Sorghum flour marketing mix (4Ps) in Khartoum state with emphasis on product

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Sudan Academy of Science

2 Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah Community College

Abstract

         Five samples of sorghum flour packages were collected from supermarkets and customer mills in Khartoum state, three were representing customer mills, one representing medium scale mills and the third was from industrial scale. The three packages were subjected to market mix study (4Ps).  Product: moisture content of both customer and mid scale mills were close while the moisture content of industrial scale was higher. The industrial scale showed the best quality among the investigated flour samples in terms of color, fineness (granularity) and texture followed by customer mills and mid-scale mills respectively. The packing material varied between paper, white and transparent plastic bags for industrial, mid-scale and customer mills respectively. Price was almost the same for customer mill and industrial scale flours, mid-scale flour package was 20% higher in price. Place the survey showed that the industrial and mid-scale mills flour is not available at the out skirts of the town where the population most depending on sorghum flour as a main stable food, the customer mills have a credit of their availability near the public transport stations. There was no clear promotion targeting the out skirts population for both mid and industrial scale flours. The customer mills depend on their strategic locations and millers also attract customers by good and kind dealing. The study put some recommendations on the marketing mix elements, especially for industrial scale mills.

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