CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 GENERAL OVERVIEW
It is the aim of every business organisation to maximize profit and not only to break even or claim a market leader. In other words, efforts are made to boost sales and have a competitive advantage over others. Manufacturers therefore get involved in giving those features and characteristics to a product which differentiate it from another one and which contribute to the degree of acceptability of that product by the potential user, Akinjayeju (2002).
Quality control is being adopted to obtain a product, which is good and consistent when compared to the standard of quality that is compatible with the price at which it will be offered for sale and the market for which it is produced.
Gone are those days where producers sit in the comfort of their offices to dictate shots, but these days, they are stirred-up knowing fully the importance of product quality on consumer’s patronage.
Kotler (2002) referred to product quality as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Some companies consistently develop products that succeed with customers, other companies often fall short. What differentiates them is ‘Quality/Integrity”.
Every product reflects the organisation and the development process that created it. Product quality often stimulates sales for profitability, increased patronage and loyalty of consumers.
1.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Consumers exhibit various attributes to quality product and this can be attributed to either low-income level or high cost of living occasioned by the present downward trend of the nations economy.
Therefore the problems is that consumer tend to restrict their buying and patronage to close substitutes which are of lesser quality to meet their immediate needs. In this case inorder to understand the current situation in the importance of product quality on consumer’s patronage in Nigeria, answers to the following problems must be sought.
Does quality product enhance greater patronage on the part of the consumer?