In tile preceding chapter thearet~cal issues

relatlng buyer bellavloilr have been discussed This grves ue

a dsriul f ra~ l~ewbik w l t h ~ n which certain aspects of buyer

behavlour can be studled for they furnleh guidel~nea to

understand the bsl3avrour of a buyer r n different contexts

There 1s no drlrth of lxterature on the ropzc "Buyer

Behavlour" ae Ir 1s a multi-dlsclpllnary eublect whrch hae

attracted the attrntlan of aeveral ecademlclans I n Indra and

abroad In thls chapter an attempt 1s made to present a

select review of earlier studlea and methodology of the

present study

Studies Plbr ad GuestP used preference statements overrlme as the

crlterla I" hls studlee of brand loyalty In 1941 he

obtalned data on brand awareness and preferences from 813

publlc school students Fallow-up studles were conducted

twelve and twenty years later, and responses were obta~ned

from apprax~mat~ly 160 respondents from the arlgrnal group

lilthough the percentage of respondents whose present and past

preferences varied wldely across products, he found

suggestive ev~dence of a high degree of loyalty towards brand

names ~ h l s was especially true when factors such as non-

avallablllty, prlce cons~deraelanw, and respondent not being

the buyer, dld not play a malor part In brand selectLon ............................................................. 1 Lester Guest, "A study aL Brand Loyalty" Journal of

~pplisd ~ayohology, Vol 28 1944 pp 16-27 "Brand Loyalty - Tweleve years later", Journal of Amlied p~yohology, Yo1 39, 1955, pp 405-408 ''Brand Loyalty ~evlewed A Twenty years Report", Journ-1 of Applied P~ychology, Vo1 48. 1964, pp 93-97

The tlrst malor study af brand-loyalty was

published by arowl12 I n 1952 and 1953 In a ser les of artlclee

In "Advertlslng Age" The resulta were based on purchase

records of 100 households from the Chicago Trlbune He

viewed brand-loyalty as a dellberate consumer declslon to

concentrate purchases on a slngle brand due to some real or

imaginary superlorlty of that brand Brown observed that the

percenLage of houerholds drnlonstrct~ng same degree of loyalty

v a n e d from 54 to 95 Per cent, depending on the product

involved Infact, the percemage of households that wsre

undlvldedly loyal, varied from 12 per cent to 73 per cent

across products

Rass cunnlngham3 In hls two studlea on brand loyalty

(1956 and 19661 gave two concepts of brand loyalty Ae the

fxrst concept, a high praport~onal allocat~on of purchases to

one partlculae brand waa taken as an xndicatran of loyalty

and he studied brand - loyalty I n terms of proporelon of the

total purchaees mast often In h l s second conacpt, retalnrng

the same deflnzt~on of brand loyalty, he used store-loyalty

as a measure of brand - loyalty

2 George Brown, "Brand Loyalty Fact or Fiction?" hdvartieing ~ g e june 9 1952, pp 53-55, June 3, 1952, pp 45-47,, July 14. 1952, pp 54-56, July 28, 1952, pp 46-48, Aug 11, 1952 pp 56-58, 6ep 1, 1952, pp 80-82, O c t 6, 1952, pp 82- 86, Dec 1, 1952, pp 76-78, Jan 26, 1953, pp 75-76

3 Rass M Cunningham, "Brand Loyalty what, where, Hawmuch?" Harvard Business Review, Vol 34, Jan - Feb 1956, pp 116- 128, "Customer Loyslty to store and Brand' Harvlrd Bueiness Review VO1 39. NO"-Dec 1966, pp 127-137

~ r v y ~ studled the relatlonshlp of product Image and

self-lrnage A~ru~d~lig to h l n ~ "modern goods are recogn~eed as

essentially pbyrt~olog~cal thlngs whlch are symbolic of

personal attrlbutrs and goals Maklng a purchase involves an

assessment - rrnpl~rlt or expllclt - of thls symbollam to

declde whether or not lt flts, that is, whether lt joins

wlth, meshes wlth, adds to or relnforcea the way the consumer

thlnke about hlrnsrlf ''

~ e s s e m ~ e r ~ In hze study on buylng decisions used an

approach based on the prlce Increase In the most preferred

brand relatlvr to the price of the other brand8 necessary to

lnclude brand sw~tching

varying degrees of strength the hypothewla that

( 1 1 an a u t o r n a b ~ l e owner's perception of hle car IS essentially congruent wlth hrs perceptron of hlmaelf and

(11) the average perceptLon of a sgccllrc car type and brand l a different for a w l ~ i r ' s of different worts of cars.

4 Levy, Sldnay, J "Symbols for Sale" Xarvard Buainesa Review, July - August, 1959

5 Edger A Pessemler, "A New way to DsLenlne Buylng Decrslons", Journal of Marketing, Val 24, 0ct 1959, pp 41-46

6 Blrd - Well, A1 E, "Influenos of Image Congruence on Consumer Choxce", Proccedinga, winter Confcrcnoe, Amariaan Marketing A@soeie.tion, 1964

Gzuhb and 0rathwoh17 found that consumerla d~ffecent

self-perceptions a r e assaclaced wrth varying patterns of

consumer beiiavlaur They clalmed that self-concept is a

meaningful mode of market segmentation

Howard and shetha employed factor analytlc approach of

brand loyalty based on both the frequency of purchase of a

brand and the pattern of these purchases

Hdmm and condlffg related product perceptlo" to the

dlscrrpancy between the eelf and the rdeal self It was

found that certaln producta such as house, dress, automatic

dishwasher, and art prints tend to represent an ~daal-self.

wlfe or mother, while othera such as ClgaretLce, T V ,

dlnnera, or a mop do not

Jacobson and ~osoff'O I" their study of self-perception

and attitudes towards small cars came to the concluslan that

~ndividuals who perce~ved themselves as "Cantlous

Conservatives' were more lxkely to favour small care es

1 Grubb Edward I,, and Harrieon L Grathwohl "Consumer Self Concept, Symbol~sm and Market Behavlour", Journal o f Marketing, October 1967

8 John A Howard and Bahaviour, Wlley,

Jagdleh N Sheth, Newyork, 1969, p

9 Hamm, Curtla 8, and Edward W Cundlff, "self - Actuallsatlon and product Peroeptlon", Journal of Marketing Researah, NOv , 1969

10 Jacobson, Eugene and Jerane Kossoff, "Self-Percept and consumer ~ttitudes Towards Small Cars". Journal of Applied Psychology, August 1973

practical and erormmlc convenience whereas another self-

c:dsslfled grorty of 'Canfldent Explorers' preferred large

cars which they bdw as a means of enpresslng thelr abll~ty to

ccntrol the environment

P~ckering and 1aherwoodl1 conducted a survey on

purchase probabilltles and conaulner durable buying

brhavlour For the purpose of the study they selected 18

durable goads whlch lncluded new and used cars. T V.8,

Furniture, Coaners, refrrgerators, etc The data were

collected from e sample 386 heads of houeehalda selected on

randomwalk bas13 l o 50 lvial authority areas in Brlton The

interviews were rorjducted by tralned Inter-ulevera and were

carrled out ~n two batches In February and May 1971 The

questions about the prababllrty of buylng a speclfled Item

were asked far each of the e~ghteen durable goods for each

of the three time periods - 3,6 and 12 months And after 14

months a short postal questlonnalre was sent out by the

researchers thernselvee L u establish whlch of the 18 products

they had In fact purchased during the whole of 14 months

perzod, In what month these purchases had been made and how

much money In total they had spent on these items Purchase

prebablllty wae meaeured by using a 0-10 scale marked on ~t

Where o lndlcatea 'no chance' and 10 indicated 'completely

11 P~ckerlng J F and B C Isherwood, "Purchasing Probab~lrt~ee and Coneumer Durable Buying aehaviour", J o u ~ n a l of th. xarketina Research Society, Val 16. Jan. 1. 1974

55

certaln' The analysls observed that purchasing horlzons

were shorter far cars and furniture and so lese txme would be

needed to allow t h e completion of antlclpatbd purchases

Also purchase levels of other household durables ware

much lower having probablllty values less than cars and

fvrnlture Hence, It was observed that In respect of other

household durable Items, the cornpletlon of purchase

Intentlone took longer t ~ m e horizon

The study highlighted that there 1 e a lrnk between

purchase prababll~tles and actual buylng behavrour

resealch study lnvolved crass-sectional analyeis

oE the Eamlly declalan-maklng process The survey wae

conducted using questlonnalre data obtalned from 93 married

couples The study hypotheelzed that the preferences of

husbands and .elves for automab~les would be more similar tor

couplee who had been marrled longer Famlly llfe - cycle was

also examlned as an independent variable to predlot

slmllarrty of preferences

The findings indicated that couples who have been

marrled longer and families in the latter stages of the

family llfe-cycle generally gave more preference £or alrnllar

automobrle than couples having shorter length of married life

12 Ellp P Cox. "Family Decraron Making and the Praceae of Ad,ustment*'. Journal of Marketing Remaarah, May 1975, pp 187-195

and Eas~l~rs ~n the earlier stages of the famlly life-cycle

I t was also found that the famlly lrfe-cycle was a oetter

explanatory var~able than length of marrlage

A atudy or! Selllng to the w o r k ~ n g women" by Rena

eartoi3 ~ndlcated that workrng women differed

dernograph~cally, and psychographlcally, rn medla and shopp~ng

behaulour, from thelr counterparts who were full-tlme

housewives

George W H Schert and George F Kawash,14 who made

a study on "Husband-wlfe Comparisons of the Prlce-Quallty

Relationship I" the Past-Purchase Sltuatlon" lndlcated that

there was hlgh pasltrvr carrelatLon between quality and prlce

perceptions In the poat-purchase situations tested Thre

assoclatlan Was stronger among the wives than among the

husbands

Ariehg ~ o l d r n a n , ~ ~ in hla study o'Cnnfinsd Shopplng

Behavlour Among Low-Inco~~ie Consumers - An Emplrlcal Test"

found that lower- Income consumers do not reatrlct their

li .-GT~artolB.~S?li~ng to the Working Women", Marketini Tlmas, May-June 1916, pp 3-6

14 George W H Schert and Oeorge F Kawcsh. "Hueband-Wlie Comparlsona of the price-Quallltty Reiatronehlpa In the Post-Purehaee sltuatron" , The Journal of Boaial Psycbl~gy, October 1976, PP 99-106

15 Arlehg Goldman, "Confined Shapplng Behavlour Among Low Income Consumera - An Brnperical Test , Jouranl oL ~arketing Research, Feb 1978, pp 11-19

purchases to a small eubject, and they do not concentrate

their purchases on smaller or lower quallty stare

Ruby Roy ~ h a l a k ~ a ' a ~ ~ study whlch r a baszcally an

lnvrstgarlon of consumer soclallzatlon proceasess, pravldes

lnsrghte lnta the learnlng of consumer akllla and values The

study conducted In Indla revealed that children may be

important sources of ~nformat~on and this role needs to be

speclflcally fostered Parents eapeclally mothers-may not be

"rational saclallzlng agents" These flndlngs contrast wrth

those of socializat~on 8tudle.e conducted rn affluent

socletiea These differences In social~zlng Influences

reflect at aame degree differences l n the level of econornlc

development They, however, have ~mpllcatrons for

soclai~zatlon research and pollcies In both types of

economies

John G Udell,17 In h ~ s article, "Pra-purchase

Behavlour of Buyers of small electrical Appliances", showed

that the shopping behav~our of consumers had been dxfierent

for durablee than foe non-durable8 According to Themas

16 Ruby Roy Dholakla, "Inter-generational Differences in Consumer Behavlour, Some Evrdence from a Developrng Country", The Journal of Bueinssn R a ~ e l r ~ h , V01 12, March 1984, pp 19-34

17 john G Udell," Pre-Purchase Behaviour of Buyere of small Electelcal Appllancas", Journal of Marketing, Vol 30, NO 4, October 1986

Exter la the nlore acceptable brands there are rn a epecrfzc

product category, the weakel the brand loyalty 1s llkely to

be ~n one sperlflc bland Conversely, products having few

competitors as well a s those purchased wlth greater

frequency, are llkely to have greater brand loyalty A

recent study canducLed by H Brusk~n ~ s s o c l a t e s ~ ~ explored

the relationehlp between percelved differences among brands

"1s-a-vla brand loyalty for selected products and services,

and found that bland loyalty le not neceassrlly drrven by

percelved differences among brands

Studies in Indla

Textrle comm~ttee20 conducted a study on "Consumer

survey for Textlles I" Rourkela" The study was aimed at

exploring the relatlonshlp between saclo-econam~o levels and

poaaesslon of different garments by men, women and children

~addappa~' I" his study exam~ned the d~mens~anm of male

- female role ~n the puu~hase declslon prooess for consumer

18 Thomas Exter, "Looking far Brand Loyalty", ameeicln Demographice, Aprll 1986, p 33

19 H Bruekln Assaclates, "New Study on Brand Loyalty", Marketing Review, 43, h e 9, 1988. p 25

20 ~overment of India- Ministry o f Commerce, Consumer survey for Textiles in Rourkala. Research Report, Bombay No 8,1967

21 Maddappa, P "Dlmensione of Male - Female Role in tha process of Purohaae Dsclsions for Consumer Goads", Indiln Management, 10(5t, 1971

goods Mehta and ~alasuram*~ ~n their study exam~ned the

Impact of price along wlth brand name ~n consumer cholce

~ a t h n e s w a r ~ ~ I n hls article tested whether the

congruence between the Images aasoc~ated with a particular

brand of a glven product and the ~ndrvldual's self - rmage i s

greater far the most- preferred brands as compared to the

least-preferred brands For the purpose of the study he haa

selected erght major "nat~anal" brand's of toothpaete sold I n

Indla The sernentlc differences were used to measure

evaluations by the respondents The respondent8 conalsted of

50 post-graduated students ~n management The results

rndlcated that self-concept congruence wlth brand Image rs

greater far the most-preferred brands than for the least

preferred brands Thus, the study hlghllghted that

pereonal~ty dlmenslana, and more speclflcally the self-

concept factor In personality, 2s lrkely to be a crucial

factor in coneumer's behav~our

~eelarnegham'~ conducted a study an consumer behaviour rn

relation to marketing of man-made f lbre fabrlce In India The

22 Mehta, S C , and Paraouraman. A , "Impact of Price end Brand on Consumer Cholce - An Experimental Study", EEOnomiC Times, March 21 and 22 1972

23 Rathneswar, S , "Consumer Self-Image and Product Brand" Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol 3, No 5, Jan, 1973

24 Neelamegham S . Management Devslopment-New Perspectives and View Pointe, Kalyanl Publ~ahera, New Delhr, 1973 pp 255-292

survey showed that purchas~ng of cloth was a 3alnt actlvxty

a € both husband and w l f e Though husband played a dominant

advisory role, the ultimate purchase was influenced by

lndlvldual preference

subash ~ e h t a * ~ has done same usetul planeerlng work on (I)

~mpsct of prlce and brand on consumer'. choice, (ill fashzon

adoption behavlour of college glrls. (1111 brand name

influences an pur~haae preference and brand selection, (iv)

consumer Image of Indlan Alrlines, ("1 Dprnlon leaders role

~n marketing camrnunlcatlona and ("1) gasoline buy~ng

behavlour of car owners

Subaeh C ~ehtha'~ conducted another study to obtarn

consumers view of market~ng ~n Indla He selected a sample

of 350 consumers l n Ahmedabad Eol the purpose of the study

He observed that ( 1 1 cnnsumers donot n e w marketrng as an

anti-consumer actlvlty, (111 consumere 1ndlcaLe the

preference to buy nalluually known brands desplte their

bellef that advrtlelng increaees the cost of the produot,

Irr l ) consumers have a strong blaa rn favour of imported

products and thelr hlgh prrce Is ratronaliaed by the

consumers through perceived better quallty.

25 Subash C Mehta, Indian Consmrrr; Studies and Cases Lor Yazketing D.oi.ions, Tat* Oraw-Hill Publrshcrs Co Ltd, New Delhl, 1973, p 338

a 6 Subaah C Mehtha. "The Consumers Vlew on Marketing in India", Indian Journal el Marketing, Vol IV, No 1-2, September - October, 1974, pp 3-9

I l v ) coneumels ale n o t totally infavourable to the operatron

of farelgn cumpdnles rn Indra, l v i whlle departmental stores

are perce~ved as hlgh priced hut good service stores, super

markets have the Image of reasonably prlced but poor service

stores. lv l l the consumers have widely recognized usefulnsse

of the advertlslng though there are apprehensrcna about the

content of advertising. and I u l ~ l conauntera generally

perceive an Improvement I" the quality of the products

a v a i l a b l e ~n the market except f o r consumer durahles where

there a r e dlvlded apinlone about thelr quallty and

performance

The study made by ~andl~' on coneumer-adoptron process

for new products partzcularly in the agricultural field,

whereas Slngh and 6harma2' I" thelc study on consumer

behavlour dealt wlth perceived rlsk and rnformatlon handl~ng

Rao and ~lahra's~' study is concerned wlth the eftect of

varlous sale8 styles on consumer orlentatlon

Dace and eddy^' made an attempt to etudy the brand

preferences among cigarette smakera by relatlng them to ............................................................. 27 Nandi M , "Purchasing Models Under an Increaalng Prlce

Trend", Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, 1975

28 Singh P and Sharma S N . "Pereerved Rzsk end Information Handling in Consumer Behav~our", Indian Journal o t Marketing, Val la, No 1, nsc 1975, pp 21-34

29 R ~ O T v , and Miahra, "Effaotivenaaa of Varying Salsa Styles an Consumel Orlentation". VIKALPA 114). 1976, PP 19-26

30 N K Das and A B Reddy, "Brand Preierencea and Usa by the Consumers of Cigeratees", Indian Journal of Marketing vol 6, No 5, dune 1976, pp 25-32

educational levels, income groups, accupat~ons and age

dzffeiences The study concluded that the educatronal levele

and Income levels maznly influenced the formaelon of brand

loyalty of cigarrettes Further. ~t has been observed that

occupation has not rnfluenced the brand preferences and

people In the age group of 2 0 - 1 0 smoked heavily compared to

thelr younger and older counterparts Also income change,

prlce change, irregular supply resulted In brand sw~tchzng

~ r a r a ~ l in hls d~asertat~on, ~nvestrgated the Impact of

new product adopt~on on life style of consumers by conducting

a case study on L P G

J D slngh3' made a study of brand loyalty among

consumers rn Indla The malor Erndrngs ~ndlcated that the

consumer's had brand loyallty varied with the nature of the

produce

Subramenyam, Rarnakrishna Rao and Ramamohan R a o ' ~ ~ ~

~tudy related to consumer goods marketrng m Vlsakhapatnam

city It aimed at explor~ng the expenditure pattern and

buylng hab~ts of the canaumer relatlng to grocerlea, cloth

31 Arora A P . "Impact of Product on Life Styles of its Consumers The Case of Domestlc Liqvzfied Petrolium Gae", I n d i a Inetitute of Iianagmnt, Ahmadabad, 1988.

32 J D Srngh, "A Study of Brand Loyal in Ind~e", 1ndt.n journal of Marketing, Val XI, No 11-11, July-August 1981, pp 15-20

33 Subramanyam G , Ramakrlshna RaQ , and Ramamohan Rao K , "Consumer Qoods Marketing", The Boonortic Time., 28th, 29th and 30th June m a , p 5

and eiectrlcal applrances The study concluded that 80ClO-

ecanamlc characterlstlcs of consumers largely influenced

thelr purchases and influence of sacral groups l a very l w 111

the case of grocery purchase whereaa at 1s very s~gnificant

in electrical appliances

Balrarn Slngh ~ o g r a ~ ~ In hls study on buyer behaviour In

magazlnes attempted to know whether tpe readers were magazine

loyal or not For thls purpose he selected Slmla market for

a case study coverrng a sample of 80 magazine readers

belonging to Four categarres - professionals, bureaucrats,

students and housewlvee The study revealed that the best

selling magazines are not conf~ned to any one part~cular

segment of the market, nor do they present readlng material

of only one facet The student0 end adrninrstraters

constitute the most fertile aegment of the market both for

the promotran and lntroductlon of the magazine6 Rlrther it

was observed that most of the readera are found to be price - conscious and leas rnfluenced by the advsrtlaemente for a

particular magazlnes

While chopra" eexamlned low rnduced consumer

behav~our and attltude change in the context of safety

34 Balrarn Singh Dogre, ''Buyer Behavlour in Magazines - A Ca8e study of Slmla Market", Indim Journal of Marketing, Val XIII, Dec,1982, pp 7-10

35 Chopra, Harwant Slngh, ' A Consumer Study of Law Induced Behavlour and Attitude Changes, The Case of Safety Xelmet", Indirn Instirube oC Idmag-nt, Ahmadabad, 1983

helmet, ~ h s ~ ~ in his diseertat~on exarn~ned consumer

satrsfaccxon alld d~ssatlsfiict~on wlth products by analyelng

~t through an att~xbut~on theory-frame- work in an

experrmental study

S P Ra] 37 In hls study oplned that a ma)or goal of

marketers, who are Interested In how consumers learn, ie to

encawage brand loyalty A loyal cadre of customera provides

the baeis for a atable and growlng market ahare, and can be a

malor rntanglble asset reflected in the purchase prlce of a

company He ale0 Eel= that brands wlch larger market shares

have proportionately larger groups of loyal buyers

S a m r D R 38 In his drasertation, obaerved that there 1s

difference between hehavloural patterne of rural and urban

consumers towards the textile, end suggested that the unrfonn

marketing strateglee can not be applxed for market~ng of

textiles to the rural and urban consumers

Praneah ~ l s r a ~ ~ conducted a survey an Indlan work~ng end

non-warklng hauacwrves The final results reflected that the

36 Jha, Mltheleswar, "An Attribution Theorltlcal Analyeis of Consumers Satisfact~on and Dlssat~sfactlon with P T O ~ U C ~ ~ " . Indran Institute of Management, Ahmadabad, ,on* ----

37 S P Ra], "Strrkmg e Balance Bstwaen Brand Popularity and Brand Loyalty", Journal of Marketing.Vo1 4 9 , Witner, 1985. pp 53-59

38 Saini D R , Marketing- A Behavioural appeosah. Prrnt well publ~ehcrs, Jaipur, 1986

39 Pranesh Mlsra, P Snap published by M Rahman, "Tha Urban Houacwifa, Confanning to T y R e " , Trrdi. Todsy, Oct 31, 1987, pp 124-125

prlirptlon arnolly marketing and advertlslng pr~fesslonala 1s

rllrreaslng rllr iluporranie of housewrfe ~n taklng declslon

regarding the pllrcllase of consumer goods

Ramakrlshlla Rao and others 4 0 conducted a survey on

"Handloom Marketlng" The study waa aimed at idencifylng the

actual users, consumer preferences, husband-wlie involvement

In buylng process and customer oplnlane about price and

quality The major flndlngs lndlcated that the hlgh-lncoms

group I" the buslnesa community, mlddle lncome group among

employees, lower ~ncome-group among dally wage earnere, and

older people preferred handloom cloths mortly, and 101nt

declslon making In respect of buylng waa found to be common

Ranwkrlshna Rao and others elsu 41 conducted another survey

on "Husband-wlfe Involvement ~n Buying Decislon Maklng'l The

study was aimed a t enplorlng famlly blrying behavlour among

employees and busmess people, and Eoundout the differences

~n faally buylng behavlvur in different stages of buylng

process The study concluded that husband9 who were young,

hrghly educated and belonging to high-rncome group were

relatively less dom~nant than thelr older, less educated and

low-income group counterparts

40 Ramakrlehna Raa B , Nageswara Rao K , and Venkcta Rao G , "Handloom Marketing, Consumers Cut Acroas Inoome CIroups", Business Staldard~. NOY 10. 1 9 8 7 , p 5

41 Ramakrlshne Rao 8 , Rema Ralu B , and Remprasad A S V S , "Husband-Wlfe Inv~lvemsnt In Buying Decision Making", T h m Eoonomia Time., Bombay, Ootober 1, 1907, P B

Pranesl? Mlsia.42 conducted a survey on awnershlp levels

of consumer dlirahlev In th ree Metropolltles- Bombay, Delh~,

and Msdlaa The mazn conclusion of the survey was that the

standard of l l v l n g , a s ludged by the level of ownersh~p of

durables, had lmpraved between 1978 and 1985

The study of R a ~ e e v Kaushal and others pertems 43 to

purchasing behavlour pattern of consumers with reference to

weahliq soaps/sy~~dets in S~mla clty The erudy examined how

for the educational level xe reaponslble I n the formation of

brand loyalty The study concluded that the brand loyalty was

slsnrflcantly influenced by the educational level of the

users of wash~ng aonps

Remana Raa, and conducted a survey on

"Assessing the Rural MarketN The mar" ob]ect~ve of the

study was to find out the awareness and use of dlfferent well

advertrsed brands of dlfferent products In the mral markets

and to analyse the l n l p l ~ c o t ~ o n s for marketers The study

concluded that there 1s a need for developing brands that

BULL rural consumers most

42 Pranesh Mishra "The Revalution m Consumer Durable", Bueinesa India, Dec 29, 1988, Jan 11, 1987. pp 91-98

43 Ra3eev Kaushal. C S Raghubansh~ and B K Sinha, ttPurchaslng Behavlour Pattern of the Coneumer and Thelr Brand Preference for Wash~ng Soape/Gyndete - A Case study aE Srmla City", Bu#inesm India, D e c 29, 1988, Jan 11, 1987, pp 97-98

44 Ramna Rao P V . Venketewarlu H and Shekhar. "Assessing the Rural Market , Economic Timan, December 1988, p 120

NEED FOR THE PRESENT STUDY

The foregoing review of literature and ernplrlcal studles

suggests that greater Interest has been evlnced I" the study

OF consumer behaviour The present study 1s also an attempt

I n this dlrectlon ~ntended to highlight the consumer

behavlour w ~ t h regard to certaxn durable products

Naturally, the behavour of consumer wrth regard to buylng of

durable8 wlll be different from that of non-durable. as the

quantum of Funds lnvested 1 s high enough which warrants more

rational declsrons The Marketera are concerned with several

aspects of consumer behavlaur relevant to these products like

patterns of consumer behavour and t h e n relatlonshzp wlth

demographic, soclo-econom~c and psychaloglcal factors Also

the steps lnvalved r n the procsos of consumer decleon-making

and consumpclan, and explalnlng and predicting consumer

behavlaur, particularly, choice behavrour among alternat~ve

products and brands

In developing countrles. llke Indra, where most of the

markets are at various stage of growth, the slgnlflcant

aspect rs understanding of consumer behaviour with respect to

acceptance and adapting of new types of products or aervlcae,

and factore lnfluenclng these, and their impllcatlons for

bath marketers end public pollcy makers In view of the

growing importance of the consumer behaulour, the preaent

study 18 targeted a t understanding the consumer behaviour

with particular reference to three select durable products

v:z , f a n s , T V . and refrrgeiators Increasingly low rncome

groups are evincing lot af lnterest In buyrng these durable

ptoducts and for then? these products are essential rather

than status goods

The urban indlvldual buyers of conaumer durables 1 e

fans, T V , and refrlgerators who have purchased these

products for therr household use constitute buyers In t h ~ s

study slnce Lhe buyer is also one of the consumers in the

famlly unit, the terms 'buyer' and 'consumer' are

interchangeably used

The prrseut study attempts to study the consumer

behavrour with regard to these selected durable products

v i r , fan,T V . end Refrrgerators with speclal reference to

Tlrupatl and Chlttoor towns of Chlttoor Dlstrlct

OBJECTIVES OI. THE STUDY

The preriee oblectlves of the study are

r to examlne the factors affecting the behaviour of sample buyers In Chrttoor and Tirupatl towns wlth regard to selected products,

r l to analyse the brand preferences, brand loyalty and brand awareness among sample buyers of Chlttaor and Tlrupatl town8 wrth regard to the selected products, arid

Ilr to study the factora lnfluenclng the purchase decleion maklng process and post-purchase feel~ngr of the sample buyere

HYPOTHESES

The fallowing I~ypott~eses are poslted for testlng

1 There are no slgnlflcant dllferencee between sample buyers of Chlteaor and Tlrupatl towns regarding factors affect~ng the buyeh beliav~our for the three products under study

2 There are no slgnlflc nt lnter-product and ~ntcr-town v a ~ ~ a t ~ o n s with regardsrand preferences, brand loyalty and brand awareness among sample buyers

3 slginlflcant varlatlons are not observed wlth regard to the fa~tors influencing purcllasrng declslon maklng pracese and poet-purchase feellnga among sample buyore of both the towns for the three products under atudy

METHODOLOGY

The preserlt study is based on the prlmaly data collected

directly From the buyers of select consumer durables ~n

Chlttoor D I S ~ L ~ C ~ The ~tud)f makes a comparative enelysls oE

respondent buyers of Tlrupatl and Chlttoor towns The

requlred ~ n f o r m a t l o n 1s gathered by adm~nreterlng e

guestlonoaire among the sample consumers Sample consumers

are classliled according r" rncome crlrcrion ae lower,

rnlddle, and hlgher lncome level Consumers wrth lncame upto

Re 24000 per annum are claaslfled aa lawer-lncome group,

those between Rs 24000 and 48000 ae middle- lncome group and

those wlth Income of above Re 48000 are dssrgnated as hlgher-

rncome group for the purpose of thls study

SAUPLE BIULMB

TO etudy the buyer behaviour of conaumer durables In

Chlttaor dletrlct questlonnnlre 18 canvassed to the sample

buyers drawn from two major towns of Chittoor district vir ,

Tirupatl and ChrLtaar each liaving a papulatlon of above 1

lakh Employing quota aampllng method, a total of 100 buyers

were randomly selected 1,e , 170 from Tlrupatl munlclpal area

and 130 from Chrttoor rnunrclpal area To have cross-

secrlanal repiesentation of buyer-households ~n the sample,

ward-wlse households l ~ s t made available by munrclpal

adm~nistrative authorities of these two munlcrpalltles were

consulted While selecting the buyer households, obviously

only those households poaseaslng all the three products were

lncluded ~n the sample Before final canvassing of the

queetlom~a~re, 1t was retested in the pllot study

ANALYST8 01 DATA

The data collected has bean sub~ected to statleticsl

analysis to findout the buyer behavlaur and post-purchase

behavlaur uslng accepted statlstlcal tools In the literature

of buyer behavlour l l k e percentages, averages, chl-square

test, analysis of varlalice and ecallng technique

ECOPE AND LIMITATIONS

Ch~ttoor distrlct l a PUrpOB~vely selected as the study

area far the reasons of physlcal proxlmlty, acquaintance and

resource conatralnts

only two towns v i z , Tlrupatl end Chlttoor are seleetcd

for the etudy as these are the m3or towns lnhabrted by

diverse types consumer populatlan llke employees,

agr~culturlsts, profesa~onals and businessmen, etc

The study is conf~ned to only three consumer durable

ploduct~ ~ 1 2 , fan. T V , and refrlgeratar whlch are w~dely

used by urban Consumers Since rt 1s observed that the

consumer buying behavlour differs wlth reference to dlfferent

products bought, the study of buying pattern of three

conannet durable pluducts 1s undertaken

Buyer behavlour 1 s a complex and multi-dimensional

phenomenon No particular model explain this phenomenon

cornprehens~vely, partlculer ln a developing country like

Indla wlth varied socio-econornrc and cultural background

Modela whlch hive been evolved mostly I" Weetern Countriee

under dlfferent envrronmental aituatlone, may not Elt Into

our settlng I" t h e ~ r entlrety In the present study,

altbough there l a no expllcit adoption of any these models,

the important aspects of these models heve been incorporated

1" t h e analysls

ORQANISATION OF THE THBSIS

The thesls i s d~vlded lnto seven chapters

The FIRST CHAPTER ie ~ntroductory In nature dealing wlth

theoretrcel resues relatrng to buyer behavlour and models of

buyer behavlour

In the SECOND W P T E R select revrew of literature,

ob]ectlves, scope, methodology and llmltatrons of the study

are presented

CHAPTER THREE provides a brlef profile of the two sample

towns, Tlrupatl and Chlttaor selected Lor the study

I K CHAPTER FOUR S O C ~ O - € C O ~ & O ~ ~ C proflle of sample

respondents and the factora lnfluenclng the buyer behaviour

of sample respondents are analysed

CHAPTER FIVE focus~e8 on the brand loyalty and brand

awareness among sample buyers

In CHAPTER P I X an attempt 1s made to analyae decislon

maklng proces. and post-purchase feellngs of sample buyera

CHAPTER SEVEN, tile last chapter, IS devoted to a sumnary

of findings and concluarons of the study