A SURVEY OF CONSUMER AWARENESS ON SELECT COMPONENTS

59 A SURVEY OF CONSUMER AWARENESS ON SELECT COMPONENTS Resmi Annie Thomas,M.Com, M.Ed, M.Phil, NET & SET Research Scholar, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India. ABSTRACT This study explores the consumer awareness on the three selected components such as product awareness, consumer rights awareness and brand awareness. The study selected a sample of 500 consumers from Kerala. It mainly focussed on the gender based, locale based and age based consumer awareness with respect to the selected components. Based on a survey of 500 consumers, the findings shows that age, locale and gender differences can be seen in consumer awareness on select components. This paper throws light to the fact that consumer education is essential for all sectors. Keywords: Consumer awareness,, Consumer Rights, Branding

60 Introduction: Consumers are the largest economic group in any country and they are the central point of all economic activities. The world is advancing rapidly industrially, technologically and materially, increasing the number and range of consumer products in the market. It is therefore, necessary to abreast of new trends and developments in the market. The ultimate aim of production, storage and distribution is to ensure consumption of goods and services to the satisfaction of consumers. The irony is that the consumers are advertised as the king by sellers and service providers but in actual practice they are not treated like that. Most of the consumers are poor, illiterate, ignorant or apathetic and continue to be at the receiving end. All consumers are not the same and so is their knowledge on consumerism. Lack of awareness on the part of consumers with respect to products, services, brands, promotions etc have complicated the process of product evaluation by the consumers. The youth are impulsive while having a strong impact on the market place and are directly targeted by business and advertising initiatives as sustainable buyers for the present and future. They play an important role in the society and market place because they spent large sum of money in purchasing goods/services and they also influence the choice of their families and friends too. Consumer movement is growing and gathering momentum from the growing Consumer Awareness and the growing feeling that the consumer is ruthlessly exploited and taken for granted. Consumers should accept consumerism as a means of asserting and enjoying their rights. Consumerism is a social force to make the business more honest, efficient, responsive and responsible. Consumer Awareness implies being conscious of and having knowledge about the various consumer rights, products, brands, services, pricing etc. Consumer Awareness helps an individual in understanding the requirements for everyday living to achieve within the framework of one s values and maximum utilization of the satisfaction from one s resources. As it is beneficial to the public, it is essential to spread information about Consumer rights, responsibilities and product evaluation and choice, grievance redressal and remedies available, which leads to a healthy living and sustainable environment. Consumer Awareness consists of theoretical and practical awareness. Theoretical Consumer Awareness implies having knowledge about Consumer rights, consumer laws, consumer responsibilities and consumer redressal agencies. Practical Consumer Awareness implies practice of the consumer knowledge in real life situations. A person who is aware of Consumer rights and responsibilities may not practice it in real life. So often the gap between theoretical Consumer Awareness and practical awareness is very wide. It is the responsibility of each individual to ensure that his Consumer awareness is apt. Statement of the Problem: The study is intended to test the Consumer Awareness of various consumers on select components. Hence the problem of the study is entitled A Survey of Consumer Awareness on Select Components. Objectives of the Study: 1. To measure Consumer Awareness of consumers on select components. 2. To find out whether there is any significance difference in mean score of consumer awareness test by considering sub-samples based on Gender, Locale, and age. Hypotheses: The hypotheses of the study are (H1): There is significant difference in the gender wise Consumer awareness with respect to the components viz; (H2): There is significant difference in the locale wise Consumer awareness with respect to the components viz; (H3): There is significant difference in the age wise Consumer awareness with respect to each of the components

61 viz; Methodology in brief: Normative survey method is used to collect the relevant data for the study. A sample size of 500 consumers is selected on the basis of stratified sampling technique from north, south and central Kerala. Consumer Awareness Test is used for data collection. The components selected for the study is, Consumer rights awareness and. Test of significance of difference between means of large independent samples and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is used for statistical analyses.spss17 &EXCEL is used for calculations. Scope of the study: The study is intended to know the Consumer Awareness of consumers in real life. As future responsible citizen of the country, the young generation should be well aware of various consumer related aspects. Consumer education is essential for making them better consumers. The study also highlights the need for consumer awareness at all sectors. Limitations of the study: The study included only three components of Consumer Awareness i.e., Consumer rights awareness & due to paucity of time. The study was confined only to Kerala. Review of related literature: Benn, J. (2003). Consumer education between consumership and citizenship: Experiences from studies of young people highlights understanding of consumer socialization to improve formal consumer education and to reflect on how empowerment becomes part of consumer education. Bhave, Yashwant. (2009). Consumer protection framework of the National Policy is a study on the importance of awareness of rights and protection by the consumers. It explains on what the consumers should expect and what they can do to ensure that their rights are respected. The study states that this can be complemented by policies that seek to encourage a healthy growth of voluntary consumer organizations. These organizations complement the efforts of the Government by providing guidance and support to the individual consumers who do not have the resources to access all the information that they should rightfully possess. Misra, Suresh. (2009).Market and the rural consumer describes the need for protecting the rural consumers and it asserts that more awareness regarding rights should be given to them and as the largest consumer base is in the rural areas, protecting the rural consumer has to be a priority in any strategy to protect the consumers. Chandra, R. (2006).Towards a new perspective on consumer education explained in the study that irrespective of the age, sex and class every individual should be given proper consumer education regarding the rights,protection, products and services. Khandela, M.C. in the book Consumer Protection in India comprehended on Consumer Protection Act and its application in the interest of the consumer. It offers precise and up-to-date information on all the inter related topics under element of provisions relating with consumer protection, application of the act, role and importance of consumer organisations and consumer education etc. V K Agarwal in his book on consumer protection in India elaborates on consumer protection legislations in India. The books describes on the legal protection, rights of the consumers, penalties imposed redressal mechanism etc available to the consumers in India. Analyses and discussions: (H1): There is significant difference in the gender wise Consumer awareness with respect to the components viz; Table I: Gender wise Significance of difference in Consumer awareness with respect to the Components

62 Variable Gender N M Standard deviation Male 226 5.35 2.41 Female 274 5.79 2.33 Consumer rights Male 226 3.85 1.926 awareness Female 274 3.68 1.529 Male 226 6.10 2.25 Female 274 6.31 2.37 t value Level of significance 2.026 P < 0.05 1.090 P > 0.05-0.570 P > 0.05 Table I indicate that the obtained t value with respect to and are not significant even at 0.05 level. This means that gender wise difference observed is not significant. The t value obtained of is found to be significant at 0.05 level. This means that the difference observed in the mean score of Male and Female is significant with respect to. (H2): There is significant difference in the Consumer awareness on the basis of locale with respect to the components viz; Test of significance of difference between the mean score of Consumer awareness on the basis of locale with respect to components are calculated using the Mean, standard deviation and t value which is given in Table II. Table II: Locale wise Significance of difference in Consumers awareness with respect to Components Variable Management N M Standard deviation Rural 250 5.256 2.305 urban 250 5.936 2.412 Consumer rights Rural 250 3.424 1.297 awareness urban 250 4.104 2.005 Rural 250 5.78 2.33 urban 250 6.74 2.21 t value Level of significance 3.22 P < 0.01 4.502 P < 0.01 4.751 P < 0.01 Table II indicate that the obtained t value with respect to, and brand awareness are found to be significant at 0.01 level. This means that consumers differ significantly with respect to, and brand awareness on the basis of locale. (H3): There is significant difference in the age wise Consumer awareness with respect to each of the components viz; Test of significance of difference between the mean scores of Consumer awareness on the basis of age with respect to components are calculated using the Mean, standard deviation and t value which is given in Table III. Table III: Summary of Analysis of variance of the component on the basis of age Source of variance Df Sum of squares Mean squares F Level of significance Between groups 2 49.562 24.781 With in groups 497 2026.276 5.969 P < 0.05 4.151 Total 499 2112.838 The F value (5.969) is greater than the tabled value (3.03) for degrees of freedom (2,497). This indicates that there is significant difference of Consumer awareness on the basis of age with respect to. The result of

63 Duncan s Multiple Range test for with respect to age is presented in Table IV. Table IV: Duncan s Multiple Range test for on the basis of age Type of subject Mean Teenagers Early adulthood Later adulthood Teenagers 3.69 _ * NS Early adulthood 4.42 * Later adulthood 4.04 NS NS _ NS-Not significant *Significant at 0.05 Score of Consumer awareness with respect to the component from Table IV, it can be seen that there is significant difference in the Mean score of Consumer awareness with respect to the component Product awareness betweens teenagers and early adults at 0.05 level of significance. The differences in Mean Scores of among the following pairs are not found to be significant at 0.05 levels. Teenagers-Later adults Early adults - Later adults Table V: Summary of Analysis of variance of the component consumer rights awareness on the basis of age Source of variance Df Sum of squares Mean squares F Level of significance Between groups 2 47.328 23.764 With in groups 497 2782.864 4.244 P < 0.05 5.599 Total 499 2830.394 The F value (4.244) is greater than the tabled value (3.03) for degrees of freedom (2,497). This indicates that there is significant difference Consumer awareness with respect to. The result of Duncan s Multiple Range test for with respect to age is presented in Table VI. Table VI: Duncan s Multiple Range test for consumer rights awareness with respect to age Type of subject Mean Teenagers Early adulthood Later adulthood Teenagers 5.32 _ * NS Early adulthood 6.04 * _ NS Later adulthood 5.60 NS NS _ NS-not significant,*significant at 0.05 Level From Table VI it can be seen that there is significant difference in the Mean Scores of Consumer awareness with respect to the component between teenagers and early adults at 0.05 level of significance. The differences in Mean Scores of Consumer right among the following pairs are not found to be significant at 0.05 levels. Teenagers-Later adults Early adults - Later adults Table VII: Summary of Analysis of variance of the component brand Awareness with respect to age Source of variance df Sum of squares Mean squares F Level of significance Between groups 2 101.843 50.921 With in groups 497 1376.309 18.388 P < 0.05 2.769 Total 499 1478.152 The F value 18.388 is greater than the table value (3.03) for degrees of freedom (2,497). This indicates that there is significant difference Consumer awareness with respect to brand awareness. The result of Duncan s Multiple Range test for brand awareness with respect to age is presented in Table VIII. Table VIII: Duncan s Multiple Range test for brand awareness with respect to age Type of subject Mean Teenagers Early adulthood Later adulthood Teenagers 3.46 _ * NS Early adulthood 4.45 * _ * Later adulthood 3.48 NS * _ NS-not significant,*- Significant at 0.05 Level From Table VIII it can be seen that there is significance difference in the Mean Scores of Consumer awareness with respect to the component brand awareness among the Teenagers- Early adults and Early adults - Later adults

64 pairs at 0.05 level of significance. The differences in Mean Scores of brand awareness among the pairs Teenagers- Later adults are not found to be significant at 0.05 levels. Discussion of results: 1. Hypothesis I indicate that the obtained t value with respect to and are not significant even at 0.05 level. This means that gender wise difference observed is not significant. The t value obtained of is found to be significant at 0.05 level. This means that the difference observed in the mean score of male and female is significant with respect to. 2. Hypothesis II indicate that the obtained t value with respect to, and brand awareness are found to be significant at 0.01 level. This means that consumers differ significantly with respect to, and brand awareness on the basis of locale. 3. Hypothesis III shows that F value (5.969) is greater than the tabled value (3.03) for degrees of freedom (2,497). This indicates that there is significant difference of Consumer awareness on the basis of age with respect to. 4. The result of Duncan s Multiple Range test for with respect to age shows that there is significant difference in the Mean score of Consumer awareness with respect to the component Product awareness betweens teenagers and early adults at 0.05 level of significance. The differences in Mean Scores of among the Teenagers-Later adults and Early adults - Later adults pairs are not found to be significant at 0.05 levels. 5. The F value with respect to significant difference in Consumer awareness on (4.244) is greater than the tabled value (3.03) for degrees of freedom (2,497). This indicates that there is significant difference in Consumer awareness with respect to. The result of Duncan s Multiple Range test for Consumer rights with respect to age is that there is significant difference in the Mean Scores of Consumer awareness with respect to the component between teenagers and early adults at 0.05 level of significance. The differences in Mean Scores of Consumer right among the Teenagers-Later adults and Early adults - Later adults pairs are not found to be significant at 0.05 levels. 6. The F value of Consumer awareness with respect to brand awareness is 18.388 which is greater than the table value (3.03) for degrees of freedom (2,497). This indicates that there is significant difference Consumer awareness with respect to brand awareness. The result of Duncan s Multiple Range test for brand awareness reveals that there is significance difference in the mean scores of Consumer awareness with respect to the component brand awareness among Teenagers- Early adults and Early adults - Later adults are significant at 0.05 level of significance. The differences in mean scores of brand awareness among the pairs Teenagers-Later adults are not found to be significant at 0.05 levels. Conclusion: On the basis of the result obtained from the present study some practical suggestions are offered. Consumer education programs through formal and informal means should be effective in creating Consumer awareness. It will help to develop skills to make informal decision in the purchase of goods and services in the lights of personal value, maximum utilization of resources, available alternatives, ecological consideration and changing economic conditions. Consumer awareness programs should develop critical awareness among public through direct involvement in survey, discussion, talks, exhibitions, research, workshop etc. On local and global issues. Proper utilization of mass media helps in inculcation of Consumer awareness irrespective of gender, age and locale. References: [1] Agarwal, V.K.(1989). Consumer protection in India.New Delhi: Deep and Deep publications [2] Khandela, M.C. (2001). Consumer protection in India (1sted.). Jaipur: Ankit Publications. [3] Kotler, P. (1994). Marketing management (7th ed.). New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd. [4] Koul, L.(1984). Methodology of educational research. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd. [5] Schiffman, Leon G. & Kanuk, Leslie Lazar. (1993). Consumer behavior (4th ed.). New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.

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