01-07-2013, 02:49 PM
A STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARD VARIOUS EDIBLE OIL
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INTRODUCTION:
India is a leading player in edible oils, being the world’s largest importer (ahead of the EU and China) and the world’s third-largest consumer (after China and the EU). Each year, India consumes over 10 million tons of edible oils. Edible oils have a high penetration of 90% in India. However, per capita consumption of edible oils is around 11 kg per year. This is considerably lower than in most developed countries. Palm oil (mainly imported) and soya bean oil account for almost half of total edible oil consumption in India, followed by mustard and groundnut oil. In India, most vegetable oil is purchased by household or industrial buyers (food processors, restaurants and hotels) for frying or baking needs and is sold as loose oil or vanaspati (partially hydrogenated vegetable oil). Only a small percentage of edible oils are sold in branded form at the retail level.
In India consumer oil preferences vary from region to region because preference is based on local cultivations.
India is fortunate in having a wide range of oilseed crops grown in its different agro-climatic zones. Groundnut, mustard/rapeseed, sesame, safflower, linseed, Niger seed/castor are the major traditionally cultivated oilseeds. Soya bean and sunflower oils have also assumed importance in recent years. Coconut is the most important amongst the plantation crops. Among the non-conventional oils, rice bran oil and cottonseed oil are the most important.
EDIBLE OILS AND INDIAN ECONOMY
Oilseeds and edible oils are two of the most sensitive essential commodities. India is one of the largest producers of oilseeds in the world and this sector occupies an important position in the agricultural economy covering an area of 24.38 million hectares and accounting for the production of 20.87 million tons of oilseeds during the year 1999-2000. India contributes about nine percent of the world oilseeds production, about seven percent of the global production of protein meal is the fourth largest edible oil economy in the world1. India is a vast country and inhabitants of several regions have developed specific preference for certain oils largely depending upon the oils available in the region. For example, people in the South and West prefer groundnut oil while those in the East and North use mustard seed/rapeseed oil. Likewise several pockets in the South have a preference for coconut and sesame oil2. Through technological means such as refining, bleaching and deodorizations, all oils have been rendered practically colorless, odorless and tasteless and therefore, have become easily interchangeable in the kitchen. Newer oils, which were not known before have entered the kitchen, like those of cottonseed, sunflower, palm oil or its liquid fraction, polyolefin, soybean and rice bran3. All of them are again essentially bland, processed edible oils.
INFLUENCES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR:
Consumer behavior involves the psychological processes that consumers go through in recognizing needs, finding ways to solve these needs, making purchase decisions (e.g., whether or not to purchase a product and, if so, which brand and where), interpret information, make plans, and implement these plans (e.g., by engaging in comparison shopping or actually purchasing a product).
CONSUMER CHOICE AND DECISION MAKING:
Problem Recognition. One model of consumer decision making involves several steps. The first one is problem recognition—you realize that something is not as it should be. Perhaps, for example, your car is getting more difficult to start and is not accelerating well. The second step is information search—what are some alternative ways of solving the problem? You might buy a new car, buy a used car, take your car in for repair, ride the bus, ride a taxi, or ride a skateboard to work. The third step involves evaluation of alternatives. A skateboard is inexpensive, but may be ill-suited for long distances and for rainy days. Finally, we have the purchase stage, and sometimes a post-purchase stage (e.g., you return a product to the store because you did not find it satisfactory). In reality, people may go back and forth between the stages. For example, a person may resume alternative identification during while evaluating already known alternatives.
Consumer involvement will tend to vary dramatically depending on the type of product. In general, consumer involvement will be higher for products that are very expensive (e.g., a home, a car) or are highly significant in the consumer’s life in some other way (e.g., a word processing program or acne medication).
INFORMATION SEARCH AND DECISION MAKING:
Consumer engages in both internal and external information search. Internal search involves the consumer identifying alternatives from his or her memory. For certain low involvement products, it is very important that marketing programs achieve “top of mind” awareness. For example, few people will search the Yellow Pages for fast food restaurants; thus, the consumer must be able to retrieve one’s restaurant from memory before it will be considered. For high involvement products, consumers are more likely to use an external search. Before buying a car, for example, the consumer may ask friends’ opinions, read reviews in Consumer Reports, consult several web sites, and visit several dealerships. Thus, firms that make products that are selected predominantly through external search must invest in having information available to the consumer in need—e.g., through brochures, web sites, or news coverage.
A compensatory decision involves the consumer “trading off” good and bad attributes of a product. For example, a car may have a low price and good gas mileage but slow acceleration. If the price is sufficiently inexpensive and gas efficient, the consumer may then select it over a car with better acceleration that costs more and uses more gas. Occasionally, a decision will involve a non-compensatory strategy. For example, a parent may reject all soft drinks that contain artificial sweeteners. Here, other good features such as taste and low calories cannot overcome this one “non-negotiable” attribute.
THE MEANS-END CHAIN:
Consumers often buy products not because of their attributes per se but rather because of the ultimate benefits that these attributes provide, in turn leading to the satisfaction of ultimate values. For example, a consumer may not be particularly interested in the chemistry of plastic roses, but might reason as follows:
The important thing in a means-end chain is to start with an attribute, a concrete characteristic of the product, and then logically progress to a series of consequences (which tend to become progressively more abstract) that end with a value being satisfied. Thus, each chain must start with an attribute and end with a value. An important implication of means-end chains is that it is usually most effective in advertising to focus on higher level items. For example, in the flower example above, an individual giving the flowers to the significant other might better be portrayed than the flowers alone.
PERCEPTION:
• Our perception is an approximation of reality. Our brain attempts to make sense out of the stimuli to which we are exposed. This works well, for example, when we “see” a friend three hundred feet away at his or her correct height; however, our perception is sometimes “off”—for example, certain shapes of ice cream containers look like they contain more than rectangular ones with the same volume.
• Subliminal stimuli. Back in the 1960s, it was reported that on selected evenings, movie goers in a theater had been exposed to isolated frames with the words “Drink Coca Cola” and “Eat Popcorn” imbedded into the movie. These frames went by so fast that people did not consciously notice them, but it was reported that on nights with frames present, Coke and popcorn sales were significantly higher than on days they were left off. This led Congress to ban the use of subliminal advertising. First of all, there is a question as to whether this experiment ever took place or whether this information was simply made up. Secondly, no one has been able to replicate these findings. There is research to show that people will start to giggle with embarrassment when they are briefly exposed to “dirty” words in an experimental machine. Here, again, the exposure is so brief that the subjects are not aware of the actual words they saw, but it is evident that something has been recognized by the embarrassment displayed.