The Impact of Integrated Marketing Communications on Customer Purchasing Decision in Yemen's Telecommunications Industry

Abstract

Nowadays, in the world of competition, customers seem to be fortunate. Since they have various alternative services and products, companies look for satisfying customers by providing good quality, price and promotion. So, entrepreneurs have to employ various means to stay competitive on the markets. This study aimed to investigate if the integrated marketing communications (IMC) of GSM companies have an impact on customers purchasing decision. The target population of this study were the customers of the GSM companies in Yemen. The main instrument used in collecting data was survey. The total of 385 questionnaires was distributed. Nonprobability/ convenience method of sampling was adopted in selecting a sample size. The study showed that there was positive impact of integrated marketing communications (IMC) on customers’ purchasing decision in the GSM companies in Yemen.The consequences of this study will provide GSM companies with useful data about excellent channels of integrated marketing communications (IMC) that should be used effectively to gain competitive benefits that lead to customers’ purchasing decision and maximize their sales.

Consumer Trust as a Mediator of the Link between Promotional Mix and Customer’s Decision to Use Cellular Phone Service

“…This advancement has reduced the rate at which customers changes their service providers from one telecommunication product to another. However, customer's buying decisions solely depends on the best service and benefit provider amongst the telecommunication products (Abimbola et al, 2020;Qasem et al, 2022). It has been revealed that the market share of the telecommunication companies has been affected due to the fierce competition amongst the companies in Yemen.…”

“…This have reflected in customers' decisions to use cellular services provided by the four companies operating in Yemen. Studies have indicated that for a company to gain relevance and most preferred by the consumers as well as compete in a larger market share, it has focus much on promotional activities geared towards ensuring a greater competitive advantage (Abimbola et al, 2020;Al-sharafi et al, 2018;Qasem et al, 2022). Hence, promotional activities such as; sales promotion, advertising, personal selling, public relations and publicity are all considered as marketing efforts used in presenting company's products, its features, as well as what distinguish it from other products (Alananzeh et al, 2018;Clow & Donald, 2017).…”

“…Hence, promotional activities such as; sales promotion, advertising, personal selling, public relations and publicity are all considered as marketing efforts used in presenting company's products, its features, as well as what distinguish it from other products (Alananzeh et al, 2018;Clow & Donald, 2017). Inspite the importance of these activities (promotional mix) towards customer's purchasing decision, there is a paucity of studies investigating the link between the elements of promotional mix as a group and customer's decision to use cellular communication services in Yemen (Qasem et al, 2022). Based on this, several studies has recommended for the need to investigate the mediating construct such as customer trust which is capable of describing the link between promotional mix and customer' purchasing decision (Abimbola et al, 2020;Rafdinal & Amalia, 2019).…”

“…The communication sector is regarded as one of the most productive sector of the economy of different countries of the world (Pradhan et al, 2017). In most recent times, developing countries have acknowledged significant transformation in the telecommunication sector considering its influence on their economies (Qasem et al, 2022;Saif et al, 2021). Thus, the development of technologies as well as mobile phones has stretched the history of advancement and innovation picked up considering the dynamic changes in consumers' needs and their service preferences.…”

“…Thus, considering customer's limited knowledge, the buyer may be constrained rationality while trying to choose appropriate rating criterion (Rafdinal & Amalia, 2019). Customers tend to purchase products with higher prices due to the believe that the products are highly qualitative (Qasem et al, 2022). Consequently, companies must develop a certain strategy so as to influence this phase towards increasing the number of purchasing decisions made by customers (Rafdinal & Amalia, 2019;Yacub, 2022).…”