Research Paper
Management
E-ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume : 2 | Issue : 9 | Sep 2016
CONSUMER PERCEPTION ON BRAND PREFERENCE OF SELECTED FOOD PRODUCTS ‒ WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO KERALA Dr. Swarupa. R Associate Professor, PG Department of Commerce and Management Studies, Mahatma Gandhi College, Iritty. The aspirations and the attitudes of the consumers are changing at a dismaying speed which needs to be caught and catered to. The markets, competitors and consumers are no longer passive. In a passive market, a marketer is likely to be successful despite his inertia, where as in an active market, inertia on the part of marketer will lead to the extinction either slow or quick. To be successful marketers have to become more responsive and adaptive to market situation. As regards target market, marketers should analyze the three core aspects viz, consumer perception, motivation and attitudes towards a given need. These three are interrelated and interdependent. It is of vital importance to understand the current perceptions held by the consumers towards the product and brands. Consumer motivation is a central theme in the theory of marketing. It is strategic to explore why a consumer is buying a brand. The perceptions and motivational mechanisms result in attitude. Attitude is an emotionalized predisposition towards a product or brand. A consumer may have positive or negative attitude. Therefore a marketer must know the attitudes of consumers towards the product and different brands. In order to collect data, consumers were personally met by administering a questionnaire specifically developed for the present study. A sample 300 consumers, 50 each from Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur districts were selected. Percentages, Mean SD etc are some of the statistical tools used for analysis. Usage of info –entertainment media Table 1 presents information relating to the habit of people in using various information and entertainment media like newspaper, magazine, radio, television and internet.
Table 2 Preference of consumers towards nature of products B
Product
NB
Media
Yes
No
Total
Daily
233 (77.67)
67 (22.33)
300 (100.00)
Monthly
99 (33.00)
201 (67.00)
300 (100.00)
Radio
88 (29.33)
212 (70.67)
300 (100.00)
TV
250 (83.33)
50 (16.67)
300 (100.00)
Internet
43 (14.33)
257 (85.67)
300 (100.00)
Source: Survey Data
B& NB
B& HM
204 Curry 1 69 1 23 powder (68.00) (0.33) (23.00) (0.33) (7.67) Pickle
NB& HM
ALL
Total
0 2 300 (0.00) (0.67) (100.00)
104 30 104 0 61 1 0 300 (34.67) (10.00) (34.67) (0.00) (20.33) (0.33) (0.00) (100.00)
Jam
260 9 (86.67) (3.00)
26 1 4 (8.67) (0.33) (1.33)
0 0 300 (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
Squash
263 14 (87.67) (4.67)
22 0 1 (7.33) (0.00) (0.33)
0 0 300 (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
Avil
108 156 35 1 0 (36.00) (52.00) (11.67) (0.33) (0.00)
0 0 300 (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
Pappad
181 97 20 0 2 (60.33) (32.33) (6.67) (0.00) (0.67)
0 0 300 (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
Chips
53 156 80 1 5 (17.67) (52.00) (26.66) (0.33) (1.67)
5 0 300 (1.67) (0.00) (100.00)
Source: Survey Data Note: Figures in parenthesis denote percentage B – Branded
Table 1 Extent of exposure to media by sample consumers
HM
NB – Non branded
HM – Home made
In case of curry powder, jam, squash and pappad, more than 60 percent of the people prefer branded products. In case of pickle, the preference of the consumers towards branded and home made products are equal. However in case of avil and chips 52 percent have preference for non branded products. Reason for the use of branded products Table 3 Reason for using branded products Reason
Number of consumers
Percent
Convenience
121
40.33
Taste
70
23.33
Shelf life
19
6.34
Others
30
10.00
Convenience & taste
60
20.00
Total
300
100.00
Note: Figures in parenthesis denote percentage
Source: Survey Data
It can be observed from the table that more than eighty percent of the members use television and more than 75 percent of the members use newspaper as the info –entertainment media. While radio occupies the third position, magazine stands in the fourth position. Internet is the least preferred media used by the consumers for this purpose.
121 respondents (40.33 percent) opined that the reason for their preference is convenience. 70 persons (23.33 percent) feel that branded products are tastier. Only 19 persons (6.34 percent) are concerned about the shelflife of the product.
Consumer preference The preference of the consumers towards branded, non branded and homemade products is illustrated in Table 2
Brand loyalty of sample consumers The concept of brand loyalty implies that the consumers have some real preference for a particular brand.
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