Dr.T.Kalakumari Assistant Professor Department of Business Administration Sur University College Sur, Sultanate of Oman

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1 IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM, ISSN: EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CONSUMPTION PATTERN OF HEALTHDRINKS Dr.T.Kalakumari Assistant Professor Department of Business Administration Sur University College Sur, Sultanate of Oman Dr.Saed Adnan Mustafa Assistant professor Head of Business Administration Department Sur University College Sur, Sultanate of Oman. Abstract Nowadays variety of health drink brands are produced by the manufactures around the world. In the new and aggressive world people must do powerful work both physically and mentally to live successfully. So they required more strength, for that they want nutritional based health drinks. Health drinks products are prominently sold in retail stores and super markets. The choice of selecting a product or brand is very difficult to the consumers. Thus, consumers take utmost care in selecting a particular brand of health drink product. In the present scenario consumers are showing a strong attention in new and superior quality of health drink products. Consumers preference towards health drink brands also varies with their sex, income, age and emotional behavior. Hence, the empirical works relating to assess the influencing factors and its relationship among the health drinks brand. Keywords- Consumer Behaviour, Consumer Loyalty, Experiential Marketing, Health Drink Brands I. INTRODUCTION In recent era, the consumers are emotionally attached to a brand, because the marketing efforts have changed from conventional marketing strategies in to experiential marketing strategy. This experiential marketing is also called as experimental marketing. This new concept of marketing strategies help companies to create an association with consumers and connect them through distinctive and tremendous experiences. The manufacturers and marketers of health drinks must realise the fact that experiential marketing has risen in recognition over the years, as it has develop into a aggressive approach for many companies. Health drink product brands must aim to find the suitable way to build up association, promote commitment, and increase loyalty among current and prospective customers. Because, Indian health drink market has pragmatic tough growth over the ancient periods. Rising income and financial liberalization of middle class population had a strong impact on consumer expenditure and utilization in both urban and rural areas. Nowadays the Indian consumer spends a major amount of non-refundable income on health drink commodities. The factors like macro-economic and demographic conditions have also boost consumers overheads on health drinks in the business sector. Therefore, the manufacturers and marketers of major health drinks are drafting successful marketing strategies in order to hold the existing customers and catch the attention of innovative customers for their product or brand. The health drink companies aim to present the crucial marketing practice to develop an association with their customers, promoting exciting connections, increasing customer faithfulness and to retain the customer for a long term. Hence this research paper focuses on experiential marketing and its impacts on consumers of health drinks buying practices in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu. A. Statement of the Problem In the competitive world, the health drink manufacturers face a lot of challenges to attract the customers mind and the establishment of several innovative brands of health drinks. Consumers prefer to buy the best available health drink brand in the market. Though, the product features like taste, colour, cost, wrapping of the products, storing of the products, offers and health constraints influence consumer s preferences towards a health drink products. The brand reputation is observed as the primary influencing factor while buying health drinks. Because, the Indian consumers associate a brand name of particular health drink with the good quality, it clearly evidences the emotional relationship that exists between brand and consumer. The Successful promotion of a brand and to retain customer loyalty, the health drink manufactures and marketers in India are adopting experiential marketing as a communication tool. The organisations are using experiential marketing to create a strong customer-brand connection increase loyalty and brand awareness. In short, it can be concluded that the traditional market is focused on the essential features and benefits of the product. Experiential marketing totally distorted this culture, and it attracts the customer in an emotional and joyful way about a brand. Hence, this paper aims to analyze the influential factors and its relationship exhibited by consumers of branded health drinks in Coimbatore District. B. Objectives of the Study 1. To examine the influencing factors by the consumers while buying health drinks. 2. To measure the association of health drinks brand and influencing factors of the current designations. 53

2 C. Hypotheses of the Study The specific hypotheses were tested in the study is to analyse the pattern of utilization of health drink by the households and the determinants of health drink type purchased. HO: There is no association between brand purchased by the consumers and the criteria considered by them while buying health drinks. H1: There exists close association between brand purchased by the consumers and the criteria considered by them while buying health drinks. D.Rearch Design Under this stage, the researcher adopted convenient sampling method for collecting data. The maximum urban population areas were selected and it was ensured that the people are highly using the branded health drink in tune with the objectives of the study. The selection of urban area is divided into two parts. The first part involves that the blocks which have more than five urban areas; three areas were selected. The second part involves that the blocks which have less than five urban areas; one urban area was selected on the basis of highest population. On adopting this method totally 10 urban areas were selected. From each urban area 20 respondents were selected. So the proposed sample size of 200 households is taken up for the study. Accordingly, 250 questionnaires were collected and 17 questionnaires were excluded due to a large amount of missing data. Consequently, 233 valid questionnaires for the analysis were obtained. E. Sources of Data Collection Primary and secondary data were composed for the study. Interview method was followed for collecting the data. Primary data for this research was collected through questionnaires and direct face to face conversation among the respondents. Secondary data for this study were composed from the internet, different periodicals, books in chapters, magazines and the Governmental published documents. II. LITERATURE REVIEW Bernd Schmitt, Lia Zarantonello (2013, examined the concept of consumer experience and their consumptional behavior of different brand experiences. The result of the study shows that the experiential marketing is balanced for consumers in their assessment while buying the product or services. Chao-Chien and I-Han Chen (2014 investigated the extent to which experiential marketing motivates the customer target during the selection of products. The study proved that there IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM, ISSN: was a considerable relationship between customer target and the essential features of experiential marketing. The outcome of the study exhibits that experiential marketing is absolutely raise the customer buying habits. Ladipo Patrick Kunle Adeosun & Rahim Ajao Ganiyu analysed the consumer's response to retail experiential marketing. The study creates a link between the bahavioural pattern of the consumer and its impacts on customer satisfaction. The study accomplished that the buying habit is a combination of stagnant and vibrant elements which connects the customers in an emotional way. These essential elements allow the customer to investigate their surroundings and to entertain their buying behavior in a peaceful way. Veto Datta & S. Vasantha (2014 focused the experiential value and its positive impact on customers. The study identify a direct correlation between experiential value and positive perception towards the make my trip travel websites.the four self-oriented value such as aesthetics, playfulness, customer relationship and service excellence play an important role in shaping website image in customers mind. Finally the study proves that creating and delivering experiences based on perception of consumers is very important for the e-commerce to gain and retain its customers. Adweek (2009 analyzed that the new concept of experiential marketing is emotionally attached to the products and services. This also enhances the rich-communication between brands and consumers. Experiential marketing provides a substitute method of marketing that allows the strong relationship between consumers and the manufacturing companies. Schmitt (1999 is the familiar person for the innovation of experiential marketing. In the study, he pointed out that, experiential marketing is basically consists of six senses: smell, vision, taste, hearing, touch and balance. In the present business scenario, traditional marketing has mostly not followed due to the development of experiential marketing. Cristiane Vasconcelos Aronne, & Maria Celeste (2009 examined experiential marketing and its impacts on customers buying behavior and its significance on brand image. The selected brand for his study was Soft Drinks. The study proved that experiential marketing is benefitted to the consumers to extend new strategies and acquire a aggressive advantage. H1: There exists close association between brand purchased by the consumers and the criteria considered by them while buying health drinks. 54

3 Health Drink Traits Freshn ess Taste Colour Wholes omenes s Appear ances Nutriti ve value Availa ble soon after mixing IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM, ISSN: Table 1: Factors preference by the consumers subjects consider the nutritious value, taste, availability and to buy health drinks appearances of health drink items at the time of purchase. These factors are rated in second, third, fourth and fifth place Not Mos with an average score of 3.54, 3.33, 3.14 and 2.98 respectively. at t Not On the other hand, the respondents give preference to the Impo Imp Impo all colour and wholesomeness of the health drink product at the rtant orta rtant Imp time of purchase. These factors are ranked in sixth place with nt orta the mean score of nt Multiple Regression Model This analysis evaluated the association between the (63. (31.8 ( brand of health drink bought by the consumers and the criteria ( considered by them while buying health drinks. The dependent variable considered for this analysis are brand purchased by the consumers and the independent variables are X1- (42. (49.4 ( ( Freshness, X2-Taste, X3-Colour, X4-Wholesomeness, X Appearances, X6-Nutritive value and X7-Available soon after mixing (22. (48.1 (24.0 ( Brand of health drink purchased by the consumers = f (Freshness, Taste, Colour, Wholesomeness, Appearances, Nutritive value and Available soon after mixing. Brand of health drink bought by the consumers as a model variable to (23. (43.7 (28.1 ( execute the subsequent regression analysis Brand of health drink bought by the consumers = α + β1x β2x2 +β3x3 + β4x4 + β5x5 + β6x6 + β7x7+ e Where, (29. (45.3 (18.7 ( Y = Brand of health drink bought by the consumers ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (6.50 Sum Mean Rank 2 4 B0 - Intercept (constant B1-7 - Slopes (Estimated Co-efficient X1 -Freshness, X2 -Taste, X3 -Colour, X4 -Wholesomeness, X5 -Appearances, X6 -Nutritive value and X7 -Available soon after mixing. Where, α is unvarying variable and β1, β2, β3, β4, β5, β6 and β7 are coefficients to calculate approximate figures and e is the error term. Table 2: Brand of health drink bought by the consumers and criteria preferred by them while buying health drinks R R 2 Adjusted R 2 SE F Value Sig Level of Significance at 5 per cent Fig 1: Factors preference by the consumers to buy health drinks The data presented in the above table indicates that, the factors preferred by the consumers in buying health drink products. It is clearly observed that, majority of the consumers emphasize on the freshness of the product, it is ranked in first place with the mean score of Followed by, the sample Y= X X2-.101X3+.132X X5+.359X6+.329X7 From the above analysis, it is found that the F ratio (1.189 is statistically significant at 5 per cent level. This reveals the complete regression is significant. The above data analysis reveals the coefficient of correlation (R value.588 which 55

4 IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM, ISSN: depict good relationship between variables and the coefficient between health drink brand bought by the consumers and the of determinant (R This has to describe the level of criterion considered by them while buying health drinks. association between health drink brand bought by the consumers and the criteria considered by them while buying health drinks. Table 3 shows the value of constant and coefficient value of each attributes for brand of health drink bought by the consumers. Variables Table 3: Coefficients value of Brand of Health Drinks and bought by consumers Unstandardized Standardized Collinearity Statistics Coefficients Coefficients B Std. Error Beta T Sig. Tolerance Constant Freshness Taste Colour Wholesomeness Appearances Nutritive value Available soon after mixing VIF Level of Significance at 5 per cent To identify the association between health drink brand bought by the consumers and the criterion considered by them while buying health drinks, the figures given in the co-efficient table is examined. Out of seven parameters statements considered five were found to be statistically significant. The beta column of the standardized co-efficient reveals that health drink brand bought by the consumers and the criterion considered by them while buying health drink met beta standard co-efficient which is statistically significant at Predicated Value of Brand of health drink bought by the consumers =1.189 (Constant ±.249 (Freshness ±.278 (Taste ±.105 (Appearances ±.359 (Nutritive value ±.329 (Available soon after mixing To assess the relationship of health drink bought by the consumers and criterion considered by them while buying health drinks, multiple regression modeling was performed in the individual dimension of the generated scale. Multiple Regression Analysis indicates that, out of seven variables tested five were found to significantly influencing factors, they are: Freshness, Taste, Appearances, Nutritive value and Available soon after mixing. Therefore the hypothesis stands accepted and it is concluded that there exists close association III. FINDINGS From the elaborate data analysis it is found that majority of the consumers emphasize on the freshness of the product, it is ranked in first place with the mean score of From the empirical results of Multiple regression model it is revealed that health drink brand regularly bought by the consumers and the criteria considered by them while buying health drinks are closely associated with each other. IV. SUGGESSION The manufacturers and marketers of health drink should identify the health drink consumption behaviour differences that prevails among the North Indian and South India, For example, most of south Indian families does not prefer to consume milk or its based products. Thus manufacturers and marketers of health drink should redefine their products according to consumers preferences in various geographical regions. The health drink manufacturers may introduce more water solvable mixes instead of promoting milk based mix of health drinks. It is believed by the researcher that this kind of act will help the stakeholders in promotion of emotional satisfaction among the consumers. V. CONCLUSION Nowadays, Indian mothers who are much caring about their young children health. At any cost they will not buy any inferior products that may affect their children s health. In India Consumer behavior towards health drink products are 56

5 varying due to financial and individual traits of people. Recently, most of the companies using experiential marketing strategies to create relationships and strong positive brand image with consumers and connect them through distinctive and tremendous experiences. Out of various components considered for the study, majority of the consumers give emphasize to freshness and hygiene of the product at the time of purchasing health drinks. While considering the nutritious value of health drinks majority of the respondents prefers to buy low fat products and they usually prefer to purchase it on departmental shops. Based on the above findings the researcher likes to conclude by stating that, experiential marketing ensures, the consumer is emotionally attached to a brand. The manufacturers and marketers followed different strategic experiential tools for their growth of business and retain the competitive advantage. VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors thank the management of Sur University College for providing opportunities and resources for carrying out this research work and for the research activities. Also, the authors thank the Dean of Sur University College for the continuous support and encouragement to publish this research work. REFERENCES [1] Aaker, D. A. (1991. Managing brand equity: Capitalizing on the value of a brand name. New York: The Free Press. [2] Adweek (2009; Entrepreneur magazine; Emerald Insight; Proceedings of the 41st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2008 Bernd H. Schmitt, Experiential Marketing: How to get customers to sense, feel, think, act, relate, Page ( [3] Arun, P. A study on consumers buying habits towards health food drink products in Salem district Tamilnadu, Namex International Journal of Management Research, Vol. 2, Issue No. 2, July December [4] Ashutosh Nigam, Modeling Relationship between Experiential Marketing, Experiential Value and Purchase Intension in Organized Quick Service Chain Restaurants International Journal of Computer Science & Management Studies, Special Issue of Vol. 12, June 2012 [5] Bemd Schmitt. Journal of Marketing Management 1999, 15, [6] Bernd Schmitt, Lia Zarantonello (2013, Consumer Experience and Experiential Marketing: A Critical Review, in IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM, ISSN: Naresh K. Malhotra (ed., (Review of Marketing Research, Volume 10, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp [7] Brakus, J., Schmitt, B. H., and Zarantonello, L. (2009. Brand Experience: What Is It? How Is It Measured? Does It Affect Loyalty?, Journal of Marketing, 73(May [8] Chao-Chien and I.Han Chen (2014, A Study of the Effect of Experiential Marketing on Customer Purchase Intention: Case Study of the Taipei International Sports Cycle Show, The Sport Journal, Published by the United States Sports Academy- ISSN: [9] Chaudhuri, A., and Holbrook, M. B. (2001. The Chain of Effects from Brand Trust and Brand Affect to Brand Performance: The Role of Brand Loyalty, Journal of Marketing, 65(2,81-93 [10] Collins Cobuild (2009 Advance Dictionary, Great Britain: Harper Collins. [11] convers.shtml [12] events6.shtml [13] AUTHORS PROFILE Dr.T.Kalakumari is an Assistant Professor in Business Administration Department of Sur University College, Sur, Sultanate of Oman. She received her B.Com & M.Com degrees from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, India in 1997 and 1999 respectively. She earned her PGDCA and M.Phil degrees from Madurai Kamaraj University in 2003 and 2005 respectively. And also, she earned her MCA - Master of Computer Applications degree from Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India in She received her Ph.D degree in Business from CBM College, Coimbatore under Bharathiar University. Her current areas of research are experiential Marketing, Consumer Behaviour and Brand Management. kalakumarit@gmail.com Dr.Saed Adnan Mustafa is an Assistant Professor in Business Administration Department of Sur University College, Sur, Sultanate of Oman. He received his B.A & MSc degrees from Jordan and Malaysia, in 2006 and 2009 respectively. He received his Ph.D degree in Business from university utara malaysia. His current areas of research are Marketing strategy, CSR, CRM, and Brand Management. said_es@yahoo.com 57