Study the case of quantitative data analysis described below and answer the questions that follow: Distribution channel strategies are the plans that enable companies to move their manufactured products to its end users with the help of chain of commerce. The main purpose of sales channels is to focus on different selling vessels by segmenting sales operations. In recent years, with the rising of network economy and e-commerce, in addition to the traditional retail channel, more and more customers or consumers choose to purchase products from the internet channel(direct channel), which have become an important way of products sale. With the changing in customer or consumer buying behaviour, more and more companies are beginning to redesign or rebuild their distribution channel structure (Kenji, 2017; Yan et al., 2018). The director in charge of sales and marketing of a popular cell phone brand across Africa, Ms Lynn Naidoo, wants to determine whether there is empirical evidence of an association between the number of cell phones sold across five regions of Africa and the distribution channels in place currently. For the study, Ms Naidoo has retrieved a random dataset of 1496 sales generated across a number of regions on the continent of Africa over the month of December 2020. The preliminary analysis of the data revealed that the 1496 sales took place across five regions of Africa namely, West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, Central Africa and North Africa. Further analysis revealed the sales were realised through six distinct sales and distribution channels: Online marketplace, distributors, affiliate sales, outsourced sales, value added reseller and catalogues (See Table 4.1, below).

Formulate the null and alternative hypotheses for the study.