepts, this study was undertaken to investigate the level at which students' health-consciousness influences their purchase intentions for health-food products when making a purchase.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Marketing)-Dept. of Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2007. xv, 205 leaves / Cause related marketing (CRM) is becoming a popular marketing strategy used by brand managers, retailers and service companies. It can be described as a marketing strategy that links charities or ‘causes’ with the sales of a product, brand or service. The charity is mentioned in promotional campaigns and a certain percentage is donated to the cause in accordance with unit sales or turnover. A study was conducted in the eThekweni region of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa to gather information on this issue. The study was a quantitative survey and data was collected by means of an interview process. The overall objective of this study was to gain an understanding of consumer behaviour towards companies using CRM in the greater eThekweni region. This objective was made up of three sub-objectives. The first subobjective was to identify whether eThwekeni consumers would switch brands to a company involved with CRM, if price and quality were equal. This was followed by subobjective two, which was to establish whether particular socio-demographic characteristics of consumers would be related to their evaluation of a CRM offer. Finally, sub-objective three was to establish whether those same socio-demographic characteristics would be related to the selection of specific causes.

M.Comm. / All over the world, retailers are finding themselves in an ever-increasing competitive market. Opportunities to differentiate oneself from other retailers are diminishing by the day. This situation also applies to the South African retailers. The fact that the local industry has been isolated from the international arena does not engender a lesser competitive situation. Isolation only implies a certain lag behind the rest of the world in terms of technology and the application thereof. The South African retailer finds himself between two main threats, i.e. from local rivals as well as the possibility of foreign investments. Within this environment, the retailer has to find means to distinguish itself from competitors. The question which springs to mind is - Which focus areas and/or competitive advantages are available for a South African retailer to differentiate himself in today's extremely competitive market? This dissertation aims to provide insight into this question. The aim of this dissertation is to identify those critical success factors which are paramount to the long-term survival of retailers in South Africa. The structure set out in Figure 1-1 will be applied and used as the starting point. These will then be evaluated against inputs received from major role players in this industry.

D.Com. (Marketing Management) / The reality is that the advertising industry has not yet achieved this kind of effectiveness - in fact, it will be argued in this chapter that the advertising industry is in trouble because there is considerable doubt as to how effective advertising works and whether it works at all. There is therefore an urgency in the advertising and marketing industries to find ways of making advertising more effective, and to develop methods of measuring the effectiveness of advertising. This study will deal with this subject, and will demonstrate that a micro approach to consumer behaviour, including an understanding of human values -and the motivation that drives behaviour, will contribute to making advertising more effective. This study will show that by enabling consumers to experience self related values which will create or reinforce a favourable disposition towards the brand, the effectiveness of marketing communications can be improved. When a market is very competitive with many similar brand offerings - as is the case with the luxury car market in South Africa - consumers are likely to choose between brands on the basis of value-expressive considerations (Reynolds & Gutman, 1984 : 27-37). Parity perceptions will increase the likelihood that consumers will choose a luxury car brand that they think has an image most consistent with their values. Values have been used successfully in the car market to help segment the market, or to help predict buying behaviour in this market. (Thekey findings of some of these studies are discussed in Chapter 5). A study ofvalues is therefore very relevant to the car market. A research study in the car market, particularly the medium/large sedan market, has for this reason been chosen to illustrate how a micro approach to consumer behaviour, including an understanding of values, could make the advertising for a brand in this market more effective.

As the global marketplace becomes more integrated and consumer specialists develop an international focus, developing useful scales to profile consumer decision-making styles in other cultures becomes important. Comparing the decision-making styles of consumers from different countries would thus contribute to the understanding of the effect of the marketing environment as well as of the cultural factors on consumer decision-making styles. It would also be significant to determine if the decision-making styles of foreign consumers differ from those of local ones. The influx of foreign students enrolled at South African Universities and Technikons has resulted in an increase in the number of consumers who have to make purchases connected to their daily lives within a different cultural environment. An understanding of students as consumers and their decisionmaking processes is important to marketers, particularly as students are recognised as a specialised market segment for a variety of goods and services. It would thus be significant to determine if the decision-making styles of foreign students differ from those of local students. This exploratory study investigates the decision-making styles among Chinese, Motswana and South African Caucasian students in a South African context, with a view of verifying the international applicability of the Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI) developed by Sproles and Kendall (1986). Only students with a Caucasian background were included in an attempt to avoid the influence of the different subcultures amongst South African students. It was found that Sproles and Kendall’s (1986) model did not fit the South African samples. It was furthermore found that differences exist among Motswana, Chinese and Caucasian students in consumer decision-making styles. The mean value for the “Novelty-fashion conscious” style was number one in the list of factors for Chinese and Motswana students and second for the Caucasian sample. “Price conscious” style, however, was number one for the Caucasian students.

From Introduction: While companies in their initial stages may well produce only one product, most established companies produce a number of products. Reference can therefore be made to their product mixes which serve as their source of revenues and profits. The product mix must be carefully planned. Inherent in such planning is the monitoring of the mix to determine whether or not it strikes a good balance in terms of factors such as sales growth, sales stability and profitability. The product mix must be optimal vis-a-vis the opportunities and threats present in the external environment at any point in time. Since the latter changes over time, so too should the product mix change in order to maintain the required balance between the environment and the product mix, as well as the required balance in terms of sales growth, sales stability and profitability.

D.Com. (Marketing) / Study Objectives The primary objective of this study was to validate the consumption value theory developed by Sheth et al (1991), and to extend it to the patronage decision. Procedure A comprehensive survey of patronage research was conducted, and all the determinants of shopping- and patronage behaviour were identified. These eterminants were then classified as attribute level, or higher order level factors. The attribute level factors were used to prompt respondents in the laddering interviews that were conducted. The interviews were analysed, and the contents of the interviews were coded according to the laddering methodology. This resulted in the generation of a implication matrix, as well as hierarchical value maps the linkages between attributes, consequences and linkages. The results of these qualitative interviews were the identification of further attributes, consequences and values. The consequences so identified were then compared to the results of the extensive literature survey, and then aggregated and evaluated to determine whether they conceivably fit the consumption value categories. Findings The consumption value theory (which identifies five value constructs) was triangulated with the means-end theory (which postulates that attributes, consequences and values form a hierarchical relationship) and it is concluded that both these theories integrate well into an extended consumption value theory. The CVT can then be considered to be theoretically validated. The validated theory was applied in the context of the patronage (-of shopping centres) decision, and it was found to extend to this previously untested decision. The research revealed a sixth value construct (significant value), but did not allow for the testing of the conditional value construct. Conclusion The consumption value theory is a significant advance in consumer behaviour theory, and has been successfully applied to the patronage decision.

It is important for business managers to understand customers’ buying behaviours, as customers are the cornerstone of the business’ marketing strategy and the main providers of businesses’ profits. Previous research have identified numerous factors that influence customers’ buying behaviour, factors such as prices, promotions, brand image, brand reputation, customer experience and socio-cultural aspects. Despite the attention given to variables influencing buying behaviour, there was still a gap to be filled in this field of study in the clothing retail industry, especially in the South African clothing retail industry. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to investigate how the understanding of customers’ brand perceptions, customer experience and social considerations can be used by clothing retailers to initiate a purchase. A literature overview was conducted on the global retail industry, the global clothing retail, as well as on the South African retail and, more specifically, the South African clothing retail. In addition, a literature overview on variables influencing buying behaviour was provided, with a special accent on the selected variables for this study, namely brand perceptions, customer experience and social considerations. From the literature overview conducted on variables, seven independent variables were selected to be investigated with the dependent variable, buying behaviour. The independent variables, namely brand perceptions (as measured by brand quality, brand reputation and brand image), customer experience (as measured by store physical environment and staff service), and lastly social considerations (as measured by reference groups and culture/subculture) and the dependent variable (buying behaviour) were then presented in a hypothesised model. An empirical investigation was undertaken to establish the influence of the independent variables on the dependent variable. The measuring instrument used for the investigation was a self-administered questionnaire using seven-point Likert type of scale. The items were constructed based on previous research instruments found in secondary literature sources. The non-probability convenience sampling was implemented in this study to identify respondents. 207 usable questionnaires were collected and were examined through statistical analyses. The validity and the reliability of the measuring instruments were confirmed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the calculation of Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Descriptive statistics were undertaken to summarise respondents’ demographic information, while Pearson’s Product Moment Correlations were calculated to determine the correlations among variables. Furthermore, the relationships between the variables were assessed through multiple regression analysis, while a t-test and ANOVA tests were conducted to determine the influence of demographic variables on independent variables that showed significant positive relationships with the dependent variable. In addition, post-hoc Scheffe tests were undertaken to elaborate on the significant differences resulting from the t-test and ANOVA tests. Significant positive relationships were found between Brand Image/Reputation and Buying Behaviour, between Store Physical Environment and Buying Behaviour and between Cultural Clothing and Buying Behaviour. The empirical results also showed that there was a significant relationship between Age and Cultural Clothing. In the same way, there was a significant relationship between Population Group and the variables Brand Image/Reputation and Cultural Clothing. This study has contributed to the body of literature on buying behaviour, especially in the field of clothing retail, by extending the factors to consider when aiming at improving buying behaviour. In addition, the development of the hypothesised model significantly contributed towards having a better understanding of customers’ perceptions of the selected variables, and ultimately how these variables could trigger their purchase decisions. As a result, this study enumerated some recommendations and suggestions that should enable retailers to create a positive image and reputation in customers’ minds, assist retailers in arranging the stores in a more attractive way for customers and reach more culture-conscious customers.

Grocery retailers are faced with many challenges. Among them are competition, employee theft and deviant consumer behaviour (DCB). Deviant consumer behaviour violates generally accepted norms of consumer behaviour in retail settings. There has been a lot of research conducted on DCB and different terms and phases have been used to describe the behaviour, ie “dysfunctional customer behaviour”, (Daunt and Harris, 2012), “aberrant consumer behaviour” (Fullerton and Punj, 1993) and “consumer misbehaviour” (Fullerton and Punj, 1997). However, the research conducted on how the behaviour affects retailers, particularly grocery retailers has been limited. The primary objective of this study was to examine how DCB affects grocery retailers in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. More specifically, the relationship between DCB (dependent variable) and independent variables - impact on profits (RPROF), impact on inventory (INV), impact on grocer security (SECU), impact on employees (EMPL), impact on customers (CUST) and measures to minimize or stop DCB (STOP) was established. Questionnaires were used as a measuring instrument. Out of the 100 questionnaires distributed, 70 were usable. The empirical results showed that there is a significant relationship between DCB and the independent variables. Recommendations on how best the stores can deal with DCB were made and measures to minimize or stop DCB were presented. Recommendations for future studies were also presented.