CONSUMERS BUYING AND SWITHCING BEHAVIOR DUE TO ADVERTISEMENT: A STUDY ON SHAMPOO BRANDS

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1 Volume 3, Issue 3 (March, 2014) Online ISSN Published by: Abhinav Publication Abhinav International Monthly Refereed Journal of Research in CONSUMERS BUYING AND SWITHCING BEHAVIOR DUE TO ADVERTISEMENT: A STUDY ON SHAMPOO BRANDS Ankita Shrivastava 1 Research Scholar, Pacific Academy of Higher Education and Research University, Udaipur(Raj.),India ankitaknipss@gmail.com Dr. Vikram Bisen 2 Director, ITM Group of Institutes, Lucknow (U.P.), India vikram.bisen@rediffmail.com ABSTRACT Consumers or the Customers are valuable assets for any organization as they are the ultimate destination of any products or services. Since, they are the ultimate end users of any product or services, thus, the success of any organization depends upon the satisfaction of the consumers, if not they will switch to other brands. Due to this reason, the satisfaction of the consumers becomes priority for any organizations. For satisfying the consumers, one has to know about what consumer buy, why they buy it, when they buy it, how and how often they buy it and what made them to switch to other brands. The present paper is an attempt to study the shampoo buying patterns among the individuals. The study also examines the various factors specially advertisement, which influence the consumers to buy a shampoo of particular brand and reasons for their switching to other brands. Results revealed that advertisement has significant impact on consumers mind, when they buy any particular product. Results also says that consumers switch to other brands after watching endorsements, consumers buying pattern was also studied with special reference to different shampoo brand. Brand awareness was also measured. Advertisement impact was also seen as major reason for switching to other brand. It was also seen that consumers often switch to other brands occasionally. The present study was done on college girls. Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Shampoo Buying Patterns; Consumer Switching Behavior INTRODUCTION Consumers or the Customers are valuable assets for any organization. Consumer is an individual or group of individuals who select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires. In other words, Consumers are the ultimate destination of any products or services. The study of these individuals, groups, or organizations is what we call Consumer behaviour. The processes by which these organizations select, secure, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general. Customer behavior study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and Available online on 9

2 buyer. In the present competitive global market, it has been seen that organizations are increasingly focusing on the retention of their existing customers. Thus, gaining knowledge about customers' switching behavior is substantively important for the sustainability of any organization. Customers' switching behavior is the process exhibited by a customer, behaving differently to a particular brand and undergoes alteration in the preference of the existing product or services. Since, customers are the ultimate end users of any product or services, the success of any organization depends upon the satisfaction of the consumers, if not they will switch to other brands. When any organization loses a customer they are not only losing future earnings but also incurring the cost of finding new customers. Over time loyal customers become less price-sensitive therefore, losing loyal customer means giving up high margins. Considering the technological advancements and its easy access to every individual, customers are becoming intolerant and they can dissolve the relationship as soon as any problem arises. Thus, customer retention is the core concern of each and every organization. Due to this reason, the satisfaction of the consumers becomes priority for any organizations. The present paper is an attempt to study the shampoo buying patterns among the individuals. The study also examines the various factors which influence the consumers to buy a shampoo of particular brand and reasons for their switching to other brands. Advertising is almost everywhere in our daily life. Its forms and roles are both contested and obtained and also admired. Some see advertising both as the mirror and the maker of culture. Even when advertisements contribute new sounds and the symbols that shape feature, its words and images reflect the present and the past. Others say advertising is purely an economic activity with one purpose i.e., to sell many advertisers and agencies believe that advertising creates magic in market place. Researchers are agreed on these six fundamental principles on which advertising campaign run: to secure attention; to arose interest; to develop and sustain interest; to create desire; to incite action and to create good will. After choosing an appropriate strategy and deciding upon the advertising objectives, media selection is the next important consideration. Media is the vehicle that is used for the delivery of the message. Some important tools of advertisement are newspapers, magazines, radio, television, direct mail and mail order, outdoor display and transportation. Advertisements also change consumers view so that they can be compelled to even switch the product. In nutshell, advertisement also effects switching behavior of consumers. OBJECTIVES 1. To examine the consumer awareness of shampoo usage. 2. To analyze the relationship between a specific brand and its buying behavior. 3. To assess whether advertising is influencing the buying behavior and switching behavior of the consumers. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Oyeniyi and Abiodun,(2010),in their study concluded that in order to retain customers, organizations have to understand their behavior and try to satisfy them, by catering their needs and preferences. Zain-Ul-Abideen and Salman Saleem(1982), found that emotional response of consumer purchase behavior is the variable that results into strong association with the consumer buying behavior. Bashir and Malik, (2009), in the given study revealed that consumers considered advertisement as a reliable source of knowledge about any product or services. Advertisement can affect any Amit Kumar (2011) in his paper Celebrity Endorsements and its impact on consumer buying behavior focuses on the perception of Indian consumers about celebrity endorsements, the celebrity attributes likely to influence consumer purchase intentions. The practice of celebrity endorsements has proliferated over time. Now days it has become a pervasive element of advertising industry especially in India. Celebrity endorsement business has become a multi-million industry in India. Marketers use celebrity endorsers to influence the purchase decision of consumers in order to increase their sales and VOL. 3, ISSUE 3 (March 2014) 10

3 extend their market shares. This made the author curious to explore the impact of celebrity endorsements on consumer buying behavior. Aneeza Bashir and Najma Iqbal Malik (2009), concluded in their study, Effect of advertisement on consumer behavior of university students that advertisement persuades the consumer to at least buy the product once in a life time. Personality used in commercials influenced the consumers more as compare to keyword/caption. Results also revealed that consumers considered advertisement as a reliable source of knowledge as compare to others (friends, neighbours, reference group) opinions. T.Mamatha (2008) in her study Post purchase behavior and consumerism says that consumer behavior is a very complex phenomenon, which needs more efforts to understand, explain and predict. In order to get a clear understanding of the same, every marketer should realize that consumer behavior is, in fact, an assumption every marketing manager must make, if he plans to market on any basis other than hit-or-miss. Although some individuals find it difficult to make this assumption, one must agree that behavior is not so erratic or mysterious that it defies explanation. Dinesh Kumar Gupta (2007) in his research Impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying behavior and brand branding aim to describe the celebrity endorsement increase consumer attractiveness for product than non-celebrity endorsement and bring magic to brand and make them more appealing and successful but while using celebrity endorsee, marketer has to take care of all the aspect that whether the brought personality and image of celebrity matches or not, whether celebrity endorsee has deep penetration among the masses or not, whether he is considered as credible source or not etc. Susan Chirayath (2007) says in their research Impact of Promotional Activities on Consumer Buying Behavior that, FMCG Sector in India is characterized by cut throat competition, which leads to brand proliferation in various categories. In matured urban markets consumer sales promotion to differentiate one's offer is a very common practice. In fact consumers are lured by the ever increasing budget allocated to these activities. In such a scenario it is very essential to study how consumers make their choices in FMCG category where there are several brands in the consideration set of the consumer. Since the final risk being low, consumers do not mind switching from one brand to another due to sales promotion offers. Thus it becomes imperative to the marketer to learn about consumer preferences with respect to sales promotion offers, what schemes do the consumers prefer for what kinds of brands, which media they prefer to learn about the schemes, whether they prefer incentives immediately or at a later date. income group individuals. Consumers were influenced by the appeal and personality used in the specific brand advertisements. Alnaimi, Richard Jones and Perkins(1991), studied that maintaining a long-term relationship with a customer is one of the fundamental factors determining the value that the customer provides to the organisation. Thus, a serious threat to achieving a long-term relationship is the customer s switching behaviour. The study also revealed that customers switching behaviour (switchers and stayers) is a vital construct to understand the relationship development process between customers and the organisations. Ajzen(1991), perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and attitude toward the behavior lead towards behavioral intention. Bansal (1997), incorporated some measures of theory of planned behavior (TPB) in predicting switching intentions. TPB posits a link between attitudes and behavior. In combination, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and attitude toward the behavior lead towards behavioral intention.he also measured the impact of one's attitude towards switching behavior, perceived behavior control (termed as perceived switching costs) and satisfaction with the product or service provider, with intentions to switch. Results confirmed the significant influence of all three variables on switching intentions. VOL. 3, ISSUE 3 (March 2014) 11

4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The present study has been conducted among college girls, who live in hostel. These respondents have been chosen for the study, as it is one of common place where girls from different regional and cultural background prevailed. This study will be helpful in evaluating the attitude of the select boarders of the hostel towards usage of shampoo. Also, various reasons for consumer switching to other brands have been studied. For the purpose of the given study primary as well as secondary data has been used. The Secondary data has been collected from various books, journals, published research papers, websites etc. The primary data was collected by means of a questionnaire. Copies of the questionnaire were given personally to respondents in the university hostel. The questionnaire contained a total of 14 items. The respondents are randomly selected and 80 respondents were personally meet to give their responses. The data collected was mainly primary in nature. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS The study deals with the analysis of consumer awareness towards shampoo usage. The responses from the respondents were subjected to simple percentage method, in order to know the inferences out of the collected data. Table 1. Shampoo Usage Rate Usage Rate No. of Respondents Percentage (%) YES NO Table-1 indicates the usage rate of shampoo by the respondents. As revealed from the table it has been found that about 95% of the respondents using shampoos and only 5% using soaps and conditioners etc. Table 2. Frequency of using shampoo per week Using Frequency No. of Respondents Percentage (%) ONCE TWICE THRICE Table 2 shown above indicates the frequency of purchasing shampoo per week by the users. The given data revealed that most of the respondents buying shampoo twice in a month(72.5%), 13.75% buy twice in a week and 11.25% respondents buying shampoo only once in a week. Table 3. Frequency of buying per month Using Frequency No. of Respondents Percentage (%) ONCE TWICE THRICE Table 3 shown above indicates the frequency of purchasing shampoo per month by the users. The given data revealed that most of the respondents buying shampoo thrice in a month(41.25%), 31.5% buy twice in a month and 27.5% respondents buying shampoo only once in a month. Table 4. Awareness of Brands Brands No. of Respondents Percentage (%) COSMETIC HERBAL MEDICATED OTHERS VOL. 3, ISSUE 3 (March 2014) 12

5 Table 4, examined awareness of the people regarding various brands of shampoos like Cosmetic shampoos (Sunsilk, Head and Shoulders, Pantene, Clinic-plus, Dove etc), Herbal shampoos, Medicated shampoos and others. Most of the respondents (70%) aware of Cosmetic shampoos % respondents aware of Herbal shampoos, 8.75% aware of medicated shampoos and 10% constitute others category. Table 5. Usage of Shampoo Brands Usage of Brands No. of Respondents Percentage (%) ONE TWO MORE THAN THREE Table 5 identified the usage of different brand by the respondents. An examination of the data revealed that most of the respondents (55%) used only one brand, 31.25% respondents used more than three brands, and 13.75% respondents used two brands. Table 6. To Which Mode of Promotion Consumer gets attracted Mode of promotion No. of Respondents Percentage (%) ADVERTISEMENT CELEBRITY BANNER OTHERS Table-6 shows that by which mode of promotion consumer gets attracted..an examination of the table reveals that, most of the consumers preferred advertisement, celebrity, banners. Majority of the respondents 40% preferred advertisements, 28.75% of the respondents preferred celebrity endorsements, 23.75% preferred other mode of promotion and 7.5% preferred banners. Advertisement creates attention and stimulates the consumer to buy a particular brand. Table 7. Reasons for Switching to Other Brand Mode of promotion No. of Respondents Percentage (%) IMPACT OF PACKAGING 04 5 PRICE RISE OF CURRENT BRAND SCHEME OF BRANDS ADVERTISEMENT IMPACT BRAND NOT AVAILABLE TO TRY NEW OPTION INFLUENCE BY OTHER Table-7, given above shows the reasons for switching to other brand by the consumers. The data revealed that about 35% respondents changed to other brand due to advertisement impact, 12.5% respondents changed due to price rise, 10% respondents changed due to non-availability of product in the market. 7.5% respondents due to scheme (offer), 5% respondents switched to other brand due to impact of packaging while other 2.5% respondents switched to other brand to try new options. Table 8. Factors effecting consumers buying decision Factors No. of respondents Percentages ADVERTISEMENT & SALES PROMOTION PRICE & DISCOUNT QUALITY INCOME WORD OF MOUTH VOL. 3, ISSUE 3 (March 2014) 13

6 Table 8. Factors effecting consumers buying decision Factors No. of respondents Percentages EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT FESTIVAL SEASON VISUAL MERCHANDISING It is concluded from table 8 that the Advertisement & sales promotion and Festival season, have occurred as the most important variable considered by consumers in their buying decisions. Table 9. Factors influencing purchase of the brand Factors No. of respondents Percentages FAMILY DOCTORS ADVERTISEMENTS SELF OTHERS Table-9, given above shows the factors influencing purchase of any particular brand. The data revealed that about 36.35% respondents are influenced to purchase any brand due to advertisement impact, 12.5% respondents are influenced by family, 11.25% respondents influenced by doctors and 30 % influenced by self.10 % respondents influenced by other reasons. Table 10. Persuasion due to advertisement Response category No. of Respondents Percentages MOSTLY PERSUADED SOMETIMES PERSUADED NEVER PERSUADED Table No. 10 showed that 43.75% of the respondents were mostly influenced by the appeal and 36.35% were sometime influenced by appeal in the advertisement whereas 20% of respondents were never influenced from the appeal used in advertisement, which means that advertisement did effect consumer behavior to a greater extent. Table 11. Recommendations for Buying Shampoos Recommendations No. of respondents Frequency DOCTOR S ADVICE IMP. INGREDIENTS 8 10 NOT INTERESTED PROMOTION TECHNIQUE(ADVERTISEMENT) The above Table-11 shows the recommendation for buying shampoos by different people, the data pertaining to this revealed that about 10% of the total respondents concentrate on the important ingredients present in the shampoo. About 18.75% respondents ready to accept Doctor s suggestion, 58.75% of the respondents consider it as a promotion technique to increase the sale of the product and 12.5% of the respondents are not interested in hair care and related problems. Table 12. Switching to another brand No. of respondents Percentages FREQUENTLY OCCASIONALLY NEVER VOL. 3, ISSUE 3 (March 2014) 14

7 It can be concluded that a majority of the consumers change their shampoo occasionally (73.75). These consumers also tend to test the quality of new launches. Frequently changing consumer account for 8.75% and the non- availability is one of the factor which to a certain extent, has prompted many consumers to use more than one brand simultaneously.17.5% of both sex of the consumer responded that they never change their brand When asked about the reason they responded that changing brand led to hair problems like hair loss etc. CONCLUSION Thus, it has been concluded that usage rate of shampoo among the select individuals has been high and their buying behaviour is also very frequent. It has been seen that most of the people are aware of cosmetic shampoos rather than herbal and medicated ones. Price, availability and Packaging of the product also plays an important role in buying the shampoo products. Advertisement has very important role in consumers buying behaviour and also in switching behaviour. It has been found that most of the consumers preferred gifts, extra quantity, discount, price off while making decision for buying the shampoos. Also, it has been seen that various factors influence the switching behaviour of the consumers like impact of packaging, price rise of current brand, scheme of brands, impact of advertisement, non-availability of brand, to try new option and influence by others etc. REFERENCES 1. Alnaimi, H., Jones, R. and Perkins, H. Inclusion of Switching Behaviour into Relationship Marketing Model: A Theoretical Model. 2. Ajzen, I. (1991). The Theory of Planned Behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, p Bansal, H.S. (1997), Service Switching Model (SSM): A Model of Customer Switching Behavior in Service Industry, Published by UMI, Queen s University Kingston, Ontario Canada. 4. Bashir and Malik, (2009). Effects of advertisement on consumer behaviour of university students Proceedings 2nd CBRC, Lahore, Pakistan. 5. Engel, J. F., Blackwell, R. D., and Miniard, P. W. (1986), Consumer Behaviour, 5 th ed., Dryden 6. Jam, Akhtar, Hijazi and Khan (2010). Impact of Advertisement on Children Behavior: Evidence from Pakistan. European Journal of Social Sciences, Volume 12, pp J. Scott Armstrong (1991). "Prediction of Consumer Behavior by Experts and Novice". Journal of Consumer Research (Journal of Consumer Research Inc.) 18, pp Kuester, Sabine (2012): MKT 301: Strategic Marketing & Marketing in Specific Industry Contexts, University of Mannheim, p Oyeniyi J.O. & Abiodun J.A. (2009), Switching Cost and Customers Loyalty in the Mobile Phone Market: The Nigerian Experience. Business Intelligence Journal, pp Proctor, R. and Stone, M. A. (1982). Marketing Research. Great Britain: Macdonald and Evans Ltd. Phymouth. 11. Vani1, G., Ganesh Babu, M. and Panchanatham, N. (2010). Shampoo Brands A Study of consumer behavior in Bangalore city. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp Zain-Ul-Abideen and Salman Saleem. Effective advertising and its influence on consumer buying behavior. European Journal of Business and Management. Vol 3, No.3. VOL. 3, ISSUE 3 (March 2014) 15