CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION. (FMCG) in Indonesia while complying with the requirement from Unilever

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1 133 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.1. Conclusion The main objectives of the study were accomplished. The author was able to conduct the study, adapting the research content of Anisimova s psychometric product brand and corporate attributes towards fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) in Indonesia while complying with the requirement from Unilever Indonesia: survey could only be distributed among university students in Jakarta and its greater area to examine the relationship between brand attributes as well as ascertain the most influential dimensions of Unilever Indonesia s corporate attributes towards and on attitudinal and behavioral customer loyalty. The author was also able to ascertain the most influential dimension that provides direct and significant influence towards attitudinal and behavioral customer loyalty. From the survey, there were respondents (31%) who claimed to never use any of the Pepsodent nor Lifebuoy products. However, most of the respondents used Pepsodent products (66%) while some others used Lifebuoy products (49%). From the research towards reasons on why respondents used the products, it could be concluded that respondents became the consumers of Pepsodent and Lifebuoy mainly due to the quality, price and advertisement of the brands.

2 Pepsodent Consumer Loyalty Analysis Using attributes of product brand that were constructed in the previous study by Anisimova, the author generated two factors, utilizing principal component analysis, which influenced attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of Pepsodent consumers: 1. Intangible benefits 2. Tangible benefits Based on the further correlation and regression analysis result on the factors, both factors have a direct, positive influence towards Pepsodent consumers attitudinal and behavioral loyalty with Tangible Benefits factor as the strongest predictor Lifebuoy Consumer Loyalty Analysis In the case of Lifebuoy consumers, the generated factors which influenced attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of Lifebuoy consumers were also the same as in the Pepsodent s case: 1. Tangible benefits 2. Intangible benefits However, differed from Pepsodent s loyalty predictor result, attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of Lifebuoy consumers was strongly influenced by Intangible Benefits factor, although both factors provides direct, positive influence towards Lifebuoy s attitudinal and behavioral loyalty.

3 Consumers Loyalty Analysis towards Unilever Indonesia Using attributes of corporate that were constructed in the previous study by Anisimova, the author generated three factors, utilizing principal component analysis, which influenced attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of the consumers of Pepsodent and Lifebuoy towards Unilever Indonesia: 1. Active & Strong 2. High Reputation 3. Focused & Dedicated Based on further correlation and regression analysis result on the factors, Active & Strong was the notable factor that strongly provides positive influence towards attitudinal and behavioral loyalty level of consumers towards Unilever Indonesia. This factor came up based on the constructed items that were grouped as a result of PCA-Factor Analysis below. Active means the corporate conducted activities that provide influence to the community while Strong means the corporate implemented and enforced some values which in the end brought good associations and positive image towards the company.

4 136 Table Active & Strong Construct Active & Strong 1 Sponsorship National Sporting Event 2 Strong Support of Research into Technology 3 Company at the Forefront Technology 4 Manufacturer with Strong Environmental Awareness 5 Committed Player in Environmental Awareness 6 Customer-Focused 7 Respect for Individual 8 Practical Technology 9 Ecologically Responsible Manufacturing 10 Community-Oriented Company 11 Original Ideas 12 Technologically Advanced 13 Technologically Sophisticated 14 Ambitious Activities Activities Activities Activities Activities Non-Consumers Attitude and Intention Analysis towards Unilever Indonesia Although they use neither Pepsodent nor Lifebuoy products, non-consumers also had their own sentiment and perception towards Unilever Indonesia as well as towards Pepsodent and Lifebuoy products. The research showed that fifty-nine per cent (59%) of non-consumers would want to use Pepsodent products, while fifty-one per cent (51%) would want to use Lifebuoy products. With this in mind, the author also conducted analysis on non-consumers to figure out what factors that could influence their attitude towards Unilever Indonesia and, hopefully, increase their purchase intention towards products of Unilever Indonesia.

5 137 The analysis generated three factors that influenced non-consumers attitude and purchase intention towards Unilever Indonesia: 1. High reputations 2. Strong values 3. Active & Dedicated Based on the analysis, the strong factors that could provide direct, positive influence of non-consumers attitude as well as their purchase intention towards Unilever Indonesia was the Strong factor. This factor came up based on the constructed items that were grouped as a result of PCA- Factor Analysis below. Strong means the corporate implemented and enforced some values which in the end brought good associations and positive image towards the company. Table Active & Strong Construct Strong 1 Manufacturer with Strong Environmental Awareness 2 Customer-Focused 3 Constant Innovation 4 Respect for Individual 5 Practical Technology 6 Ecologically Responsible Manufacturing 7 Community-Oriented Company 8 Ambitious

6 138 The afore-mentioned conclusion of strong loyalty predictor factors were based on analysis which could be summarized into the following tables: Table Brand Attributes Strongest Loyalty Predictors BRANDS LOYALTY ATTRIBUTES STRONGEST PREDICTOR Attitudinal Tangible Benefits Pepsodent Behavioral Tangible Benefits CONCLUSION Tangible Benefits Lifebuoy Attitudinal Behavioral Intangible Benefits Intangible Benefits Intangible Benefits Table Corporate Attributes Strongest Loyalty Predictors BRANDS ATTRIBUTES STRONGEST PREDICTOR CONCLUSION Consumers Attitudinal Behavioral Active & Strong Active & Strong Active & Strong Non-Consumers Attitude Intention Strong Strong Strong From the tables above, it could be concluded that among university students, in Jakarta and its greater area, tangible benefits and intangible benefits were the loyalty predictor factor that directly provides positive influence on their attitudinal and behavioral loyalty towards FMCG products. However, the strongest loyalty factor for Pepsodent consumers was the tangible benefits while intangible benefits factor was the strongest loyalty factor for Lifebuoy consumers. Furthermore, the study also discovered that corporate activities and strong values will have a direct, positive influence towards Unilever Indonesia consumers attitudinal and behavioral loyalty towards the corporate while strong values will have a direct, positive influence towards non-consumers attitude and purchase intention towards Unilever Indonesia.

7 Managerial Implications This study identified that tangible benefits and intangible benefits were the strong factors that directly provided positive influence towards attitudinal and behavioral university student consumer loyalty. Managers may want to highlight this finding and focus not only in providing but also to communicate those benefits in order to retain or even increase current university student consumers loyalty. It was found that Pepsodent university student consumers were concerned with tangible benefits they got from the products. Brand managers may want to keep retain university student consumers loyalty by communicating and emphasizing on product s functions, practicality, efficiency and effectual values. Furthermore, they might want to add more product variance thus providing more functional benefits (i.e whitening function, breath-savers function, and etc.) of the products and perhaps focus more on communication campaign of product s tangible benefits through many ways of advertisement or communication strategies (such as print ads, product sampling, competition, students events, etc.). In adding some tangible benefits, managers may want to create a promotion by giving a functional bonus such as tongue cleaner, breath-savers mints, and etc. or by creating an environment-friendly tube and communicates that added value that by purchasing Pepsodent products, consumers are helping to conserve the environment. On the other hand, the study towards Lifebuoy university student consumers discovered that they were concerned on intangible benefits they got from the product. It could be elaborated from this finding that Lifebuoy university student

8 140 consumers seek products that could help enhance their image and perhaps improve their status in their social environment. By creating a communication campaign that focus on enhancing consumers personal representation in the society (i.e Lifebuoy provides scent that will last for 12-hours that consumers will benefit in gaining self-confidence among their peers, Lifebuoy help consumer expressing personality through the variety of scents provided, Lifebuoy makes consumers look sophisticated due to hygiene and sanitation, and etc.) and by providing customer experience activities (i.e similar strategy that is applied by Citra body lotion: Rumah Cantik Citra, probably managers could adopt it into Rumah Mandi Lifebuoy around students sport center and campus), university student consumers may grasp the whole concept of symbolic and emotional benefits that Lifebuoy offers. However, if brand managers want to acquire new university student customers, they will need to focus on enhancing corporate values (i.e providing innovation, being community-oriented, respecting individuals and etc.) as well as communicating the values to the consumers. By simply having a regular innovation (i.e through repackaging, new product launching, new variant launching and etc.), company will grasp the whole concept of communicating corporate values as well as showing company s consistent commitment towards the consumer.

9 141 Looking at the result of non-consumers brand selection among particular product category (such as soaps, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.), product managers should also be aware that Unilever s brand are actually competing towards each other within university-student consumers. Should they see this as a probability of product-cannibalization, it is recommended for the product managers to better segment their target markets or perhaps create a different communication strategy to better distinguish their consumers Limitation Due to policy given by Unilever Indonesia, the current research was conducted towards university students only, which means it only represented one consumer segment. Moreover, the survey was conducted only in Jakarta and its greater area; which means the results may not be representative towards other geographical area, even towards other cities Indonesia. Therefore the results of the study may not represent consumers in general Future Recommendation Although there were two brands involved, current study only explored one type of FMCG products which was toiletries. Study on different kind of FMCG products, such as personal hygiene, foods and beverages, home care and etc. is needed in order to find out if the result from current study is applicable to represent consumer attitudinal and behavioral loyalty towards FMCG products.

10 142 In future research, it is recommended to utilize a Likert-scale that has more than four points although some researchers have proved that four-scale Likert is suitable. Providing a scale that has more than four points will provide respondents wider options in determining their opposition towards the statements. Furthermore, based on the R 2 results pattern on regression analysis, it is recommended for future research to construct another set or model of questions to measure consumer s behavioral loyalty in particular. Furthermore, a question on why some respondents do not want to use certain brands (such as Pepsodent or Lifebuoy) should be added in order to gather more thorough data in understanding customers reasoning and/or decision making process. Overall, it is recommended for future analysis to focus on different scope of analysis, perhaps towards different consumer types, such as office workers, housemom, teenagers, and etc. or towards different kind of products from different companies in the same industry, such as FMCG products from Nestle, Orang Tua Group, Procter & Gamble, and etc. or event towards another industry such as retail, financial institution, technology, and etc. to compliment current study.