BRAND LOYALTY AND MARKET SHARE PERFORMANCE OF COCA-COLA PRODUCTS IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF NIGERIA BOTTLING COMPANY PLC

Abstract

This study examined the effect of brand loyalty on the market share of Coca-Cola at the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) plant in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. The study specifically assessed the effects of perceived brand quality, customer satisfaction, brand trust, and brand awareness on Coca-Cola’s market share. It adopted a quantitative cross-sectional survey design, guided by Keller’s Customer-Based Brand Equity Framework, Oliver’s Four-Stage Loyalty Model, and Morgan and Hunt’s Commitment-Trust Theory. The target population comprised approximately 1,200,000 adult Coca-Cola consumers and 340 registered NBC retail and wholesale distributors across six Local Government Areas in Benin City metropolis. Using Cochran’s formula for large or unknown populations, a minimum sample of 385 was obtained and increased to 400. A total of 440 questionnaires were distributed, while 378 valid responses were retrieved, representing a 94.5% response rate. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS Version 26 through descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple regression analysis, with Variance Inflation Factor diagnostics used to assess multicollinearity. Findings revealed that perceived brand quality, customer satisfaction, brand trust, and brand awareness each had significant positive effects on market share (p < 0.001). Collectively, the four dimensions explained 68.1% of the variation in market share (R² = 0.681; F (4, 373) = 47.61, p < 0.001). Perceived brand quality emerged as the strongest predictor (β = 0.412), followed by customer satisfaction (β = 0.367), brand trust (β = 0.298), and brand awareness (β = 0.253). The study concludes that brand loyalty is a significant multidimensional determinant of Coca-Cola’s market share in Benin City. It recommends strengthening product quality and cold-chain management, improving customer satisfaction and complaint resolution, enhancing trust-building communication, and strategically reallocating resources from saturated awareness campaigns toward higher-yield loyalty dimensions.