1 a study on the impact of marketing strategies...

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Analysis and Interpretations of the Impact of Analysis and Interpretations of the Impact of Analysis and Interpretations of the Impact of Analysis and Interpretations of the Impact of Marketing Strategies on the Gold Ornament Marketing Strategies on the Gold Ornament Marketing Strategies on the Gold Ornament Marketing Strategies on the Gold Ornament

Market of KeralaMarket of KeralaMarket of KeralaMarket of Kerala

92

Analysis and Interpretations of the Impact of Marketing Strategies on the Gold Ornament Market of Kerala

The previous chapters have dealt with the need for marketing

strategies in the gold ornament market of Kerala. Necessary theoretical

references were also presented to justify the case. In this chapter, the

researcher has made an attempt to analyze the primary data in connection

with the opinions expressed by the respondents regarding the marketing

strategies used in the gold ornament market of Kerala. Special care has been

taken to ensure to keep transparency and objectivity in data analysis. Various

demographic and geographic profiles of the respondents and their

interrelationships with other responses were also examined. Hence the

analyses of the variables detailed in this chapter are classified under two

sections.

In the section A, the researcher has made only a brief discussion

which measures the profile of the respondents and their general attitude

towards gold ornament purchase in Kerala. However, section-B analyzes

the issue in detail and in this section the researcher explores the view

points of respondents regarding their attitude with respect to the influence

of various marketing strategies on the gold ornament market of Kerala. The

researcher has categorized the view points of respondents under six heads

based on the objectives. They are:

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• Influence of different marketing strategies on acquiring and

retaining various income level consumers

• Influence of product-related marketing strategies on consumers

• Price-related marketing strategies and its influence on consumers

• Influence of place (distribution)-related marketing strategies on

consumers

• Promotional marketing strategies and their impact on the purchasing

behaviour of consumers

• The influence of people (consumer)-oriented marketing strategies on

consumers purchasing behaviour.

94

SECTION - A

3.1 Personal profile of the sample respondents

To provide the personal profile of the respondents, a pilot study was

conducted. In order to obtain maximum information and to include all

typical cases, the respondents were selected on the basis of multi-stage

random sampling. Maximum care was taken to select the respondents so

that they formed a true representative sample of the entire population.

From the 64 wards randomly taken throughout Kerala, a total of 1319

samples were selected and the necessary information was collected through

a questionnaire survey. For the purpose of the study, the following aspects

relating to the respondents were taken into consideration. They were: a)

location of the residence, b) gender, c) age, d) religion, e) income and f)

educational qualification of the respondents. With the help of the above six

parameters, a profile of the selected respondents was drawn by adopting

percentages and tables. A detailed analysis of these items would provide a

clear picture of the profile of the respondents selected for the study.

3.1.1 Place of Residence (Region)

Region is one among the important geographical variables used for

market segmentation. The gold consumption by Urban and Rural Kerala was

being drawn for a quite long time and it was perceived that the rural market

was untapped. Hence, a number of jewellery retailers are now actively

targeting this untapped potential. The recent trend in Kerala shows that the

95

gap between urban-rural divisions is gradually narrowing. The rural rich are

now displaying a buying behaviour akin to that of city dwellers. Agriculture is

the base of Kerala economy and gold is popular among farmers. It has been

observed that the share of the income flow to gold ornament market from

central part of Kerala has been increasing rapidly because of the rise in

agricultural income accruing from rubber. Given this scenario, the Kerala gold

jewellery retailers are beginning to shift their urban focus to the rural market.

The gold ornament market has been alive to the fact that rural segment is a

large and significant domain in terms of generating a high volume market. In

the present study the information regarding the residential area of respondents

is classified into three groups, i.e urban, semi-urban and rural. This

classification is predicated on the nature of employment, income, population

and its density. Table 3.1 shows the distribution of respondents on the basis of

their place of residence.

TABLE .3.1

Distribution of the sample by place of residence (Region)

Source: Direct survey

Region Numbers Percentages

Urban 131 9.93

Semi-urban 414 31.39

Rural 774 58.68

Total 1319 100

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From the above table, it is obvious that 58.68 percent of respondents

selected for the study were from rural area, 31.39 per cent of them from

semi-urban area and 9.93 per cent from urban area.

3.1.2 Gender

Gender is a significant factor which influences the consumer

behaviour in the gold ornament market of Kerala. Keralite women have a

very strong craze for gold ornaments irrespective of the income group they

belong to. They go on a buying spree on religious and other occasions.

Hence, the consumption of gold by the women folk is traditionally quite

high all across the state. While these facts are being considered, a study on

the behavior of male and female consumers in the gold ornament market of

Kerala is relevant and imperative. The information regarding the distribution

of respondents on the basis of their gender is given in the table 3.2.

TABLE. 3.2

Distribution of the sample by gender

Gender Numbers Percentages

Male 326 24.72

Female 993 75.2

Total 1319 100


Table 3.2 indicates that a majority (75.2 percent) of respondents

selected for the study were female and 24.72 per cent male.

97

3.1.3 Age of the respondent

In the gold ornament market, the consumer’s age exerts a significant

influence on his or her identity and behaviour in the market and the

researcher found it as a useful demographic variable for distinguishing

market segments. The age differences of the consumers substantially

influence their taste for design ranging from the traditional to the modern.

Teenagers and young women prefer light weight ornaments to large and

bulky traditional ornaments. In tune with the changing tastes of the

younger generation, jewellers are also innovating with newer lightweight

designs. Saratha (2002) 1 says that the life of the gold ornament market is

dependent on women consumers belonging to the age group of 25-40. The

age groups of the respondents have been mainly classified into four

categories for the purpose of the research. A general breakdown of the gold

ornament market of Kerala on the basis of age is given below:- 18 up to 30

group, 31 up to 40 group, 41 up to 50 group and 51 & above group. The

position of the age groups of respondents is depicted in table 3.3.

1 Saratha R. (2002). Vivaham Swarnasalakalil nadakkumpol (Mal.). Garuda Mangalya

Vyvahika Masika, Thiruvanamthapuram, 8 (1). p.58

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TABLE. 3.3

Distribution of the sample by Age (in completed years)


Table 3.3 indicates that out of 1319 respondents, those belonging to

the 18 - 30 age total 333 (25.25 per cent), those belonging to the 31- 40

range total 428 (32.45 per cent), those belonging to the 41-50 range total

345 (26.16 per cent) and that 213 (16.15 per cent) respondents of the

sample size are above 50 years of age.

3.1.4 Religious composition

That people all over the world have always been enthralled by gold

is evident from the mythologies of cultures in all parts of the world. Gold is

an integral part of Indian culture, and is considered extremely sacred. In

India, gold is an inseparable item in many sacred Hindu rituals.

Furthermore, gold is ingrained in our core beliefs and our psyche. Urvashi,

one of the most beautiful women in Hindu mythology, is believed to have

had a golden hue. It is not only the Hindu tradition that extols gold. There

Age Numbers Percentages

18 - 30 333 25.25

31-40 428 32.45

41-50 345 26.16

51& above 213 16.15

Total 1319 100

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are several references in the Bible to the existence and the sale of gold in

the Near East. In fact gold is the first element mentioned in the Bible.

According to Islam, the fifth heaven is made of gold.

In Kerala, gold is bought during festivals like Onam and Vishu when

ladies get dressed up in traditional gorgeousness and wear gold ornaments.

There are auspicious days in the Hindu calendar, which encourage its

followers to buy gold on those specific days. In the discussion that ensures it

is essential to analyze the relationship between the religious composition of

consumers and their behaviour in the gold ornament market of Kerala to

understand the behaviour of customers. The table 3.4 depicts the religious

composition of respondents selected for the study.

TABLE. 3.4

Distribution of the sample by Religion


The above table reveals that the majority (37.15 per cent) of the

respondents selected for the study are Hindus (37.15 per cent), while

Muslims constitute 35.71 per cent and 27.14 per cent Christians.

Religion Numbers Percentages

Hindu 490 37.15

Muslim 471 35.71

Christian 358 27.14

Total 1319 100

100

3.1.5 Income of the family

The purchasing power and social status of the customer depend

upon their income. While considering income, the income generated from

his/ her family and related income sources are taken into account. Income

is clearly a vital component to uphold a moderate life style. Here the

incontrovertible fact is that gold is used as a predominantly long-term

investment vehicle. It is also passed on to daughters at weddings. Besides,

in the event of an exigency it is mortgaged to tide over financial crises. It

is a traditional necessity, as well.

With this understanding the researcher has found that it is

worthwhile to conduct a study regarding the impact of income on the gold

ornament market of Kerala. On the basis of the total family income (per

year) the respondents were divided into five categories for the study. The

gold ornament market can be segmented based on family income as

follows: Lower income (< 1,00,000), Lower-middle income (1,00,001–

3,00,000), Middle income (3,00,001- 9,00,000), Upper-middle income

(9,00,001- 25,00,000) and Higher income (>25,00,000) groups. The

distribution of the respondents belonging to each income group is shown in

the table 3.5.

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TABLE. 3.5

Distribution of the sample by family income (per year)

Income level Numbers Percentage

Lower income 223 16.91

Lower middle income 372 28.20

Middle income 437 33.13

Upper middle 245 18.58

Higher income 42 3.18

Total 1319 100


The table 3.5 depicts that out of 1319 respondents, 223(16.91per

cent) belong to the category of lower income group, 372 (28.20 per cent)

belong to lower-middle income group. Similarly, 437 (33.13 per cent) fall

under the category of middle income group. This table also shows that 245

(18.58 per cent) of the respondents are included in upper-middle income

group and 42 (3.18 per cent) of the respondents come under the higher

income group.

3.1.6 Educational Qualification

Educational qualifications of the respondent positively influence

how a person thinks, how he makes relevant decisions and how he relates

to others. While considering the gold ornament market of Kerala, one must

be conscious of the fact that educational qualifications of the people play a

102

crucial role in the purchasing behaviour of people. In the case of Keralites,

factors like their purchasing behaviour and changing fashions have

traditionally been highly influenced by their education. Furthermore,

educated consumers are more sophisticated in their purchase of gold

ornaments and store choices. They are also more alert to the quality of gold

that are provided by the jewellery retailer. Besides, they have differing

needs from those of a typical consumer tending to spend somewhat more

on purchasing unwanted items. Thus, education does make a difference,

not only in what the consumer purchases but often probably in the selection

of gold ornaments and the jewellery retailer. Based on the educational

qualification of the respondents, the gold ornament market of Kerala can be

segmented into four groups as follows: Up to Matriculation, Secondary to

graduation, Post graduation & above, and Professional/ technical degree

holders. Their distribution is shown in the table 3.6.

TABLE. 3.6

Distribution of the sample by Educational Qualification

Educational qualification Numbers Percentages

Up to Matriculation 256 19.41

Secondary to graduation 591 44.81

Post graduation & above 255 19.33

Professional/ technical degree 217 16.45

Total 1319 100


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The table 3.6 shows that out of 1319 respondents, 591 (44.81per

cent) got included in secondary to graduation level, while 256 (19.41 per

cent) respondents stated that they had studied up to matriculation level.

Similarly, 255 (19.33 per cent) of respondents were included in the post

graduation & above category. The remaining 217 (16.45 per cent) of the

respondents stated that they belonged to professional/ technical degree

holders category.

3.2 RESPONDENT’S GENERAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS THEIR GOLD ORNAMENT PURCHASE

In comparison with the other states of India, the volume of gold

ornament purchase in Kerala is substantially high. Gold is seen by many as

a safe haven in an uncertain world. God's Own Country is estimated to

account for one-third of the 800 tonne annual consumption of gold in the

country2. People now look for quality and purity of ornaments meticulously.

In this process, the jeweller should naturally anticipate the needs of the

consumer and provide help and advice whenever needed, because the

expectation of consumers and their demand may change with the passage of

time. A jewellery shop should make proper arrangements to get acquainted

with the needs, wants, tastes and preference of the consumers. The

researcher has made an attempt to find out people’s interest related to gold

ornament purchase, and their role in the gold ornament purchase in their

family, which vary from one another. 2 http: //goldnews.bullionvault.com/gold_indian_jewellerymarket_demand.

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3.2.1 Respondent’s interests related to gold ornaments purchase

The researcher has made painstaking efforts to identify the interest

level of people in purchasing gold ornaments in Kerala. An enquiry was

made among the entire sample selected to find out their interest related to

the gold ornament purchase, which is presented in Table 3.7.

TABLE. 3.7

Respondent’s opinion on whether they have an interest related to gold ornament purchase

Opinion Numbers Percentage

Yes 1312 99.47

No 7 .53

Total 1319 100


By analyzing the views of the respondent families, it has been found

that 99.47 percent of them were interested in purchasing gold ornaments.

But .53 percent of them were not interested in purchasing gold ornaments.

3.2.1.1 Reason for rejecting gold ornaments

Religious injunctions, economic factors and the principled stance on

the part of an individual are among the number of aspects, which have been

taken into consideration in this study. Table 3.8 shows reasons for rejecting

gold ornaments by the families of the respondents.

105

TABLE. 3.8

Reason for rejecting gold ornaments


While analyzing the views of 7 respondents who had no interest in

gold ornaments, 57.14 per cent said that the reason was economic and the

remaining 42.86 percent said that it was the religion they belonged to.

3.2.1.2 Role of respondents in the gold ornament purchase

The family as a unit is an important consumer for gold ornaments. It

helps in shaping the pattern of consumption and indicating the decision-

making roles. The members of the family play different roles in the

purchase of gold ornaments such as influencer, initiator, decider and user.

However, these roles played by the family members may not be the same

with different families. In this study, the researcher has formulated four

statements for measuring the attitude of the respondents related to this

aspect and the respondents were asked to give their degree of agreement on

a 4-point scale ranging from ‘highly to not at all’ for each statement. Table

3.9 shows the respondents’ opinion pertaining to their role in the gold

ornaments purchase.

Reasons Numbers Percentage

Religious injunctions 3 42.86

Economic problem 4 57.14

Principled stance --- ---

Total 7 100

106

TABLE. 3.9

Role of respondents in the gold ornament purchase in their family

Statements Highly

Agreed 4

Moderately agreed 3

Low agreement

2

Not at all

agreed 1

Total

Score Rank

1. My important role in the gold ornament purchase in my family as a buyer

1228

(307)

1461

(487)

772

(386)

132

(132) 3593 2

2. I am a person who ultimately uses the gold ornament in my family.

1180

(295)

2184

(728)

326

(163)

126

(126) 3816 1

3. My role is to take the final buying decision related to gold ornament in my family.

1060

(265)

1230

(410)

680

(340)

297

(297) 3267 3

4. I am a person who sense the need for the purchase of gold ornament in my family.

704

(176)

1200

(400)

708

(354)

382

(382) 2994 4


•The values given in the bracket denote the number of respondents.

In this table the primary data have been converted into scores in

order to find out the most important role of respondents in the gold

ornament purchase in their family. This table demonstrates that the most

important role of the respondent related to the gold ornament purchase was

as a user of gold ornaments (statement-2). It also shows that the second

important role was as a buyer (statement-1); third one was as a decider

(statement-3) and the last but not least important one was as an initiator

(statement- 4).

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3.2.1.3 Factors influencing the purchase decision with respect to gold ornaments

The impact of various factors on the purchase decision is always not

the same. While analyzing the influence of the different factors on the

purchase decision process, particularly for the gold ornament, the

researcher has taken into consideration three statements based on this

aspect for the study. However for the purpose of a deeper insight, the

scores for each statement have been divided into four categories (Table

3.10). The respondents were asked to give their degrees of agreement on a

4-point scale ranging from “highly” to “not at all” for each statement

(factors). Table 3.10 gives the ranking of the respondent’s opinion based

on the total score of their ratings related to their agreement with the various

factors influencing the purchase decision of the respondents vis a vis the

gold ornament.

108

TABLE. 3.10

Factors influencing respondent’s purchase decision related to gold ornaments


• The values given in the bracket denote the number of respondents.

The result of this table (3.10) reveals that family members

(statement- 1) were the main factor that influenced purchase decision of the

respondents related to gold ornaments. The second important factor was

the influence of the price of gold (statement 3) and the last but not the least

important one was the influence of friends and relatives (statement-2).

Statements Highly

agreed 4 Moderately agreed 3

Somewhat agreed 2

Not at all agreed 1

Total Score

Final Rank

1 Family members influence my purchase decision related to gold ornaments.

2268

(567)

1413

(471)

366

(183)

91

(91) 4138 1

2. My friends and relatives have involvement in the buying process of gold ornaments.

620

(155)

855

(285)

600

(300)

572

(572) 2647 3

3. Price is an important factor which influences my purchase decision related to gold ornaments.

2040

(510)

1644

(548)

394

(197)

57

(57) 4135 2

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SECTION- B

3.3 INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT MARKETING STRATEGIES ON ACQUIRING AND RETAINING VARIOUS INCOME LEVEL CONSUMERS

The gold ornament market is all about winning and retaining

consumers, and the marketing strategy should be centered on the key

concept of consumer satisfaction. Hence, jewellery merchants are using a

number of marketing strategies to influence their consumers. Furthermore,

it is to be noted that the advent of international jewellery shops and their

far more competitive marketing strategies have resulted in focusing on

attracting consumers and at the same time retaining the existing ones.

An interesting fact is that some enterprising jewellery shops are

raring to develop the logical and technical tools that would help them to

recognize, attract and retain their customers by building good relationship

with precisely those customers they want. However, most of the jewellery

shops are not aware of the benefit of a good relationship with consumers.

This part of the present study gives an idea about the various marketing

strategies of jewellery retailers for acquiring and retaining consumers of

various income levels in the gold ornament market of Kerala. Moreover,

this study is expected to help the gold merchant to build proper marketing

process for attracting and retaining consumers. In this context, the

researcher seeks to make an overall assessment of the impact of various

marketing strategies employed in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

110

3.3.1 Respondents’ awareness of different marketing strategies of jewellery retailers in Kerala

An enquiry was made to find out the overall opinion of respondents

regarding their awareness of different marketing strategies employed in the

gold ornament market of Kerala (Table 3.11).

TABLE. 3.11

Awareness of different marketing strategies of gold jewellery retailers in Kerala

Awareness Number Percentage

Positive 1312 100

Negative - -

Total 1312 100


Regarding the awareness of different marketing strategies of the

jewellery merchants, all respondents expressed that they had a positive

attitude of the same.

3.3.1.1 Intensity of the influence of different marketing strategies on respondents in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Here an attempt is made to know the opinion of the respondents

regarding the intensity of the influence of marketing strategies of the

jewellery merchants on their gold ornaments purchase. This section deals at

length with eight statements which have been grouped under one head i.e.

Intensity of the influence of different marketing strategies on respondents

in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

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TABLE. 3.12

Intensity of the influence of different marketing strategies on respondents in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Statements

Str

ongl

y ag

ree

5

Mod

erat

ely

agre

e 4

Som

e w

hat

agre

e 3

Littl

e ag

reem

ent 2

Not

at a

ll ag

ree

1

Tot

al S

core

Fin

al r

ank

(A) Product quality improvement strategies like 100% 916 hall marking scheme and purity analyzer facility of the jewellery merchant influenced me a lot.

3215 (643)

1580 (395)

456 (152)

136 (68)

54 (54)

5441 1

(B) Product-related strategies like introducing new variety of jewellery designs make the people attracted and acceptable to jewellers.

560 (112)

1848 (462)

1461 (487)

362 (181)

70 (70)

4301 5

(C) I believe that price reductions of the jewellery retailer created my attraction towards them.

150 (30)

816 (204)

321 (107)

284 (142)

829 (829)

2400 7

(D) I always select a particular jewellery retailer for my gold ornament purchase.

1610 (322)

1980 (495)

975 (325)

210 (105)

65 (65)

4840 3

(E) Gold purchasing plans helped me in facing price fluctuations in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

300 (60)

900 (225)

570 (190)

244 (122)

715 (715)

2729 6

(F) I think that rate tag facility is a suitable technique for showing transparency in selling.

145 (29)

532 (133)

441 (147)

470 (235)

768 (768)

2356 8

(G) Promotional activities play a significant role in my gold ornaments purchase.

1420 (284 )

2132 (533)

711 (237)

450 (225)

33 (33)

4746 4

(H) People oriented strategies like relationship marketing strategies and social responsibility programmes are powerful tools of the jeweller in maintaining successful relationship with people”.

2350 (470 )

1812 (453 )

300 ( 100)

208 (104 )

185 (185)

4855 2


• The values given in the brackets denote the number of respondents

112

However, for the purpose of deeper insight, the primary data

were converted into scores in order to exactly find out the most

effective marketing strategy in the gold ornament market of Kerala, on

a 5-point scale. The score which fall under 5 strongly agrees; the score

under 4 moderately agrees, 3 as somewhat, 2 as little and 1 as not at

all. Here the researcher has made an enquiry related to the influence of

different marketing strategies on consumers in the gold ornament

market of Kerala (Table 3.12).

According to this table, the total scores received on each statement

reveals that product quality improvement strategies like 916 hall marking

scheme and purity analyzer show the highest score (5441), followed by

people-oriented strategy like relationship marketing strategies and social

responsibility programmes (4855). The place-related marketing strategy

like selection of a particular jewellery retailer (distribution channel) for the

gold ornament purchase occupies just immediate rank by total score of

4840. Promotional strategy positions occupy the fourth rank by the total

score of 4746 and product-related strategies like new variety of gold

ornaments designs occupy fifth rank by the total score of 4301. Price-

related strategies like gold purchasing plans occupies the sixth rank by the

total score of 2729 and price reduction has the seventh rank by the total

score of 2400 and rate tag facility of jeweller has the last rank by the total

score of 2356. Thus, based on the results expressed both in terms of the

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number and scores, it can be reaffirmed that respondents had the strongest

affinity with the product quality improvement strategies of a jewellery

retailer.

In the above discussion the researcher has made an in-depth analysis

of the influence of various marketing strategies that are followed by the

jewellers in the gold ornament market for acquiring and retaining various

consumers in Kerala. Acquiring and retaining consumers in the gold

ornament market is a tough proposition due to competition and frequent

price changes. We know that Keralites have been fond of gold for centuries

and affordability in terms of income has made all the difference. Income

simply indicates the ability (or inability) to pay for a product3. People having

high level occupations usually have a high income. Market leaders

endeavour to develop the analytical and technological tools that would help

them to identify, attract and retain the consumers they want. The researcher

has made an investigation into the influence of these marketing strategies on

consumers of various income groups in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.3.1.2 Income of the respondent and the influence of different marketing strategies on the gold ornament market of Kerala

In this section, an attempt is made to study and analyze the opinion

of consumers belonging to various income groups related to the intensity of

the influence of various marketing strategies on acquiring and retaining

3 G.Leon Schiffman. (1998). Consumer Behavior. New Delhi: Prentic Hall India. p.55.

114

consumers of various income levels in Kerala. For showing the variation

in between the income of the consumer and the influence of marketing

strategies on their purchasing behaviour, eight statements relating to this

aspect are given (Table.3.12). These statements were related with the

influence of different marketing strategies in the gold ornament market of

Kerala. Opinions of the respondents were sought as to whether they agreed

or disagreed with the statements about the influence of various marketing

strategies in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

The researcher has carried out an analysis of the attitude of

respondents of different income groups towards the influence of different

marketing strategies on the gold ornament market of Kerala. In this study,

the income-wise distribution of the respondents staying in Kerala has been

categorized into five groups. Of the 1312 respondents who were aware of

the marketing strategies of the jewellery retailers in Kerala, 216 were of

low income group, 372 lower-middle income group, 437 were of middle

income group, 245 upper-middle income group and 42 belonged to the

higher income group. In order to ascertain whether the attitude of the

different income groups of respondents was different, relevant means;

standard deviations and F- value were computed on a sample of 1312

respondents. The results are presented in Table 3.13.

115

TABLE. 3.13

Income-wise comparison of respondents’ attitude towards the influence of marketing strategies on the gold ornament market of

Kerala

Income wise Low

income

Lower- middle income

Middle income

Upper-Middle income

Higher

Income

N 216 372 437 245 42

Mean 22.5833 26.5753 24.0892 23.9429 12.0000

Std. Deviation

3.7245 2.8431 2.6559 2.6713 1.9631

From this table we find the interrelationship between the five

income groups of consumers and their attitude towards the influence of

marketing strategies on the gold ornament market of Kerala. The

comparative analysis shows that the mean score varies on the basis of the

income of the consumer. Here the respondents belonging to the higher

income group had low agreement related to the influence of the various

marketing strategy of the jewellery retailers and lower-middle income

group had strong agreement related to the influence of the marketing

strategy of jewellery retailers. When these statistics were tested with the

help of ANOVA - test, the null hypothesis formulated was:-

116

H0: There is no significant difference between the ratings by the

consumers of the various income groups about the influence of

different marketing strategies on the gold ornament market of

Kerala.

The ANOVA test shows the variations among the five income

groups of consumers regarding the influence of marketing strategies in the

gold ornament market of Kerala. Taking the null hypothesis, that means of

the five types of income groups do not differ.

So we can write:- H0: D1=D2=D3=D4=D5

As Ha is two sided, we shall determine rejection region applying 2-

tailed test at 5% level of significance. The results of ANOVA Test for the

various income groups with respect to the influence of marketing strategies

on the gold ornament market of Kerala are summarized in table 3.14.

TABLE.3.14

Summary of One way ANOVA- showing the attitude of the various income groups of respondents towards the influence of different

marketing strategies in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Sum of Squares

df

Mean Square

F Asym. Sig.

Between income Groups

Within income Groups

8930.076

10956.112

4

1307

2232.519

8.383

266.326

.000

Total 19886.188 1311

Source: SPSS Output

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On reviewing the ANOVA table, we find that the asymmetric

significance value is .000 and it does not exceed the cut off value of .05. So

we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the variation between the

income of the consumer and their attitude with reference to the marketing

strategies of the jeweller are significant.

This table also shows that there is a significant difference between

the responses of various income groups on the influence of different

marketing strategies’ on the gold ornament market of Kerala. Furthermore,

to identify the significant difference among these five income groups, the

Scheffe Multiple Comparisons –of- means method is employed. The results

are presented in Table 3.15.

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TABLE. 3.15

Scheffe Multiple Comparisons –of- means –Income and the influence of different marketing strategies in the gold ornament market of

Kerala

(I) Income

(J) Income Mean

Difference (I-J)

Std. Error

Sig.

Lower income

Lower- middle income

Middle income

Upper-middle income

Higher income

-3.9919*

-1.5059*

1.3595*

10.5833*

.2477

.2308

.2702

.4883

.000

.000

.000

.000

S

S

S

S

Lower-middle income

Lower income

Middle income

Upper-middle income

Higher income

3.9919*

2.4860*

2.6324*

14.5753*

.2477

.2042

.2382

.4713

.000

.000

.000

.000

S

S

S

S

Middle income

Lower income

Lower-middle income

Upper-middle income

Higher income

1.5059*

-2.4860*

.1464

12.0892*

.2408

.2042

.2311

.4677

.000

.000

.982

.000

S

S

NS

S

Upper- middle income

Lower income

Lower-middle income

Middle income

Higher income

1.3595*

-2.6324*

-.1464

11.9429*

.2702

.2382

.2311

4835

.000

.000

.982

.000

S

S

NS

S

Higher income

Lower income

Lower-middle income

Middle income

Upper-middle income

-10.5833* -14.5753*

-12.0892*

-11.9429*

.4883

.4713

.4677

.4835

.000

.000

.000

.000

S

S

S

S

Source: SPSS Output * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.

S- significant and NS- Not significant

119

Thus, while the respondents belonging to the lower income groups

are significantly different from the other four income groups, i.e there is a

significant difference among the attitude of respondents belonging to the

lower income group with respect to the attitude of other four groups related

to the influence of various marketing strategies in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. Further, it is seen that the respondents of the lower

income, middle income, upper-middle income and higher income, are

significantly different from the lower-middle income group of respondents.

Another interesting fact is that the attitude of the respondents from the four

income groups, namely, lower income, lower-middle income, middle

income and upper-middle income are significantly different from that of

higher income group of respondents. The table also demonstrates that there

is no significant difference in the attitude of the middle income and upper-

middle income group of respondents regarding the influence of different

marketing strategies in the gold ornament market of Kerala, but the attitude

of these two (middle income and upper-middle income) groups are

significantly different from the other three (lower income, lower-middle

income and higher income) groups.

The forgoing analysis reveals that product quality improvement

strategies like BIS 916 hall marking scheme occupy the first place in the

marketing strategies of jewellery retailers in the gold ornament market of

Kerala. However, the income-wise details of a number of respondents

120

show that there is a significant difference between consumers of various

income groups on the influence of different marketing strategies’ on the

gold ornament market of Kerala. After determining the most suitable

marketing strategies and the influence of various marketing strategies on

consumers of various income levels in the gold ornament market of Kerala,

the researcher has had the motivation to make a detailed scrutiny of the

various product strategies in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.4 INFLUENCE OF PRODUCT-RELATED MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CONSUMERS

A product is one of the crucial factor in the marketing mix. A well

accepted product is core to the marketing operations in any business. Here

the product is the focus of marketing and marketing efforts that a

jewellery retailer develops to meet the consumer needs. In this section an

attempt is made to deal at length with all the selected product related

strategies that have been taken into consideration for the study.

Nowadays, gold ornament market consists of everything that might

be done to attract and retain customers. Gold is the finest and most

precious metal in the world. People in Kerala are more design and style

conscious than ever before. Earlier, the success of a jewellery shop was

dependent on service, adequate stock and advertisements, but now quality

is also very central. In this section, the researcher gives a detailed outcome

of the data analysis of the influence of various product related marketing

121

strategies on the gold ornament market of Kerala. In the gold ornament

market in Kerala, the quality and designs offered by the jewellery retailers

differ from one jeweller to another. Hence, among a number of product-

related marketing strategies, the researcher has taken into account two

variables, namely, variety of gold ornament designs of the jewellery

retailer and product quality improvement strategies in the gold ornament

market of Kerala for the study.

3.4.1 Variety of gold ornament designs of jewellery retailers in Kerala

In Kerala, jewellery retailers are providing various types of

jewellery designs to their consumers. In addition to the imported, in house

and designer gold ornaments traditional Kerala designs are also being

popular. Gold jewellery designs are constantly changing like all other

designs. Bengal, Rajasthan and Gujarat are the pioneers in new gold

jewellery designs. Bengali artisans are today found in every major

township of Kerala. Thus, new gold designs are easily manufactured and

made popular in every Kerala township. Gold ornaments are made in

almost all parts of our state and Thrissur in central Kerala has always been

the shopping paradise for traditional gold jewellery. In this section an

analysis is carried out to probe the influence of the different variety of

jewellery designs of the jeweller in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

122

3.4.1.1 Respondents’ awareness of the different variety of gold jewellery designs

People like gold jewellery for its matchless styles, designs and

attractiveness. Gold jewellery is now crafted keeping the changing trends

and fashions in mind. An enquiry was made to find out whether the

respondents were aware of the different variety of gold jewellery designs of

jewellery retailers in the gold ornament market of Kerala (Table.3.16).

TABLE.3.16

Respondents’ awareness of the different variety of jewellery designs available in the gold ornament market of Kerala


By analyzing the view points of respondents, 93.29 per cent of them

were found to be aware of the different variety of jewellery designs

available in the gold ornament market of Kerala. But 6.71 per cent of them

were not aware of the different variety of jewellery designs that were

available in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.4.1.1.1 Innovative jewellery designs in the gold ornament market of Kerala

A number of jewellery brands are now actively targeted at a very

large collection of various amazing gold ornament designs in attention

Awareness Numbers Percentage

Positive 1224 93.29

Negative 88 6.71

Total 1312 100

123

grabbing designs and styles. Though we can find the best and the most

beautiful pieces of traditional Kerala designs, imported designs and

designer gold ornaments form a large set of jewelleries in the favorite

jewellery retailers in Kerala. An attempt was made to find out the

respondents’ intensity of feelings with reference to the statement ‘Market

players are providing innovative jewellery designs to their consumers in

the gold ornament market of Kerala (Table 3.17).

TABLE.3.17

Respondents’ intensity of feelings with reference to the statement - “Market players are providing innovative jewellery designs to their

consumers in gold ornament market of Kerala”.

Degree of agreement

No. of Respondents

Percentage Intensity of feeling on a 2- point scale

No. of respondents

Agree 574 46.9 Favourable 574

Neutral 520 42.5 --- ---

Disagree 130 10.6 Unfavourable 130

Total 1224 100 ---- 704


By analyzing the view points of respondents, 46.9 per cent of them

were found to be in agreement with this statement. 10.6 per cent of them

disagreed with the above statement, while 42.5 per cent of them had neutral

agreement with the above statement. This table also reveals that a majority

of respondents had a favourable attitude and minority of them had

unfavourable attitude towards the above statement.

124

3.4.1.1.2 Respondents’ opinion on whether they purchased variety of jewellery design available in the gold ornament market of Kerala

People of Kerala have always been enamoured of trendy designs

and the jeweller has always taken great pains to create customer-oriented

designs, which are of the best quality and of exquisite craftsmanship. An

attempt was made to discern the opinion of the respondent’s’ regarding the

purchase of different variety of jewellery designs available in the gold

ornament market of Kerala.

TABLE.3.18

Respondent’s opinion on whether they purchased variety of jewellery design available in the gold ornament market of Kerala


It is clear from the table that 64.95 per cent of the respondents

selected for the study purchased different variety of jewellery designs that

were available in the gold ornament market of Kerala, while 35.05 per cent

of the total 1224 sample respondents did not evince any interest in them.

Based on these results, the researcher investigated the relationship

between the religion of the consumers and their purchase of the variety of

jewellery designs available in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

Opinion Number Percentage

Yes 795 64.95

No 429 35.05

Total 1224 100

125

3.4.1.1.2(a) Religion of the respondent and the purchase of the variety of jewellery designs available in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Gold has been an eternal fascination with people of all climes and

times from the very genesis of human civilization. The religion-wise

distribution of the respondents staying in Kerala was categorized under

three heads: Hindu, Muslim and Christian. Of the 1224 respondents who

were aware of the different variety of jewellery designs available in the

gold ornament market of Kerala, 470 were Hindus, 419 were Muslims and

335 were Christians. The researcher has made an effort to know the

opinion of the Hindu, Muslim and Christian respondents concerning the

purchase of a variety of gold ornament designs in Kerala (Table.3.19).

TABLE.3.19

Religion-wise comparison of respondents’ opinion regarding the purchase of a variety of gold ornament design in Kerala

Religion Purchased Not Purchased Total

Hindu No.

% within Hindu

277

58.9

193

41.1

470

100

Muslim No.

% within Muslim

284

67.8

135

32.2

419

100

Christian No.

% within Christian

234

69.9

101

30.1

335

100

Total 795 429 1224


126

Regarding the purchase of a variety of jewellery designs, it is

evident that in the case of the entire group (Hindu, Muslim and Christian),

a majority of the respondents selected for the study said that they

purchased a variety of gold ornament designs. But this table also reveals

some variations in the opinion of the entire three groups of respondents.

The comparative analysis reveals that Christian respondents had highest

number (69.9 percent) of respondents who purchased gold ornaments with

a variety of designs as compared to other two groups. This brings to light

that the variety factor of the jewellery designs mainly influenced the

Christian respondents. The respondents’ religion and their opinion

regarding the purchase of a variety of jewellery designs have been

tabulated to test the hypothesis. Based on these results, the researcher

investigated the relationship between consumers of three religious groups

and their purchase of a variety of jewellery designs in the gold ornament

market in Kerala. When these statistics were tested with the help of Chi-

square test, the null hypothesis formulated was:-

H0: There is no significant relationship between consumers’ religion

and their purchase of a variety of gold jewellery designs in the

gold ornament market of Kerala.

Here the Chi- Square test is used for showing the relationship

among the followers of the three religions and their purchase of a variety of

127

the gold jewellery design in the gold ornament market in Kerala. The result

is presented in the table 3.20.

TABLE. 3.20

Summary of Chi- square test statistics- showing the relationship among respondents of various religions and their purchase of a variety

of gold jewellery designs in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Value df Asymmetric

Significance (2- sided)

Pearson chi-square

Likelihood ratio

Number of valid cases

12.476

12.409

1224

2

2

---

.002

.002

---

Source: SPSS Output

The foregoing analysis clearly throws light on the fact that the chi-

square significant value is .002 (Pearson) and it is less than the cut of value

of .05. So we are forced to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that

there is a significant relationship among the respondents of three religious

groups and their purchase of a variety of jewellery designs in the gold


3.4.2 Product-Quality improvement strategies

Product quality improvement is one of the important product

related marketing strategies in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

However, quality is a standard which is difficult to establish. Here the

researcher has made an attempt to give an idea about the opinion of the

respondents regarding the quality of the gold ornaments that they

128

purchase. Of the 1312 consumers surveyed, it was found that all of them

were considered the quality of the ornament that they purchased to a great

extent. While studying the product quality improvement strategy of the

jewellery retailer, the researcher has taken into account two techniques

that are used by the jewellery retailer for their product quality

improvement, namely, 916 BIS hall marking scheme and purity analyzer

facility of the jeweller for the study.

3.4.2.1 Purity analyzer installed by the jewellery retailer

People now look for quality and purity of gold ornaments more than

ever before. Purity of gold is measured in carat this is tested through a carat

machine or manually. In Kerala, some famous jewellery retailers have

installed the purity analyzer facility at their showroom to help their customers

verify the purity of the gold they purchase. This section deals with the

reactions of the respondents who were asked about their awareness level

related to the purity analyzer and also the usefulness of purity analyzer during

their purchase of gold ornaments from jewellers in Kerala. While analyzing

the opinion of the consumers about their awareness level related to the purity

analyzer of the jeweller, a majority (81.4 per cent) of them was found to be

aware of the same, but 18.6 per cent of them were not aware of it at all. While

studying the respondents’ agreement with the purity analyzer facility of the

jewellery retailer; the researcher followed a statement, i.e ‘purity analyzer

facility of the jeweller helps in checking the quality of gold ornament that they

129

sell’. While analyzing the view points of respondents, 74.74 per cent of them

said that they had a favourable attitude towards this statement and 25.26 per

cent of them said that they had an unfavourable attitude.

3.4.2.2 BIS 916 hall marking schemes of jewellery retailers

While buying gold ornaments, most of the consumers checked the

purity of the precious metal and they also looked for 916 purity and BIS hall

marking. Therefore, most of the reputed jewellers are giving guarantee for

purity of the 916 hall marked gold ornaments. They greatly concentrate on

100% purity in gold as certified by the BIS with internationally approved

hallmarking technologies & fire assay test. This will assure up to a level of

good gold quality. Hence, the consumer can get gold of much purity. In this

section the researcher has made an attempt to find out the influence of 916

hall marking schemes of jewellery retailers on consumers’ gold ornament

purchase in Kerala. In Kerala, jewellery retailers are making awareness

programs to propagate the 916 hall marking scheme in the gold ornament

market. By analyzing the view points of respondents, it has been found that

98.86 per cent of them were aware of the 916 hall marking scheme of

jewellery retailers and that only 1.14 per cent was not aware of the same.

The present section of this chapter also deals with the information related to

the interest of respondents and the influence of various factors on the 916

hall marked gold ornament purchase in Kerala.

130

3.4.2.2.1 Respondents’ interest related to the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments

Certainly, people know that the perfect sovereign of gold is 24 carat

or 100% pure gold. Generally gold for ornaments is gold mixed with

copper in a less fraction, 22 carrots or what is known as 916 is the purity of

the ornamental gold. While analyzing the opinion of respondents whether

they had any interest related to the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold

ornaments the following discussions have been made (Table 3.21).

TABLE. 3.21

Opinion of respondents whether they had an interest in the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments.


Yes 1258 96.99

No 39 3.01

Total 1297 100


The forgoing analysis shows that 96.99 per cent of the respondents

were interested in purchasing BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments. But

3.01 per cent of them had no interest in the purchase of BIS 916 hall

marked gold ornaments.

3.4.2.2.2 Factors influencing the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments

Regarding the influence of some important factors on consumers’

BIS 916 hall marked gold ornament purchase in Kerala, the parameters

131

taken into account were its hall marking symbols, 22 carat purity, 100 %

buy back guarantee, popularity and current trends. For identifying the

attitude of respondents towards the influence of various factors in the BIS

916 hall marked gold ornament purchase in Kerala, five statements related

to this aspect were formulated.

TABLE. 3.22

Respondent’s attitude related to the influence of various factors on the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments

Statements

Str

ongl

y ag

ree

4

Mod

erat

ely

agre

e 3

Low

ag

reem

ent 2

Not

at a

ll ag

ree

1

Tot

al S

core

Fin

al R

ank

1) BIS 916 hall marking symbols show the purity assurance.

2880

(720)

1017

(339)

238

(119)

80

(80)

4215 2

2) All the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments contain 22 carat purity.

2756

(689)

1356

(452)

142

(71)

46

(46)

4300 1

3) Jewellery shops are providing 100% buy back guarantee for BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments.

2332

(583)

1302

(434)

348

(174)

67

(67)

4049 3

4) Popularity of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments has influenced me a lot.

248

(62)

1278

(426)

878

(439)

331

(331)

2735 4

5) It is the current trend to use BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments.

48

(12)

831

(277)

1000

(500)

469

(469)

2348 5


● The values given in the brackets denote the number of respondents.

132

Table 3.22 gives the distribution of respondents in terms of their

degree of agreement related to these five statements on a four point scale to

calculate the total scores received on each statement. In this table, the

primary data are converted into scores in order to find out the most

important factor that influence the respondents’ BIS 916 hall marked gold

ornament purchase in Kerala. The forgoing analysis reveals that the most

important factor which influences the respondents’ BIS 916 hall marked

gold ornaments purchase is its 22 carat purity (statement 2). It also shows

that the second important factor is its hall marking symbols (statement 1);

the third one is 100% buy back guarantee (statement 3), the fourth one is

popularity (statement 4) and the last but not the least important factor is the

current trend related to the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold

ornaments in Kerala (statement 5).

Based on these results, the researcher investigated the differences in

the rating between the consumers of different demographic status in the

influence of various factors in the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold

ornaments in Kerala. The null hypothesis formulated is given below:-

133

H0: There is no significant difference in the rating by consumers of

various demographic characters (age, income and educational

qualification) regarding the influence of different factors in the

BIS 916 hall marked gold ornament purchase in Kerala.

In order to measure the influence of different factors in the purchase

of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments in Kerala; this section is divided in

to three parts. While the first part deals with the age of the consumer and

the factors influencing the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornament,

the second one examines the income of the consumer and the factors

influencing the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments. The third

one deals with the educational qualification and related factors influencing

the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments in Kerala. The

respondents were asked to give their degree of agreement on a 4 point

Likert scale ranging from “Strongly” to “Not at all” for each statement.

i.e strongly -4, moderately-3, low-2 and not at all-1

3.4.2.2.2 (a) Age of the respondents and the factors influencing their purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments in Kerala.

In this study the age wise distribution of the respondents staying in

Kerala is placed under four categories. Of the 1258 respondents who were

interested in purchasing BIS 916 hall marked gold ornament in Kerala, 318

belonged to the 18-30 age group, 412 to the 31-40 age group, 332 to the

41-50 age group and 196 to the 51 & above age group. An attempt was

made here to know the attitude of different age groups of respondents

134

towards the influence of various factors in the BIS 916 hall marked gold

ornaments purchase in Kerala. With this end in view, five statements (table

3.22) relating to this aspect were followed and the information regarding

the attitude of respondents were related to their age group in order to test

the null hypothesis. Table 3.23 shows the attitude of the various age groups

of respondents regarding the above statements.

TABLE. 3.23

Age-wise comparison of respondent’s attitude towards the influence of various factors in the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments purchase in

Kerala

Age 18-30 31-40 41-50 51 & above

N 318 412 332 196

Mean 14.7862 14.8835 12.8102 13.1684

Std. Deviation 1.4379 1.4502 1.7598 1.3425

The comparative analysis shows that the highest (14.8835) mean

score is for the 31-40 age group and the lowest (12.8102) is for the 41-50

age group. This reveals that young minds impressionable are mainly

influenced by different factors with respect to BIS 916 hall marked gold

ornament purchase in Kerala. This table also reveals that there is a

considerable dissimilarity in the mean ratings among consumers of various

age groups in the influence of various factors in the BIS 916 hall marked

135

gold ornament purchase in Kerala. When these statistics were tested with

the help of ANOVA test, the null hypothesis formulated was:-

H0: There is no significant difference between the ratings by

consumers of various age groups in the influence of various

factors in the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments

in Kerala.

Taking the null hypothesis that the means of the four types of age

groups do not differ.

We can write: - H0: D1=D2=D3=D4.

As H0 is 2 sided, we would determine rejection region applying 2-

tailed test at 5% level of significance. Here ANOVA test is used for showing

the difference in the mean ratings among the four age groups regarding the

influence of various factors in the 916 hall marked gold ornament purchase in

Kerala. The result of the test is summarized in table 3.24.

TABLE. 3.24

Summary of One way ANOVA Test Statistics- based on the influence of different factors in the 916 hall marked gold ornament purchase in

Kerala’* Age-Wise

Sum of Squares

df Mean Square

F Sig.

Between age groups

Within age groups

Total

1121.151

2896.356

4017.507

3

1254

1257

373.717

2.310

161.804

.000

Source: SPSS Output

136

In the output table of ANOVA test in the last column titled the

asymmetric significance is found to be .000, which is smaller than the cut

off value of .05. This indicates that at a confidence level of 95%, the

ANOVA test proves that the hypothesis is significant. So our null

hypothesis is rejected.

Therefore we conclude that in this case, there is a significant

difference among the mean ratings given by the four age groups related to

the influence of different factors in the 916 hall marked gold ornament

purchase in Kerala. With the available data, the hypothesis can be tested

further for Scheffe Multiple Comparisons –of- means. The result of this

test is presented in Table. 3.25.

TABLE. 3.25

Scheffe Multiple Comparisons –of- means –Age of the respondent and their attitude towards the influence of different factors in the BIS 916

hall marked gold ornaments purchase in Kerala

(I) AGE (J) AGE Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig.

18-30

31-40 41-50 51 & above

-9.7332E-02 1.9759* 1.6178*

.1134

.1192

.1380

.865

.000

.000

NS S S

31-40

18-30 41-50 51 & above

9.733E-2 2.0733* 1.7151*

.1134

.1121

.1319

.865

.000

.000

NS S S

41-50

18-30 31-40 51 & above

-1.9759* -2.0733* -.3581

.1192

.1121

.1369

.000

.635

.290

S S

NS

51 & above

18-30 31-40 41-50

-1.6178* -1.7151*

.3581

.1380

.1319

.1369

.000

.000

.078

S S

NS

Source: SPSS Output

● The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.

● S- Significant and NS- Not significant

137

The forgoing analysis shows a significant difference in the attitude

of the respondents who belonged to the 18-30 age group and that of the

other two age groups of 41--50 and 51& above. Another interesting fact is

that the age group of 31-40 shows a significant difference from the attitude

of the respondents who belonged to the age groups of 41—50 and 51&

above vis a vis the influence of different factors in the BIS 916 hall marked

gold ornaments purchase in Kerala.

Further, it is also seen that the respondents of the 18-30 age group

had no significant difference from the 31-40 age group of respondents. As

it is observed from this study, the age group of 41-50 had no significant

difference from the attitude of the respondents of 51& above age groups.

This implies that there is no significant difference in the attitude of the

respondents belonging to the age groups of 18-30 and 31-40 as compared

with the attitude of other two age groups relating to the influence of

different factors in the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments purchase in

Kerala. Another interesting fact is that the respondents of the age group of

41-50 and 51 & above had the same attitude as compared with that of other

two age groups with respect to the influence of different factors on the BIS

916 hall marked gold ornament purchase in Kerala.

138

3.4.2.2.2 (b) Income and the influence of various factors on the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments purchase

In the present study, the income-wise distribution of respondents

staying in Kerala is categorized into five. Of the 1258 respondents those

who were interested in purchasing BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments in

Kerala, 205 belonged to the low income group, 358 to the lower-middle

income group, 425 to the middle income group, 235 to the upper-middle

income group and 35 to the higher income group.

In this section, an analysis is carried out in regard to the attitude of

respondents of different income groups towards the influence of various

factors on the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornament purchase in Kerala. For

this purpose, some statements relating to this aspect were followed and the

information regarding the attitude of respondents was related to their

income in order to test the null hypothesis (Table 3.26).

TABLE.3.26

Income-wise comparison of respondents’ attitude towards the influence of various factors on the BIS 916 hall marked gold

ornaments purchase in Kerala

Income Low

income

Lower-middle income

Middle income

Upper- Middle Income

Higher Income

N 205 358 425 235 35

Mean Rank 750.76 791.98 603.16 399.67 120.36

139

The comparative analysis shows that the mean ranks are the highest

(791.98) for the lower middle income and the lowest (120.36) for the higher

income groups. This table also demonstrates that there is a noteworthy

disparity in the mean rank between consumers of five income group in the

influence of various factors affecting the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornament

purchase in Kerala. This table also reveals that when the income of the

people decreases a number of factors influence their purchase of BIS 916

hall marked gold ornament. When these statistics were tested with the help

of Kruskal Wallis test, the null hypothesis formulated is:-


consumers of various income groups in the influence of the

various factors on the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments

purchase in Kerala.

Taking the null hypothesis the mean ranks of the five types of

income groups do not differ.

We can write:- H0: D1=D2=D3=D4=D5

Here Kruskal Wallis test is used for showing the differences among

the mean ranks given by the five income groups regarding the influence of

the various factors on the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornament purchase in

Kerala. The result of Kruskal- wallis Test is summarized in table (3.27).

140

TABLE. 3.27

Summary of Kruskal Wallis Test Statistics- based on the various factors influencing the purchase of the BIS 916 hall marked gold

ornaments in Kerala* Income-wise

Values

Chi-Square

df

Asymmetric Significance

267.998

4

.000

Source: SPSS Output

The output table shows that the 2-tailed (at 95 per cent confidence)

significance of the test is .000, from the last row titled “Asymmetric

Significance”. This is the ‘p’ value, and it is less than the level of .05 we

had set. Therefore, we have to reject the null hypothesis. This leads us to

the conclusion that the differences among the ratings of the various income

groups with respect to the influence of various factors in the BIS 916 hall

marked gold ornament purchase in Kerala are significant.

This table also reveals that there is a significant difference among

the various income groups of respondents with respect to the influence of

various factors on the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments purchase in

Kerala.

3.4.2.2.2 (c) Educational Qualification of the respondents and the influence of different factors in the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornament purchase in Kerala

In this study, the educational back ground-wise distribution of the

respondents staying in Kerala is categorized into four. Out of the 1258

141

respondents who were interested in purchasing BIS 916 hall marked gold

ornaments, 224 were educated up to Matriculation, 567 up to Secondary to

Graduation, 252 up to PG & above and 215 were Professional/ Technical

degree holders.

Here the researcher sought to find out whether the differences in the

income of the respondents had any influence on their attitude towards the

purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments. For this purpose, some

statements relating to this aspect was followed and the information

regarding the attitude of respondents was related to their educational

qualifications in order to test the null hypothesis (Table.3.28).

TABLE.3.28

Educational qualification-wise comparison of the attitude of the respondents towards the influence of different factors in the BIS 916

hall marked gold ornaments purchase in Kerala

Educational Qualification

Up to Matriculation

Secondary to Graduation

P G and above

Professional/ Technical

N 224 567 252 215

Mean Rank 574.71 707.81 522.63 605.32

The comparative analysis reveals that the mean ranks are the highest

(707.81) for the educational qualification of respondents including

Secondary to Graduation and lowest (522.63) for the educational

qualification of respondents including P.G and above category. The above

table reveals that there is a significant variation in the mean ranks between

142

the consumers of various educational qualifications with respect to the

influence of different factors on the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments

purchase in Kerala. An interesting point to be noted is that the respondents

with the educational qualification of Secondary to Graduation had a more

favourable attitude than other three groups towards the influence of

different factors on the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments purchase in

Kerala. When these statistics were tested with the help of Kruskal Wallis

test, the null hypothesis formulated is:-


consumers of various educational qualifications regarding the

influence of different factors on the purchase of BIS 916 hall

marked gold ornaments in Kerala.

Taking the null hypothesis the means of the four types of

educational qualifications do not differ.

We can write:- H0: D1=D2=D3=D4

As Ha is two-sided, we could determine rejection region applying

2-tailed test at 5% level of significance and we could work out the test

statistic Kruskal-Wallis test (H) for showing the difference in the mean

ranks among the four groups with different educational qualifications

regarding the influence of different factors on the BIS 916 hall marked

gold ornaments purchase in Kerala and the results are summarized in the

table 3.29.

143

TABLE. 3.29

Summary of Kruskal-Wallis Test Statistics - based on the influence of different factors on the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold

ornaments in Kerala * Educational Qualification-wise

Values

Chi-Square

df

Asymp. Significance

56.457

3

.000

Source: SPSS Output

From the output table of Kruskal-Wallis Test, asymmetric

significance of H-test is found to be .000, which is less than the cut off

value of .05. This indicates that at a confidence level of 95%, the H-test

proves that the ratings given by the four educational qualification groups

regarding the influence of different factors in the purchase of BIS 916 hall

marked gold ornaments in Kerala are significant. Hence the null hypothesis

is rejected.

Thus, we conclude that in this case, a significant difference exists

between the mean ranks given to the four educational qualification groups

of respondents related to the influence of different factors in the purchase

of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments in Kerala.

The forgoing analysis reveals that market players are providing

innovative jewellery designs to their consumers in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. An interesting fact is that people in Kerala purchase

different varieties of jewellery designs that are available in the gold

144

ornament market of Kerala. Furthermore, there is a significant relationship

between the religion of the respondent’s and their purchase of a variety of

jewellery design in the gold ornament market of Kerala. The result of the

study shows that all the people valued the quality of the ornaments that

they purchased. From the study, we find that the respondents of different

demographic characters had different attitude towards the influence of

different factors on the purchase of BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments in

Kerala. The study underlines the fact that the attitude of the age group 18-

40 mainly influenced the BIS 916 hall marked gold ornament purchase in

Kerala. It is, therefore, concluded from the study that when the income of

the respondent is low then they were considering a number of factors in the

BIS 916 hall marked gold ornaments purchase in Kerala.

The next step was to find out the influence of various price-related

marketing strategies on the purchasing behaviour of consumers in the gold


3.5 PRICE-RELATED MARKETING STRATEGIES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON CONSUMERS

It is irrefutable that price is one of the important factors that

determine the purchasing power of people. A good and proper pricing

strategy employed may help the jewellery retailer to achieve a

predetermined share of the gold ornament market. The purpose of this

strategy is to attract and retain profitable customers for a long period of

145

time. The researcher has made an attempt to find out the influence of some

pricing strategies of jewellery retailers on the gold ornament purchase of

people in Kerala.

Jewellery retailers employ a number of pricing strategies in the gold

ornament market of Kerala. But a detailed study relating to all the existing

pricing strategy is rather difficult. Hence the researcher has taken into

account some selected pricing strategies resorted to by the merchants for

increasing market share and profit maximization in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. This can be achieved through price reduction, gold

purchasing plans and rate tag facilities. In this section the respondents were

asked about their opinion regarding these selected prices-related marketing

strategies in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.5.1 Price reductions

Price reduction is one of the effective pricing strategies followed by

jewellery retailers for retaining their profitable customers. Some big

players give the estimate of the bill along with the price reduction. Small

jewellery retailers always give the estimate of the bill and they are not

ready to give any reasonable price reductions. An attempt was made to find

out the reaction of the respondents to the statement ‘jewellery shops are

providing price reductions to their customers’. The result of the analysis

reveals that most of the gold ornament consumers agreed that the jewellery

retailer was providing price reductions to their consumers. Regarding the

146

satisfaction of the price reductions that were provided by the jewellery

retailer, the researcher made an attempt to find out the respondents’ degree

of agreement related to the statement ‘I am satisfied with the price

reductions that are provided by the jewellery retailer’. On the basis of a 2-

point scale, the result of the analysis shows that 58.8 per cent of the

respondents had a favourable attitude towards the above statement and 41.2

per cent of them had unfavourable attitude towards the statement. It is also

clear that a majority of them had a favourable attitude regarding the price

reductions that were provided by the jewellery retailer.

An attempt was also made to find out the opinion of respondents as

to whether they got wholesale rate for purchasing gold ornaments for

wedding purposes. The result indicates that 21.93 per cent of the

respondents said that they got wholesale rate of manufacturing cost for

purchasing gold ornaments for wedding purposes. But 78.07 per cent of

them said that they had not got any wholesale rate of manufacturing cost

for purchasing gold ornaments for wedding purposes. Another important

attempt made by the researcher was to find out the satisfaction level of

respondents with regard to the wholesale rate of manufacturing costs that

were provided by the jeweller to them for purchasing gold ornaments for

wedding purposes. While analyzing the view points of respondents, it was

found that 81.8 per cent of the respondents were satisfied with the

wholesale rate of manufacturing costs that were provided by the jeweller

147

for purchasing gold ornaments for wedding purposes. But 18.2 per cent of

them were not satisfied in this regard.

3.5.2 Gold purchasing plans

During the last few years jewellery shops have introduced

innovative gold purchasing plans for their customers in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. It is one of the useful pricing strategies for addressing the

price fluctuations in the gold ornament market of Kerala. Some of the

important gold purchasing plans comprise gold chitty scheme, instalment

purchase scheme, wedding purchase scheme and advance booking scheme.

The respondents were asked about their awareness pertaining to the gold

purchasing plans of jewellery merchants and also their level of

involvement in this. Among the 1312 respondents surveyed, it was found

that 92.61 per cent of respondents were aware of the purchasing plan of

jewellery merchants, while 7.39 per cent of them were not aware at all of

the investment schemes of jewellery merchants.

3.5.2.1 The involvement of respondents in the gold purchasing plans

Regarding the involvement of the respondents in the gold purchasing

plans of jewellery retailer, the following research was carried out.

148

TABLE. 3.30

Respondent’s involvement in the gold purchasing plans

Response Number Percentage

Involved 887 73

Not involved 328 27

Total 1215 100


By analyzing the view points of respondents regarding their

involvement in any of a gold purchase plans of jewellery retailers, it was

found that 73 per cent of them were positively and 27 per cent of them

were negatively showing their involvement.

Based on these results, the researcher wanted to investigate into the

relationship between consumers’ gender & region-wise character and their

involvement in the gold purchasing plans of jewellers in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. The null hypothesis formulated and the details of related

tests used are given hereunder:-

H0:- There is no significant relationship between consumers of

various gender & regional-wise character and their involvement

in the gold purchasing plans of jewellery merchants in Kerala.

For the purpose of conducting the analysis, this section is divided

into two parts. While the part pertaining to the respondents’ gender and

their involvement in the gold purchasing plans of jewellery merchants in

Kerala is analyzed in the first, the second one relating to the respondents

149

region and their involvement in the gold purchasing plans of jewellery

merchants in Kerala is analyzed in the next.

3.5.2.1.1 Gender of the respondents and their involvement in the gold purchasing plans

Women have now emerged as potential consumers, ready to

redefine their status in the world wide economy4. In this section, an

analysis has been carried out about the opinion of male and female

respondents vis a vis their involvement in the gold purchasing plans in the

gold ornament market of Kerala. The gender-wise distribution of the

respondents staying in Kerala has been categorized into two groups. Out

of the 1215 respondents, those who were aware of the gold purchasing

plans of jewellery merchants, 266 were males and 949 were females. The

gender is coded into two categories as 1 and 2 and their level of

involvement in the gold purchasing plan coded into two categories, i.e

Involved-1 and not involved- 2. An enquiry was also made among the male

and female respondents with respect to their involvement in the gold

purchasing plans in the gold ornament market of Kerala which is presented

in table 3.31.

4 G. Kavitha. (2006). A study on the effectiveness of the advertising techniques used in the

personal care segment of women consumers. Indian journal of marketing. xxxvi(8).

150

TABLE. 3.31

Gender-wise comparison of the opinion of respondents’ regarding their involvement in the gold purchasing plans of jewellery retailers

Gender Involved Not involved Total

Male N

% within gender

194

72.9

256

27.0

266

100

Female N

% within gender

693

73.0

72

27.1

949

100

Total 887 328 1215

From the study of the involvement of the respondents in the gold

purchasing plans, it is clear that in case of both male and female respondents

selected for the study, a majority of them were involved in it. But this table

also reveals a small variation in their opinion. The comparative analysis

reveals that there was a small difference in the opinion of male and female

respondents as to their involvement in the gold purchasing plans. Thus

respondents’ gender and their opinion regarding the involvement in the gold

purchasing plans have been tabulated to test the hypothesis. Based on these

results, the researcher investigated the relationship between the male and

female consumers and their involvement in the gold purchasing plans in the

gold ornament market in Kerala. When these statistics were tested with the

help of Chi- square test, the null hypothesis formulated is:-

H0: There is no significant relationship between consumers of male

and female groups and their involvement in the gold purchasing

plans of jewellery merchants in Kerala.

151

The Chi- Square test is used to show the relationship between

consumers of male and female groups and their involvement in the gold

purchasing plans of jewellery merchants in Kerala. The result is presented

in the table 3.32.

TABLE. 3.32

Summary of Chi- square test statistics showing the relationship between consumers of male and female groups and their involvement


Source: SPSS Output


square significant value is .976 (Pearson) and it is greater than the cut of

value of .05. So we accept the null hypothesis. Thus we conclude that there

is no significant relationship between the gender of the respondents and

their involvement in the gold purchasing plans of jewellery merchants in

Kerala. This shows that no significant relationships were found on account

of the gender of the consumers for their involvement in the gold purchasing

plans of jewellery merchants in Kerala.

Value df Asymmetric Significance (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

No. of valid cases

.001

.001

1215

2

2

---

.976

.976

152

3.5.2.1.2 Region of the respondents and their involvement in the gold purchasing plans

Marketing in rural areas needed an altogether different strategy as

against the marketing in urban areas as the buying psychology of the rural

people is different5. In this section, the region-wise distribution of the

respondents in Kerala was categorized into three. Out of the 1215

respondents, those who were aware of the gold purchasing plans of jewellery

merchants, 124 belonged to the urban group, 402 to the semi-urban group and

689 rural group. The regions are coded into three categories [1 to 3] and their

level of involvement in the gold purchasing plan is coded into two categories,

i.e Involved-1 and not involved- 2. An enquiry was also made among the

urban, semi- urban and rural respondents with respect to their involvement in

the gold purchasing plans of jewellery retailers in the gold ornament market of

Kerala, which is presented in table 3.33.

TABLE. 3.33

Region-wise comparison of the opinions of respondents regarding their involvement in the gold purchasing plans of jewellery retailers


5 Arul Kumar. S. & Madhavi. (2006). Rural marketing for –FMCG. Indian journal of

marketing, xxxvi(4).

Region Involved Not involved Total

Urban N % within Region

12 9.7

112 90.3

124 100

Semi-urban N % within Region

338 84.1

64 15.9

402 100

Rural N % within Region

537 77.9

152 22.1

689 100

Total 887 328 1215

153

On analyzing the involvement of the respondents in the gold

purchasing plans of jewellery retailers, it is evident that 90.3 per cent of the

semi-urban and 84.1 per cent of the rural respondents selected for the study

were involved in this and in the case of urban respondents’ 77.9 were not

involved. This reveals a variation in the opinion of the entire three groups

of respondents. The comparative analysis reveals that the semi-urban group

had the highest number (84.1percent) of respondents who were involved in

the gold purchasing plans of jewellery retailers as compared to other two

groups. This also shows that the semi-urban respondents were mainly

involved in the gold purchasing plans of jewellery retailers. Thus the

region of the respondents and their opinion regarding their involvement in

the gold purchasing plans of jewellery retailers were tabulated to test the

hypothesis. Based on these results, the researcher investigated the

relationship among consumers of three regional groups and their

involvement in the gold purchasing plans of jewellery retailers in Kerala.

When these statistics were tested with the help of Chi- square test, the null

hypothesis formulated was:-

H0: There is no significant relationship between consumers of

various regional groups and their involvement in the gold

purchasing plans of jewellery merchants in Kerala.


between consumers of various regional groups and their involvement in the

154

gold purchasing plans of jewellery merchants in Kerala. The result is

presented in the table 3.34.

TABLE.3.34

Summary of Chi- square test statistics showing the relationship between consumers’ of various regional groups and their involvement


Value df Asymmetric Significance (2- sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

No. of valid cases

285.854

258.799

1215

2

2

---

.000

.000

Source: SPSS Output



of .05. So we reject the null hypothesis.

We, therefore, conclude that there is a significant relationship

between the region of the respondents and their involvement in the gold

purchasing plans of jewellery merchants in Kerala.

3.5.2.2 Type of gold purchasing plans

Regarding the respondents involvement in the different type of gold

purchase plans of jewellery merchants, the researcher took into account

four attributes, namely, the instalment purchase scheme, wedding purchase

scheme, chitty schemes and advance booking scheme for the study. Table

155

(3.35) depicts the distribution of the opinion of respondents regarding their

involvement in the different gold purchasing plans of jewellery merchants.

TABLE.3.35

Opinion of the respondents regarding their involvement in the gold purchasing plans of jewellery merchants

Gold purchase plans Number Percentage

Instalment purchase scheme 326 36.75

Wedding purchase scheme 54 6.09

Chitty scheme’s 403 45.43

Advance booking scheme 104 11.72

Total 887 100


On analyzing the views of 887 respondents, 326(36.75 per cent) of

them were found involved in the instalment purchase scheme, 104 (11.72

per cent) in the advance booking scheme and 403(45.43 per cent) in the

chitty scheme’s and the remaining 54 (6.09 per cent) in the wedding

purchase scheme of jewellery merchants.

3.5.3 Rate tag facility

The rate tag facility of the jewellery retailer is undoubtedly an

important tool in the field of marketing of gold ornaments on account of

two reasons. Firstly, it is a significant determinant of consumer loyalty in

the case of gold ornaments and secondly, it generates a positive ‘word of

mouth publicity’ for infrequently purchased high cost items of gold

156

ornaments. Rate tag facility helps the customers not to be fooled by the

words of sales persons. Some jewellery retailers like Kalyan jewellery and

Malabar Gold initially introduced rate tag/ price tag facility in Kerala. An

enquiry was made to find out the opinion of gold consumers about their

awareness and satisfaction level related to the rate tag facility provided by

the jewellers. Figure 3.1 shows the awareness level of the respondents with

regard to the rate tag facility used by the jeweller in the gold ornament

market of Kerala.

FIGURE 3.1

Awareness level related to the rate tag/price tag facility of the jewellery retailer

Aware,

68.60%

Not aware,

31.40%

Aware

Not aware

Source: Direct Survey

This figure reveals that 68.6 per cent of the respondents’ families

were aware of the rate tag facility that was used by the jeweller, and 31.4

157

per cent of them were not aware at all of the rate tag facility used by the

jeweller.

An enquiry was made to find out the satisfaction level of consumers

regarding the rate tag facility of jewellery retailers in Kerala. An analysis

of the view points of respondents revealed that 66.78 per cent of the

respondents were fully satisfied with the rate tag facility that were provided

by the jeweller in the gold ornament market of Kerala, and that 20.89 per

cent of the respondents were only satisfied and 12.33 per cent of them were

unsatisfied with the rate tag facility.

As is evident from the forgoing discussion, the researcher would

like to point out that the price reduction offered by jewellery retailers was

the most suitable price-related marketing strategy in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. The study also reveals that a majority of respondents

were aware about the gold purchasing plans of jewellery merchants and

among them; a majority were involved in it. The above analysis indicates

that gender does not influence the respondents’ involvement in the gold

purchasing plans of jewellery merchants in Kerala. But it is shown that the

respondents region (place of dwelling) influenced their involvement in the

gold purchasing plans of jewellery merchants in Kerala. The researcher has

also found that a majority of the respondents were aware of the rate tag

facility of the jeweller.

158

After making a detailed investigation into the influence of various

pricing strategies on the gold ornament market of Kerala, the researcher has

examined the influence of place (or physical distribution)-related marketing

strategies on consumers in the purchase of gold ornaments in Kerala.

3.6 INFLUENCE OF PLACE (PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION)-RELATED MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CONSUMERS

The place or physical distribution of a product is, arguably, the most

essential and dominant element in the marketing mix. Distribution of

product is one of the important rudiments in the marketing mix and it is the

method of getting the product from the producer to the ultimate consumer.

In the gold ornament market of Kerala, manufacturers reach out to the

consumers directly or through their retail shops in different parts of the

state. Jewellery retailers assemble different types of jewellery designs from

different producers and wholesalers to fulfill the various requirements of

the consumers. Here a jewellery retailer is the last link between the

consumer and the wholesaler or producer.

In the gold ornament market of Kerala, the retailer can be classified

in a number of ways. However, the most practical and popular way is to

categorize them as small, medium and large scale retailers. Large shops

have an edge over small ones, thanks to their variety. They are invading

small towns and villages in the present time.

159

The prominent jewellery retailers in Kerala have a number of

showrooms within state and the nearby region. Their shops are located at

busy hubs with transportation facility, so that there is a steady flow of

customers. They are alive to the fact that the location of a jewellery shop

has a vital influence on the jewellery business. The strength of a jewellery

outlet lies in the ideal location it is set up at. The owners study each location

in terms of business potential, social and political conditions before deciding

to set up their shops. The success of a shop mainly depends upon this factor.

In this study, the researcher has made an attempt to find out the

influence of place or distribution-related marketing strategies in the gold

ornament market of Kerala. Therefore, this section explores in detail the

opinion of the respondents regarding their selection of a particular jewellery

shop.

3.6.1 Opinion of respondents regarding the purchase gold ornaments from a particular jeweller

The consumers’ interest related to the purchase of gold ornaments

from a particular shop may be different. The results of the inquiry made to

find out the respondents’ opinion related to their gold ornaments purchase

from a particular jeweller are presented in table 3.36.

160

TABLE. 3.36

Opinion of respondents on the purchase gold ornaments from a particular jeweller

Opinion Numbers Percentages

Yes 1237 94.28

No 75 5.72

Total 1312 100


While analyzing the view points of respondents, 94.28 per cent of

them said that they purchased gold ornaments from a particular jeweller.

But 5.72 per cent stated that they did not purchase gold ornaments from a

particular jeweller.

Based on these results, the researcher examined the relationship

between the income of the consumers and their selection of a particular

jewellery retailer. So the researcher made a further enquiry to study the

selection of a particular jeweller in Kerala by consumers belonging to

various income groups.

3.6.1.1 Income of the respondents and their purchase of gold ornaments from a particular jewellery retailer in K erala.

In this study the income-wise distribution of the respondents in

Kerala has been categorized under five heads. Out of the 1312

respondents, 216 were found to be belonging to the low income group, 372

to the lower-middle income group, 437 to the middle income group, 245 to

the upper middle income group and 42 to the higher income group. An

161

attempt was made to elicit the opinion of the respondents of various

income groups regarding the selection of a particular jewellery retailer in

Kerala. The particulars regarding the attitude of respondents were related to

their income group in order to test the null hypothesis (Table.3.37).

TABLE. 3.37

Income-wise comparison of the respondents’ opinion related to their purchase of gold ornament from a particular jeweller in Kerala.

Income Purchased Not purchased Total

Lower income N

% within income

192

88.9

24

11.1

216

100

Lower- middle income N

% within income

360

96.8

12

3.2

372

100

Middle income N

% within income

417

95.4

20

4.6

437

100

Upper-middle income N % within income

232

96.3

13

3.7

245

100

Higher income N % within income

36

76.2

6

23.8

42

100

Total 1237 75 1312


The comparative analysis shows that a majority of respondents

purchased gold ornaments from a particular jeweller. This table also

reveals that there were considerable variations in the opinion of the entire

group of respondents on the purchase of gold ornaments from a particular

jeweller. The null hypothesis formulated and the details of related tests

used are given below:-

162

H0: There is no significant relationship between the income of

consumers and their selection of a particular jewellery retailer

for gold ornament purchase in Kerala.

Here Chi- Square test is used for showing the relationship between

the income of consumers and their selection of a particular jewellery

retailer for the purchase of gold ornaments in Kerala. The result is

presented in the Table.3.38.

TABLE. 3.38

Summary of Chi-square test statistics - showing the relationship between the income of the respondents and their selection of a

particular jewellery retailer for gold ornament pur chase in Kerala

Value df Asymmetric Significance ( 2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

N of valid cases

44.405

32.500

1312

4

4

---

.000

.000

---

Source: SPSS Output

From the output table of chi square Test, Asymmetric Significance

of value is found to be .000, which is less than the cut off value of .05. So

our null hypothesis is rejected at a confidence level of 95%.

Thus we conclude that in this case there is a significant relationship

existing among the five income consumers and their purchase of gold

ornaments from a particular jeweller in the gold ornament market of

Kerala.

163

3.6.2 Years of experience with a particular jewellery retailer

Loyal consumers are infinitely more valuable in the gold ornament

market and they have years of contact with the jeweller. The jeweller

benefits from every interaction with the consumer. The enquiry which was

made to find out the respondent’s opinion related to their years of

experience with their favourite jewellery retailer is presented in Table.3.39.

TABLE. 3.39

Years of experience with a particular jewellery retailer

Opinion Numbers Percentages

Below 1 year 70 5.66

1-5 years 695 56.18

5-10 years 244 19.73

More than 10 years 228 18.43

Total 1237 100


By analyzing the views of 1237 respondents, 695 (56.18 per cent) of

them were found to have 1-5 years experience with a particular jeweller.

244 (19.73 per cent) respondents 5-10 years and 228 (18.43 per cent)

respondents had more than 10 years experience with a particular jeweller.

This table also reveals that a few numbers (5.66 per cent) had below one

year experience with a particular jeweller.

164

3.6.3 Frequency of gold ornaments purchase from a particular jeweller

Every consumer is valuable. However much valuable these

consumers are to a jewellery shop depends on the frequency of purchase

from these consumers. It should determine the differentiation in rewarding

them. The researcher has made an attempt to find out the opinion of the

respondents regarding the frequency of the purchase of gold ornaments

from a particular jeweller (Table.3.40).

TABLE. 3.40

Frequency of gold ornaments purchase from a particular jeweller

Response Numbers Percentages

1-2 times 93 8.00

3-5 times 531 43.00

6-10 times 195 16.00

Above 10 times 418 33.00

Total 1237 100


On analyzing the view points of 1237 respondents, 531(43.00 per

cent) of them were found to have purchased gold ornaments 3-5 times from

a particular jeweller. 16.00 per cent of them purchased 6-10 times and

33.00 per cent of the respondents purchased above 10 times from a

particular jeweller. 8.00 per cent of them purchased gold ornaments only 1-

2 times from a particular jeweller.

165

3.6.4 Reason for purchasing gold ornaments from a particular jewellery shop

In Kerala, market is customer driven and they are not ready to

compromise with poor quality of gold ornaments. The consumer makes a

fastidious and scrupulous choice of the jewellery shop that they like. While

analyzing the various reasons for the respondents’ gold ornament purchase

from a particular jeweller, the researcher has taken into account six factors.

They are the relationship with the jeweller, quality, the same religion,

unique design, credit facility and convenience (Table 3.41).

TABLE. 3.41

Reason for purchasing gold ornaments from a particular jewellery shop

Factors Small and local

Jeweller Medium Large Total

Relationship with the (N) jeweller %

168 47.5

63 60.58

216 27.7

447

Quality (N) %

65 18.4 -

336 43.1 401

Same religion (N) %

17 4.82 -

153 19.6 170

Unique design (N) %

- - -

21 2.7 21

Credit facility (N) %

33 9.35 - - 33

Convenience (N) %

70 19.83

41 39.42

54 6.9 165

Total (N) 353 104 780 1237


● N denote number

166

On collating the views of 1237 respondents, 447 (36.7 per cent) of

them opined that their relationship with the jeweller was the important

reason for insisting on purchasing gold ornaments from a particular

jeweller. 401 (32.4 per cent) said that quality was an important factor; 170

(13.7 percent) said that the same religion was an influential element and

165 (13.3 per cent) said that convenience was the important reason for

purchasing gold ornaments from a particular jeweller. This table also

shows that in the case of small jewellers, 47.5 of respondents said that their

relationship with a particular jeweller was the reason why they bought their

gold ornaments from him. In the case of medium scale jewellery retailers, a

majority (60.58 per cent) of respondents said that relationship with the

jeweller was the reason, but in the case of large jewellery retailers, the

quality of the ornament led them to select the shop. This table also shows

that majority of people are purchasing gold ornaments from large jewellery

shops.

The forgoing analysis reveals that majority of people in Kerala

purchased gold ornaments from a particular jeweller. The above

investigation also shows that there is a significant relationship between the

income of consumers and their choice of a particular jeweller in the gold

ornament market of Kerala. Here, the researcher identified that a majority of

respondents had 1-5 years contact with a particular jeweller and they

167

purchased gold ornaments 3-5 times from that jeweller. An interesting fact is

that the relationship with the jeweller was the important reason why the

respondents insisted on purchasing gold ornaments from a particular

jeweller. Furthermore, the studies revealed that a majority of people were

purchasing gold ornaments from large jewellery shop. The above

discussions call for a need to appraise the influence of the various

promotional strategies on consumers in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.7 PROMOTIONAL MARKETING STRATEGIES AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS

In the gold ornament business, the concept of promotion aims at

reaching out to the desired consumers and persuades them to act. As the

distance between the jeweller and consumers increases and as the number

of potential consumers grows, promotional activities are absolutely

imperative in the gold ornament market of Kerala. Jewellery retailers in

Kerala launch different types of promotional strategies to win over them.

We know that promotional strategies play a very crucial role in the

gold ornament market. Owing to excessive specialization, mass production

and competition, promotional strategies have become indispensable in the

gold ornament business. Promotional strategies help the jewellery retailer

make sure that consumers are aware of their full range of products and

services and create opportunities to generate repeat and higher value

purchases. Here the researcher has made an enquiry to find out the level of

168

the awareness of the respondents with respect to the promotional strategies

of gold jewellery merchants in Kerala. The analysis reveals that all the

1312 respondents selected for the study were knowledgeable about the

promotional strategies of jewellery merchants in the gold ornament market

of Kerala.

3.7.1 Influence of various promotional strategies on the purchasing behaviour of consumers in the gold ornament market of Kerala

To promote the business successfully, a jewellery shop owner has to

understand whom he needs to reach out to and what he is trying to achieve.

Promotional strategies should focus first and foremost on their existing

customers in the gold ornament market of Kerala. Promotional strategies

help the jewellery retailer make sure that consumers are aware of their full

range of products and services and create opportunities to generate repeat

and higher value purchases. Jewellery retailers in Kerala use different types

of promotional strategies to attract customers. While analyzing the

influencing level of various promotional strategies, the researcher had

taken into account five important promotional activities of the jewellery

merchants in Kerala. They are advertisements, appointing brand

ambassadors, celebration of auspicious days, attractive offers and

canvassing agents. Table.3.42 shows the distribution of respondents based

on the influence of various promotional strategies of the jewellery retailer

on their gold ornament purchase.

169

TABLE.3.42

Influencing level related to various promotional strategies of the jewellery retailer


The result is presented here in terms of numbers. In the case of gold

jewellery advertisements and tempting offers provided by the jewellery

retailer, a majority of the respondents said that these two promotional

strategies influenced their gold ornament purchase. In the case of brand

ambassadors, celebration of auspicious days and appointment of

canvassing agents in the gold ornament market of Kerala, a majority of

them said that these three promotional strategies had not influenced their

gold ornaments purchase at all. This study also reveals that the

advertisement of jewellery retailer was the most influential promotional

strategy in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

Formulating an effective promotional strategy for a jewellery

retailer requires a thorough understanding of the region-wise characteristics

of consumers. The researcher was interested in obtaining the opinion of

Promotional strategies Influenced Not influenced

Advertisement 1099 213

Brand ambassador 318 994

Celebrating auspicious days 577 735

Offer 1038 274

Canvassing agents 262 1050

170

consumers belonging to the various regions regarding the influence of

various promotional strategies of jewellers in the purchasing behaviour of

consumers in Kerala. Based on the above results, the researcher scrutinized

the relationship between consumers of different regions and the influence

of various promotional strategies of jewellers on their purchasing

behaviour in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.7.1.1 Region of the respondents and the influence of various promotional strategies of jewellers on their purchasing behaviour in Kerala

In India most of people live in rural areas and therefore the

distinction between urban, semi-urban and rural market is of vital

significance. The urban population is well educated and shows greater

mobility, whereas the rural person is less mobile. Either on account of the

less paying capacity or because of unawareness, the rural people are not

innovators, i.e. they are never willing to purchase new things. Kerala is

well known for its urban characteristics and rural- urban difference is

minimum. Unlike north Indian villages, Kerala villages are not group

villages. In Kerala every house hold is situated in a compound. The urban

area in Kerala is fast increasing.

In this era of mass production and customization, the marketers have

to divide the gold ornament market into distinct and meaningful segments

and evaluate, select and concentrate on those segments that could be served

effectively. Region is an important instrument for market segmentation. In

171

this section, an analysis is having carried based on the opinion of the urban,

semi- urban and rural respondents regarding the influence of various

promotional strategies on the gold ornament market of Kerala. For this

purpose five parameters relating to this aspect were followed. The purpose

of the analysis was to test the strength of the association between the

regional characteristics of consumers and the influence of various

promotional strategies on the gold ornament market of Kerala. The

information regarding the opinion of the respondents was related to their

region in order to test the null hypothesis.

H0: There is no significant relationship between the regions of the

consumers and the influence of promotional strategies on their

gold ornaments purchase in Kerala.

Based on the above null hypothesis, the following analyses were

conducted. Here regions were coded into three categories [1 to 3] and their

level of gold ornament purchase was coded into two categories, i.e

Influenced-1 and not influenced- 2.

3.7.1.1.1 Region of the respondents and their gold ornaments purchase resulting from the influence of jewellery advertisement in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Advertising plays a dominant role in the gold business in India,

especially in Kerala. Most jewellery retailers rely highly on advertisements for

promoting their product all over the state. Advertisements are effective

because they are done strictly in the regional language of the consumers with

172

the help of celebrity endorser. Another very important thing is that the

advertising is given at the right time in the right place and also in the right

media. Gold advertisements through different media admittedly play an

important role in imparting and disseminating knowledge about the various

jewellery shops in Kerala. The results of the enquiry made among the urban,

semi- urban and rural respondents with respect to the influence of jewellery

advertisements in their gold ornaments purchase are presented in table 3.43.

TABLE. 3.43

Region-wise comparison of the opinion of respondents regarding the influence of jewellery advertisements on their gold ornaments

purchase


It is clear from the study on the influence of jewellery

advertisements on the respondents gold ornaments purchase that in the case

of the entire group (urban, semi-urban and rural) of respondents selected

for the study, a majority of them purchased gold ornaments after having

Region Influenced Not influenced Total

Urban N

% within region

101

77.1

30

22.9 131

Semi-urban N

% within region

365

88.2

49

11.8 414

Rural N

% within region

633

82.5

134

17.5% 767

Total 1099 213 1312

173

been influenced by the jewellery advertisements of retailers. This table also

reveals that there is a small variation in the opinion of the entire three

groups of respondents. The comparative analysis shows that the semi urban

group had the highest number (88.2 percent) of respondents who purchased

gold ornaments due to the influence of jewellery retailer’s advertisement as

compared to other two groups. This throws light on the fact that the

advertisement of jewellery retailer greatly influenced semi-urban

respondents. Thus respondents’ region and their opinion regarding the

influence of jewellery advertisements were tabulated to test the hypothesis.

Based on these results, the researcher investigated the relationship between

consumers of three regional groups and the influence of jewellery

advertisements on their gold ornament purchase in Kerala. When these

statistics were tested with the help of Chi- square test, the null hypothesis

formulated is:-

H0: There is no significant relationship between the region of the

consumers and the influence of jewellery advertisements on

their gold ornament purchase in Kerala.


between three regional groups and the influence of jewellery

advertisements on them in Kerala. The result is presented in the table 3.44.

174

TABLE. 3.44

Summary of Chi- square test statistics- showing the relationship between the respondents of various regions and the influence of the jewellery advertisement on their gold ornament purchase in Kerala

Source: SPSS Output

It has been clearly observed from the foregoing analysis that the chi-


of .05. Hence we reject the null hypothesis.

Thus we conclude that there is a significant relationship between the

respondents of three regional groups and the influence of the advertisement

of the jewellery retailers on their gold ornament purchase.

3.7.1.1.2 Region of the respondents and the influence of brand ambassador in gold ornament market of Kerala

Jewellers appoint brand ambassadors as part of their promotional

activities now-a-days. The brand ambassador serves as the representative

of a particular jewellery shop and he or she is supposed to help to reach out

the messages of the positive sides of the brand to the common populace.

While doing the same, the influence of the brand ambassador spreads and

grows among the general population. The messages of the brand

ambassadors penetrate the society and the echoes of the same would

Value df Asymmetric Significance

(2- sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

No. of valid cases

11.033

11.128

1312

2

2

---

.004

.004

---

175

reconfigure human tendencies and their orientation. Promotional strategies

of brand ambassadors are more prevalent in the gold ornament market of

Kerala than in any other arena. Jewellers appoint film stars and sports stars

as brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala. They are

considered national icons and they act as ideal representatives of shops

dealing in gold. The main reason of appointing brand ambassadors in the

gold ornament market is to make the brand stand out conspicuously. An

enquiry was made to find out the opinion of the urban, semi- urban and

rural respondents with respect to the influence of brand ambassadors on

their gold ornaments purchase, which is shown in table 3.45.

TABLE. 3.45

Region-wise comparison of respondents’ opinion regarding the influence of brand ambassadors on their gold ornaments purchase in

Kerala



Urban N

% within region

11

8.4

120

91.6

131

100

Semi urban N

% within region

97

23.4

317

76.6

414

100

Rural N

% within region

210

27.4

557

72.6

767

100

Total 318 994 1312

176

The foregoing analysis shows that in the case of the entire group of

urban, semi-urban and rural of respondents selected for the study, a large

majority of them were influenced by the brand ambassador with respect to

their gold ornaments purchase in Kerala. This table also shows a small

deviation in the percentages of the opinion of the entire three groups of

respondents. The comparative analysis reveals that the urban group had the

highest percent of respondents who did not purchase gold ornaments

because of the influence of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. This reveals that brand ambassadors in the gold

ornament market exert the lowest influence on the gold ornaments

purchase of urban consumers. The respondents’ region and their opinion

regarding the influence of brand ambassadors on their gold ornament

purchase were tabulated to test the hypothesis. When these statistics were

tested with the help of Chi- square test, the null hypothesis formulated is:-


consumers and the influence of brand ambassador on their gold

ornaments purchase in Kerala.


three regional groups and the influence of brand ambassadors on their gold

ornament purchase in Kerala. The result is presented on the Table 3.46.

177

TABLE. 3.46

Summary of Chi- square test statistics- showing the relationship between respondents region and the influence of brand ambassadors

on their gold ornaments purchase in Kerala

Source: SPSS Output

The chi –square test reveals a significant connection between the

region of the respondents and their gold ornaments purchase owing to the

influence of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market in Kerala.

From the chi-square test output table it can be seen that a significant level

of .000 (Pearson’s) has been achieved. This means the chi-square test

shows a considerable relationship between the above two variables at the

95% confidence level.

It is, therefore, concluded that at the 95% confidence level, the

region of the respondents and their purchase of gold ornaments by virtue of

the influence of brand ambassadors are closely connected with each other.

3.7.1.1.3 Respondents’ region and the influence of the celebration of auspicious days on their gold ornament purchase

Gold has been an all time favourable investment for the people of

Kerala. Without flaunting their gold ornaments, Keralites’ traditional

festivals, customs and rituals are never completed. To exploit the above

Value df Asymmetric Significance(2- sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

N of valid cases

22.171

26.405

1312

2

2

.000

.000

178

said behaviour of Kerala society, the new comers and big players in the

gold ornament business come out with various promotional strategies.

Among them banking on the potentials of the celebration of auspicious

days like Akshaya tridhiya, Chingum first and Dhanatraya is another

promotional strategy employed in the gold ornament market of Kerala. An

enquiry was made to find out the opinion of the urban, semi- urban and

rural respondents with respect to the influence of these strategies on their

purchase of gold ornaments. The results thereof are tabulated hereunder.

Vide Table.3.47.

TABLE.3.47

Region-wise comparison of the opinion of the respondents’ regarding the influence of celebrating auspicious days on their gold ornaments

purchase in Kerala


On examining the influence of strategies resorted to in connection

with the celebration of auspicious days on the respondents’ gold ornaments

Influenced Not influenced Total

Urban N

% within region

42

32.06

89

67.94

131

100

Semi urban N

% within region

218

52.66

196

47.34

414

100

Rural N

% within region

317

41.33

450

58.67

767

100

Total 577 735 1312

179

purchase in Kerala, 67.94 per cent of the urban and 58.67 per cent of the

rural respondents selected for the study were found not to have been

influenced in their attitude to the purchase of gold ornaments. But a

majority of the semi urban (52.66%) respondents said that they purchased

gold ornaments as a result of the influence of celebrating auspicious days

in the gold ornament market of Kerala. This table also reveals some

variation in the percentages of the opinions of the entire three groups of

respondents. The comparative analysis shows that the urban group had the

highest percentage of respondents who had not purchased gold ornaments

as a result of the influence of strategies used by merchants during

auspicious days in the gold ornament market of Kerala. This brings out the

fact that the influence was the maximum on the urban respondents. Thus

the region of the respondents and their opinion regarding the influence of

celebrating auspicious days on the gold ornament market of Kerala were

tabulated to test the hypothesis. When these statistics were tested with the



consumers and the influence of celebrating auspicious days on

their gold ornament purchase in Kerala.


the respondents region and the influence of the celebration of auspicious

180

days on their gold ornament purchase in Kerala. The result is presented in

the table 3.48.

TABLE. 3.48

Summary of Chi- square test statistics- showing the relationship between the respondents’ region and the influence of celebrating

auspicious days on their gold ornaments purchase in Kerala

Source: SPSS Output

The output table shows that the Asymmetric Significant value is

.000 (Pearson chi-square). This is the p value and it is less than the level of

.05 we had set.

Therefore, it is concluded that there is a significant relationship

between the region of the respondents and their gold ornament purchase

due to the influence of the celebration of auspicious days in the gold


3.7.1.1.4 Respondents’ region and the gold ornaments purchase owing to the influence of offers of jewellery retailers in Kerala

Jewellery retailers provide irresistible offers to consumers for

promoting their sales volume. Many a time, the jewellery houses advertise

their schemes to give away attractive and useful gift articles as presents to

their profitable consumers. These gift – novelties may be gold coins, cars,

Value df Asymmetric Significant (2- sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

N of valid cases

22.392

22.520

1312

2

2

.000

.000

181

clocks, lunch sets and the like. Some shops offer tour packages to the

newlyweds temporary price reductions and special discounts are the other

offers put out by jewellers. An enquiry was also made among the urban,

semi- urban and rural respondents with respect to the influence of offers

made by jewellery retailers in the gold ornament market of Kerala and the

results presented are in Table.3.49.

TABLE.3.49

Region wise comparison of respondents’ opinion regarding the influence of offers of the jeweller on their gold ornament purchase in

Kerala


Urban N

% within region

116

88.55

15

11.45

131

100

Semi urban N

% within region

292

70.53

122

29.47

414

100

Rural N

% within region

630

82.14

137

17.86

767

100

Total 1038 274 1312


The foregoing exploration reveals that in the case of the entire group

of (urban, semi-urban and rural) respondents selected for the study, a

majority of them said that the offer of the jewellery retailers influenced

their gold ornaments purchase. But this table also brings out a small

discrepancy in the opinion of the entire three groups of respondents. The

182

comparative analysis reveals that the urban group had the highest

percentage of respondents who were influenced by offer of the jewellery

retailers in their gold ornaments purchase in Kerala. This establishes that

the offer provided by the jewellery retailer considerably influenced in the

urban area. The respondents’ region and their opinion regarding the

influence of the offer made by merchants on the gold ornament purchase

were tabulated to test the hypothesis. When these statistics were tested with

the help of Chi- square test, the null hypothesis formulated is:-


consumers and the influence of offers provided by the jewellery

retailers on their gold ornament purchase in Kerala.


the region of the consumers and the influence of offers provided by the

jewellery retailer on their gold ornament purchase in Kerala. The result is


TABLE.3.50

Summary of Chi- square test statistics showing the relationship between consumers region and the influence of the offer provided by

the jewellery retailer in their gold ornament purchase in Kerala.

Value df Sig.

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

N of valid cases

31.030

31.664

1312

2

2

.000

.000

Source: SPSS Output

183

From the output table of chi –square test, the significance of this test

is found to be .000 (Pearson). This indicates that at a confidence level of

95%, the chi-square test proves that the hypothesis is significant. Hence,

there is a significant relationship between the opinions of the consumers of

various regions and their gold ornament purchase as a result of the

influence of the offers of jewellery retailers.

Thus we conclude that there is a significant relationship between the

consumers’ region and the influence of offers made by the jewellery

merchants in their gold ornaments purchase in Kerala.

3.7.1.1.5 Region of the respondents and the influence of the canvassing agent of the jewellery retailer on their gold ornament purchase in Kerala

Jewellery retailers appoint their canvassing agents in order to

promote their sales. Canvassing agents play an important role in

communicating between a jewellery shop and its consumers. An enquiry

was made to find out the opinion of the urban, semi- urban and rural

respondents with respect to the influence of the canvassing agents of

jewellery retailers on their gold ornament purchase. The results are

presented in table 3.51.

184

TABLE. 3.51

Region-wise comparison of respondents’ opinion regarding the influence of the canvassing agent of jewellery retailer on their gold

ornament purchase in Kerala

Influenced Not influenced Total

Urban N

% within region

25

19.08

106

80.92

131

100

Semi urban N

% within region

80

19.32

334

80.68

414

100

Rural N

% within region

157

20.47

610

79.53

767

100

Total 262 1050 1312


The foregoing study reveals that in the case of the entire group

(urban, semi-urban and rural) of respondents selected for the study a

majority had not purchased gold ornaments influenced by the canvassing

agents of jewellery retailers in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

However, this table shows a small discrepancy in the opinion of the entire

three groups of respondents. The comparative analysis reveals that the

urban dwellers had the highest percent of respondents who were not

purchasing gold ornaments as a result of the influence of the canvassing

agents of jewellery retailers in the gold ornament market of Kerala. The

respondents’ region and their gold ornament purchase because of the

influence of the canvassing agents of jewellery retailers in Kerala were

185

tabulated to test the hypothesis. When these statistics were tested with the



consumers and the influence of the canvassing agent of the

jewellery retailer on their gold ornament purchase in Kerala.


consumers region and the influence of the canvassing agent of the

jewellery retailer on their gold ornaments purchase in Kerala. The result is

presented in the table.3.52.

TABLE. 3.52

Summary of Chi- square test statistics- showing the relationship between respondents’ region and the influence of the canvassing agent of the jewellery retailers on their gold ornaments purchase in Kerala

Source: SPSS Output

As shown in the table, the relationship between the three regional

groups is statistically insignificant with respect to the influence of ‘the

canvassing agent of the jewellery retailer’ on their gold ornaments purchase

in Kerala. The output table shows that the asymmetric significant value is

.864 (Pearson chi-square). This is the p value and it is greater than the level

of .05 we had set. From the result of the above table one can conclude that


Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

N of valid cases

.292

.293

1312

2

2

.864

.864

186

there is no significant relationship between consumers’ region and their gold

ornaments purchase vis a vis the influence of the canvassing agent of the

jewellery retailer in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

After determining the most effective promotional strategy and the

region-wise influence of various promotional strategies in the gold

ornament market of Kerala, the researcher carried out a detailed

examination of the influence of the various promotional strategies on

consumers in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.7.2 Overall assessment of the promotional strategies of jewellery retailers in Kerala

Promotional activities are an essential element in modern marketing. In

the gold ornament market of Kerala there is stiff competition. More and more

promotional activities are required to induce the consumers to purchase more

and more gold ornaments and augment the demand for gold ornaments. Here

the researcher has made a detailed investigation into the influence of the five

major promotional strategies of jewellery retailers on the purchasing

behaviour of consumers in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.7.2.1 Influence of Jewellery Advertisements

In the gold ornaments business, advertising is a sales message

directed at a mass audience to sell products banking in on the credibility of

the paying sponsor. Since advertising is a multifaceted and multidimensional

business activity in the gold ornament market, conducting research on its

187

various dimensions is itself a challenge and requires a team effort. Thus, the

present work does not claim to cover all the facets of jewellery

advertisements. Jewellery advertisements play a crucial role in the sales of

gold ornaments. Advertisements substantially serve to motivate and

influence customers, to make them aware of the jewellery collections and to

make them purchase. We cannot say that any particular medium is superior

to others in absolute terms, though a particular medium may be more

suitable for a specific purpose than others. Thus for some purposes one

medium may show superiority, for other purposes the same medium may be

entirely unsuitable. Because of this reason, media planners of the jewellery

retailer often use a mix of media for the successful launch of their

advertising campaign.

In the changed market scenario there is increasing awareness of the

role of advertising in the gold ornament market as a business and

marketing tool. Here the researcher made an attempt to find out the

respondents’ overall opinion related to their interest in the advertisements

in different mediums. While analyzing the view points of respondents, it

was found that 99.6 percent respondents selected for the study were

interested with the jewellery advertisements in different mediums, whereas

few (.4 percent) of them were not in favour of the jewellery advertisements

in different mediums. The respondents covered under this study were asked

to state the degree of their interest in jewellery advertisements in different

188

mediums. While analyzing the favourite medium for watching

advertisements, the researcher took into account five important media;

namely, televisions, magazines, newspapers, films and hoardings for the

present study. The result has shown that 80.34 per cent of the respondent

give first preference to television advertisements. 10.1 per cent prefer the

advertisements in hoardings. 7.9 per cent prefer magazines and 1.2 per cent

prefer newspapers for watching advertisements. The remaining few

numbers (.46 per cent) prefer films for watching advertisements.

3.7.2.1.1 Gold ornament advertisements in Audio-visual media

(a) Television

Television has been a fast growing advertising media using both

video and audio signals. In the last few years our state has witnessed the

emergence of television as a powerful jewellery advertising medium. On

analyzing the view points of respondents, 95.33 percent of respondents

were found watching television ads, whereas few (4.67) percent were not

watching television. In a competitive business environment, consumers do

not have complete knowledge of the advertisements put up by various

jewellery retailers and the services which they offer. By analyzing the view

points of 1215 respondents, 95.31 per cent of them were found to be

interested in watching gold advertisements on TV. A few (4.69 percent) of

them were not at all interested in watching gold advertisements in

television. The effectiveness of the television advertising of gold

189

ornaments depends upon various factors. While studying the factors

influencing TV advertisements of gold, the researcher found that majority

of the respondents gave first preference to the celebrities featured in

television advertisements. This reveals that the most important factor of a

television advertisement is the role of celebrities. In recent years engaging

celebrities for advertising their products has become quite prevalent in the

gold ornament market of Kerala. The success of gold advertisement

depends on how well the advertiser relates the jewellery shop to the

persona of the celebrity. An enquiry was made to find out the interest level

of the respondents related to the role of celebrities in the gold

advertisement in Kerala. While analyzing the views of the respondents,

93.44 per cent of them were found to have a great interest in the celebrities’

appearance in gold advertisements. It was also found that 6.56 per cent of

respondents had no interest in the celebrities in the gold advertisement. A

further enquiry was made to find out the respondent’s agreement with

regard to the various roles of the celebrity in the gold ornament

advertisement on consumers purchasing behaviour in Kerala; it was then

discerned that the major role of celebrities in gold ornament advertisement

was creating attraction towards a particular jeweller.

(b) Film

The film medium is strategically used by the jewellery retailers.

Film/Cinema is an audio-visual medium of announcement and offers

190

opportunities to consumers for the selection of popular jewellery designs.

An interesting fact is that movies exert the top most influence on the

changing trends in the jewellery market. The big jewellery retailers are

always speedy to cash in on the obsession of consumers with the yellow

metal. The analysis part of the study focused on the influence of film on

the gold ornament business in Kerala. The opinion expressed by the

consumers about their viewership of films reveals that 56.24 per cent of

respondents were regularly watching television, while 43.76 per cent of

respondents were not watching television regularly. Regarding the opinion

of respondents about their like/dislike related to a particular icon in the film

industry, a dichotomous question was used. The result obtained shows that

52.38 per cent of respondents liked a particular heroine in the film industry,

while 47.62 per cent of respondents did not like a particular heroine in the

film industry. The opinion of respondents as to whether they liked the gold

ornaments featured by their favorite film star throws light on the fact that

56.62 per cent of the respondents liked to wear such gold ornaments. But

43.38 per cent were not influenced by the advertisements in which icons in

the filmdom promoted a particular brand.

3.7.2.1.2 Gold ornament advertisement in print media

(a) Magazines

Contextually, it is pertinent and appropriate to emphasize that

magazine advertising should be informative so that consumers can use such

191

information in making right purchase decision related to jewellery shop.

This part of the study focuses on the influence of Malayalam magazines on

the gold ornament business in Kerala. Jewellery retailers in the state splash

their advertisements in Malayalam magazines to win the heart and minds

of readers. The respondents’ views in this regard were sought and got by

the researcher. It was then found that 90.44 per cent of them were liked the

gold advertisement that appeared in the Malayalam magazine, while 9.56

per cent of them did not. In the competitive business environment of the

jewellery market, consumers are not well informed of the various jewellery

shops and the services which they render and naturally they seek

information from various sources. Magazine advertisements are one among

the important sources providing information about jewellers and their

jewellery collections. The respondents were asked what factors in an

advertisement engendered their interest in a gold item. Their answers

attested to the fact that 75.39 per cent of them considered the design of the

jewellery advertisement in a magazine as the most influential part of it.

13.86 per cent said that the charisma of the celebrity was the important

reason for the purchase. The remaining few respondents said that slogan/

wording (5.55 per cent) and colourful back ground (5.2 per cent) created an

interest in the gold advertisements in magazine. In Kerala, jewellery

retailers like Alappat, Malabar Gold, Sunney diamond, Bhima and tbz

blazon their advertisements in colourful Malayalam magazines like

192

Vanitha, and Gruhalakshmi. The gold jewellery advertisements that appear

in the Malayalam magazines go a long way in inculcating in the minds of

their readers an ardent desire to buy the advertised gold artifacts. During

this study 53.55 per cent of respondents said that colourful Malayalam

magazine advertisements of gold ornaments created purchase intention in

them. But 46.45 per cent said that magazine advertisements of gold

ornaments did not create any purchase intention at all.

(b) Malayalam newspaper

In the gold ornament market of Kerala, famous jewellery retailers

are also give their advertisements in Malayalam newspapers too. There is

no denying the fact that they consider Malayalam newspapers as the best

and most effective medium for advertising, because of their wider reach

and sweep. An enquiry was made regarding the opinion of respondents

about their readership of Malayalam magazines. It was then revealed that

70.93 per cent of the respondents were regular readers of Malayalam

newspaper and 29.07 per cent of them were not regular reader of any

Malayalam newspaper. An attempt was also made to find out the opinion

of respondents as to whether any gold advertisement in a Malayalam

newspaper struck their mind. It now emerged that, 69.36 per cent of the

respondents took notice of the jewellery advertisements in Malayalam

newspapers. But 30.64per cent did not at all notice any jewellery

advertisements in Malayalam newspapers. It was also revealed that 92.1

193

per cent of the respondents liked newspaper advertisements of gold

ornaments, while 7.9 per cent of them did not. An attempt was also made

to obtain the opinion of the respondents as to whether the Malayalam

newspaper advertisement of gold ornaments created any urge in them to

buy a particular piece. There answers revealed that the advertisements in

Malayalam newspaper created purchasing intention in 69.3 per cent of the

respondents. But 30.7 per cent of them said that it had no effect. The

forgoing analysis also reveals the name of the jeweller was the most

important influential factor in the gold ornament advertisement in

newspaper.

3.7.2.1.3 Gold ornament advertisements on hoardings

Certainly, hoardings appear more appealing than posters and they are

more effective and potent than ordinary posters. In the gold ornament market

of Kerala, jewellery retailers give their advertisements on hoardings at areas

frequented by a large number of people. In this section an analysis was carried

out for understanding the influence of the hoardings of the jewellers on the

gold ornament purchase of people in Kerala. The hoardings of jewellers are

placed at crossings, compound walls or pillars. The travelling public in these

places continually notice them and they get etched in their conscious as well

as subconscious mind. Here an attempt was made to find out the opinion of

the respondents pertaining to whether they were noticing advertisements of

gold ornaments on hoardings. The analysis part shows that 92.00 per cent of

194

the respondents were noticing advertisements on hoardings of gold ornaments

and 8.00 per cent of them were not interested in noticing them. The beauty

and attractiveness of the hoardings depend upon the skill of the artist. An

enquiry was also made to find out the level of attraction created by the

hoardings among the customers. The result shows that out of 932 respondents,

851 (91.3 per cent) of them said that advertisement of hoardings was creating

attraction and 81 (8.7 per cent) said that it was not creating any attraction at

all. The researcher also made an effort to ascertain whether there were any

differences between the influences of various factors on the hoarding

advertisement of gold ornaments. The views of the respondents’ show that

47.6 per cent of them were influenced by the celebrity/model featured in the

gold ornaments advertisement on hoardings. 27.4 per cent said that the layout

of the advertisement was the most appealing factor and 17.3 of them said that

the name of the jeweller mainly influenced them. The opinion of the rest was

that the various schemes and offers (5.4 per cent), and the design of the

ornaments (2.3 per cent) were the most important factors which influenced

them most.

3.7.2.2 Brand ambassador as a promotional instrument in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Brand ambassadors are known for their charismatic personality and

customers identify or connect them with that unique characteristic. The

selection of a suitable brand ambassador by the jewellery shops is

195

important. However, arriving at a decision is quite tough. In the gold

ornament market, jewellery shops use brand ambassadors because they

hope that a famous face would provide added appeal and make their label

more easily detectable. Jewellery retailers spend enormous amounts of

money to have brand ambassadors to promote their jewellery items nursing

the hope that the target market would react positively.

It is axiomatic that brand ambassadors are more successful in

influencing the attitudes and beliefs of customer than unglamorous

characters. Brand ambassadors, especially film stars, fashion models and

sport stars provide a reference group appeal. Despite the increasing use of

brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market, no serious study in the

Indian context on their role in the promotion of the gold ornament has so

far been conducted. The researcher prosecuted a detailed study related to

the opinion of the respondents regarding the role and influence of brand

ambassadors in the promotion of the gold ornament market of Kerala.

Here the researcher first made an attempt to know the respondents’

awareness of the presence of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. Figure.3.2 shows the distribution of respondents in terms

of their opinion related to their awareness of the appointment of brand

ambassadors in the gold ornament market Kerala.

196

FIGURE. 3.2

Respondents awareness of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Negative ,

1.75%

Positive ,

98.25%

The figure 3.2 shows that 98.25 per cent of respondents were aware of

brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala whereas 1.75 per

cent was not of it.

In this section the researcher gives a detailed outcome of the data

analysis related to the impact of brand ambassadors as a promotional

instrument on the gold ornament market of Kerala. Brand ambassadors,

particularly film stars, fashion models and sport stars provide a reference

group appeal. Regarding the opinion of the respondents related to their interest

in a particular personality in film/ sports/ modelling industry, 82.39 per cent of

respondents said that they had a favourite personality in any of the film/

sports/ modelling industry. An enquiry was made to find out the interest level

of respondents with respect to some particular personalities; and it could be

observed that among the three types of persons were concerned; film stars

197

were the most preferred one to the respondents. Fashion models were placed

II, and sports stars were ranked III in terms of preference. To study the

respondents’ reason for preference of film stars as their favourite one, the

researcher took into account four parameters i.e popularity, personality,

credibility and glamour/ beauty for the study. The result revealed that

popularity was the most important factor that was instrumental in creating

preference towards a particular personality as brand ambassador in the gold

ornament market. Here the researcher made an attempt to know the intensity

of feeling of the respondents with reference to the appointment of film stars as

brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala. The result shows

that a majority of respondents had a favourable attitude towards the

appointment of film stars as their favourite brand ambassadors in the gold


3.7.2.2.1 Role of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala

In order to examine the important roles of brand ambassadors in the

gold ornament market in Kerala, the researcher took into consideration some

attributes such as increasing jewellery shop image, carrying out the public

relation functions, help to increase volume of sales and achieving attraction

towards jewellers for the study. As is known to all, big jewellery retailers

always try to enhance the image of the jewellery shop. For this purpose they

appoint famous personalities as their brand ambassadors. The attractiveness

factor here means how much attention grabbing capability a brand

198

ambassador has. Another role played by the brand ambassador is to perform

the public relation function. Here the ability of the brand ambassador to make

a relationship with the public plays a vital role. For identifying the attitude of

respondents as to the role of brand ambassadors in the dynamics of the gold

ornament market of Kerala, five statements were formulated. Table.3.53

shows the distribution of respondents according to their agreement related to

the role of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market on customers, on a

four point scale.

TABLE.3.53

The role of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament market

Statements Strongly agree 4

Moderately agree 3

Low agree

2

Not at all

agree 1

Total score Rank

A- The star value of the brand ambassador helps in enhancing image of the jewellery shop.

2404 (601)

1473 (491)

292 (146)

51 (51)

4220 1

B- Brand ambassador is carrying out the public relation functions for jewellery retailers.

1084 (271)

1854 (618)

586 (293)

107 (107)

3631 4

C- Brand ambassador helps in differentiating the jewellers from one another.

1300 (325)

1350 (450)

706 (353)

161 (161)

3517

5

D- Credibility of the brand ambassador helps to increase the sales volume of the jeweller.

1744 (436)

1425 (475)

586 (293)

85 (85)

3840

3

E- Brand ambassador is helpful in bringing about attraction towards a particular jewellery shop.

1528 (382)

1734 (578)

504 (252)

77 (77)

3843 2


* The values given in the brackets denote the number of respondents.

199

The forgoing analysis deals with issue of the respondents’

agreement related to the role of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament

market on the purchasing behaviour of consumers. This has been carried

out with the formulation of five statements. These statements were related

with the role of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market in the

purchasing behaviour of consumers in Kerala. The respondents were asked

to give their degree of agreement on a 4 point scale ranging from

“Strongly” to “not at all” for each statement.

It can be discerned from this table that the brand ambassador’s

major role in gold ornament market is enhancing image of the jewellery

shop. The second important role played by them is bringing about

attraction towards a particular jewellery shop. Another important role is

helping to increase sales volume of the jeweller, the fourth one is

assembling the public relation function and the last but not least important

role of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament market is differentiating

the jewellers from one another.

Based on these results, the researcher investigated the difference in

the ratings among the consumers of different demographic characteristics

(such as age, sex, educational qualification and region) regarding the role of

brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala. The null

hypothesis formulated and the details of related tests used are given below:-

200

H0:- There is no significant difference between the ratings by

consumers of various demographic characteristics (such as age,

sex, educational qualification and region) in the role of brand

ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

For the purpose of conducting the analysis this section is divided into

four parts. While in the first part the age and the role of the brand ambassador

in the gold ornament market are analyzed in detail, the second one deals with

the gender of the respondents and the role of the brand ambassador in the gold

ornament market. The third one is about the educational qualifications of the

respondents and the role of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market.

The fourth one pertains to the region and the role of brand ambassadors in the

gold ornament market. Here the respondents were asked to give their degree

of agreement on a 4 point Likert scale ranging from “Strongly” to “Not at all”

for each statement.

i.e Strongly -4, Moderately-3, Low-2 and Not at all-1

3.7.2.2.1 (a) Age-wise comparison of respondents’ attitude towards the role of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Age is an important factor influencing the behaviour of respondents

with respect to their purchase of gold ornaments. It is also known that the

youth are the major users of gold ornaments as compared with the old.

Here in this study the age-wise distribution of the respondents in Kerala is

categorized into four. Out of the 1289 respondents those who were

interested in purchasing gold ornaments in Kerala, 325 belonged to the 18-

201

30 age group, 424 to the 31-40 age group, 345 to the 41-50 age group and

195 were 51 or above.

In this section, an analysis was carried out about the attitude of

respondents of various age groups towards the role of the brand

ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala. For this purpose, 5

statements (Table.3.53) relating to this aspect were followed and the

information regarding the attitude of respondents was related to their age

group in order to test the null hypothesis. The age of the respondents and

their attitude towards the role of brand ambassador in the gold ornament

market of Kerala were tabulated to test the hypothesis.

For the purpose of analysis, the five statements (Table.3.53) were

related to the various age groups to show the difference in their attitude

towards the role of brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

The following information regarding the attitude of various age groups of the

respondents was used for testing the null hypothesis (Table.3.54).

TABLE. 3.54

Age-wise comparison of the attitude of respondents towards the role of brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Age 18-30 31-40 41-50 51 and above

N 325 424 345 195

Mean 15.4585 14.6014 14.4058 14.7641

Std. Deviation 2.1087 2.1980 1.9449 1.8848

202

The forgoing analysis reveals that there was a significant variation

between the mean ratings by the consumers of different age groups

regarding the role of brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of

Kerala. The comparative analysis reveals that the mean ratings were the

highest (15.4585) among 18-30 groups and lowest (14.4058) among 41-50

groups. This reveals that the brand ambassador had the highest influence

on the 18-30 categories. When these statistics were examined with the help

of ANOVA test, the null hypothesis formulated was:-


consumers of various age groups regarding the role of brand

ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

Taking the null hypothesis, it has been found that the means of the

four types of age groups do not differ.


As Ha is two-sided, we shall determine the rejection region applying

2-tailed test at 5% level of significance and we can work out the test

statistic ANOVA test for showing the difference in the mean score between

the four age groups regarding the role of the brand ambassador in the gold

ornament market of Kerala and the results are summarized in the

Table.3.55.

203

TABLE. 3.55

Summary of One way ANOVA Test Statistics - based on the role of brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala * Age-wise

Sum of Squares

df Mean Square

F Sig.

Between age groups

Within age groups

Total

211.359

5474.666

5686.025

3

1285

1288

70.453

4.260

16.537

.000

Source: SPSS Output

The output table shows that the 2-tailed significance of the test is

.000, from the last row titled “asymmetric significance”. This is the ‘p’

value, and it is less than the level of .05 we had set. Therefore, we had to

reject the null hypothesis at a significance level of 5%, and conclude that

the difference between the mean score of the various age groups with

respect to the role of brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of

Kerala is significant. With the available data, the hypothesis could be tested

further for Scheffe Multiple Comparisons –of- means. The result of this

test was presented in Table.3.56.

204

TABLE. 3.56

Scheffe Multiple Comparisons –of- means –Age-wise comparison of the attitude of respondents towards the role of brand ambassador in

the gold ornament market of Kerala

(I) AGE (J) AGE Mean Difference

(I-J) Std. Error Sig.

18-30

31-40

41-50

51 & above

.8570*

1.0527*

.6944*

.1522

.1596

.1870

.000

.000

.003

S

S

S

31-40

18-30

41-50

51 & above

-.8570*

.1956

-.1627

.1522

.1497

.1786

.000

.635

.842

S

NS

NS

41-50

18-30

31-40

51 & above

-1.0527*

-.1956

-.3583

.1596

.1497

.1849

.000

.635

.290

S

NS

NS

51 & above

18-30

31-40

41-50

-.6944*

.1627

.3583

.1870

.1786

.1849

.003

.842

.290

S

NS

NS

Source: SPSS Output

* The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.

The forgoing analysis shows a significant difference in the attitude

of the respondents who belong to the age group of 18-30 from the other

three groups. This table also reveals that the age group of 18-30 had more

favourable attitude towards the role of brand ambassadors in the gold

ornament market of Kerala as compared with that of other three groups.

Further, it is seen that the respondents namely, 31-40, 41-50 and 51&

205

above had no significant difference in their attitude towards the role of

brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.7.2.2.1 (b) Gender-wise comparison of the attitude of respondents towards the role of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Nowadays women have a decisive voice in almost all the purchases

that are made. They have improved their status from a household performer

to a decision maker. Shopping is slowly but steadily emerging as the sole

preserve of women. Feminism has been greatly influencing the Keralite

female of late. In the present market scene of the gold ornament market,

gender-wise segmentation is crucial because women have traditionally

been the main users of gold ornaments. Here in this study the gender-wise

distribution of the respondents in Kerala was categorized in two. Out of the

1289 respondents those who aware of brand ambassadors, 308 were males

and 981 were females.

In this section, an analysis was carried out regarding the attitude of

the male and female respondents towards the various roles of the brand

ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala. With this end in view,

five statements relating to this aspect (3.53) were followed. The

information regarding the attitude of respondents was related to their

gender in order to test the null hypothesis.

In order to ascertain whether the attitude of males and females was

different, relevant statistical test was used. The opinion of the respondents

206

on the above statement was measured and tested. Respondents’ gender and

their attitude towards the various roles of brand ambassadors in the gold

ornament market of Kerala were tabulated to test the null hypothesis.

Table.3.57 shows the attitude of the male and female respondents on the

above statements with respect to the role of brand ambassador in the gold


TABLE. 3.57

Gender-wise comparison of respondents’ attitude towards the role of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Gender Male Female

N 308 981

Mean Rank 607.45 656.79


Table (3.57) shows the mean ranks of the respondents based on the

ratings related to their attitude towards the role of brand ambassador in the

gold ornament market of Kerala. The table reveals that there are substantial

deviations in the mean ranks given between the male and female

consumers in the role of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament market

of Kerala. As revealed by the Table, the female respondents had a high

mean rank (656.79) as compared with that of the male of 607.45. This table

also reveals that the female respondents were highly influenced by the

various roles of the brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of

207

Kerala. When these statistics were tested with the help of Man-Whitney U

test, the null hypothesis formulated was:-

H0 :- There is no significant difference between the ratings by the

male and female consumers regarding the role of the brand

ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

Here Man-Whitney U test shows the variation between the male

and female groups of consumers regarding the role of brand ambassadors

in their purchasing behaviour in Kerala. Taking the null hypothesis, it has

been found that the mean ranks of the two types of sample group do not

differ.

We can write:- H0: D1=D2.

Here N=1289 and the significance level is 5%.

As Ha is two-sided, we shall determine the rejection region applying

2-tailed test at 5% level of significance and we can work out the test

statistics Mann-Whitney (U) for testing the difference in the ratings

between the male and female consumers on the role of the brand

ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala as presented in

table.3.58.

208

TABLE. 3.58

Summary of Mann- Whitney Rank Sum (U) Test Statistics - based on the attitude of the respondents towards the role of brand ambassador

in the gold ornament market of Kerala * Gender-wise

Values

Mann- Whitney U

Wilcoxon W

Z

Asymmetric Significance (2-tailed)

139508.500

187094.500

-2.046

.041

Source: SPSS Output

From the output table of Man-Whitney Rank Sum (U) Test,

asymmetric significance of U-test is found to be .041, which is less than

the cut off value of .05. This indicates that at a confidence level of 95%,

the U-test proves that the ratings given by the male and female consumers

are significant. So the null hypothesis is rejected.

Hence, it is concluded that in this case, a significant difference

exists between the mean ranking given to the male and female consumers

related to the influence of the various role of brand ambassador in the gold


3.7.2.2.1(c) Educational qualification-wise comparison of the attitude of respondents towards the role of brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Educational back ground of the people is a prime factor influencing the

overall development of an area. Education not only provides status, it

influences an individual’s taste and information processing style as well. The

209

educational back ground wise distribution of the respondents in Kerala was

categorized into four. Out of the 1289 respondents, those who aware of brand

ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala, 252 had studied up to

matriculation, 587 had Secondary education to Graduation, 253 were PG &

above and 197 were Professional/ Technical degree holders.

In this section, an analysis was carried out on the attitude of

respondents having different educational qualifications towards the role of

the brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala. For this

purpose, five statements (Table 4.53) relating to this aspect was followed

and the information regarding the attitude of respondents was related to

their educational qualification of the respondents in order to test the null

hypothesis. The educational qualifications of the respondents and their

attitude towards the role of brand ambassador in the gold ornament market

of Kerala were tabulated to test the hypothesis. Table.3.59 shows the

attitude of the respondents of different educational qualification towards

the role of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

210

TABLE. 3.59

Educational qualification-wise comparison of the attitude of respondents towards the role of brand ambassadors in the gold

ornament market of Kerala

Educational Qualification

Up to Matriculation

Secondary to graduation

P G and above

Professional/ Technical

N 252 587 253 197

Mean Rank 566.46 669.49 693.48 610.21

The comparative analysis reveals that there is a striking dissimilarity

in the mean ranks between the consumers of different educational

qualifications on the role of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. This table also reveals that the mean ranks were the

lowest (566.46) for people with the educational qualification up to

Matriculation and this category had less influence on the role of brand

ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala. Another interesting

fact is that the respondents with the educational qualification of PG &

above category had the highest mean rank (693.48) and this category was

highly influenced by the role of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. When these statistics were tested with the help of

Kruskal Wallis test, the null hypothesis formulated was:-

211


consumers with various educational qualifications on the role of

brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

Taking the null hypothesis, it has been found that the means of the

four types of educational qualifications do not differ.


As Ha is two-sided, we shall determine rejection region applying 2-

tailed test at 5% level of significance and we can work out the test statistic

Kruskal-Wallis test (H) for showing the difference in the mean ranks

between the four educational qualifications regarding the role of the brand

ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala and the results are

summarized in the table 3.60.

TABLE. 3.60

Summary of Kruskal-Wallis Test Statistics - based on the role of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala *

Educational Qualification-wise

Values

Chi-Square

df


20.219

3

.000

Source: SPSS Output

The output table shows that the significance of the Kruskal-Wallis

test is .000, from the last row titled “asymmetric significance”. This is the

212

‘p’ value, and it is less than the level of .05, we had set. Therefore, we have

to reject the null hypothesis at a significance level of 5%.

Thus we conclude that the difference between the ratings of the

consumers of various educational qualifications with respect to the role of

brand ambassadors in gold ornament market of Kerala is significant.

3.7.2.2.1 (d) Region-wise comparison of the attitude of respondents towards the influence of the various roles of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala

As the market get more and more fragmented and clustered,

marketers find that it is profitable to target their products at the carefully

chosen fragment depending upon their size and characteristics. In the gold

ornament market of Kerala, rural consumers as a segment have several

distinctive characteristics. The values, aspirations, culture and needs of the

vast heterogeneous rural consumers are quite different from their urban

counterparts. The region-wise distribution of the respondents in Kerala was

categorized into three: urban, semi urban and rural. Out of the 1289

respondents, those who were aware of brand ambassadors in the gold

ornament market of Kerala, 131 were urban, 414 are semi urban and 744

were rural respondents.

In this section, an analysis was carried out as to the attitude of the

urban, semi-urban and rural respondents towards the various roles of the

brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala. For this purpose,

five statements relating to this aspect (Table 3.53) was followed. These

213

statements were based on the influence of various roles brand ambassadors

played in the gold ornament market of Kerala. The information regarding

the attitude of respondents was related to their region in order to test the

null hypothesis.

Here we are trying to establish whether there is a significant

difference in the attitude of the respondents of various regions towards the

influence of the various roles of brand ambassadors on the gold ornament

market of Kerala. The following information regarding the attitude of the

respondent was related to their region in order to test the null hypothesis.

Table 3.61 shows the attitude of the respondents of various regions towards

the influence of the various roles of brand ambassadors in the gold


TABLE. 3.61

Region wise comparison of the attitude of respondents towards the role of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Region Urban Semi-urban Rural

N 131 414 744

Mean Rank 287.50 594.84 735.86


The comparative analysis shows that the mean ranks were the highest

for the respondents belonging to rural area and the lowest (287.50) for the

respondents belong to the urban area. Hence there is a significant variation

in the mean rank between the urban consumers and the rural and semi urban

214

consumers in the influence of the various roles of the brand ambassador in

the gold ornament market of Kerala. This shows that rural consumers had a

more favourable attitude towards the influence of the brand ambassador in

the gold ornament market of Kerala. Another interesting fact is that the

brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala had less influence

on the urban respondents. When these statistics were tested with the help of

Kruskal Wallis test, the null hypothesis formulated was:-


consumers of various regions in the role of brand ambassador in

the gold ornament market of Kerala.

Here taking the null hypothesis, it has been found that the mean

scores of the three regions do not differ.

We can write:- H0: D1=D2=D3

As H0 is 2 sided, we shall determine rejection region applying 2-

tailed test at 5% level of significance. Here Kruskal-Wallis test is used for

showing the difference in the mean ranks between the three regions

regarding the influence of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament

market of Kerala. The results of Kruskal- Wallis test for the respondents of

various regions with respect to the influence of the various role of brand

ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala are summarized in table

3.62.

215

TABLE. 3.62

Summary of Kruskal-Wallis Test Statistics - based on the influence of the brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala *

Region-wise.

Source: SPSS Output

From the output table of Kruskal Wallis (H) Test, Asymmetric

Significance of H-test is found to be .000, which is less than the cut off

value of .05. This indicates that at a confidence level of 95%, the H-test

proves the ratings given by the rural, semi-urban and urban consumers

related to the influence of brand ambassadors in the gold ornament market

of Kerala are significant. So the null hypothesis is rejected. Thus it is

concluded that in this case a significant difference exists among the mean

ranks of the rural, semi-urban and urban groups related to the role of brand

ambassadors in the gold ornament market of Kerala. Hence the attitude of

the urban respondents is significantly different from that of the rural and

semi urban respondents with respect to the role of brand ambassadors in

the gold ornament market of Kerala.

Values

Chi-Square

df


176.132

2

.000

216

3.7.2.3 Celebrating auspicious days

Gold is the most precious ‘religious metal’ used in Keralite’s places

of worship. The three major religions in Kerala are Hinduism, Islam

(Muslim) and Christianity. The followers of each of these religions

celebrate different festivals and some of these festivals are considered

auspicious. Buying gold jewellery is considered auspicious during some of

these festivals and consumers spend a lot of money on gold ornament

purchase on these days. As a result gold business is booming by the day.

Several jewellery shop owners are announcing discounts to boost their

sales on these occassions. Jewellery shops are providing special gifts, price

reductions, advance booking facility and other easy buy schemes during

these auspicious days. Here some peoples consider it to be a fortunate thing

to be able to buy even a gram of jewellery on the auspicious days.

In Kerala, auspicious days like Akshaya tridiya, Diwali, Chingam first

and Muharam play an important role in the life of people. Hence a deep

understanding of the respondents’ religion and their sentiments related to

these festivals are very vital for a marketer. While analyzing the interest level

of respondents related to celebrating auspicious days, the researcher had taken

into account three religious groups namely, the Hindu, the Muslim and the

Christian for study. The result indicates that out of 488 Hindu’s, 403 (83.61per

cent) of the respondent’s families were celebrating auspicious days, while 85

(17.41per cent) of them were not at all celebrating any auspicious days. This

217

table also reveals that in the case of the 469 respondents belonging to the

Muslim community, 345 (73.56 per cent) of them were not at all celebrating

any auspicious days. But 124 (26.44 per cent) of them were celebrating

auspicious days. Out of 355 respondents belonging to the Christian

community, 186 (52.39 per cent) of them were celebrating auspicious days

and 47.61per cent were not at all celebrating auspicious days. The interest

level of the various religious groups of respondents related to the purchase of

gold ornaments on auspicious days was not equal. Here the researcher made

an effort to know the Hindu, Muslim and Christian respondents’ opinion

related to their interest in the purchase of gold ornaments during auspicious

days. It is evident that out of 403 Hindus, 280 (69.68 per cent) of the

respondents’ families were interested in purchasing gold ornaments on

auspicious days, while 123 (30.52 per cent) of them were not at all interested

in purchasing gold ornaments on auspicious days. This table also shows that

in the case of the 124 respondents belonging to the Muslim community, 110

(88.71 per cent) were interested in purchasing gold ornaments on auspicious

days. But 14 (11.19 per cent) of them were not at all interested in purchasing

gold ornaments on auspicious days. Out of 186 respondents belonging to

Christian community, all of them were interested in purchasing gold

ornaments on auspicious days. An effort was also made to ascertain as to

whether there were any differences in the opinion of the respondents

regarding the influence of various reasons in the gold ornaments purchase

218

during auspicious days. For this purpose four statements relating to these

aspects were followed. Here respondents were asked to give their degrees of

agreement on a 4 point scale ranging from “highly” to “not at all” for each

statement (reasons). The result of this table reveals that the main reason which

influenced the respondent to purchase gold ornaments during auspicious days

that it was ‘as a fortune thing’. The second important reason was the attraction

of getting special gifts, the third one price discount and the last one the

influence of advance booking facility.

The demand for gold is very high during ‘Akshaya Tritiya’. Here an

attempt was also made to ascertain whether the Akshaya tridiya day had any

impact on the gold ornament purchase of various religious groups. While

analyzing the view points of respondent’s opinion related to their purchase of

gold ornaments on Akshayya Tridhiya days, the researcher took into account

three religious groups namely; the Hindu, the Muslim and the Christian for the

study. The result of the analysis shows that in the case of Hindus who

purchased gold ornaments on auspicious days, 90.00 per cent of them

purchased gold ornaments on Akshayya Tridhiya day. 71.82 per cent of the

respondents belonging to the Muslim community said that Akshayya Tridhiya

day had no significance for them in their gold ornaments purchase. Out of 186

respondents belonging to the Christian community who purchased gold

ornaments on auspicious days, all of them said that Akshayya Tridhiya day

had an importance in their gold ornaments purchase.

219

3.7.2.4 Offers provided by the jewellery retailer

In Kerala, jewellery merchants are providing various offers for

promoting the volume of their sales. An attempt was made to discern the

respondents’ opinions regarding the influence of various offers of the

jewellery merchants on their gold ornaments purchase. This section deals

with the respondents’ awareness of various offers and also gives their

opinion related to the most attractive offer provided by the jewellery

retailer. The result of the analysis of the opinion of respondents related to

their awareness of the offers provided by the jeweller to their consumers

shows that 18.83 per cent of the respondents were fully aware of the offers

provided by the jeweller. 74.39 per cent of them were partially aware and

6.78 per cent of them were not at all aware of the offers provided by

jewellers. While analyzing the respondents’ agreement related to the

different types of offers provided by the jewellery retailer to their

consumers, the researcher took into the consideration of attributes such as

price discount, 100% buy back guarantee, reasonable manufacturing cost

and special gift items for the study. The result indicates that respondents

had the highest agreement related to the 100% buy back guarantee. The

second important type of the offer provided by the jeweller was price

discount, third important one was special gift items and the last one was the

moderate manufacturing cost of the jeweller.

220

3.7.2.5 Appointing canvassing agents

The researcher made an attempt to study the influence of canvassing

agents in the gold ornament market on the gold ornament purchase of the

consumer. We know that a canvassing agent is the connecting link between a

jewellery shop and consumers. The purpose of appointing a canvassing agent

is to bring the right product into contact with the right consumer. Canvassing

agents create product awareness, stimulate interest, develop brand

preferences, and negotiate prices. The present section of this chapter deals

with the information related to the awareness of the respondents regarding the

appointment of canvassing agents and their influence on the purchase of gold

ornaments in Kerala. The opinion of respondents as to their awareness about

the canvassing agents appointed by the jeweller elicited the following results.

Out of respondents 1312 respondents, 738 (56.25 per cent) of respondents

were aware of the canvassing agents appointed by the jewellery retailer in the

gold ornament market of Kerala and 574 (43.75 per cent) were not aware of

the same. Out of the 738 respondents, 451 (61.11 per cent) of them said that

the agent of the jewellery retailer approached them for canvassing their gold

ornaments purchase. Here an attempt was made to discern the respondents’

opinion regarding the purchase of gold ornaments due to the influence of

canvassing agents in the gold ornament market of Kerala. The result shows

that out of 451 respondents, 262 (58.00 per cent) purchased gold ornaments

due to the influence of the canvassing agents.

221

Thus, the forgoing analysis shows that promotional strategies like

advertisements and offers had a positive influence on the attitude of

consumers in the gold ornament market of Kerala. An interesting fact is

that there is a significant relationship between the region of consumers and

the influence of some promotional strategies such as advertisements,

appointing brand ambassadors, celebrating auspicious days and offers. But

the study reveals that there is no significant relationship between of the

region of consumers and the influence of canvassing agents on the gold

ornament market of Kerala. The forgoing analysis also shows that most of

the respondents were interested in watching gold advertisements on TV

and they had an interest related to the appointment of celebrities in the

Television advertisements of gold ornaments. However, the analysis

reveals that film stars are the favourite personalities who can do the role of

a brand ambassador in the gold ornament market of Kerala. Moreover, the

analysis reveals that respondents of different demographic characteristics

had different attitude towards the role of brand ambassadors in the gold

ornament market of Kerala. The foregoing analysis also indicates that a

majority of the Hindus and Christian families were celebrating auspicious

days, but a majority of Muslims were not interested in the same. However,

the analysis revealed that a majority of people considered purchasing gold

ornaments during auspicious days as a fortunate thing. An interesting fact

is that a majority of respondents were influenced by the offer and the

222

canvassing agent of jewellery retailers in their purchase of gold ornaments.

The researcher now examines the influence of people related to the

marketing strategies on consumers with respect to the purchase of gold

ornaments in Kerala.

3.8 THE IMPACT OF PEOPLE (CONSUMER)-ORIENTED MARKETING STRATEGIES ON THE PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS

A consumer-oriented approach rather than product-oriented

approach is a sine qua non for modern successful marketing. Every aspect

of marketing must focus on the consumer (people). We know that the

modern market is a consumer-oriented one and therefore, it is the

responsibility of the jewellery retailer to be aware of what is required by

the buyers. The consumer is the final judge and jury of marketing in the

gold ornament business. The ultimate objective of marketing is to

produce products and services that not only satisfy the needs of customers

but also delights them, so that they will be in a buying mode in future.

The recipe for customer retention is customer satisfaction.

A long term relationship with satisfied loyal customers is needed

for the survival of the gold ornament business. Consumer satisfaction and

loyalty are interrelated. So the jewellery retailer has to implement a

strategy for building and maintaining long term relationship with

consumers. In these circumstances the survival and growth of a jewellery

shop essentially depends on a marketing strategy which results in

223

broadening existing ones. Here the marketing strategy related to the

people (consumer) is “developing and maintaining successful relationship

with people”. Nowadays famous jewellers are using “relationship

marketing and social responsibility programmes as powerful marketing

strategies for developing and maintaining good relationships”.

In this section, the researcher has made an attempt to find out the

influence of people-oriented marketing strategies like relationship

marketing strategies and social responsibility programmes of jewellery

retailers in the gold ornament purchase of people in Kerala. A detailed

analysis of these two strategies are given below:

3.8.1 Social responsibility programme of the jewellery retailer

Some of the jewellery retailer in Kerala aim at generating consumer

satisfaction and public welfare as the key to satisfying jewellery shop goals

and responsibilities. Here in this section an attempt was made to find out

the respondents’ awareness level related to social responsibility

programmes of jewellery retailers in Kerala. The result reveals that out

1312 respondents, 504 (38.1percent) of them were aware of social

responsibility programmes of jewellery retailers in Kerala. By analyzing

the view points of 504 respondents related to the influence of the social

responsibility programmes of jewellery retailers in their gold ornament

purchase, 71(14.1percentages) of them were found to evince a positive

reaction. Among a number of important social responsibility programs of

224

jewellery retailers in Kerala, the researcher took into account the ‘Beauty

meets quality’ campaign, Samoohavivaham and facilitating the aged

couples for the study. An enquiry was also made to find out the most

suitable social responsibility programme of the jewellery retailer in the

gold ornament market of Kerala. The result revealed that the ‘Beauty meets

quality’ campaign was the most suitable social responsibility programme

followed by the jeweller in the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.8.2 Relationship Marketing Strategies in the gold ornament market of Kerala

Relationship marketing strategy is one of the hottest trends in

marketing gold ornaments today. Long term relationship with satisfied

consumers is needed for the survival of a jewellery shop. Relationship

marketing strategy enables jewellery shops to provide excellent real-time

customer service by developing relationship with each valued customer

through the effective use of individual account information. Based on what

they know about each customer, the jewellery shop customizes market

offerings, services, programs, messages and media. The current business

scenario focuses on consumers. Jewellers are also striving to delight the

consumer. The acquisition of higher value consumers is achieved through

better targeting, more appropriate offers, or a stronger customer focus. In

Kerala, some of the famous jewellery retailers are using their own

relationship marketing strategies to capture the new customers and at the

225

same time retaining the existing one. This analysis part of the study

focused on finding out the need of relationship marketing strategy with

satisfied loyal consumers for the survival of the gold ornaments business.

3.8.2.1 Respondents awareness level of the relationship marketing strategy of jewellers

The researcher made an attempt to assess the opinion of respondents

concerning their awareness level about the relationship marketing strategy

of jewellers in the gold ornament market of Kerala (Table.3.63).

TABLE. 3.63

Respondent’s awareness level of the relationship marketing strategy of jewellers


Aware 1275 97.2

Not aware 37 2.8

Total 1312 100


On analyzing the view points of 1312 respondents, it was found that

1275 (97.2 per cent) of the respondents were aware of the relationship

marketing strategy of jewellers. 37 (2.8 per cent) of them were not aware of

the relationship marketing strategy of the jeweller.

3.8.2.1.1 Influence of the relationship marketing strategy of the jewellery retailer on consumers gold ornament purchase

The researcher made a further enquiry to find out the opinion of the

respondents related to the influence of the relationship marketing strategy

226

of the jewellery retailer on their gold ornaments purchase in Kerala

(Table.3.64).

TABLE.3.64

Influence of the relationship marketing strategy of the jewellery retailer on consumers gold ornament purchase


Whiling seeking the view points of 1275 respondents, 1133 (88.9

percent) respondents selected for the study opined that relationship

marketing strategy of the jewellery retailer influenced their gold ornaments

purchase, whereas 142 (1.11percent) opined that price-related marketing

strategy had not influenced their gold ornaments purchase.

Based on these results, the researcher investigated the relationship

between consumers’ demographic characteristics (such as gender and age)

and the influence of relationship marketing strategies on the gold ornament

market of Kerala. The null hypothesis formulated and the details of related

tests used are given below:-


Positively 1133 88.9

Negatively 142 11.1

Total 1275 100

227

H0:- There is no significant relationship between consumers of

various demographic characteristics (such as gender and age)

and the influence of relationship marketing strategies on the

gold ornament market of Kerala.

For the purpose of conducting the analysis this section is divided

into two parts. While the first part deals with the gender and the influence

of relationship marketing strategies in the gold ornament market of Kerala,

the second one pertains to the age and the influence of relationship

marketing strategies on the gold ornament market of Kerala.

3.8.2.1.1(a) Respondents’ gender and the influence of relationship marketing strategies of the jewellery retailer on their gold ornament purchase

In the present study, the gender-wise distribution of respondents in

Kerala was categorized into two. Out of the 1275 respondents who were

influenced by the relationship marketing strategy of the jewellery retailer

on consumers gold ornament purchase in Kerala, 308 were males and 967

were females. In this section, an analysis of the opinion of the male and

female respondents related to their awareness of the relationship marketing

strategy of the jewellery retailer in Kerala (Table 3.65) is carried out.

228

TABLE.3.65

Gender-wise comparison of the opinion of respondents related to the influence of relationship marketing strategies of the jewellery retailer

Gender Influenced Not influenced Total

Male No.

% within gender group

210

68.2

98

31.8

308

Female No.

% within gender group

923

95.4

44

4.6

967

Total 1133 142 1275


While seeking the view points of both male and female respondents

selected for the study, 68.2 percent of males and 95.4 per cent of females

said that relationship marketing strategies of the jewellery retailer

influenced their gold ornament purchase. But this table also reveals some

variations in the percentages of the opinion of these two groups of

respondents. The comparative analysis reveals that the female group had

the highest percentage of respondents who were influenced by the

relationship marketing strategies of the jewellery retailers in Kerala. This

reveals that the relationship marketing strategy of the jewellery retailer in

Kerala exerted a higher influence on female respondents as compared to

males. The respondents’ gender and their opinion regarding the influence

of relationship marketing strategies in the gold ornament market of Kerala

were tabulated to test the hypothesis. When these statistics were tested with

the help of Chi- square test, the null hypothesis formulated is:-

229

H0: There is no significant relationship between male and female

consumers’ and their influence related with the relationship

marketing strategy of the jewellery retailer in Kerala


consumers’ gender and the influence of the relationship marketing strategies

of the jewellery retailers in Kerala had on them. The result is presented in the

table.3.66.

TABLE. 3.66

Summary of Chi-square test statistics - showing the relationship between respondents’ gender and their selection of a particular jewellery retailer

for gold ornament purchase in Kerala

Source: SPSS Output

As shown in the table, the relationship between the two gender groups

is statistically insignificant in respect of the influence of ‘relationship

marketing strategies’ on the gold ornament market in Kerala. The output table

shows that the Asymmetric Significant value is .000 (Pearson chi-square).

This is the p value and it is less than the level of .05 we had set. It is concluded

from the result of the above table that there is a significant relationship

between the gender of consumers and the influence of the relationship

marketing strategy of the jeweller on the gold ornament market of Kerala.


Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

N of valid cases

175.500

147.717

1275

1

1

---

.000

.000

---

230

3.8.2.1.1 (b) Age of the respondent and the influence of the relationship marketing strategy of the jewellery retailer

In the present study, the age-wise distribution of respondents in Kerala

was categorized into four. Out of the 1275 respondents who were aware of

the relationship marketing strategy of the jewellery retailer, 322 were of the

18-30 age group, 415 were of the 31-40 age group, 337 were of the 41-50 age

group and 201 were of the 51 or above age group. In this section, an analysis

was carried out regarding the opinion of the respondents belonging to these

four age group related to the influence of relationship marketing strategies of

the jewellery retailer in Kerala (Table.3.67).

TABLE.3.67

Age-wise comparison of the opinion of respondents’ related to the influence of relationship marketing strategies of the jewellery retailer

in their gold ornament purchase from a particular jeweller

Income Influenced Not influenced Total

18- 30 N

% within age group

268

83.2

54

16.8

322

31-40 N

% within age group

380

91.6

35

8.4

415

41-50 N

% within age group

305

90.5

32

9.5

337

51 and above N

% within age group

180

89.6

21

10.4

201

Total 1133 142 1275


The foregoing discussion reveals that in the case of the entire four

age group of the respondent selected for the study, a majority of them said

231

that relationship marketing strategies of the jewellery retailer influenced

their gold ornament purchase. But this table also shows a small discrepancy

in the opinion of the entire four groups of respondents. The comparative

analysis demonstrates that 41-50 age group had the highest percent of

respondents who were influenced by the relationship marketing strategies

launched by the jewellery retailer in Kerala. This reveals that relationship

marketing strategies launched by the jewellery retailer have a defining

influence on the people belonging to the 41-50 age groups. The age of the

respondents and their opinion regarding the influence of the relationship

marketing strategies of the jewellery retailer were tabulated to test the

hypothesis. When these statistics were tested with the help of Chi- square

test, the null hypothesis formulated is:-

H0: There is no significant relationship between consumer’s age and

the influence of the relationship marketing strategy of the

jewellery retailer in Kerala


age of the consumers and the influence the relationship marketing

strategies of the jewellery retailer in Kerala had on them. The result is


232

TABLE. 3.68

Summary of Chi-square test statistics - showing the relationship between the age of the respondent and the influence of the relationship

marketing strategies of the jewellery retailers in Kerala

Source: SPSS Output

From the output table of chi –square test, the significance of this test

is found to be .002 (Pearson). This indicates that at a confidence level of

95%, the chi-square test proves that the hypothesis is significant. Hence,

there is a crucial relationship between the opinion of the consumers of

various age groups and the influence of the relationship marketing strategy

of the jewellery retailer in Kerala has on them. Thus, we conclude that a

significant relationship between the age group of the respondents and the

influence the relationship marketing strategies of the jewellery retailer in

Kerala exert on them.

In the light of what has been discussed so far, it is evident that

social responsibility programmes of the jewellery retailer has a very low

influence on the respondents gold ornament purchase in Kerala. The study

also reveals that a majority of respondents were aware of the relationship

marketing strategies of jewellers and that a majority of them were

influenced by this. Furthermore, the study shows that there is a significant


Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

N of valid cases

14.403

13.476

1275

3

3

---

.002

.004

---

233

relationship between the demographic characteristics (gender and age) of

consumers and the influence of the relationship marketing strategy of the

jeweller on the gold ornament market of Kerala. The study also reveals that

the respondents belonging to age group of 41-50 were highly influenced by

the relationship marketing strategies of the jewellery retailer in Kerala.

An attempt has been made to give the analysis of data collected and

its results in this chapter. The results reveal that in the gold ornament

market of Kerala jewellery retailers were using different ways to reconnect

strategy with operations. The next chapter gives the findings of the analysis

and also inferences based on the findings.

1 a study on the impact of marketing strategies...

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