Salient attributes of corporate consumers buying behaviour in Tanzania: a case of Bevarage industry

The main aim of any rational business is to optimize revenues to maximize shareholders' wealth. In the light of liberal and competitive market it is necessary to understand salient attributes that influence customer's purchase decision. This would help the business entities to align their business strategies in accordance with market drives hence strong, successful and growing business relationships. With the above introductory part in mind, the main objective of this study was to assess the factors influencing purchase behavior of Corporate Customers in Tanzania, using beverage plants and breweries as a case study. The factors used in the study to examine the extent to which they influence purchase decisions were; price, quality, after-sale service and promotional products. The study adopted descriptive research whereby a sample size of 100 respondents was selected from four regions in Tanzania namely; Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Kilimanjaro and Shinyanga. Data collection was done through the use of self-administered questionnaires and interviews. The analysis of data was done using SPSS to analyze Frequency, Correlation and Regression Analysis. It was found that after-sale service has significant influence incorporate customers' purchase decisions. This variable was found to be the strongest predictor among the four variables. On the other hand, the study showed that quality and promotional products also have significant influence on corporate customers' purchase decisions. Interestingly, it was established that price does not have significant influence on corporate customers' purchase decisions suggesting that non-price elements are nowadays gaining significance in influencing purchasing decisions. Finally it was recommended to Ecolab and other relevant business entities to reframe their after-sales strategies guided by market research in order to capture the actual motives of corporate customers in the competitive market environment. This should proceed in line with maintaining consistent quality of goods and services, and must always keep in mind that corporate customers are the ones to be at the center of their attention and that they should always take their buying motives into account