Study of brand loyality in the edilble oil segment with refrence to sunflower oil

Thesis Report On STUDY OF BRAND LOYALTY IN THE EDIBLE OIL SEGMENT WITH REFERENCE TO SUNFLOWER OIL

Under the Guidance of Mr. P. Satya Shekhar

Submitted by
D. Aravind ID: HYD/MKT/SS4057 PGP/SS/07-09.

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT HYDERABAD

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Company Approval letter

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External Guide Approval letter

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THESIS APPROVAL LETTER.
Dear D Aravind, This is to inform that the thesis topic "STUDY OF BRAND LOYALTY IN THE EDIBLE OIL SEGMENT WITH REFERENCE TO SUNFLOWER OIL", as proposed by you, has been approved. This email is an official confirmation that you would be doing your thesis work under the guidance of Mr. P. Satya Shekhar. Make it a comprehensive and complete work; the primary objective of a thesis should be value addition to the existing knowledge base. Please ensure that the objectives as stated by you in your synopsis are met using the appropriate research design and methodology. You are required to correspond with us by sending at least six response sheets to [email protected] regular intervals, before 31st (format attached along with this mail) at March 2009 <you already missed the

deadline>(the last date for thesis submission). Fine for late submission will be applicable in your case, as per the institutional norm. Lastly, also please do remember to communicate with the thesis department and any and all other thesis related affairs at <only> [email protected]. Please do disregard the earlier email ids that you have corresponded with Regards --MNVVK Chaitanya The IIPM Think Tank, IIPM Tower 6-3-252/2, Erramanjil Banjara Hills Hyderabad – 500 082 Office: +91 040 30611221 Fax: +91 040 23300213

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to acknowledge my heartfelt gratitude to all those who genuinely helped me in terms of contributing their time, support and encouragement in completing my study. It was solely the blessing of God almighty that made me complete this study. I wish to thank the department of Human Resource Management for facilitating the study at their organization. I also extend my gratitude to my friends for their encouragement, support and help that I value. I remain indebted to my parents for their overall support.

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this report is a bonafide record of the Dissertation work done by me as part of my PGDM program at Indian Institute of Planning and Management, Hyderabad. The study was undertaken in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of Masters in Business Administration

D. Aravind PGP/SS/0709.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1. Introduction

TOPIC

PAGE NO. 8

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Review of Literature

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Research Design and Methodology

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Data Analysis and Interpretation

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5. 6. 7.

Findings, Conclusions And Suggestions Bibliography Annexure

52 55 56

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY:
Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy. True brand loyalty implies that the consumer is willing, at least on occasion, to put aside their own desires in the interest of the brand. Brand loyalty has been proclaimed by some to be the ultimate goal of marketing. An example of a major brand loyalty program that extended for several years and spread worldwide is Pepsi Stuff. Perhaps the most significant contemporary example of brand loyalty is the fervent devotion of many Mac users to the Apple Company and its products. BRAND loyalty in fast moving consumer goods categories is a topical issue, with several brands resorting to price cuts across categories. More importantly, price cuts or sales promotion by themselves do not seem to have done much for brands in terms of sustaining brand loyalty. They may attract consumers in the short run: consumers may stock the brands and consumers new to the brand may try it. But over a period of time, a brand's value may get diluted in consumers' psyche, and will eventually lose a strong base of consumers. The following are some aspects of marketing mix elements and consumer behavior which could contribute to brand loyalty. • • • • • • Product differentiation Price differentiation Branding activity Level of risk Involvement of consumer Sales promotions

NEED FOR THE STUDY:
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Brand image is an aura and repetition the product gain through its brand name. Building brand image helps the organization in achieving targeted sales and to sustain in the market for a long time. It helps the organization in increasing the awareness level of consumers and also makes the product competitive in the market. Every organization needs to improve level of brand awareness and identify customer preferences for various products so that they can implement measures for enhancing brand awareness and for attracting prospects. Hence a study has been undertaken on brand awareness and customer preferences. SCOPE OF THE STUDY: Andhra Pradesh is one of the important business territories in India. So this made Agro Tech Foods Ltd to conduct a project to determine the presence of SUNDROP Brand Oils in Hyderabad. The project concentrates in creating mind space among retailers regarding SUNDROP Brand Oils besides creating retail territories to Agro Tech Foods Ltd. The project also concentrates in studying various other things like the profile of the market, the market trends, the Location of the shops. Retailer preferences, Ambience, VM, POP, and

OBJECTIVES:
? ? ? ales. ? ? To know the opinion of the customers those who are using SUNDROP oil. To know the main reason of leading brand. The primary objectives are that, to know the market share of different brands of SUNDROP To know the attitude of the customer while purchasing the SUNDROP. To know that how mass media and print media will provide the awareness of a grand it incline its

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

BRAND LOYALTY
Brand loyalty is the ultimate goal a company sets for a branded product. A company’s main question in relation to selling their products or services uses to be: “How do I get people to buy my product?” Nowadays companies still greatly appreciate the answer to this question but they have also realized that
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getting customers is not the only thing they need to do. In today’s rapidly moving world consumers don’t stick with products for life. Advertisements and an increased feeling of independence have created consumers that will switch brands or products as soon as the feel the need to do so. What company’s look for in this consumer environment is creating a so-called brand loyalty? Brand loyalty is a consumer’s preference to buy a particular brand in a product category. It occurs because consumers perceive that the brand offers the right product features, images, or level of quality at the right price. This perception becomes the foundation for a new buying habit. Consumers initially will make a trial purchase of the brand and, after satisfaction, tend to form habits and continue purchasing the same brand because the product is safe and familiar Brand loyalists have the following mindsets: I am committed to this brand. I am willing to pay a higher price for this brand over other brands. I will recommend this brand to others.

Loyalty Segmentation:
Loyalty segmentation helps in building strong brands. A market can usually be divided into the following groups: ? ? ?
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Non customers: Those who use the competitor’s brand or are not product class users. Price switchers: Those who are price switchers. The passively loyal: Those who buy out of habit rather than reason. Fence sitters: those who are indifferent between two or more brands. ( these guys sit on the fence

and watch - not bothered )
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The committed: those who are committed to our brands. (Hard Core Loyal Customers! These guys

are brands Asset!)

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The challenges to improve the brand’s loyalty profile are to increase the number of customers who are not price switchers, to strengthen the fence sitters and committed ties to the brand and to increase the number who would pay more to use the brand or service. Two segments where the companies generally under invest are passively loyal and the committed customers. The passively loyal customers are often taken for granted. At the other end of the spectrum are the highly loyal or committed customers. Firms also tend to take this group for granted. Yet there may be significant potential to increase business from the very loyal. The loyal Marriott customer might be encouraged to select even more than often with an improved portfolio of business support services such as fax machines in rooms. Further there is a risk that loyal customers can be enticed away by a competitor if the performance of the product or service is not improved. For these reasons firms should avoid diverting resources from the loyal core to the non-customers and price switchers. One approach to enhancing the loyalty of fence sitters and the committed is to develop or strengthen their relationship with the brand.

Brand Awareness:
Brand awareness is an important way of promoting commodity-related products. This is because for these products, there are very few factors that differentiate one product from its competitors. Therefore, the product that maintains the highest brand awareness compared to its competitors will usually get the most sales. For example, in the soft drink industry, very little separates a generic soda from a brand-name soda, in terms of taste. However, consumers are very aware of the brands Pepsi and Coca Cola, in terms of their images and names. This higher rate of brand awareness equates to higher sales and also serves as an economic moat that prevents competitors from gaining more market share.

Barriers to Entry:
Barriers to entry can exist as a result of government intervention (industry regulation, legislative limitations on new firms, special tax benefits to existing firms, etc.), or they can occur naturally within the business world. Some naturally occurring barriers to entry could be technological patents or patents on business processes, a strong brand identity, strong customer loyalty or high customer switching costs.
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Masterbrand:
For example, Intel is one Masterbrand with several subsequent product offerings such as Pentium, Centrino and Core Duo. While each one of these products offers a different level of performance, it is the Intel brand that allows a consumer to believe that the chip he or she purchases will have the same high level of quality as all other Intel products. Successful implementation of a positive Masterbrand is one way for a business to create an economic moat. BRAND AWARENESS THROUGH EFFECTIVE BRAND NAMES & SYMBOLS: There is no disagreement that effective branding through ‘use of a name, term, symbol or design, or a combination of these’ (Quester et al, 2001) can create brand awareness and recognition in the quickest manner. Companies use different kinds of ‘Brand Name’, that is, a word, letter or a group of words such as AOL, Intel Pentium III etc to project their companies. Sometimes such words, symbols or marks are legally registered and copy righted to a single company known as trademarks ( for product oriented companies) and service marks ( for service offering companies) (Perreault & McCarthy, 2000). However in any form, branding can be used to create brand familiarity among consumers in terms of brand recognition and brand preference (Papers4you.com, 2006). The advantage of using branding effectively is both for consumers as well as marketers. For instance it becomes easy for a customer to choose preferred brand among 1000s of other items just because of famous well recognized symbol, word or trade mark that cannot be possible without effective branding (Quester et al, 2001). For instance imagine you are driving down the road with hunger and suddenly you see a symbol ‘M’ on a sign board with red background and yellow font. It is not difficult to realize that McDonalds is waiting for you, easily manifest effective projection of McDonalds’ through brand symbol ‘M’. Similarly imagine buying a computer accessory and among thousands of unknown brands, suddenly you observe ‘Intel ®’ sign. A quick reminder will prompt that it’s a well known brand symbol that you observe common everywhere in media and at your own computer. Now keeping these examples in mind, it is obvious that marketers can cash in such advantages as well (Papers4you.com, 2006). One best way to use word and symbols is while launching new products under

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same brand names (Quester et al, 2001). For instance, as everyone is aware of ‘Coca Cola ™’ , any new soft drink introduced under this brand name has highly probable chance to achieve awareness and attention of coca cola lovers. Similarly it is quite often that no matter ‘ IBM’ entered in so many IT related services after initially famous for IBM computers but whenever you observe its trade mark of ‘IBM’ written in horizontal lines, consumer is not bothered about checking the background of the company. So as a result it also saves huge promotion costs that a company with less famous brand names and symbols needs to incur. To conclude discussion, the outcome of effective branding can be seen in terms of ‘brand equity’ that is the value of a brand in terms of its perceived brand awareness, recognition, loyalty and associations from customers. To give the advantage of effective branding, the brand equity of the Coca Cola brand is valued $ 43 Billion, IBM brand at $ 18 billion and Kodak’s at $ 12 billion (Kotler & Armstrong, 1999).

Using a celebrity for endorsing a brand has become a trend in India. But who is a celebrity. "A celebrity is a person who is well recognized by the people and has a good reputation and in the people's mind and in the society". But in the end they are also human beings and they can have some negative points, they can fall into controversy and they can fail in their field. When this happens, the brand has to suffer because of the celebrity even though the product is the best in the market. Does the marketer know this? The answer is yes. Then why does he go with celebrity endorsement? The answer is to get instant brand acceptance and sometimes to compete with the competitor or sometimes as a routine. However, corporates must always keep in mind that the objective is to build the brand and not the celebrity. It is also important to appreciate that just because an individual is famous and considered a celebrity, he/she might not necessarily be an effective endorser. As said earlier, celebrity endorsement is always a two-edged sword and it has a number of positives— if properly matched it can do wonders for the company, and if not it may boomerang. In this paper an attempt has been made to know the pros and cons of the celebrity endorsement.

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CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS AND BRAND LOYALTY:
Using a celebrity for endorsing a brand has become a trend in India. But who is a celebrity. "A celebrity is a person who is well recognized by the people and has a good reputation and in the people's mind and in the society". But in the end they are also human beings and they can have some negative points, they can fall into controversy and they can fail in their field. When this happens, the brand has to suffer because of the celebrity even though the product is the best in the market. Does the marketer know this? The answer is yes. Then why does he go with celebrity endorsement? The answer is to get instant brand acceptance and sometimes to compete with the competitor or sometimes as a routine. However, corporates must always keep in mind that the objective is to build the brand and not the celebrity. It is also important to appreciate that just because an individual is famous and considered a celebrity, he/she might not necessarily be an effective endorser. As said earlier, celebrity endorsement is always a two-edged sword and it has a number of positives— if properly matched it can do wonders for the company, and if not it may boomerang. Celebrity endorsement has been established as one of the most proffered tools of advertising. It has become a trend and perceived as a winning formula for product marketing and brand building. It is very easy to have a celebrity for a product or brand but it is very tough to establish a very strong association between the product and the endorser: because the objective is to build a brand not the celebrity: if properly matched it can do wonders for the company, but it also has a number of potential problems like failure of celebrity in his profession, controversy, etc. Once companies fall for a celebrity, it is hard to get out of it. If the brand has done even moderately well after the break of a celebrity campaign, it becomes difficult to separate the role of the message and the role of the celebrity in selling the brand. And so, the celebrity becomes an addiction for the marketing team. Interestingly, the celebrity is a disease that seems to spread across a marketing department. Once one brand manager gets into it, others tend to follow, not wanting to be left behind!

BRAND LOYALTY'S INFLUENCE ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: Brand Loyalty is the consumer's conscious or unconscious decision, expressed through intention or behavior, to repurchase a brand continually. It occurs because the consumer perceives that the brand offers

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the right product features, image, or level of quality at the right price. Consumer behavior is habitual because habits are safe and familiar. In order to create brand loyalty, advertisers must break consumer habits, help them acquire new habits, and reinforce those habits by reminding consumers of the value of their purchase and encourage them to continue purchasing those products in the future. The image surrounding a company's brand is the principal source of its competitive advantage and is therefore a valuable strategic asset. Unfortunately, many companies are not adept at disseminating a strong, clear message that not only distinguishes their brand from the competitors', but distinguishes it in a memorable and positive manner. The challenge for all brands is to avoid the pitfalls of portraying a muddled or negative image, and instead, create a broad brand vision or identity that recognizes a brand as something greater than a set of attributes that can be imitated or surpassed. In fact, a company should view its brand to be not just a product or service, but as an overall brand image that defines a company’s philosophies. A brand needs more than identity; it needs a personality. Just like a person without attentiongrabbing characteristics, a brand with no personality can easily be passed right over. A strong symbol or company logo can also help to generate brand loyalty by making it quickly identifiable. From the design of a new product to the extension of a mature brand, effective marketing strategies depend on a thorough understanding of the motivation, learning, memory, and decision processes that influence what consumers buy Theories of consumer behavior have been repeatedly linked to managerial decisions involving development and launching of new products, segmentation, timing of market entry, and brand management. Subsequently, the issue of brand loyalty has been examined at great length. Branding is by far one of the most important factors influencing an item's success or failure in the marketplace, and can have a dramatic impact on how the "company behind the brand" is perceived by the buying public. In other words, the brand is not just a representation of a company's product; it is a symbol of the company itself, and that is where the core of brand loyalty lies.

Management Perceptions of the Importance of Brand Awareness as an Indication of Advertising Effectiveness
In 1987 Rossiter and Percy wrote “Brand awareness is widely misunderstood and often wrongly measured, even by experienced managers” (p41). Yet brand awareness is covered in most texts on advertising measurement, it is a central part of the popular hierarchy of-effects advertising model, and marketing managers claim it as an important goal of their communications activities (Kelly 1991). The Role of Brand Awareness:
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Rossiter and Percy (1987) describe brand awareness as being essential for the communications process to occur as it precedes all other steps in the process. Without brand awareness occurring, no other communication effects can occur. For a consumer to buy a brand they must first be made aware of it. Brand attitude cannot be formed, and intention to buy cannot occur unless brand awareness has occurred (Rossiter & Percy 1987; Rossiter et al. 1991). In memory theory, brand awareness is positioned as a vital first step in building the “bundle” of associations which are attached to the brand in memory (Stokes 1985). The brand is conceptualized as a node in memory which allows other information about the brand to be “anchored” to it (Aaker 1991b). The conceptualization of a network of brand associations in memory with the brand as a central core has been put forward by many others (eg. Keller 1993; Holden 1993; Holden & Lutz 1992). Brand Awareness in Decision Making: The above two roles of brand awareness should be well known to marketing managers. The role of brand awareness in decision theory is probably less well known. Brand awareness and the consideration set: Brand awareness has been hypothesized to play a crucial role in determining the consideration set: the small set of brands which a consumer gives serious attention when making a purchase (Howard & Sheth 1969; Narayana & Markin 1975). The composition of this small set of brands which are considered during decision-making is important. A brand that is not considered cannot be chosen (Baker et al. 1986), and further, the probability of the brand being chosen is a function of the number of other brands in the consideration set, for instance, the probability of a brand being selected from 1, 2, 3, or 4 brands, decreases rapidly from 1.0 to 0.5, 0.33, and 0.25 respectively. In a situation where the consumer is aware of a number of brands which fit the relevant criteria, he or she is unlikely to expend much effort in seeking out information on unfamiliar brands. A brand that has some level of brand awareness is far more likely to be considered, and therefore chosen, than brands which the consumer is unaware of. Additionally, the strength of awareness of the brands within the consideration set can also be significant. Wilson (1981 cited in Woodside & Wilson 1985) confirmed the importance of topof-mind awareness in a study which found that the higher the position of the brand in the consumer's mind measured by unaided recall, the higher the purchase intention and the higher the relative purchase of the brand. In another study, increases in brand awareness were shown to increase the probability of choice even without any accompanying change in attitude or perceptions (Nedungadi 1990).

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Brand awareness as a heuristic: Brand awareness can also affect decisions about brands within the consideration set (Hoyer & Brown 1990; Keller 1993). Consumers may employ a heuristic (decision rule) to buy only familiar, wellestablished brands (Roselius 1971; Jacoby et al. 1977, both cited in Keller 1993). Consumers do not always spend a great deal of time making purchase decisions. In a study of pre-purchase search for laundry powder, Hoyer (1984) found that the median number of packages examined in-store was 1.2 before a selection was made. Dickson and Sawyer (1986) found that for purchases such as coffee, toothpaste and margarine, the consumer took an average 12 seconds from the time of first looking at the shelf to the time they placed the item in their trolley. In many cases consumers try to minimise the costs of decision making in terms of time spent, and cognitive effort, by employing simple rules of thumb, such as 'buy the brand I've heard of'. This is particularly likely to occur in low involvement situations where a minimum level of brand awareness may be sufficient for choice (Hoyer & Brown 1990; Mackay 1990). In such situations, the consumer may lack the motivation or the ability to judge between brands (Petty & Cacioppo 1986).

Brand awareness enhances perceived quality: A further way brand awareness may affect choice within the consideration set is by influencing perceived quality. In a consumer choice study by Hoyer and Brown (1990) over 70% of consumers selected a known brand of peanut butter from among a choice of three, even though another brand was 'objectively' better quality (as determined by blind taste tests), and even though they had neither bought or used the brand before. This result is even more surprising considering the subjects were given the opportunity to taste all of the brands. Just being a known brand dramatically affected their evaluation of the brand. Intuitively, this makes sense: a consumer may rationalize that if they have heard of a brand, the company must be spending a fair sum on advertising. If it is spending a lot on advertising, then the company must be reasonably profitable which means that other consumers must be buying the product and they must be satisfied enough with its performance, therefore the product must be of reasonable quality. Stokes (1985) found that for a low involvement product (rice) familiarity had a greater magnitude of effect on the quality perception of a brand than either price or packaging. And further, that familiarity had a significant effect on purchase intention whereas price and package design did not. How Does Brand Awareness Benefit the Marketing Manager?

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Brand awareness should be an important goal of the marketing communications efforts of a firm as it has a number of important functions. It is widely acknowledged that without brand awareness occurring, brand attitude and brand image cannot be formed. However, equally important but less widely recognized is the importance of brand awareness as a heuristic which can affect inclusion in the consideration set, and in many situations may be sufficient by itself to determine choice from the consideration set ie., brand awareness can determine not only entry to the consideration set, but can also determine which brand is chosen from the consideration set. Aaker (1991a, b) argues strongly the case for brand building and maintaining brand equity; he cites brand name awareness as one of four major brand assets which add value to the product or service and/or its customers. Investments in brand equity and in particular brand awareness can lead to sustainable competitive advantages and thus to long term value. Brand awareness can add value by 1. placing the brand in the consumer's mind, 2. acting as a barrier to entry to new unestablished brands (Stokes 1985), 3. reassuring the customer of the organization’s commitment and product quality, and 4. providing leverage in the distribution channels (intermediaries are customers too, and are just as suspicious as consumers are of unknown products) (Aaker 1992). However, there is difficulty in demonstrating the value of assets such as brand awareness to managers. Aaker (1991a) complains the problem is that, firstly, enormous pressure exists for organizations and their brands to demonstrate short-term profit results. Brand managers are often given a one to three year time horizon and little incentive to make strategic brand building investments. And secondly, demonstrating the long-term value of brand building is "exceptionally difficult" (Hogarth 1980, Aaker 1991a). Even managers who claim that they are concerned with the brand building activities of their firm, find difficulty in gaining support and resources for these activities. In the light of Aaker's findings, a study by Kelly (1991) is very interesting. Kelly carried out a series of interviews with Australian marketing managers. Many of the managers he interviewed “maintained that their advertising was directed towards building the longer term effects of favorable brand image and strong brand loyalty”. Other managers were quoted as saying that they “were not looking for short-term results” but that advertising provides them with the opportunity “for corporate branding and image building which is very much oriented to the longer term” (Kelly 1991 p.5.). In other words, these managers claimed the long-term goals of brand-building and brand image to be of greater interest to them than short-term objectives such as sales. However this research was based on discussion with managers,

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and might obviously suffer from managers saying what they felt they should do, rather than what they actually do, especially when talking to a marketing academic. Why is brand awareness misunderstood? Rossiter and Percy (1987) claim that the difficulty lies in that there are two types of brand awareness: brand recognition and brand recall, and which of these occurs will depend on the choice situation. Brand awareness does not necessarily require recall of the brand name. The consumer may identify a brand by its location (”the store on the corner”) or its packaging or shape (”the hexagonal bottle for Heinz tomato sauce”). Furthermore, brand recall may not be necessary for purchase; mere recognition of the brand in the store, “Hey that’s the new banana flavored milk” may be sufficient for purchase to occur. Lynch and Srull (1982) defined these different choice situations as stimulus-based (where all the relevant brand and attribute information is physically present), memory-based (where all relevant information must be recalled from memory) and mixed-choice (where some of the information is physically present, and some must be recalled from memory). Obviously, brand recognition occurs in stimulus based situations, and recall occurs in memory-based situations. Both types of awareness would occur in mixed-choice situations. The objective of this study was to determine the level of understanding of brand awareness amongst marketing practitioners, and their use of it as a measure of their marketing effectiveness. The Brand Perceptions of Former Users: Brand image is a popular area of research, often based on the belief that brand images that consumers hold influence their subsequent buying behavior (Fishbone 1967; Johnson & Put 1987). However, very little is known about the relationship between brand image and future behavior. Studies conducted by Bird et al used a common technique where respondents were prompted for brand image attributes (e.g., ‘good value for money’) and asked which brands in the product category they associated with each attribute. Bird et al found ‘current users’ were the more likely to associate a brand with positive (i.e., desirable) image attributes than non-users, and surprisingly, ‘former users’ were more likely to do this than those who had never tried the brand. The average proportion mentioning the brand for an attribute were 50% of ‘current users’, 20% of ‘former users’ and 10% of those who had never tried the brand. This result suggests that the mention of a brand for a positive image attribute is related to current/past, rather than future, behavior. This finding is important in that it suggests that if image attributes (also referred to as beliefs) make up

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brand attitude (e.g., Fishbone & Janzen 1974), this attitude will be based (at least) in part on past behavior, rather than being an indicator of future behavior. In this research two conditions are tested to further extend the generalisability of Bird et al’s research. These are based on the method used to categorize ‘former users’, and the technique used to measure association with image attributes.

Categorizing Former Users: Bird et al categorized respondents who had bought a brand in the four weeks prior to the survey as ‘current users’. ‘Former users’ were those respondents who stated they had bought a brand previously but not in the 4 weeks prior to the interview. There are several potential reasons why, at the point of interview, a customer may not have bought the brand in the past four weeks. The first is that they may be light buyers of the category and had not bought any brand in that time period. The second is due to cycling though repertoire, whereby at the time of interview the respondent may have bought from another brand in their repertoire. In these two scenarios there is no reason why a respondent should not associate the brand with positive attributes when asked. The only barrier is the respondent just doesn’t think of the brand at all, or as much, as other, more recently bought, and therefore more salient brands. For these respondents it would be expected that positive attribute associations would be elicited, but less frequently than for ‘current users’ who had bought the brand more recently. This was the empirical finding of Bird et al. However, the third group of ‘former users’ in Bird et al’s categorization were those who have rejected the brand in favor of an alternative brand. It is reasonable to hypothesize that this group would be less likely to mention the brand for positive image attributes than other users (as per Bird et al). However because of this past rejection of the brand, this group should also be less likely than those who have never tried the brand, which is contrary to the findings of Bird et al. Thus using a ‘former user’ group that consists only of those who have rejected the brand should mean that the key finding of Bird et al would not be generalisable. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: Consumer behavior is the study of when, why, how, where and what people do or do not buy products. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand

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people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general. Customer behavior study is based on consumer buying behavior, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Relationship marketing is an influential asset for customer behavior analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management, personalization, customization and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare functions. Each method for vote counting is assumed as a social function but if Arrow’s possibility theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function is achieved. Some specifications of the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, monotonocity, unanimity, homogeneity and weak and strong Paretooptimality. No social choice function meets these requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously. The most important characteristic of a social function is identification of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation with the ranks. Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind, the productive system is considered from its beginning at the production level, to the end of the cycle, the consumer (Kioumarsi et al., 2009). Consumer Behavior needs Expression, Needs Motivation and Personality which are related concepts and it would be appropriate to consider them together in a practical context. Need is a state of deprivation. Motivation is the drive which propels a person towards achieving his goals and personality is a set of inner characteristics which enable a person to decide how he or she should respond to the environment. Motivation and personality could be linked - a person with a high degree of confidence may be assertive. There are a number of theories on personality. Freudian theory assumes that the behavior of individuals would be based on unconscious needs and drives. According to this theory, the human personality consists of three parts - id, ego and super ego. The id is the component which consists of impulses and primitive instincts which urge the individual to move towards immediate gratification. A number of product categories which may not have well defined functional attributes and which are oriented towards sensual pleasure formulate communication which may appeal to the id part of the personality. Perfumes, cigarettes and liquor are some categories which make use of the approach. Black Knight and Bacardi brands are examples which have adopted this route to communication.

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There are two kinds of needs - primary and secondary. Primary needs are associated with physiological needs such as thirst, hunger and sex. Secondary needs are acquired needs like sense of belonging, status and self-esteem. Consumers may not consciously know their secondary needs and it is in this situation that the symbolism associated with brands could appeal to consumers. Louis Philippe, Park Avenue in apparel, Mercedes in automobiles and Fastrack in watches are some examples which reflect the symbolism in brands. Consumers, by associating themselves with these symbolic brands, are able to gratify their psychological needs. Research methods are required to probe into such needs of consumers. Liril soap was launched in the seventies after a research agency researched and found that housewives had a distinctive need for fantasizing. This was captured in the advertisement for Liril - waterfall, freshness (denoted by green) and the indulgence of the model in the advertisement. This communication is still being used (with variations brought in) after more than two decades. Multiplicity of needs Normally consumers have more than one need and analyzing the multiplicity of needs (with their importance) could provide insights for marketers. A buyer of no-frill Maruti may be interested in the brand because of its low price, fuel economy and adequate comfort. But low price could be the pre-potent need, which could take the brand into the consideration set of consumers. Types of goals Goals can be positive or negative. A positive goal is one towards which behavior is directed and a negative goal is one from which behavior is directed away. This concept is useful when USP (unique selling proposition) is researched. For example: would consumers want white teeth or would they like to prevent tooth decay, could be a decision which needs to be taken by the marketer and the concept of goals are likely to be useful in this situation. Extrinsic and intrinsic needs Needs from the viewpoint of application to a practical context could be classified as extrinsic and intrinsic needs. Extrinsic needs are those which motivate an individual to achieve an end result. Buying a status symbol (designer watches or furniture) to impress others could be associated with extrinsic needs. If the individual buys a car for his own comfort and enjoyment, it gets associated with intrinsic needs. It may be

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worthwhile to gauge the linkages between intrinsic and extrinsic needs before a communication package is formulated for a brand. The example would explain the concept of examining the linkages between intrinsic and extrinsic needs. The list of needs provided in the TV example, illustrate the concept. In-depth research is required to gauge the degree and importance of these needs. This would also be useful to select the imagery which needs to be associated with the chosen USP.

Trade-off motivators Research has shown that the manner in which consumers perceive marketing communication has important implications for marketers. This is especially in the area of FMCG products such as fast foods. Healthy and fast (meaning convenience) may be perceived as tasting bad and oriented towards laziness. This ambiguity could be referred to as trade-off motivators and marketing researchers could probe such propositions with a view to unearth such trade-off motivators.

Self concepts and their implications In almost any category in consumer products, symbolism makes use of self-concept. Self- concept is the image an individual holds about himself. There are a variety of self-concepts which could be useful to marketing communication. They are: (a) Actual self-concept – How the individual perceives himself. A group of consumers may perceive themselves as rebellious, nonconformists who seek individuality and freedom in their lifestyles. Charms brand of cigarettes, during the early eighties, was perhaps one of the early brands in the Indian context to create a brand personality using the power of self- concept. The Spirit of Freedom and Charms is the ways you are were some of the punch lines in the advertisement of the brand, which featured young models. In order to add to the claims about freedom they had packaged the brand in the pack which carried denim type of design. This was the time when denim, which has its origin in the US, was getting accepted in the Indian context for its functional

25

and symbolic appeals. The lifestyle type of advertising and the association (normally associated in the West with casualness and freedom) made the brand an inherent part of the youth culture during its time. The brand had used either actual self-concept or others actual self-concept (how an individual likes others to perceive him). (b) Ideal self-concept – This is concerned with how an individual would like to ideally perceive himself. There is a thin line of difference in that ideal self concept has an overtone of futuristic aspiration in it (more deeper than an active self-image) - the individual perceives the ideal image of himself/herself based on his aspirational needs and this would depend on the individuals status - financial and educational, childhood upbringing, environmental exposure and personality traits. An upcoming businessman may buy the Lacoste brand of apparel which is associated with the profile of a globetrotter, club membership, and some kind of exclusivity and perhaps certain up market sports. There could also be a variant of this kind of self-concept in the form of others ideal self-concept (how others should ideally perceive the individual). The individual may use status symbol to impress others (others ideal self-concept) but may resist from using them whenever there is a situation where the individual feels others do not matter (personal discretionary time/leisure etc. vis-à-vis professional work). Marketers could use such psychographic information with time styles (how individuals spend their time) to come out with appropriate appeals for products and services (vacation and week-end cars are examples of categories where these kinds of orientation are likely to be useful). (c) Expected self-image – This kind of image is between actual and ideal self-images. It is likely to be useful to marketers because changing the self image radically towards the ideal image would be difficult and expected self-image is one which consumers could identify with. A typical example is the advertisements of computer education institutes which attempt to draw prospective consumers for their courses generally ranging from a few weeks to two years. Though there is an element of aspiration, consumers feel it leads to a situation which is a stepping stone (completion of the course to get a job) rather than the realization of their dreams (the ultimate ideal selfimage).

26

For a given target segment, the short term aspirations may reflect actual self-concepts and the long term ones the ideal self-concepts. Individual differences as reflected through self-perception, sensitivity to others perception and rational and irrational needs form the basis on which brands carry their psychological warfare in the minds of consumers.

MAJOR FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Consumers do not make their decisions in a vacuum. Their purchases are highly influenced by cultural social, personal, and psychological factors. For the most part, they are “non controllable” by the marketer but must be taken in to account. We want to examine the influence of each factor on a buyer’s behavior. Cultural Factors In a diversified country like India cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on consumer behavior; we will look at the role played by the buyer’s culture, subculture, and social class. Culture: Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behavior. Whereas lower creatures are governed by instinct, human behavior is largely learned. The child growing up in a society leans a basic set of values, perceptions, preferences and behaviors through a process of socialization involving the family and other key institution .Thus a child growing up in America is exposed to the following values: Achievement and success, activity , efficiency and practicality, progress, material comfort, individualism, freedom, external comfort, humanitarianism, and youthfulness.

Subculture: Each culture contain smaller group of subculture that provide more specific identification and socialization for its members. Four types of subculture can be distinguished .Nationality groups such as the Irish, polish, Italians, and Puerto Ricans are found within large communities and exhibits distinct ethnic tastes and Jews represent subculture with specific culture preference and taboos. Social Class:

27

Virtually all human societies exhibit social stratification. Stratification sometimes takes the form of a caste system where the members of different caste are reared for certain roles and cannot change their caste membership .More frequently, stratification takes the form of social classes . Social Classes have several characteristics. First, Person within each social class tends to behave more alike than persons from two different social classes. Second, persons are perceived as occupying inferior or superior positions according to their social class. Third, a person’s social class is indicated by a number of variables, such as occupation, income, wealth, education , and value orientation, rather than by any single variable , fourth, individuals are able to move from one social class to another up or down during their lifetime. The Extent of this mobility varies according to the rigidity of social stratification a given society. Social Factors: A consumer’s behavior is also influenced by social factors, such as the consumer’s reference group, family, and social roles and statuses. Reference Group : A person’s behavior is strongly influenced by many group .A persons reference group are those groups that have a direct (face to face) or indirect influence on the person’s attitudes or behavior. Group having a direct influence on a person are called membership group. These are group to which the person belongs and interacts. Some are primary groups. With which there is fairly continuous interaction, such as family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Primary group tend to be informal. The person also belong to secondary group, which tend to be more formal and where there is less continuous interaction: they include religious organizations, professional associations, and trade unions. Family Group: Members of the buyer’s family can exercise a strong influence on the buyer’s behavior. we can distinguish between two families in the buyer’s life . The family of orientation consists of one’s parents. From parents a person’s acquires an orientation towards religious, politics, and economics and a sense of personal ambitions, self –worth, and love. Even if the buyer no longer interacts very much with his or her parents, the parents influence on the unconscious behavior of the buyer can be significant. In countries where parents continue to live with their children, their influence can be substantial. In case of expensive products and services, husband and wives engage in more joint decision making. The market needs to determine which member normally has the greater influence in the purchase of a

28

particular products or services. either the husband or the wife , or they have equal influence . The following products and services fall under such: Husband – dominant: life insurance, automobiles, television Wife – dominant: washing machines, carpeting, non –living – room furniture, kitchenware Equal: Living – room furniture, vacation, Housing, outside entertainment. How to succeed: Companies like Nokia, Reebok, Coke, PepsiCo and major automobile giants like Toyota, Suzuki, Ford, Chevrolet, and Mercedes etc.. has made a market for themselves in India. How did they establish their own individual market in a country like India which is prone to diverse cultures? Let’s take the example of Ford. Before establishing their base in India, they engaged in a lot of researches. Their researches were made on the Indian people’s social life, personal tastes and preferences, way of life, how they identify an effective product and what makes them get attracted towards a product. The social and economic conditions were analyzed. The general economy of India was also researched on. They had modified their product to suit the Indian conditions. Their technology had to be adjusted and suited to such an extent that their car is adaptable to Indian conditions. Indians are generally prone to be rough and tough customers and especially taking into account the road conditions and other social factors they designed the product in such a way that it’s best suited to the conditions and it’s received by the target customers. Today Ford is enjoying a huge market in India. If an automobile company from a different country can make wonders why cannot our own manufacturers adapt to these techniques. A customer’s want has to be identified and his expectations must be matched with the other economic and social factors so that their product is receptive. This can be related to any product. Reebok today is enjoying a huge market in India even though they have hired a company which is phoenix to manufacture shoes and operate under Reebok. How did they achieve this? Adapting to social conditions play the most important role in establishing your brand in the market. This also means that customers are open to new and different products from time to time. It’s just that they want the product to be flexible and adaptable to their needs and preferences. People are changing from

29

time to time, so do their tastes and preferences. Identifying those is the first step towards achieving success and the rest depends on the performance of the product.

THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR At Present all the major Companies are marketing their products beyond their home countries. They are extending their operations in the global marketing. The often issue comes before these companies are no to sell the products outside but how to manage the total selling situation outside the country. Many countries are now joined in the communities of nations and chances are that these diverse markets will be transformed in to a single market of homogeneous group. The multinationals are spreading the fever of similar variety in most of the nations. As more and more consumers come in contact with the material goods and life style of people living in other parts of the world, they have the opportunity to adopt these. The researcher has to depend on the condition of the specific country. Some marketers have view that markets are becoming homogeneous so the application of standardized marketing strategy will be possible. The standardized strategy will be more feasible. The question arises on the shared values and needs. The needs can be common but values will have difference. The companies are becoming concentrating on favoring a world brand. The brands, which have started as a local brand are now well accepted as a world brand. The brands like Gillete, Parker Pen General Motors are in this category. These brands are well attached to the culture of country. The problem comes when to spread and extend the same culture to other countries. The regional differences are there to show a difference on each other. The purchasing action assessment will be essential to know for the marketers. The brands are communicated to the consumers according to culture of the country. How can be a consumer across the culture different from each other? Can there be an extension of consumer behavior along with a product or services of one country to another country? How consumers in one culture secure exposure to the goods of other people living in other culture is an important part of consumer behavior. The question arises that how marketers mingle these cultures together and manage it for longer duration of times.

30

The marketers introduce the new products and services to the market and they try to exploit the exposure gained by the new culture. The consumers also gather the taste through different measures and gather different cultural view. This is known as culture transfer. When consumers are making purchase decisions they may take in to consideration the culture of their country. Culture becomes a criterion of evaluation for consumers for deciding various purchase decision. The purchasers have an attitude for different products belong to the different countries. For an example Ford belongs to America, Mitsubishi belongs to Japan. In view of these marketers the total apathy for Psychological, Social, Cultural and Environmental characteristics of other countries and society. Marketer will first have to obtain an in depth picture of society's present attitudes and customs with regard to preventive medicine and related concepts. The very important situation exists for marketers are to understand the culture objectively. The most important situation is that consumers present their attitude about the foreign products and how much consumers are influenced with their own culture. Larry Jabbon sky (1995) has presented a situation have pepsi Affected the consumption culture in the youth. Giwen Rae Bachmann, Deborah Roedder John and Akshay Rao (1993) had described the condition that how children effects through peer pressure in selecting their purchase choice. Dennis W Rook (1985) has written about the various dimension of consumer behavior. The article also highlighted the relative importance of various factors of consumer behavior. Lise Heroux and Nancy J Church (1992) have justified the behavior changing of consumer on the occasion of wedding anniversary and gift giving rituals. David M Potter (1954) presented the situation of consumers with diverse nature and ambitions. Cyndee Miller (1995) has described the 80 different natures of women as a purchaser in different capacities. Kate Fitzerald (1994) has described the role of life style in deciding the consumer behavior factor. David C Mcclelland (1961) has described the behavioral consumption of customer. Ramesh Venkat and Harold J Ogden (1995) have described the contribution of social classification in consumer behavior pattern. Rober A Nisbet (1970) has stressed that social bond plays a very important in deciding the consumer behavioral status. Deborah Bosanko (1994) has given the situations that working women play an important role in deciding role in culture of consumer behavior.

31

Eric Holl Reiser (1995) has given the description that club played an important role in developing a consumer culture. The advertising age (1995) has given the reasons for developing different consumer images. Jeffery D Z bar (1995) has presented the seen of different society within the country culture. Leon E Wynter (1994) specified the role of group effect in deciding the purchasing behavior of consumer. Kari Van Hoof (1994) has mentioned the group differences play an important role in deciding the consumer behavior. Judy Cohen (1992) has different between different community systems about the purchasing system. Chad Rubel (1995) has decided that behavior of market play an important role in deciding the consumer behavior. Helen Mundell (1994) suggested that age plays an important role for deciding the consumer behavior. Maxine Wilkie (1995) has advocated that Demographic plays a vital role for deciding the culture of consumer. Adweek's Marketing week (1994) has given the seen of vanishing culture of housewives and replacement by working wives.

32

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

33

RESEARCH ABSTRACT Introduction to the study: Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy. True brand loyalty implies that the consumer is willing, at least on occasion, to put aside their own desires in the interest of the brand. Brand loyalty has been proclaimed by some to be the ultimate goal of marketing. An example of a major brand loyalty program that extended for several years and spread worldwide is Pepsi Stuff. Perhaps the most significant contemporary example of brand loyalty is the fervent devotion of many Mac users to the Apple Company and its products. BRAND loyalty in fast moving consumer goods categories is a topical issue, with several brands resorting to price cuts across categories. More importantly, price cuts or sales promotion by themselves do not seem to have done much for brands in terms of sustaining brand loyalty. They may attract consumers in the short run: consumers may stock the brands and consumers new to the brand may try it. But over a period of time, a brand's value may get diluted in consumers' psyche, and will eventually lose a strong base of consumers. The following are some aspects of marketing mix elements and consumer behavior which could contribute to brand loyalty.

• • • • • •

Product differentiation Price differentiation Branding activity Level of risk Involvement of consumer Sales promotions

34

NEED FOR THE STUDY: Brand image is an aura and repetition the product gain through its brand name. Building brand image helps the organization in achieving targeted sales and to sustain in the market for a long time. It helps the organization in increasing the awareness level of consumers and also makes the product competitive in the market. Every organization needs to improve level of brand awareness and identify customer preferences for various products so that they can implement measures for enhancing brand awareness and for attracting prospects. Hence a study has been undertaken on brand awareness and customer preferences. REASON FOR CHOOSING THIS TOPIC: Climatic conditions in India favor growing a variety of oilseeds. On the demand side, a growing population and vastly varied dietary habits have ensured a thriving market for edible oil in the country. In fact, there is a substantial demand overhang, which is expected to continue for some years. At present, this is offset by imports that cater to almost half of the total domestic consumption. With cheap imports threatening to cripple the domestic industry, the government is walking a tightrope between filling the demand supply gap and the political need to keep the domestic industry in good health. Unorganized, medium and small players dominate the industry. Hence, quality remains a concern. There is need for better regulatory control to protect consumers. Despite the variety of oilseeds grown in India, the country imports a substantial quantity of edible oil, which also works out cheaper. Allied factors contributing to imports are the higher cost of cultivation in India and uneconomic oil extraction systems. Domestic consumption of edible oils has been growing at 4.0-5.0 percent a year. The consumption in 2007-08 was around 52.70 million tons. Non-packaged oils account for nearly 50.0 percent of consumption in both urban and rural markets. In the remaining 50.0 percent contributed by packaged oils, branded oils constitute a small portion of approximately 10.0-15.0 percent. Keeping in view of all these factors, I preferred India’s leading brand “SUNDROP” in vegetable oil market to study the market.

METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH PROCESS: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Research Design: Descriptive in nature

35

Data Sources: Data will be collected from primary and secondary sources.

Primary

Data:

Primary

data

will

be

collected

from

the

respondents

through

structured questionnaire. Secondary Data: Secondary data will be collected from the company records and from other sources. Research Approach: Survey method Research Instrument: Structured questionnaire RESEARCH DESIGN: Research design is the plan, structure and strategy of investigation conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions. Descriptive research design will be chosen for the present study. Data sources: The study is mainly based on the data collection from primary as well as secondary sources. Research approach: Survey method is adopted to collect the needed information from the respondents. Research instrument: For this study the researcher used well designed and structured questionnaire as a research instrument it include both open & closed ended questions. The questionnaire will be personally administered to the respondents. SAMPLING DESIGN: Definition of population: The population for the study includes customers who prefer wafers. Sampling procedure: For selecting the defined size of sample from the target population convenience, a non probability sampling technique is adopted. Sample size: A sample of 100 customers will be selected from the targeted population for the present study.

36

CHAPTER 4

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

1) How you prefer cooking oil your household use?

37

Option

IN LOOSE

IN PACKETS

BOTH

% of respondents

41%

46%

13%

From the above table and graph it is clear that in loose 41%, in packets 46% and both 13%

2) For how many days you purchase cooking oil?

period

38

2 weeks % of respondents

1 month

3 months

6 months

7%

60%

15%

18%

The above graph and table represent the purchasing of cooking oil is 2weeks 7%, 1 month 60%, 3 months 15% and6 months 18%

3) What is your monthly household income?

Income % of respondents

<5000 12%

5000-10000 25%

10000-20000 34%

>20000 29%

39

From the table and graph it is obvious that the monthly household income<5000 is 12%, 5000-10000 is 25%, 10000-20000 is 34%and >20000is 29%.

4) Which sunflower brand oil do you prefer?

40

SUNDROP % of respondents 48%

Gold drop 20%

Vijaya 18%

other 14%

From the table and graph it is obvious that among the different brands of sunflower oils SUNDROP 48%, Gold drop 20%, vijaya18% and other 14% is respectively giving stiff competition to the SUNDROP oil.

5) What is the reason for selecting the SUNDROP oil?

Quality % of 60%

Price 7%

Brand 13%

availability 20%

41

respondents

From the table and graph it is obvious that among 100 consumers, they said 60% price, quality 7%, brand 13%, and availability 20%

6) How did you come to know about the SUNDROP OIL?

mode

Advertising

Friends

Retailers

Others

42

%of respondents

40%

15%

22%

23%

From the above table and graph it is obvious that there are advertising is 40%,friends is 15%,retailers 22%,others is 23%.here advertisement plays vital role.

7) How much quantity do you use per month?

No. of lits.

1lit

2lit

5lit

other

43

% of respondents

10%

20%

55%

15%

From the table and graph it is obvious 5 liters 55%, 2 liters is 20%, and 1 liter is 10% and others 15%. Every month 5 liters is necessary.

8) Which is the best Quantity sold of SUNDROP brand oils?

Superlite %of respondents 25%

Nutrilite 20%

Heart 22%

crystal 33%

44

From the table it is obvious that the quantity of crystal 33%, superlite 25%, nutrilite20% and heart 22%

9) What is the quality of SUNDROP brand oils?

Excellent % of respondents

Very Good 20%

Good

Average

Poor

8%

27%

15%

10%

45

From the table it is obvious that the quality of SUNDROP brand oil is 8% excellent, 20% very good, 27%good, 15% average and 10% poor.

Premium % of respondents oil? 60%

reasonable 40%

10) How do you rate the pricing of SUNDROP

46

From the above table it is very obvious that the pricing of SUNDROP oil is 60% premium, 40% is reasonable

11) Do u receive any promotional Offers?

YES % of respondents 63%

NO 37%

47

From the above table and graph it is obvious receiving promotional offers 63% is yes,37% is no.

12) In your opinion, which is the best media for advertisement?

TV % of respondents 32%

News paper 15%

Hoardings 28%

Posters 16%

Others 9%

48

From the above table and graph it is obvious that the best media is to advertising in TV is 32%,news paper is 15%,hordings 28%,posters 16% and others are 9%.

13) How is the packing of SUNDROP oil?

Excellent .% of respondents 7%

Very Good 32%

Good 31%

Satisfactory 16%

Poor 14%

49

From the above table it is very obvious that the packing of SUNDROP oil is excellent 7%, very good 32%, good 31%, satisfactory 16%and poor 14%.

50

CHAPTER 5

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGGESTIONS

CONCLUSION: Thus the overall project has helped me to learn a lot about the practical aspects which reinforce the conceptual understanding I had in my academics. The practicality of the subject is totally seen in the real sense. This live experience gave me an opportunity to learn new things which could be implemented in practical to excel. The project was particularly helpful to me in analyzing the people’s preferences and tastes for a particular brand or packing etc., and what is important is that the customer or a retailer looks into the product before he buys a product or a service. What is the requirement of the customer? And how difficult is it to sell a product. Not only this, the project was also helpful for me to see different

51

geographical locations with diversified cultural environments in Hyderabad. I profoundly thank Agro Tech Foods Ltd and Mars Marketing (RDS for ATFL) for providing this opportunity to me as a summer trainee and showing the path of knowledge and experience which will help me to succeed in the career and excel into bright future. The project was also helpful to the company because it could increase its retail space in Hyderabad. through which it could easily get an additional sale to the Company, Not only the additional sale but the mind space of the retailers which would immensely help the company in its long run to continuously improve its business in one of the important business territories of India. FINDINGS: Among all the visited counters it is found that majority of the counters are selling SUNDROP brand Oils. Marketing research: though the consumer space was created among 80% and the mind space created was 100%, which is a very good outcome for the company. In the company there is no cooperation between salesmen and sales officers and also high In the market there are a lot of local brands, which are similar to the SUNDROP Superlite and Of the respondents who are aware of Sundrop oil 40% through Advertising, 15% are Friends, 22%

?

officials. The company cannot take seriously the feedback from sales men. ? Crystal. ? are Retailers and 23% are others. ? Of the respondents 60% are purchasing oil per monthly, 7% are monthly twice, 15% are monthly thrives 18% are six months. ? Of the respondents 55% are used 5 lits, 22% are 2 lits, 10% are 1 lit, and 15% are others used the Sundrop oil per month. ? Of the respondents 33% are Crystal, superlite 25%, Nutrilite 20%, and Heart 22%.
? Of the total respondents are come to know 8% excellent, 22% V.Good, and 27% Good, 15% Average,

and 10% Poor. ? Of the respondents more than 80% are satisfied about the packaging. SUGGESTIONS:

52

The following suggestions will help the Agro Tech Foods Ltd to increase their sales in the respective places in Hyderabad. Possible company should introduce a new variety of a product with a lesser price to compete with Company should market more of those products which are demanded more. The company should concentrate on middle class people. Because in hyd middle class people are The company can maintain brand loyalty of consumers and can improve the company good will

?

other brand.
?

?

more.
?

by producing gifts The price should be maintained same at all out lets. The company should take necessary feedback from the consumers. Company products should possess more awareness in the market, by marketing through regional If possible company should concentrate on direct marketing

?

?

?

channels.
?

BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCES
1. 2.
3. 4.

Philip kotler, marketing research, millennium edition G.c.beri, marketing research, viii edition C.R.kothari, research methodology, ii edition Leon G.Schiffman, consumer behavior, vi edition

53

5. 6.
7.

Aaker da (1991a). Are brand equity investments really worthwhile? Journal of consumer research Rossiter jr & percy l (1987). Advertising and promotion management. Lynch jg jr & srull, tk (1982). Memory and attentional factors in consumer choice: concepts and research methods.

8.

WEB SOURCES www.google.com www.googlescholar.com www.learnmarketing.net www.investopedia.com

ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNAIRE: NAME: --------------------AGE: ----------. AREA: -----------

1. How you prefer cooking oil your household use? a) In Loose b) In Packets c) Both.

2. For how many days you purchase cooking oil?
54

a) 2 Weeks

b) 1 Month

c) 3 Months

d) 6 Months.

3. What is your monthly household income? a) < 5,000 b) 5,000-10,000 c) 10,000-20,000 d)>20,000.

4. Which sunflower brand oil do you prefer? a) SUNDROP b) Gold drop c) Vijaya d) Others.

5. What is the reason for selecting the SUNDROP oil? a) Quality b) Price c) Brand d) Availability

6. How did you come to know about the SUNDROP oil? a) Advertising b) Friends c) Retailer d) Others

7. How much quantity do you use per month? a) 1 lit b) 2 lit c) 5 lit d) Other

8. Which is the best Quantity sold of SUNDROP brand oils? a) Superlite b) Nutrilite c) Heart d) crystal.

9. What is the quality of SUNDROP brand oils? a) Excellent b) Very Good c) Good d) Average e) Poor.

55

10. How do you rate the pricing of SUNDROP oil? a) Premium b) Reasonable

11. Do you receive any promotional offers? a) Yes b) No

12. In your opinion, which is the best media for advertisement? a) TV b) Newspaper c) Holdings d) Posters e) Others

13. How is the packing of SUNDROP oil? a) Excellent b) Very Good c) Good d) Satisfactory e) Poor

14. SUGGESTIONS: 1. 2. 3. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESPONSE SHEETS
RESPONSE SHEET NUMBER-1 1) Name: Aravind Doli 2) Thesis ID: HYD/MKT/SS04057 3) The Topic of the study: STUDY OF BRAND LOYALTY IN THE EDIBLE OIL SEGMENT WITH REFERENCE TO SUNFLOWER OIL 4) Questionnaire made to collect Primary Data: prepared 5) Date when the Guide was consulted: April 13th The outcome of the discussion: I have prepared Questionnaire which consists of 13 questions and consulted my guide then he gave me suggestions and helped me in making some corrections in the questionnaire.

56

The Progress of the Thesis: I have prepared Questionnaire which consist frequency of usage, promoting the product, price, quantity and brand related questions. RESPONSE SHEET NUMBER-2 1) Name: Aravind Doli 2) Thesis ID: HYD/MKT/SS04057 3) The Topic of the study: STUDY OF BRAND LOYALTY IN THE EDIBLE OIL SEGMENT WITH REFERENCE TO SUNFLOWER OIL 4) Questionnaire made to collect Primary Data: approved by the external guide. 5) Date when the Guide was consulted: April 20th

The outcome of the discussion: Testing the market response Progress of the Thesis: I have started market research with my questionnaire and collecting information about the consumer preferences and brand awareness.
RESPONSE SHEET NUMBER-3 1) Name: Aravind Doli 2) Thesis ID: HYD/MKT/SS04057 3) The Topic of the study: STUDY OF BRAND LOYALTY IN THE EDIBLE OIL SEGMENT WITH REFERENCE TO SUNFLOWER OIL 4) Questionnaire made to collect Primary Data: approved by the external guide. 5) Date when the Guide was consulted: April 27th

The outcome of the discussion: Analysis and interpretation of the date
Progress of the Thesis: I am interpreting the total response to the product from the market survey. My guide has suggested me to research on market segmentation and product portfolio as well.

57

RESPONSE SHEET NUMBER-4 1) Name: Aravind Doli 2) Thesis ID: HYD/MKT/SS04057 3) The Topic of the study: STUDY OF BRAND LOYALTY IN THE EDIBLE OIL SEGMENT WITH REFERENCE TO SUNFLOWER OIL 4) Questionnaire made to collect Primary Data: approved by the external guide. 5) Date when the Guide was consulted: May 15th.

The outcome of the discussion: Literature Review
Progress of the Thesis: I am collecting information related to brand loyalty and edible oil segment. I am also studying about the various factors which influence the consumer behavior.

RESPONSE SHEET NUMBER-5 1) Name: Aravind Doli 2) Thesis ID: HYD/MKT/SS04057 3) The Topic of the study: STUDY OF BRAND LOYALTY IN THE EDIBLE OIL SEGMENT WITH REFERENCE TO SUNFLOWER OIL 4) Questionnaire made to collect Primary Data: approved by the external guide. 5) Date when the Guide was consulted: May 22d.

The outcome of the discussion: Conclusion and suggestions
Progress of the Thesis: After interpreting the data, I have submitted my suggestions and conclusions to my external guide.

58

RESPONSE SHEET NUMBER-6 1) Name: Aravind Doli 2) Thesis ID: HYD/MKT/SS04057 3) The Topic of the study: STUDY OF BRAND LOYALTY IN THE EDIBLE OIL SEGMENT WITH REFERENCE TO SUNFLOWER OIL 4) Questionnaire made to collect Primary Data: approved by the external guide. 5) Date when the Guide was consulted: May 30 th.

The outcome of the discussion: Final Review
Progress of the Thesis: I am working on the final changes of the report. After this I would submit the report.

59



doc_988051804.doc

 

[vijay.jadhav.754]

i want this project were i am get this