IMPACT OF INVENTORY LEAD TIME ON CUSTOMER PATRONAGE OF PETROLEUM DEPOTS IN RIVERS STATE.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between inventory lead time and customer patronage of petroleum depots in Rivers State. The study adopted the correlational research design. To achieve the purpose of this study, three (3) research question and six (6) hypotheses were formulated. The study population comprises 16 petroleum depots in Rivers State. A sample size of 16 was determined using the simple probability sampling technique. Data were collected using the structured questionnaire. Sixty-four (64) copies of the questionnaire were administered to four (4) respondents each from the sixteen firms, fifty (50) copies of the questionnaire were successfully retrieved, while two (2) copies was discarded and forty-eight (48) copies were returned useable which represent 96% of the retrieved questionnaire. Data generated were sorted thematically for data analysis using the SPSS version 22.0. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used and the relationship between inventory management and customer loyalty was explored using the Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation tool. The study found out that there is a relationship between the dimensions of inventory management and measures of customer loyalty. Therefore, we concluded that there is a significant relationship between inventory management and customer loyalty of petroleum depots in Rivers State. Hence, the study recommends that as inventory levels, inventory costs, and inventory lead time as strategies to enable them increase their level of customer satisfaction.