Determinants of Customer Preference towards Cement Products with special reference to National Cement Share Company

This study aimed to find out the determinants of customers preference towards cement products with special reference to National Cement Share Company. In doing so, the researcher employed dominantly quantitative approach since the contribution of each of the factors for the overall customer preference and the ranking of the attributes in terms of their importance as perceived by the respondents were done by use of likert scale. The study used both primary and secondary data. Census method of inquiry was employed through distributing 70 self-administered questionnaires to the distributors’, contractors and consultants of large government owned construction projects, end users and export customers of NCSC. In the context of the study, the introduced model was tested by a questionnaire instrument with 31 items excluding the demographic variables stated in part I. To assess questionnaire validity, content validity and construct validity were used and its reliability was measured through Cronbach’s alpha. A total of 53 completed copies of questionnaires were evaluated for descriptive analysis by the use of means and standard deviations and non-parametric tests by the use of chi-square test and independent t-tests. The results suggest that, brand name, cement color, cement price, setting time and cement strength have significant positive relationships (association) with customer preferences variable, but advertisement did not show a significant contribution for the preference of customers. Furthermore, the result indicates that respondents’ socio-demographic factors like sex, age and education have impact on customer preference towards cement products. It is recommended that a cement manufacturer should periodically perform customer survey programs and give due attention for the research and development activities in-order to enhance trust, communication, commitment and keep competitive advantage which in turn contribute to customer awareness, customer preference and their respective satisfaction..