17-12-2012, 05:59 PM
Customer Purchase Behavior towards Induction Cooker -A Comparative Study of Select Induction Cooker Brands in Hyderabad
1Customer Purchase Behavior.pdf (Size: 1.03 MB / Downloads: 145)
Abstract
The global business is buzzing with the single most important
issue of building a competitive edge by creating and retaining
a large number of customers. Consumers make many buying
decisions every day. Most large companies’ research consumer
buying decisions in great detail to discover what consumers
buy where they buy, how and how much they buy, when they
buy, and why they buy. Marketers can study actual consumer
purchases, but learning about the whys of consumer buying
behavior is not so easy– the answers are often locked deep
within the consumer head. The central question for marketers
is: How do consumers respond to various marketing efforts the
company might use? The company that really understands how
consumers will respond to different service features, packages
prices, and advertising apples has a great advantage over its
competitors. This paper through empirical research tries to
make competitive analysis on various brands of induction
cooker.
Introduction
Induction cooking technology was introduced in the “Kitchen of
the Future” at the Chicago “Century of Progress” World’s Fair in
1933. For the first time, fairgoers witnessed the miracle of “cool
heating” using electrical power (along with projection television,
LOL). For the next 40 years the technology was used primarily for
annealing metal in industrial applications. Then in the 1970’s
European companies took the lead in developing induction
cooking systems to fill a demand for cleaner, more energy
efficient cooking systems. In the US, NASA developed it for the
space program. Consumer units followed in the US, but were
plagued by low power, reliability and noise problems. The last
consumer induction units produced by American manufacturers
went off the market in 1999.Though induction faded from the
American consumer scene; it continued to be developed in
Europe and Asia where energy conservation is tantamount.
Some US manufacturers like Cooktek and Luxine continued
to develop commercial units for the food service industry
here.
Industry Profile
An induction cooker uses induction heating for cooking. Unlike
other forms of cooking, heat is generated directly in the pot or pan
(cooking vessel), as opposed to being generated in the stovetop
by electrical coils or burning gas. To be used on an induction
cooker, a cooking vessel must be made of a ferromagnetic
metal. In an induction cooker, a coil of copper wire is placed
underneath the cooking pot. An alternating electric current flows
through the coil, which produces an oscillating magnetic field.
This field induces an electric current in the pot. Current flowing
in the metal pot produces resistive heating which heats the
food. While the current is large, it is produced by a low voltage.
An induction cooker is faster and more energy-efficient than
a traditional electric hob. It allows instant control of cooking
energy similar to gas burners. Because induction heats the
cooking vessel itself, the possibility of burn injury is significantly
less than with other methods; the surface of the cook top is
only heated from contact with the vessel. There are no flames
or red-hot electric heating elements as found in traditional
cooking equipment. The induction effect does not heat the air
around the vessel, resulting in further energy efficiencies; some
air is blown through the cook top to cool the electronics, but
this air emerges only a little warmer than ambient temperature.
Induced current can heat any type of metal, but the magnetic
properties of a steel vessel concentrate the current in a thin
layer near the surface, which makes the heating effect stronger.
Practical induction cookers are designed for ferromagnetic
pots; users are advised to use only pots on which a magnet
will stick.
Economic and environmental considerations
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the efficiency of
energy transfer for an induction hob is 84%, versus 71% for a
smooth-top non-induction electrical unit, for an approximate
13% saving in energy for the same amount of heat transfer.
Energy efficiency is the ratio between energy delivered to
the food and that consumed by the cooker. Efficiency can be
considered from the “customer side” of the energy meter, or from
an overall perspective including generating and transmission
losses. Cooking with gas has an energy efficiency of about
40% at the customer’s meter (energy purchased vs. energy
deposited in food), plus distribution losses leading to an overall
efficiency of around 38%. Induction cooking deposits about
84% of the purchased energy into food, but sources of electricity
have varying efficiencies in converting fuel energy to electrical
energy. If natural-gas fired electrical generation is the source
of electric power, overall efficiency (and CO2) generation would
be comparable to direct use of natural gas for heating. Other
electric cookers have lower efficiency of converting purchased
energy into usable heat in the food, and so would have a
lower overall efficiency and higher environmental effect.
General Economic Scenario
While the financial year 2009-10 started with a few
uncertainties, as the year progressed the overall industrial
production improved. The Indian economy grew by 7.2% as
compared to 6.7% in the previous year. However, exports
continued to be depressed owing to recessionary global trends
especially in Europe and Middle East. The current trend in the
economy is positive as witnessed by improved rates of growth
in industrial production and higher advance tax collections
for the first quarter. The GDP is expected to grow at more than
7%.While the overall outlook for growth seems to be positive,
the unabated inflationary trend in consumer price index is a
matter of concern. Given the increase in oil prices, this trend
can have some adverse impact on disposable income.
As regards the industry in which The Company operates the
growth rates are encouraging and more players are attracted
to this segment.
Conclusions
Company should focus more on promoting the product as a daily
use product. As observed that bringing awareness is slow. The
company should take more aggressive promotional activities
like people in order to increase awareness. Since most of the
customers prefer health and safety to price manufacturers
should produce the product with more safety norms. Company
has to focus on the other age segments like bachelors, though
it’s mostly preferred by middle aged. Should improve television
ads to attract the consumers because many of the consumers
do not know about the product and concentrate more on after
sale services and should establish more service centers as
most of the customers prefer service centers to local repair
shop when they observe any malfunction in their induction
cooker.