Scoring marketing obstacles and recommended solutions: the case of the date marketing system in Saudi Arab

Scoring Marketing Obstacles And Recommended Solutions: the Case Of The Date Marketing System in Saudi Arabia
IJAM
Scoring marketing obstacles and recommended
solutions: the case of the date marketing system in
Saudi Arabia
Sobhy M. Ismaiel1
, Ahmed M. Al-Abdulkader2
, Safar H. Al-Kahtani1
, Ali I. Saad1
1
Department of Agriculture Economics, College of Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh-Saudi Arabia.
2
National Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Riyadh- Saudi
Arabia.
This study is an attempt to identify problematic issues facing date marketing systems in Saudi
Arabia and to introduce corrective solutions to overcome them. Eventually, this would increase
date marketing efficiency, performance, and the competitiveness level of Saudi dates, both
locally and globally. The study applied a typical five-level Likert scale and factor analysis in
order to analyze the primary data collected from date dealers at the major Saudi Arabian date
markets. Results highlighted that the impact of technical problematic issues were the highest,
with an average of 3.67 followed by structural problematic issues with an average of 3.36, and
finally followed by behavioral problematic issues with an average of 3.12. Technical, structural,
and behavioral problematic issues have been categorized into a set of factors explaining 79.18%,
74.84%, and 77.7% of the variations, respectively. The impact of applying the recommended
solutions on a Saudi Arabian date marketing system were found to be high, ranging from a
minimum of 3.35 for encouraging competition to a maximum of 3.98 for providing affordable cold
storages. Dates marketing channel types, geographical factors, and the date marketing dealers’
educational level have shown significant effects on the prevailing problematic issues of the
Saudi Arabian date marketing system.
Keywords: Marketing efficiency, Structural problems, Behavioral problems, Technical problems, Likert scale, Factor
analysis.
INTRODUCTION
The date sectors an auspicious sector in Saudi Arabia,
with a high trading volume that is equal to about US$ 6
billion annually. Improving date marketing efficiency and
confronting its obstacles and problems is likely to
increase the annual trading volume of the Saudi dates by
about 30 %( Al-Abdulkader et al., 2016). The marketing
problems and obstacles are tremendous, and their
prevalence and persistence hinder the marketing system
advancement and the improvement of marketing
efficiency. The chronic problems of the agricultural
marketing in developing countries include inadequate
storage and transportation facilities, poor market
information system, and capital shortage. Such problems
require integrated national measures that serve
producers, consumers, and national development goals,
including, a high definition of technical assistance and
research needs, adequate capability of marketing
management, and wide spectrum marketing information
to all beneficiaries (Friedberg, 1970).The problems and
obstacles of agricultural marketing are classified
according to their relation to market structure, conduct,
and performance.
*Corresponding Author: Ahmed M. Al-Abdulkader,
National Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation,
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Riyadh-
Saudi Arabia. akader@kacst.edu.sa, Tel +96614814699,
Fax +96614814693
International Journal of Agricultural Marketing
Vol. 4(1), pp. 129-141, March, 2017. © www.premierpublishers.org. ISSN: 2167-0470
Research Article

Ismaiel et al. 129
They could be caused by the technical issues of the
provided marketing services (Ismail and Alshehry, 2015).
Date marketing dealers, including, wholesalers, retailers,
and exporters are capable of identifying the problems
facing their marketing business and negatively affecting
their marketing efficiency, as well as providing corrective
solutions according to their own attitudes, understanding,
and experience. Many variables affect marketing
efficiency either in short or long term, such as return on
investment, internal rate of return, economic value,
competition over time, profit, and others (Rust et al.,
2004, Sheth et al., 2002). Major marketing constraints are
diversified in terms of lack of reliable market information
systems, low technological know-how for value chain
upgrading and development, low bargaining power of
farmers (Emana et al., 2015)lack of competitiveness at
the upstream marketing bodies, and lack of technological
content (Han, 2011). Governance, politics, and
infrastructure are challenges in the agricultural marketing
(Voboril, 2013).
Agricultural marketing systems camber addressed from
different perspectives, including producers, marketing
efficiencies, prices, margins, integration, and equilibrium,
in both place and time dimensions. It can be further
addressed from the perspective of marketing in its form
dimension, marketing risks and information. Another
viable perspective includes the methods used to improve
agricultural marketing systems (Alkahtani et al., 2007), as
well as the basic elements of the agricultural marketing
system itself, such as marketing margins, costs, and
profits for fruits and vegetables commodities (Alkahtani
and Elfeel, 2006; Hassan and Raha, 2013). Still another
would be there commendations given to improve date
marketing systems, such as by increasing the producers’
share of date retail prices in order to recognize the basic
factors responsible for the high marketing margins of
some vegetables and fruits on the retailing level (Ismail,
et al., 2009), in addition to the application of e-trading in
date marketing for the sake of identifying problematic
issues that hinder the application of electronic trade
systems and, thus, increase marketing efficiency and
reduce the costs for providing products and contribute to
an increase of date marketing volume (Alkahtani et al.,
2011). Date marketing dealers’ level of satisfaction with
the provided Saudi Arabian marketing service costs was
assessed against an average, ranging between a
minimum of 2.62 for non-cold storage and a maximum of
2.71 for packaging, grading, and sorting, out of 5.00 on
the Likert scale, with the exception of transportation,
which was satisfactory with an average of 2.53. On the
other hand, the date marketing dealers ‘satisfaction with
the provided marketing service quality was assessed at
an average ranging between 2.61 and 3.40 out of 5.00 on
the Likert scale, except for transportation costs, which
were satisfactory with an average of 2.59 (Al-Abdulkader
et al., 2016).
This study is abstracted from an original comprehensive
research project that dealt with the marketing of dates in
Saudi Arabia from different dimensions (Al-abdulkader et
al., 2015), and its main purposes are to identify the
problems and obstacles that the Saudi Arabian date
marketing system faces and to introduce recommended
solutions to overcome these issues, thus improving date
marketing efficiency and performance, as well as
enhancing Saudi Arabian date competitiveness, both
locally and globally.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A field survey questionnaire was conducted on a random
sample of date marketing dealers functioning at the major
Saudi Arabian date markets, namely, Riyadh, Al-Madinah
Al-Munawara, Al-Hasa, and Al-Qassim. This random
sample covered 298 date marketing dealers representing
all types, namely, wholesaling, retailing, and exporting.
Table 1 presents the study sample’s main characteristics.
Qualitative and quantitative statistical analyses were
applied in order to analyze the collected primary data.
The qualitative statistical analysis measures the means,
standard deviations, frequency, and variable frequency in
order to identify the functional and personal
characteristics of study sample and their questionnaire
feedback. In addition, a typical five-level Likert scale was
applied in order to determine the average impact record
of problematic issues on the Saudi Arabian date
marketing system, as follows:
No Impact: shows a very low degree of impact on the
date marketing system from the respondents’ view, with
grades ranging between1 and 1.80.
Impact to some extent: shows a low degree of impact on
the date marketing system from the respondents’ view,
with grades ranging between 1.81 and 2.60.
Moderate impact: shows a certain degree of impact on
High impact: shows a high degree of impact on the date
marketing system from the respondents’ view, with
grades ranging between 3.41 and 4.20.
Very high impact: shows a very high degree of impact on
Factor analysis was also applied in order to reduce the
large number of date marketing problems and solutions
into a smaller set of unobserved categories called factors,
with minimum information loss. The principle component
and various rotation methods, which are most commonly
used in factor analysis, were applied in order to identify
the most important factors explaining correlation patterns
within the set of observed variables. Factor analysis
seeks to identify common underlying factors out of
observed variables, so that: 1) the first factor is the one
most correlated with the observed variables or is the

Int. J. of Agric. Mark. 130
Table 1. Basic Characteristics of the Study Sampleat Major Saudi Arabian Date Market Regions
Variable Frequency %
Study Regions
Riyadh 75 25.2
Al-Madinah Al-Munawara 101 33.9
Al-Hasa 49 16.4
Al-Qassim 73 24.5
Types of Marketing Channels
Wholesaling 47 15.8
Retailing 129 43.3
Wholesaling and Retailing 106 35.6
Retailing and Exporting 3 1.0
Wholesaling, Retailing, and Exporting 6 2.0
Unidentified 7 2.3
Specialization in Date Marketing Activities
Specialized 216 72.5
Non-Specialized 82 27.5
Other Marketing Activities Rather Than Dates (for Non-specialized)
Agricultural Marketing Activity 71 86.59
Non-Agricultural Marketing Activity 11 13.41
Date Marketing History of the Dealer
Inherited business 116 38.6
Non-inherited business 182 61.1
Educational Level ofDate Marketing Manager
Lower than Secondary education 150 50.3
Secondary Education 120 40.3
Higher Education 24 8.1
Unidentified 4 1.3
Scale of Trade (ton)
Small scale < 10 51 17.2
Medium scale 10 –< 50 125 41.9
Above medium scale 50 – < 100 33 11.0
Large scale 100 – 500 67 22.5
X-large scale > 500 22 7.4
Source: Study Sample, 2012
most explained of the common variation, followed by the
second factor and so on; 2)in every factor there are a few
non-zero coefficients; and 3)these factors can be
interpreted in line with their observed variable relation.
Communality is an observed variable correlation with
more than one factor. The degree of variable
communality is the variable contributions of all factors,
and it measures the percent of variance in the observed
variable explained by all factors. Factor loading consists
of the correlation between observed variables and
factors. Squared factor loadings denote the percentage of
the observed variable variance that is interpreted by the
factor. Eigen values are the variance of the factor. The
first factor accounts for the highest variance, followed by
the second factor and so on. If the Eigen value is greater
than one, the factor will be accepted; otherwise, it will be
refused as a factor. Factor rotation is a process of
mathematical procedures performed to achieve a simple
and practically meaningful factor solution.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Problems and Obstacles
The key issues in the Saudi Arabian date marketing
system have been categorized into three dimensions:
technical, structural, and behavioral. Technical issues
have the highest impact on the date marketing system,
with an average of 3.67 on a Likert scale and a standard
deviation of 0.84, followed by structural issues, with an
average of 3.36 and a standard deviation of 0.74.
Behavioral issues average 3.12, with a standard
deviation of 1.03. The general average for all dimensions
3.38.
Technical Issues
The impact of technical issues on the date marketing
system were found to be high, ranging from a minimum

Ismaiel et al. 131
Table 2. Key Technical Issues in the Saudi Arabian Date Marketing System from the Date Marketing Dealers’ Perspective
Problematic Issue
Very
high
impact
High
impact
Moderate
impact
Impact to
some
extent
No
impact
AVG STDEV Rank
1. Lack of
adequate grading and
sorting services
F 54 119 67 45 12
3.53 1.08 7
٪ 18.1 39.9 22.5 15.1 4
2. Lack of
adequate packaging
services
F 63 121 68 38 8
3.65 1.03 5
٪ 21.1 40.6 22.8 12.8 2.7
3. Lack of
adequate transportation
and distribution
services
F 59 128 71 31 8
3.67 1.00 4
٪ 19.8 43 23.8 10.4 2.7
4. Lack of
adequate storage
services
F 77 121 62 26 6
3.81 0.99 1
٪ 25.8 40.6 20.8 8.7 2
5. Slow
procedures for
exporting
F 74 85 94 34 8
3.62 1.07 6
٪ 24.8 28.5 31.5 11.4 2.7
6. High costs of
marketing services
F 90 94 68 33 12
3.73 1.13 2
٪ 30.2 31.5 22.8 11.1 4
7. Low-
qualitymarketing
services
F 82 91 77 32 9
3.70 1.09 3
٪ 27.5 30.5 25.8 10.7 3
Dimension Average 3.67 0.84
impact of 3.53 for the lack of adequate grading and
sorting services to a maximum of 3.81 for the lack of
adequate storage services (see Table 2).The prevailing
technical issues of date marketing system in Saudi
Arabia, mainly, the lack of adequate transportation and
distribution services, and storage services were
considered among the chronic marketing problems
prevailed in developing countries (Kries berg, 1970).
Structural Issues
The impact of structural issues were found to be high to
moderate, ranging from a minimum of 3.8 for the
monopoly in marketing services to a maximum of 4.01 for the
shortage of seasonal laborers and the occurrence of black
laborers market where the scarce seasonal laborers are
overpriced (see Table 3). The impacts of observed structural
issues are categorized as follows:
Structural issues with a high impact (3.41–4.20):
Deficiency of season all a borers and the emergence of
a black laborer market.
The emergence of non-local purchasing power financing
date marketing operations.
Increased supply.
Lack of clear quality standards and specifications.
Insufficient packaging and process in plants.
Lower demand.
Structural issues with a moderate impact (2.61–3.40):
Lack of adequate marketing information.
Barriers to market entry and exit.
Existence of a monopoly (in quantity and price).
Monopoly of marketing services.
Behavioral Issues:
Behavioral issues were found to have a moderate impact
on the Saudi Arabian date marketing system, with an a
minimum of 3.05 on a Likert scale for poorknowledgeofprice
determination and a maximum of 3.22 for lacking knowledge
on quality discrimination (see Table 4).
Factor Analysis for Studied Issues
Factor Analysis for Technical Issues
The First Factor
The Eigen value for this factor amounted to 4.5, and it
explained 43.77% of the variations in technical date
marketing problems. This ratio was higher than the other

Table 3. Key Structural Issues in the Saudi Arabian Date Marketing System from the Date Marketing Dealers’ Perspective
Problematic Issue
Very
high
impact
High
impact
Moderate
impact
Impact
to some
extent
No
impact
AVG STDEV Rank
1. Monopoly in
price/quantity
F 37 66 65 69 60
2.84 1.32 9
٪ 12.4 22.1 21.8 23.2 20.1
2. Monopoly in
marketing services
F 26 66 81 68 55
2.80 1.23 10
٪ 8.7 22.1 27.2 22.8 18.5
3. Lack of adequate
information system
F 27 77 83 69 42
2.93 1.19 7
٪ 9.1 25.8 27.9 23.2 14.1
4. Barriers to
market entry and exit
F 30 73 76 69 48
2.89 1.24 8
٪ 10.1 24.5 25.5 23.2 16.1
5. Low demand
F 62 111 70 35 19
3.55 1.14 6
٪ 20.8 37.2 23.5 11.7 6.4
6. Increase supply
F 73 112 59 34 20
3.62 1.17 3
٪ 24.5 37.6 19.8 11.4 6.7
7. Inadequate dates
packaging and processing
factories
F 73 105 57 38 22
3.58 1.22 5
٪ 24.5 35.2 19.1 12.8 7.4
8. The absence of
clear quality
specifications and
standards
F 79 95 61 46 15
3.60 1.18 4
٪ 26.5 31.9 20.5 15.4 5
9. Shortage of
seasonal laborers and the
emergence of ablack
laborer market
F 126 95 41 27 9
4.01 1.09 1
٪ 42.3 31.9 13.8 9.1 3
10. The emergence
of non-local purchasing
power financing dates
marketing operations
F 102 87 43 36 17
3.78 1.23 2
٪ 34.2 29.2 14.4 12.1 5.7
Dimension Average 3.36 0,74
factors. This factor includes four variables, namely,
shortage of grading, shortage of packaging, shortage of
transportation, and shortage of storage. The correlation
coefficient of these items was to the factor of 0.808,
0.840, 0.847, and 0.684, respectively. The degree of
commonality ranged between 0.710 for shortage of
storage and 0.878 for shortage of packaging. These
results confirm that all of the variables aforementioned
reach a satisfactory level from the date dealers’
perspective.
The Second Factor
explained 35.96% of the variations in technical date
marketing problems. This factor includes three variables,

Ismaiel et al. 133
Table 4. Key Behavioral Issues in the Saudi Arabian Date Marketing System from the Date Marketing Dealers’ Perspective
Problematic Issue
High
impact
impact
Moderate
impact
Impact
to some
extent
No
impact
AVG STDEV Rank
1. Poor
knowledge of price
determination
F 29 86 90 56 37
3.05 1.17 4
٪ 9.7 28.9 30.2 18.8 12.4
2. Poor
knowledge of best
markets
F 26 86 108 44 34
3.09 1.11 3
٪ 8.7 28.9 36.2 14.8 11.4
3. Lack of
knowledge in
marketing ways
F 37 92 84 50 35
3.15 1.19 2
٪ 12.4 30.9 28.2 16.8 11.7
4. Lack of
knowledge on
quality
discrimination
F 48 83 84 47 34
3.22 1.23 1
٪ 16.1 27.9 28.2 15.8 11.4
Table 5. Factor Analysis for the Elements of Saudi Arabian Technical Marketing Problems
Elements
Factors
Communality
First factor Second factor
1. Lack of adequate sorting and grading 0.808 0.869
2. Lack of adequate packaging 0.809 0.878
3. Lack of adequate transportation 0.847 0.866
4. Lack of adequate storage 0.684 0.710
5. Slow procedures for exporting 0.641 0.763
6. High cost of marketing services 0.867 0.880
7. Low-quality marketing services 0.855 0.873
Eigenvalue 4.50 1.03 -
Explained variation by elements
(percent)
43.22 35.96 79.18
Cronbach's alpha 0.904 0.87 -
namely, complications of exporting techniques, high cost
of marketing services, and low quality of marketing
services. The correlation coefficient of these items was to
the factor of 0.641, 0.867, and 0.855, respectively. The
communality factor ranged from0.763 for complications of
exporting techniques to0.880 for high cost of marketing
services. These results confirm that all of the
aforementioned variables have the same level from the
date dealers’ viewpoint. Logistic regression shows no
effect of any explanatory factors on technical marketing
problems (see Table 5).
Factor Analysis for Structural Issues
The First Factor
The Eigen value for this factor amounted to 4.00 and
explained 29.71% of the marketing problem variations.
This ratio was the highest compared to the other factors.
This factor includes a monopoly on quantity and price, a
monopoly on date marketing services, a lack of
information, and a limited market entrance or exit. The
correlation coefficient of these items to the factor was of
0.805, 0.822, 0.702, and 0.647, respectively. The

Table 6. Factor Analysis for the Elements of Structural Problems inthe Saudi Arabian Date Marketing System
Elements
Factors
Communality
First
factor
Second
factor
Third
factor
1. Monopolistic power (quantity and price) 0.805 0.888
2. Monopolistic power (marketing services) 0.822 0.901
3. Insufficient marketing information 0.701 0.814
4. Limitations of market entrance 0.647 0.794
5. Low demand 0.760 0.841
6. Excess supply 0.829 0.894
7. Insufficient data-processing facilities 0.656 0.716
8. Unclear quality standards 0.669 0.682
9. Deficiency of seasonal laborers 0.766 0.851
10. Foreign financial capacity for financing
marketing services
0.828 0.874
Eigenvalue 4.0 2.55 0.926
Explained variation by elements (percent) 29.71 27.01 18.1 74.84
Cronbach's alpha 0.88 0.86 0.76 -
communality factor ranged between 0.794 for limitations
to entry or exit and 0.901 for monopoly in marketing
services. These results confirm that all of the
aforementioned variables have the same scoring level
from the date dealer viewpoints.
The Second Factor
The Eigen value for this factor amounted to 2.55 and
explained 27.01% of the date marketing problem
variations. This factor includes demand decline, excess
supply, insufficient manufacturing plants, and inadequate
quality standards. The correlation coefficient of these
items was to the factor of 0.760, 0.829, 0.656, and 0.669,
respectively. The communality factor ranged from 0.682
for inadequate quality standards to 0.894 for excess date
supply. These results confirm that all of the
aforementioned variables have the same satisfactory
level from the date dealer viewpoint.
The Third Factor
explained 18.1% of the variations in date marketing
service satisfaction. This factor includes shortage of
seasonal labor and non-Saudi financial sources for date
marketing services. The correlation coefficient of these
items was to the factor of 0.766 and 0.828, respectively.
The communality factor ranged between 0.815 and
0.874, respectively. These results confirm that all of the
aforementioned variables have the same level from the
date dealers’ viewpoint. Logistic regression shows that
the type of date merchant activity (type of date marketing
channel) only affects the score given for structural
problems from the date dealers’ perspective (see Table
6).
Factor Analysis for Behavioral Issues
The Only Factor: Behavioral Problems
The Eigen value for this factor amounted to 3.12,
explaining 77.7% of the variations in date marketing
service satisfaction level. This factor includes all four
variables in one factor. The correlation coefficient of
these items relates to the factor was0.853, 0.919, 0.914,
and 0.837, respectively. The Cranach alpha factor for
stability is 0.902. This factor represents behavioral
problems.

Ismaiel et al. 135
Table 7. Recommended Solutions to Improve Date Marketing Efficiency from the Perspectives of Date Marketing Dealers
in Saudi Arabia
Recommended Solutions AVG STDEV Rank
Providing affordable cold storages
3.98 1.00 1
Providing marketing loans
3.92 1.06 2
Monitoring auctions 3.84 1.06 3
Stimulating the role of cooperative societies and strengthening the governmental
support
3.79 1.08 4
Founding investment portfolios for enterprisers’ youth training and financing
activities of date purchasing and marketing
3.67 1.13 5
Escalating institutional arrangements for date marketing locally and globally
3.74 1.00 6
Establishing a national federation for dates producers consisting of private sector,
public sector, universities, and research centers
3.74 1.04 7
Establishing dates’ marketing companies
3.74 1.15 8
Expanding dates’ complementary industries
3.71 1.03 9
Subsidizing exportation 3.65 1.04 10
Enforcingof specifications and standards
3.64 1.00 11
Regulating wholesale markets
3.57 1.05 13
Ensuring the availability of market information
3.57 1.07 13
Promoting date marketing techniques, such as electronic dates and auctions
3.57 1.10 14
Date manufacturing
3.55 1.02 15
Intensifying awareness and counseling programs
3.50 1.02 16
Encouraging competition
3.35 1.15 17
Recommended Solutions
The impact of the recommended solutions for overcoming
or minimizing the impacts of the Saudi Arabian date
marketing system issues, thus enhancing the marketing
efficiency, are almost high. They ranged between a
minimum of 3.35 for encouraging competition and a
maximum of 3.98 for providing affordable cold storages,
with an average of 3.68 (see Table 7). Al-abdulkader et
al. (2015, 2016) found that solving and minimizing the
impacts of these issues would enhance the date
marketing efficiency by about 51%.
Saudi Arabia
Factor Analysis for Solutions
Factor analysis suggested categorizing the set of
recommended solutions for date marketing problems into
four factors to improve date marketing efficiency. These
four factors explain 71.02% of the variations in all of the
items of recommended solutions. These four factors are
presented in Table (8) and discussed below.
The First Factor
explained 19.8% of the variations in the scores given to
the solutions. This ratio was higher than the other factors.
This factor includes enhancing the competition,
organizing wholesale markets date manufacturing and
processing, encouraging date exporting, and improving
standardization. The correlation coefficient of these items
was to the factor of 0.651, 0.774, 0.663, 0.784, and
0.622, respectively. The communality factor ranged from

Table 8. Factor Analysis for the Elements of Recommended Solutions for Saudi Arabian Date Marketing Problems
Elements
Factors
Communality
First factor:
cost of
physical
services
Second
factor: cost
of exchange
services
Third factor:
cost of
facilitating
services
Fourth
factor:
other
costs
1. Enhancing competition 0.651 0.776
2. Organizing wholesale
markets
0.774 0.852
3. Date manufacturing 0.784 0.829
4. Supporting date exports 0.663 0.776
5. Encouraging
specifications and standards
0.622 0.554
6. Supporting cooperatives 0.700 0.581
7. Establishing national date
producers union
0.651 0.644
8. Enhancing date electronic
trade
0.736 0.819
9. Complementary
manufacturing
0.697 0.777
10. Enhancing institutional
framework on both national and
international levels
0.677 0.770
11. Low-cost cold storing 0.706 0.744
12. Providing marketing
loans
0.772 0.813
13. Establishing date
marketing companies
0.662 0.768
14. Training and financing 0.769 0.727
15. Marketing extension 0.740 0.685
16. Marketing information 0.787 0.772
17. Controlling date auctions 0.682 0.728
Eigen value 7.67 2.03 1.35 1.02
Explained variation by elements
(%)
19.8 19.02 18.38 13.82 71.02
0.554 for improving the date standardizationto0.852 for
wholesale market organization. These results confirm
that all of the aforementioned variables have the same
level of satisfaction from the date dealers’ viewpoint.
The Second Factor
explained 19.02% of the variations in date marketing
service satisfaction. This factor includes reactivating the
role of cooperatives in date marketing; establishing a
date producers union; enhancing information technology
such as electronic trade in date marketing; expanding
date manufacturing and its complementary industries;
and improving the institutional framework in the date
marketing system, on both local and international levels.
The correlation coefficients of these items are to the
factor of 0.700, 0.651, 0.697, 0.736, and 0.677,

Ismaiel et al. 137
Table 9. One-Way Analysis of Variance Showing the Impact of Marketing Channel Types on Major Saudi Arabian Date
Marketing Problems
Comparison variable
Marketing
channels
Average
Score
STDEV
F-
test
value
Significant
level
Interpretation
Structural issues
Wholesaling 3.15 0.88
1.79 0.148 -
Retailing 3.41 0.69
Wholesaling,
retailing
3.42 0.73
Wholesaling,
retailing, exporting
3.23 0.84
Behavioral issues
Wholesaling 2.94 1.04
2.20 0.088 -
Retailing 3.26 0.97
Wholesaling,
retailing
3.01 1.06
Wholesaling,
3.58 1.35
Technical issues
Wholesaling 3.35B
0.72
3.26 0.022*
All marketing
channels versus
wholesaling
Retailing 3.77A
0.81
Wholesaling,
retailing
3.73A
0.83
Wholesaling,
3.77A
1.20
Date marketing general
problems
Wholesaling 3.14B
0.70
2.84 0.038*
All marketing
channels versus
wholesaling
Retailing 3.48A
0.65
Wholesaling,
retailing
3.39A
0.67
Wholesaling,
3.53A
1.09
Recommendations for
improved
date marketing
efficiency
Wholesaling 3.43B
0.86
3.41 0.018*
All marketing
channels versus
wholesaling
Retailing 3.78A
0.59
Wholesaling,
retailing
3.67A
0.72
Wholesaling,
3.98A
0.76
*Significant at 0.05 significance level
- Means followed by the same letter do not significantly differ using Duncan’s test.
respectively. The communality factor ranged from0.581
for reactivating the role of cooperatives in date marketing
to0.000 for enhancing information technology in date
marketing, such as electronic trade. These results
confirm that all of the aforementioned variables have the
same level of satisfaction from the date dealers’
viewpoint.
The Third Factor
explained 18.38% of the variations in the recommended
solution scores. This factor includes establishing low-cost
cold storage facilities, enabling marketing credit, and
establishing dates, marketing companies, and marketing

Table 10. One-Way Analysis of Variance Showing the Impact of Regions under Investigation on Main Saudi Arabian Date
Marketing Problems
Comparison variable Study areas
Average
score
STDEV
F-
test
value
Significant
level
Interpretation
Structural issues
Riyadh 3.24 0.87
1.56 0.199 -
Al-Madinah
Al-Munawara
3.36 0.67
Al-Hasa 3.54 0.75
Al-Qassim 3.34 0.70
Behavioral issues
Riyadh 2.87B
1.14
3.55 0.015*
Al-Madinah Al-
Munawara versus
Riyadh
Al-Madinah
Al-Munawara
3.36A
0.95
Al-Hasa 3.14AB
1.06
Al-Qassim 3.04AB
0.97
Technical issues
Riyadh 3.38B
0.92
4.75 0.003**
All regions versus
Riyadh
Al-Madinah
Al-Munawara
3.80A
0.72
Al-Hasa 3.83A
0.89
Al-Qassim 3.69A
0.80
Date marketing general
problems
Riyadh 3.16B
0.79
4.33 0.005** All regions versus
Riyadh
Al-Madinah
Al-Munawara
3.51A
0.61
Al-Hasa 3.50A
0.70
Al-Qassim 3.36A
0.63
Recommendations for
improved
date marketing
efficiency
Riyadh 3.67 0.73
0.82 0.486 -
Al-Madinah
Al-Munawara
3.64 0.63
Al-Hasa 3.82 0.80
Al-Qassim 3.65 0.71
*Significant at 0.05 significance level
**Significant at 0.01 significance level
- Means followed with the same letter do not significantly differ using Duncan’s test.
training. The correlation coefficients for these items were
to the factors of 0.706 0.772, 0.769, and 0.662,
respectively. The communality ranged from0.727 for
marketing training to0.813 for enabling marketing loans.
These results confirm that all of the aforementioned
variables have the same level of satisfaction from the
date dealers’ viewpoint.
The Fourth Factor
explained 13.82% of the recommended solution
variations. This factor includes marketing extension,
enhancing marketing information, and auction control.
The correlation coefficients for these items were to the
factor of 0.740, 0.787, and 0.682, respectively. The
communality factor ranged from 0.685 for marketing
extension to 0.772 for marketing information. These
results confirm that all of the aforementioned variables
have the same level of satisfaction from the date dealers’
viewpoint.
Impact of Explanatory Factors
The study survey includes some explanatory variables,
including marketing channel types (wholesaling, retailing,
exporting, and combinations of some or all), regions or
geographic factor, date dealers’ educational level, the
extent of the dealer concentration in date marketing,
types of other dealer activity besides date merchandising,
and the length of date merchandising experience. One-
way analysis of variance and a Chafee test, t-test, and

Ismaiel et al. 139
Table 11. One-Way Analysis of Variance Showing the Impact of Dealer Educational Level on Saudi Arabian Date Marketing
Problems
Comparison variable
Educational
level
Average
score
STDEV
F-
test
value
Significant
level
Interpretation
Structural issues
Lower than
secondary
3.35 0.73
0.37 0.691 -Secondary 3.34 0.78
University and
higher
3.48 0.76
Behavioral issues
Lower than
secondary
3.03B
1.01
4.26 0.015*
University and higher
versus lower than
secondary
Secondary 3.15AB
1.01
University and
higher
3.69A
1.16
Technical issues
Lower than
Secondary
3.60B
0.80
3.56 0.030*
versus lower than
secondary
Secondary 3.68AB
0.84
University and
higher
4.08A
0.95
Date marketing
general problems
Lower than
Secondary
3.33B
0.67
3.94 0.021*
versus lower than
secondary
Secondary 3.39AB
0.70
University and
higher
3.75A
0.71
Recommendations for
improved
date marketing
efficiency
Lower than
Secondary
3.59B
0.72
4.25 0.015*
versus lower than
secondary
Secondary 3.73AB
0.70
University and
higher
4.02A
0.59
*Significant at 0.05 significance level .
*Means followed with same letter do not differ significantly using Duncan’s test.
correlation analysis were utilized to investigate the
significance of these variables ‘effect on the following:
Types of Marketing Channels
Table9 shows a significant difference in date marketing
problems, mainly through tech
nical issues between different marketing channels. In
addition, recommended solution scoring varies
significantly among various types of date dealers. In
general, all marketing channels have higher scores for
problems and suggested solutions compared to
wholesalers.
Geographic Factor
Table 10 shows insignificant regional differences in
satisfaction level with the performance quality of
marketing services in the market, the problems of market
structure, and the recommended solutions. However,
significant differences do exist in the technical problems
in marketing; technical problems in date marketing are
significantly higher in Al-Hasa and Al-Qassim than they
are in Riyadh.
Educational Level of Dealer
The date dealer’s educational level causes significant
variation in the marketing problems, especially in
behavioral marketing and technical marketing problems.
A higher education correlates with higher scores for such
problems than a lower educational level. Higher educated
dealers also give higher significant scoring for
recommended solutions than less educated dealers (see
Table 11).
The other explanatory variables, such as the extent of the

dealer concentration in date merchandising and the
length of experience in date merchandising, showed
insignificant variation using one-way analysis of variance.
CONCLUSIONS
Saudi Arabian date marketing system encounter many
issues that hinder their efficiency and lower the
competitiveness of Saudi dates at the global markets.
The prevailing problems and obstacles were categorized
into three major dimensions: technical, structural, and
behavioral. The impact of technical problems and
obstacles were found to be the highest compared to the
other dimensions, with an average of 3.67 on a Likert
scale, followed by structural problems with an average of
3.36 and behavioral problems with an average of 3.12.
The impact of applying the recommended solutions to
overcome or minimize the impacts of the Saudi Arabian
date marketing issues were found to be high and to
enhance the date marketing efficiency by about 51%.
They ranged between a minimum of 3.35 for encouraging
competition and a maximum of 3.98 for providing
affordable cold storages, with an average of 3.68.Factor
analysis suggested categorizing the set of recommended
date marketing problem solutions into four factors in
order to improve date marketing efficiency. These four
factors explain 71.02% of the variations of all of the
solution items recommended.
This study also found that factors such as marketing
channel types, study regions, and date marketing dealer
educational level significantly impact the prevailing issues
of Saudi Arabian date marketing systems, as well as the
fact that these significant impacts varied among types of
marketing channels, regions, and date dealer educational
level.
In conclusion, the more quickly the prevailing problems of
the Saudi Arabian date marketing system are addressed,
the more likely the marketing efficiency and Saudi date
global market competitiveness will improve.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The study team is very grateful to King Abdulaziz City for
Science and Technology (www.kacst.edu.sa) of Saudi
Arabia for its financial support and on-going
encouragement. This work was funded through the
Strategic Technology Program – the National Plan for
Science, Technology, and Innovation
(http://maarifah.kacst.edu.sa) grant # 600-32.
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and Opportunities. United States Department of
Agricultural. Agricultural Outlook Forum. 2013.
Accepted 08 January, 2017
Citation: Ismaiel SM, Al-Abdulkader AM, Al-Kahtani SH,
Saad AI (2017). Scoring marketing obstacles and
recommended solutions, the case of the date marketing
system in Saudi Arabia, International Journal of
Agricultural Marketing 4(1): 129-141.
Copyright: © 2017 Ismaiel et al. This is an open-access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author and source are cited

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