Impact of Outbound Logistics in Purchase Decision of Small Electronic Home Appliance Traders in Chittagong

Abstract

Outbound logistics focuses on the distribution to the point of sales, such as - collection, storage, and distribution systems etc. Marketers must understand – what the customer wants in terms of logistics and how it can create value to the customers? Based on this scenario, this study focuses on the fact that lack of understanding about the elements of outbound logistics is leading to lack of identifying it as value creation tool to impact the purchase decision in home appliances industry. In total around 490 home appliance traders is selected based on convenience from Chittagong city and interviewed based on a questionnaire in May 2016. Factor Analysis is used to identify the most relevant factors from 14 variables and then a regression analysis is used to show how each of those factors related to outbound logistics in small home appliance sector is impacting the purchase decision. The outcome is the trader’s purchase decision equation which a marketer can use to identify the elements of outbound logistics where he can focus more to strengthen his logistics channel.