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1 BRAND LOYALITY AND ITS IMPACT OF SUNFLOWER OIL IN ERODE DISTRICT OF TAMILNADU Dr.A.Amudha Assistant Professor of Commerce (CA) Vellalar College for Women (Autonomous) Thindal, Erode , Tamil Nadu. ABSTRACT Brand loyalty is a consumer s preference to buy a particular brand in a product category. It occurs because users perceive that the brand offers the right product features, image, or level of quality at the right price. This perception becomes the foundation for a new buying habit. Sunflower oil is the non-volatile compressed from the seeds of sunflower. In recent years there has been an increase in demand for sunflower crops. Sunflower oil is high in the essential vitamin E and low in saturated fat. The health benefits of sunflower oil in dude its ability to improve heart health,boost energy, strengthen the immune system, improve your skin health, prevent cancer, lower cholesterol, protect against asthma and reduce inflammation. Almost all the people in the world use the sunflower oil in their cooking. Hence an attempt is made in this direction to study this intricate "Brand loyalty" through brand purchase behaviour regarding sunflower oil. This study is exploring the brand loyalty of sunflower oil among people at Erode district in Tamilnadu. Key Words: Brand loyalty, Perceive, Purchase behavior, Product category and Low in saturated fat. Introduction A brand is the key aspect of purchasing the product or investing the money. Brands are important to consumers as they provide them with choices, a means of simplifying the decision, quality assurances, risk avoidance and self experience. Brand loyalty plays an important role in developing and maintaining the goal of marketing. Brand loyalty occurs when a customer chooses to repeatedly purchase a product produced by the same company instead of a substitute product produced by a competitor. The sunflower oil is rich in vitamin E which acts as an antioxidant in the body. It has been directly connected to preventing heart diseases and boosting immune system. Some women use low- cholesterol edible oil like Suffola, Sundrop and 258

2 etc. Each family takes into consideration many factors before they chooses their edible oil requirement in cooking. Review of Literature The main objective of literature review is to situate the current study within the body of literature and to identify the gap of previous studies with the present study. Junjun Mao (2010) identified that customer brand loyalty plays an important role in the modern global marketing. In order to maximize profit, people try different strategies, among which loyalty is recognized by a large amount of businessmen. Most of all by finding the elements and effect of loyalty, businessmen may better understand the nature of customer faith. For this reason, they may overcome the trouble in building and remaining customer reliability. Alison. K. Muoray (2012) studied regarding what factors most influences brand loyalty of microbreweries. He stated that consumers who have less money are more likely to spend money on familiar products because they know and trust that particular brand. In case of loyalty to microbreweries, a low income could be one of the influential factors to why consumers repeat patronage to certain microbreweries. Need and Importance of the Study The sunflower oil is nothing but the cooking oil. The purchase of cooking oil depends on factors like culture, preferences, taste, flavour and health. Many attempts have been made in studying the brand loyalty like soap, face wash, fairness cream, etc. It will be interesting to study the brand loyalty concept of sunflower oil among various kinds of people. The research is conducted to study the concept 'Brand Loyalty' with respect to the sunflower oil. The study is of significance to the researcher, the organisation who is producing the oil and to the customers who is purchasing. This study aims to find out the loyalty of customer towards the brand of sunflower oil using by them and also to know the consumers point of view about the quality and quantity of the product they are required. The study helps to know the factors that influence the consumers to buy the product. Also it aims to get information regarding the various branded sunflower oil prevailing particularly in Erode district. Statement of the Problem Loyalty refers to the loyal of a customer to a particular product. On one side it shows a loyalty of customer to a product and one side it is more important to a producers or a company to earn goodwill and a profit too. If a company has a regular customer to their product they can earn more profit. Sunflower oil is the product which is being used for cooking. Therefore they have to produce a quality product with an affordable price to retain a customer. Since brand loyalty is considered as more important for all consumers items, especially for cooking oil, this study is being undertaken to find out those factor which induce a customer to be more loyal to the brand. This project shows about the brand loyalty of sunflower oil in the Erode district. 259

3 Objectives of the Study To study the concept of brand loyalty. To identify the kind of sunflower oil used by the consumers in Erode district for cooking. To examine the relationship between level of satisfaction and proportion of branded to unbranded edible oil used by the consumers of Erode district. To analyse the reasons for switching over to other brand of Sunflower oil. Hypothesis H01: There is no significant difference among the various factors of oil and brand loyalty. H02: There is no significant relationship between the demographic factors of respondents and the brand loyalty. Research Methodology In the study both primary and secondary data has been used. The primary data are collected through the framed questionnaire and the secondary data are collected by making view on various books, journal, magazines and websites. Sampling Technique The sampling technique used for this study is simple random sampling. It is the basic probability sample design. For this study the people who purchases and cooks are being selected randomly without any check. Research Design The researcher has adopted descriptive research design for this study. The descriptive research aims to portray accurately the characteristics of particular individual situation or group and to determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else. The primary data has been collected through the well formed questions. Sample Size The research was conducted with a sample size of 250 which consists of 200 female respondents and 50 male respondents. Each respondent is selected from various places in Erode district. For this study the people who purchases and cooks are being selected randomly without any check. The present study was framed with the following methodology. Statistical Tools Used Percentage analysis Chi-square test Garrett Ranking 260

4 Percentage Analysis Percentage refers to kind of ratio. Percentage is used to compare the relative terms, the distribution of two or more series of data. Percentage area used to describe the relationship. The percentage analysis is made for the following profile of the respondents or for the demographic factors of the respondents. Percentage Analysis = Socio-Economic Background of the Respondents The personal characteristics of the selected respondents like age, gender, educational qualification, monthly income, members in the family, family type and opinion about the brand loyalty of the selected respondents like kind of sunflower oil, knowing about product, loyalty to the brand, proportion of using branded to unbranded oil, reason for switching are discussed in this section. The opinion about the product differs from gender to gender and also the satisfaction level differs from the gender to gender. It is observed from the table -1 that among 250 respondents 200 (80%) respondents is female and 50 (20%) respondents are male respondents. The taste and the loyalty level also vary from one age group to another.the educational qualification is categorized into illiterate, school level and Graduate. The occupation is categorized into Employee, Student, Business, House wife, others. The study concludes that majority of the respondents are House wives". Since the monthly income is one important factor which determines the expenses carry over in a family. The majority of the respondents family size is between 3-5 members in a family. The table-1 points out that, from 48.4% of consumers who are buying Sunflower oil are buying the following brand respectively that is, 6.8% of respondents are buying the Fortune sunflower oil, while 16.8% of respondents are using Gold Winner and 14% of them are using Usha sunflower oil, while 6.4% of consumers are buying Saffola, and 4.4% of respondents are using some other brand of sunflower oil which includes Sakthi sunflower oil, Sunrise, Sundrop, SaffolaTasty.Thus, the majority of respondents are buying Gold Winner sunflower oil among all other kind of sunflower oil.the respondents know about the particular brand of sunflower oil by the advertisement, simultaneously 24.4% of respondents came to know about the brand by friends.the majority of respondents are come to know about the particular brand by the advertisement(50%). Among 250 respondents, 159 of them are loyal to the brand they are using (63.6%), and 91 of them are not loyal to the brand (36.4%) they are using. The respondents may use unbranded sunflower oil also. The study concludes that majority of consumers are ever changed their brand of sunflower oil from one to other. 261

5 TABLE-1 SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND OF THE RESPONDENTS Factor category No of Respondents percentages Below 30 years Age years Above 45 years Gender Female Male Educational Qualification Illiterate School Level Graduate Monthly Income Members in the family Kind of Sunflower Oil Knowing about Product Below Below Members Members Above Fortune Gold Winner Usha Saffola Others Advertisement Friends Relatives Others Loyalty to the Brand Yes No : Proportion of Using Branded 50: to Unbranded Oil 60: Nil Non-availability Reason for Switching High price Due to recommendation High level of Cholesterol Curious to try another brand Other reason Influence of Demographic Variables on Brand Loyalty- Chi-Square Test Brand loyalty to a large extent is determined by the personal variables of the consumers like their age, educational qualification, gender, monthly income, family type, kind of personality, occupation and so on. The influence of demographic variables on the level of brand loyalty is estimated with Chi-Square test. 262

6 Gender and Level of Brand Loyalty The gender of the respondents has its own impact on the level of brand loyalty. The nature of estimation and perception on the brand and its loyalty level may completely differ from female to male. The table -2 explains the relationship between the gender of the respondents and their extent of brand loyalty. H0: There is no significant association between gender and level of brand loyalty towards branded sunflower oil. Table -2 Gender and Level of Brand Loyalty Gender Level of Brand Loyalty Low Medium High Total Female 39(86.7%) 135(77.6%) 26(83.9%) 200(80.0%) Male 6(13.3%) 39(22.4%) 5(16.1%) 50(20.0%) Total 45(100%) 174(100%) 31(100%) 250 χ² = df = 2 Sig ns ns= non significant The table -2 describes that 86.7% of female consumers are low loyal to the brand whereas it is 3.3% in case of male category. In the category of High brand loyalty 83.9% of females are more loyal to their brand and 16.1% of males are less loyal to the brand. The study came across the point of view that female consumers are moderately loyal to the brand they are using. The non-significant chi-square value (0.337) implies that there is no association between Gender and Level of Loyalty to the branded edible oil and it is accomplished from the study that the level of brand loyalty does not depends upon the Gender of the respondents. Both female and male does not give much loyalty to the brand they are using. Age and Level of Brand Loyalty Age shows one s maturity level and an important determinant influencing decision making. The decision making and the thought regarding purchasing of product differs from one age group to another age group. For the purpose of the study the age of the respondents are being classified into three categories and their level of brand loyalty is analyzed in Table -3. H0: There is no significant association between age of the consumers and their level of brand loyalty towards branded sunflower oil. 263

7 Table -3 Age and Level of Brand Loyalty Age Level of Brand Loyalty Low Medium High Total Below 30 10(22.2%) 47(27.0%) 7(22.6%) 64(25.6%) years 13(28.9%) 78(31.2%) 16(52.6%) 107(42.8%) Above 45 years 22(48.9%) 49(28.2%) 8(25.8%) 79(31.6%) Total 45(100%) 174(100%) 31(100%) 250 χ² = df = 4 Sig ns ns= non significant The above table-3 brings into light that 48.9% of consumers in the age group of above 45 years give lowest level of loyalty to the brand while purchasing sunflower oil whereas it is 22.2% in the age group of below 30 years. The study finds out that majority of respondents in the age group between years are more loyal to the brand of sunflower oil they are using. In order to find out the association between the age of respondents and their level of brand loyalty, Chi-Square test has been employed. Since, the chi-square value (0.076) is nonsignificant, the null hypothesis is accepted. Therefore, it can be concluded that the level of brand loyalty does not depends upon the age. Educational Qualification and Level of Brand Loyalty The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and critically. The literate people carefully notice about a product than the illiterate people while buying and using the product. Also the loyalty level of the brand varies from illiterate people to literate people. An attempt is made to analyze the influence of educational qualification in showing the loyalty to the brand. H0: There is no significant association between Educational Qualification and Level of brand loyalty. Table -4 Educational Qualification and Level of Brand Loyalty Educational Level of Brand Loyalty Qualification Low Medium High Total Illiterate 12(26.7%) 40(23.0%) 8(25.8%) 60(24.0%) School Level 19(42.2%) 68(39.1%) 10(32.3%) 97(38.8%) Graduate 14(31.1%) 66(37.9%) 13(41.9%) 93(37.2%) Total 45(100%) 174(100%) 31(100%) 250 χ² = df = 4 Sig ns ns= non significant 264

8 The table- 4 gives an idea that 42.2% of respondents with the educational qualification as school level are not much loyal to their brand, while 39.1% of respondents who comes under the same category are somewhat loyal to the brand, but in case of most loyal 41.9% of graduates are very much loyal to the brand they are using. The majority of the respondents who had the educational qualification with school level are neither loyal nor ill loyal to their brand, whereas they show the medium loyalty to the branded sunflower oil they are using. The chi-square value of confirms that the null hypothesis is accepted and points out that there is no association between Educational Qualification and Level of Brand Loyalty among the respondents. Irrespective of the consumers educational qualification they do not shows loyalty to the brand. Members in Family and Level of Loyalty: The family size is determined by the number of members in the family. The needs and wants for the product are sometimes based on the size of family and the loyalty to the brand is also sometimes based on the members in the family (i.e.) size of the family. The influence of family size on the level of brand loyalty towards sunflower oil is presented in the table -5. H0: There is no significant association between members in the family and Level of brand loyalty towards sunflower oil among the respondents. Members Family in Table-5 Members in Family and Level of Loyalty Level of Brand Loyalty Low Medium High Total Below 3 6(13.3%) 33(19.0%) 0(0.0%) 39(15.6%) 3-5 Members 27(60.0%) 115(66.1%) 22(71.0%) 164(65.6%) 6-8 Members 11(24.4%) 24(13.8%) 4(12.9) 39(15.6%) Above 8 1(2.2%) 2(1.1%) 5(16.1%) 8(3.2%) Total 45(100%) 174(100%) 31(100%) 250(100%) χ² = df = 6 Sig The table -5 highlights that 60.0% of respondents whose family size comes between 3-5 members give lowest loyalty level to the brand. In the category of high level of brand loyalty 71.0% respondents with family members are between 3-5 are utmost high in the loyalty level to the branded edible oil. The highly significant chi-square value (0.000) indicates that there is association between Size of family and the Level of brand loyalty. It is accomplished from the study that the level of brand loyalty depends on the family size of the respondents. If the family size is less, they are loyal to the brand and level of loyalty decreases if increasing in family size. 265

9 Garrett s Raking Technique To analyze and rank the factors that lead the respondents to purchase the branded sunflower oil, the Garrett s ranking test is used in this study. The respondents are asked to rank the factors that influence the consumer to purchase branded sunflower oil according to their likes and dislikes. The order of merit assigned by the respondents was converted into ranks by using the Garrett s ranking technique. Where, Percentage Position = 100 ( Rij- 0.5)/ Nj Rij= Rank given to i th factor by j th individual Nj = Number of factors ranked by j th individual Table -6 Reason for preferring particular Branded Oil- Garrett s ranking S. No Factors Total Scores Mean Rank 1 Quality of Oil Quantity of oil Affordable Price Easy Availability Health Factors Brand Name Packaging It is identified from the table-6 that, for the particular branded sunflower oil the consumers are ranked the factor of Quality of oil as first rank that influences them to purchase with highest mean value of , while the second highest mean value is and the Quantity of oil is the Second reason to purchase the particular oil, whereas Affordable Price is ranked as Fifth rank which have fifth highest mean value of , and the Easy Availability is the Fourth reason to buy the particular branded oil with the mean value of 50.56, while the third highest mean value is in which the Health Factors attains Third rank to prefer particular brand, the Brand Name is stands for Sixth rank with mean value of and the Packaging gets the last rank that is Seventh rank to prefer the particular branded oil with the least mean value of

10 Relationship between Proportion of Using Branded and Unbranded Sunflower Oil and The Satisfaction Level An attempt was made to identify the relationship between proportion of using branded Variables Mean Std. Deviation N Correlation (r) Proportion Satisfaction level of Branded to unbranded to unbranded oil and satisfaction level of consuming branded edible oil compared with unbranded oil. The following table-8 presents about the relationship. Table-7 Relationship between Proportion of Using Branded and Unbranded Edible Oil and the Satisfaction Level It is understood from the table -7 that there is significant positive correlation (0.341) exists between proportion of branded sunflower oil to unbranded sunflower oil and the satisfaction of consuming branded sunflower oil comparing with unbranded sunflower oil. Thus, there is a relationship between proportion of using branded sunflower oil to the unbranded sunflower oil and the level of satisfaction of consuming branded sunflower oil comparing with unbranded oil. Limitations of the Study The results of the analysis made in this study are fully depending on the information s given by the respondents in the Erode district only. The data given by the respondents have the limitations as to their perception, opinion, liking, knowledge, feelings etc. The effectiveness of the study may be affected due to personal bias of the respondents. To examine the proportion and level of satisfaction of branded to unbranded edible oil used by the consumers of Erode district. References Books 1. C.R.Kothari, Research Methodology Methods and Techniques New age International (p)limited Publishers, New Delhi,Second Revised Edition M.N.Mishra,(1998), Modern Marketing Management, Himalaya publishing house- Mumbai,First Edition

11 Journals IJRFM Volume 6, Issue 6 (June, 2016) (ISSN ) 1. Amit Sharma (2012), Customer s Personality and Brand Loyality :An Empirical Study, Journal of Management Research, Volume 2,Number 1,Jan-Feb Goyal A.(2014), Consumer Purchase Attitude and Behaviour with respect to Brand Preference and Brand Loyality for environmentaly favourable products, Indian Journal of Research,5(5),pp Junjun Mao(2010), Customer Brand Loyalty, International Journal of Business Management,Vol 5, No.7 4. Rowley J (2005), The four Cs of Customer Loyalty, Marketing Intelligence & Planning,23(6),pp