MMA202

MMA202: SALES MANAGEMENT

MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY

Assignment Cover Page

Surname: Chideu Name(s): Patience R.

Registration Number: R1815754X Mode of Entry: Harare Weekend

School

Programme: HMAN Level: 2 Semester: 1

MMA202: SALES MANAGEMENT

Lecturer: Mr Takundwa

Topic/Question: Making use of relevant Zimbabwean examples, critically

evaluate the ethical issues that arise when conducting selling activities. [30
marks]

Lecturer’s Comments:
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Due Date: 24 April 2020

Making use of relevant Zimbabwe examples, critically evaluate the ethical issues that arise
when conducting selling activities. [30 marks]
When conducting selling activities in Marketing, ethics denotes rules of conduct, which are
grounded on moral obligations and duties in how people should conduct themselves in social
contexts. Ethics distinguishes right conduct from wrong conduct and guides one to do the right
thing when ethical dilemmas arise. The values, which express ethical principles, include
uprightness, honesty, integrity, justice, keeping promises, loyalty, benevolence, accountability,
the quest of excellence, leadership, responsibility, non-malfeasance and respect for others.
Wright, Kroll and Parnell (1998) state that, “ethics implies standards of conduct and moral
judgment”. Therefore, the theory of ethics is treasured in morality. Selling by definition refers
to activities involved in all processes of transferring goods from the seller to the buyer:
(product, pricing, place and promotion). Historically sales profession has always been perceived
as being dishonest and unethical. The Roman word for salesperson meant cheater, in the
1930s sales was more of a short-term relationship, which concentrated more on profit
maximization at ‘any’ cost. Sales however, evolved over the years and is now more inclined to
building long-term relationships between the customer and the seller. Today, selling is more
inclined towards customer satisfaction through meeting customer needs through adding value,
hence ethics in the process of selling plays a pivotal role. This paper will assess ethical issues
that arise when conducting selling activities in the grocery retail industry in Zimbabwe.

While grocery retailers and other businesses in the developed world are now concerned about
green ethics and social responsibility, their counterparts in Zimbabwe are facing ethical
criticisms around the selling of their products. In Zimbabwe, the country is struggling to
rebound with low industrial output and liquidity challenges, following the meltdown prior to
adoption of multiple currencies in 2009, hence most businesses are resorting to unorthodox
means to survive the depressed economic environment, selling activities in the grocery retail
sector included. There were some non-conformity reports in the 2014 to 2019 period by CCZ,
EMA, SAZ and health inspectors, which contained anti- consumerism allegations for the Harare
grocery retailing industry. Product unethical practices were found to include selling old food,
use of deceiving packaging volumes, weights and sizes, and mislabeled products. According to a
Sunday Mail article published on 1 December 2019, The Sunday Mail Society established that,
expired products were finding their way into households as unscrupulous retailers were duping
their clients. Goods ranging from dairy products, beverages, eggs, processed meats, salad
dressing, biscuits and instant porridge, among other consumables, were being sold to
unsuspecting customers by reputable retail outlets. To avoid losing their investments, other
retailers are even going to the extent of changing or obliterating the expiry dates. Another
example of product unethical practice is illustrated by a story contained in the Daily News on 28
May 2013 where a Harare man was demanding $15, 000 from TM supermarket as
compensation for damages suffered after he purchased and ate a sausage roll with a metal
object in it. The food cooked by
Supermarkets in Zimbabwe is recycled for days, until it looses taste, freshness and nutrition
value. It is the major cause of health expenses by customers due to diarrhea.

It is very common to find wrong prices stuck on products or price markdowns, which are not
real, pricing unethical practices. Supermarkets such as OK-Zimbabwe, TM-Pick „n‟ Pay and
Choppies have been accused of swindling customers through a number of unethical pricing
practices. With the use of bar coding, point of sale facilities, grocery retailers intentionally do
away with price tags on shelves as a means to ensure consumers cannot compare with other
suppliers hence depriving the consumer to make an informed choice and decision-making. Price
fixing, predatory pricing and failure to disclose the full price associated with a purchase are
typical ethical issues that arise when conducting selling activities. Marketers have the right to
price their products so that they earn a reasonable profit, but ethical issues may arise up when
a seller seeks to earn high profits at the expense of its customers (Dibb et al, 1997). Predatory
pricing, deceptive pricing and price discrimination also deceive customers into believing they
are being offered bargains (Jobber ,2010), when in actual fact they are oppressed and
alienated. Price discrimination in big grocery retail stores of Pick N Pay branches per location, in
low-density areas charging higher prices compared to those in city center and high-density
residential areas. Customers feel alienated of such discrepancies. New price tags are placed on
products when they see high demand and long queues, this is evidenced during the Covid-19
national lockdown end of March 2020 to date, were most grocery retailers hiked prices of basic
commodities in response to high demand from consumers as there was panic buying to stock
up for the pronounced national lockdown. This on the part of the grocery retailers is unethical.
The government had to announce a price freeze on basic commodities on 23 April 2020. Price
gouging is a form of unfair pricing that is often considered unethical and is sometimes illegal. It
occurs when sellers raise the price of scarce goods to the highest price when customers are
desperately in need of such products Paboteeah and Cullen (2013). Studies however show that
the Zimbabwean grocery retailers are safe in the area of price collusion and predatory pricing.

The third ethical issue that arises when conducting selling activities in the Zimbabwe grocery
retail industry is in the promotion of the product. Grocery retailers are found inadequate as
consumers complain that grocery retailers offer sales promotion rewards only to one or few
lucky customers and customers interpreted that practice as ‘fooling customers’. An example
would be the annual OK Grand Challenge promotion, where customers are required to
purchase goods of a set minimum value in order to qualify for the draw which only awards a
handful of customers. It can be highlighted that retail customers face unethical communications
through low chances of winning in the sales promotions, high costs promotions, messages
encouraging overspending and lying on product benefits and availability. Retail customers are
generally skeptical about such promotions. Promotions by retailers are likely to be used to
cheat customers. Grocery retailers’ messages that encourage overspending by consumers, their
use of messages that lie and deceive customers on product availability and benefits, and having
too many in-store sales promotions to consumers that add to product costs in future is yet
another concern of unethical promotion issue in selling activities. “The feelings of customers
and their perceptions about grocery retailers need to be continuously investigated and
communicated to relevant bodies and stakeholders” (Mawere, 2010).

In Zimbabwe ethical issues in the hospitality industry are very questionable since profit
maximization is the prime objective of the business. This is main due to the to the promotion of
artificial needs. Many consumers are coerced into these artificial needs and feel inadequate in
the event that do not access certain products, for example. Most consumers that fall prey to
the market driven artificial needs are naturally wasting resources that could be channeled to
needs that are more basic. Selling activities therefore play a major role in influencing people. In
Zimbabwe we have witnessed hotels that advertise for clients to enjoy now and pay later,
putting the consumer into unnecessary debt. Many goods and services created to quench
artificial needs (mostly found in the hospitality industry), do very little to promote the
development of society per se, Galbraith (1999). Consumers now more than ever tend to define
their social status by the services and products they consume, this trend is promoted by
advertising and branding which push adults to spend more resources on consuming goods
which they feel defines ‘who they are’.

In Conclusion, it is important to note that ethical issues in selling profession have been an area
of much discussion in Zimbabwe with consumers pinning their hopes on the gazetted Consumer
Protection Bill, which will establish a Consumer Protection Agency. “The functions of the agency
are centered on the protection of consumers from unjust, unreasonable, improper,
unacceptable, deceptive, unfair and fraudulent conduct and trading practices. “The agency shall
also promote fair business practices by coordinating consumer activities vis-à-vis those of
consumer organisations; it will protect consumers’ interests. Further, the authority promotes
consumer awareness and empowerment by referring and appearing before any court of law,”
reads the Bill. Ethical sales people learn the art of persuasion and they recognise that all the
power lies with the consumer as the latter gets to choose what they want or need. Selling
activities in Zimbabwe in various sectors can benefit from conducting business in an ethical and
more responsible manner to avoid legal issues, build customer loyalty, and enhance a company
reputation. Ethical selling is worth the practice and is much more beneficial to a company in the
long run. Consumers would rather do business with an ethical company. When a company
markets quality products at fair prices, provide after sales support, it creates a good image in
the mind of people.
References

1. Anselmsson J. and Johansson U., (2007) Corporate social responsibility and the
positioning of grocery brands An exploratory study of retailer and manufacturer
brands at point of purchase, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management
Vol. 35 No. 10, pp. 835-856.
2. SAGE (2012) SAGE Brief Guide to Marketing Ethics
3. Jobber D., (2010), Principles and Practice of Marketing, 6th Edition, McGraw Hill
Higher Education, London, UK
4. S. Lancaster and P. Regnalds (2005), Marketing Management, Lacaste Press Ltd, UK
5. S. Marx (1993), Marketing Management, Juta and Co Ltd, Cape Town
6. S. Vnkvist and J. Shaw (2004), International Marketing, Routledge, Canada