IMPROVING SALES VOLUME OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES (SMEs): RELEVANCE OF BUSINESS STRATEGIES

UWASOMBA, Chidi Emmanuel
Department of Entrepreneurial Studies,
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria
chidiemmanson@gmail.com
BONIFACE, Moses Osumba
Department of Marketing,
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria
bonifaceosumba@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Retail enterprises design business and marketing strategies to create and capture sales in a target market
relative to competitors. The study has analyzed the alternative business strategies of selected retailers to
increase sales volume company growth in Aba, Abia State Nigeria. Survey research design was used to
capture the sampled opinions of the selected used small scale retailers in Aba, Abia State. The sample
size of 150 was used, which was arrived through a multistage random sampling method. The primary
data used for the study was from a well-structured questionnaire. Multiple regression was used for data
analysis. The study concluded that the three business and marketing strategies namely low cost, market
focus and differentiation strategies plus strategic alliance have significant effects on sales volume of the
selected SMEs in the study area. It was recommended that low cost, market focus, differentiation and
strategic alliance should be encouraged among the SMEs in the study area.
Keywords: Business strategy, cost reduction, differentiation, sales volume