SHRO37 6 : Marketing Management

Introduction:

The advertising world has emerged hugely with the increase in the competition amongst different organization. It is a technique that helps the customer, in decision making, that is, to buy or not to buy the product or services. In this article, the main objective has been specified clearly and that is to understand the effectiveness of floor ads in a supermarket on the customer’s decision. This objective that has been clearly stated by the article is very interesting, as the floor ads are the new trend in advertising, on which very fewer studies have been conducted. It is, thus, very encouraging to examine the article further in details.

Critical Evaluation of the Article

The article presents a well-structured theoretical framework that explains about the effectiveness of the floor advertising for influencing the decision of a customer who visits a supermarket. The theoretical framework explains the importance of advertising and its different mediums. The article provides a clear understanding of the point of purchase advertising and how the floor ads are the best examples of it. The theory also explains the effectiveness of the floor ads on the Oman people and how this approach of advertising is different from other types of advertising in being more effective to display a positive influence on the customers (Benson, 2016). Though the objectives that were highlighted in the introduction were clear, the theory does not have any supportive logics, especially any examples of Oman customer behavior to floor ads. The survey has been mentioned a couple of times, but it has not been utilized to effectively display the strength that floor advertisements possess. The literature that has been provided in the article is satisfactory due to the fewer studies that have been conducted on the floor ads. The theory showcased in the article majorly highlights information about marketing and customer perceptions requires more elaboration. In the theory, the prepositions are logically flowing that is the only persuasive factor in this article (Dens and Pelsmacker, 2010).

The quantitative research method has been applied for performing the survey with 100 respondents. The questions that have been asked of the respondents are perfect for the hypothesis, only they are lacking suggestions part that would have helped in knowing the customers’ expectations in a more clarified manner. Though the questionnaire created was appropriate the ratio of the respondents was the biggest issue of this article (Esteban and Hernández, 2016). The majority of people were non-Omani students. A supermarket is a place that is visited by mostly family people and people from Oman. So, the data generated from this survey is insufficient and does not provide with much value that can be implicated for further use (Shrivastava, Saini and Pinto, 2014). The data collection method was conducted with the help of descriptive statistics that provides with a detailed information about each aspect and the Cronbach Alpha has been used to measure the reliability and the internal consistency. The Cronbach alpha was not correctly used. According to Tavakol & Dennick, the wrong utilization of Cronbach alpha can lead to the elimination of certain wrong scales that can be very important (Tavakol and Dennick, 2011). The internal validity of this study is the theory that has been presented properly also the questionnaire created comes under this category. The external validity of this study that can be implicated in other situation is the survey process that can be applied in different settings to gain information and feedbacks. The partial least squares model has been utilized further for analyzing the co-efficiency of the path, which is an appropriate technique for conducting a research (Fatima and Lodhi, 2015).

The data analysis has provided with satisfactory data. But, it is presented in a very unclear manner that is very difficult to understand. The further information that has been stated, is inadequate to understand the results appropriately. Thus, this cannot be used further for any other study. The floor advertisement effectiveness in Oman cannot be explained with this data as there is very less information that has been given (Kokkonen, 2017). Also, the result has not been supported by any other information that would have provided the results with some strength. The bootstrapping approach has been undertaken as an alternative approach for analyzing the results. It has been conducted with the help of a diagram, but due to less information presented about it, it is a complex diagram to understand. According to Guan, bootstrapping is an approach that is non-parametric and also ignores the theoretical calculation, as the approach mostly depends on assumptions (Guan, 2018). The finding has been supported by the PLS model, but it is of no use, as everything has been conducted in an ad hoc manner (Majumdar, 2013). 

The article can be looked at as a partially successful, in terms of its contribution to understanding the consumer behavior of the Omani market and the effect of new marketing trends on the people. It is a partial success, as the survey included mostly non-Omani people, which will contribute very less in understanding the Omani market. The article has definitely persuaded for better studies on floor advertisements in Oman and the consumer behavior or response to such marketing strategies (Muhamad Bakhtiar, 2017). The driving force of this has been the persuasion to know more about this technique and the various reactions to it. But in reality, the article has contributed very less when it comes to helping the marketers and the retailers of Oman. The results generated are inadequate and are lagging behind to insinuate any information that can be implicated in the real world (Rathod, 2011). The only thing that this article gives a proof of, is the relationship between the floor advertisements’ effectiveness with floor ad persuasiveness, floor ad attractiveness, attitude towards floor ads, WOM intent, and purchase intentions. This is the driving force for further studies, as it represents a high level of floor advertisement effectiveness (Serazio, 2018). 

Conclusion:

After evaluating the entire article, by taking into consideration the various models and theories that have been taken into action for generating a valuable result, the findings of the Omani market and the customer behavior are extremely insufficient. The article fails to provide with any substantial knowledge about both these aspects. The area that has been ignored completely is customer expectations. There is not a single mention of any question that tried to gain information about the expectations of the Omani customers. The article is off the mark as it has not focused on the key objectives that were mentioned at the start of the article. The weakest part of this article is the data analysis that has been conducted in a complex and an ad hoc manner which is very difficult to understand. The techniques that have been utilized are appropriate, except the bootstrapping approach as it is majorly based on assumptions. The article definitely urges for more and better studies on floor advertising, consumer behavior and the marketing strategies as a whole.  

References:

Benson, A. (2016). Book Review: Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution By Quesenberry Keith A. (Rowman & Littlefield; 2014; ISBN: 978-1-4422-5153-3). Journal of Advertising Education, 20(1-2), pp.154-154.

Dens, N. and Pelsmacker, P. (2010). How advertising strategy affects brand and USP recall for new brands and extensions. International Journal of Advertising, 29(2), pp.165-194.

Esteban, L. and Hernández, J. (2016). Advertising Media Planning, Optimal Pricing, and Welfare. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 25(4), pp.880-910.

Fatima, S. and Lodhi, S. (2015). International Journal of Management Sciences and Business Research. [online] Ijmsbr.com. Available at: https://www.ijmsbr.com/Volume%204%20Issue%2010%20Paper%2011.pdf [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

Guan, W. (2018). From the help desk: Bootstrapped standard errors. [online] Stata-journal.com. Available at: https://www.stata-journal.com/sjpdf.html?articlenum=st0034 [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

Kokkonen, K. (2017). The impact of outdoor advertisements on corporate brand awareness. [online] Theseus.fi. Available at: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/132794/Kokkonen%20Katariina.pdf?sequence=1 [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

Majumdar, S. (2013). Regulations And Strategy: Evidence On Advertising. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 84(3), pp.323-341.

Muhamad Bakhtiar, N. (2017). Media And Advertising. International Journal of Business and Management Invention, [online] 6(12), pp.15-18. Available at: https://www.ijbmi.org/papers/Vol(6)12/Version-1/C0612011518.pdf [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

Rathod, P. (2011). AIDA model of Advertising Strategy. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 1(10), pp.122-125.

Serazio, M. (2018). Illuminating the Invisible: The Guerrilla Logic and Strategy of Digital Branded Content. Advertising & Society Quarterly, 18(4), pp.45-95.

Shrivastava, M., Saini, N. and Pinto, A. (2014). Customer perception towards effectiveness of floor advertisements in organized retail. International Journal of Business and Management Invention, [online] 3(1), pp.11-19. Available at: https://www.ijbmi.org/papers/Vol(3)1/Version-3/B0313011019.pdf [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

Tavakol, M. and Dennick, R. (2011). International Journal of Medical Education. [online] Ijme.net. Available at: https://www.ijme.net/archive/2/cronbachs-alpha.pdf [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].