Dissertation B08114

Consumer Attitude

to FMCG in India

during recession

Under the Guidance of Prof. Pingali

Venugopal

Tapojoy Chatterjee
B08114

XLRI Jamshedpur

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Prof. Pingali Venugopal for giving me the opportunity to work in this project and
guiding me throughout. A special note of thanks to Prof. Narsimhan Rajkumar, for providing insights
regarding qualitative research. I would also like to thank Mr Sandip Shinde and Ms Riddhi Deb for
helping me during the means end chains analysis. Last but not the least, this research would not have
been possible without the respondents, who took the survey and the interviews.
Tapojoy Chatterjee
B08114
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Table of Contents
Consumer Decision Making Process ............................................................................................................. 6
Consumer Attitude .................................................................................................................................... 8
FMCG Trends ............................................................................................................................................... 11
Decision Area .............................................................................................................................................. 13
Research Objective ..................................................................................................................................... 13
Conceptualization ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Output Variable ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Throughput variables .............................................................................................................................. 14
Research Questions (Input Variables) ..................................................................................................... 14
Research Design .......................................................................................................................................... 15
Exploratory Research .............................................................................................................................. 15
In depth Interview ............................................................................................................................... 15
Descriptive Research ............................................................................................................................... 18
Exploratory Research .............................................................................................................................. 21
Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 21
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 27
Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 28
Questionnaire ..................................................................................................................................... 28

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Table of Figures
Figure 1: Consumer Decision Making Process .............................................................................................. 6
Figure 2: Consumer Attitude Components ................................................................................................... 8
Figure 3: FMCG Trends 2008 ....................................................................................................................... 11
Figure 4: Research Design Framework ........................................................................................................ 15
Figure 5: Means Test ................................................................................................................................... 19
Figure 6: Hierarchical Clustering (Dendogram) for all the categories ........................................................ 20
Figure 7: Hierarchical Value: Food and Non Alcoholic Beverages .............................................................. 23
Figure 8: Hierarchical Value: Personal Care ................................................................................................ 24
Figure 9: Hierarchical Value: Household Care ............................................................................................ 25
Figure 10: Hierarchical Value: Alcoholic Beverages .................................................................................... 26

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Executive Summary
Indian consumer is very dynamic and has lot of subclusters which behave quite differently. Consumer as
a whole does feel that the recession is affecting her life but does not see much perceivable difference in
her disposable income. She has responded to the recession by changing product and brand preference.
This is more pronounced in the commodities by going back to loose or unbranded products. In certain
case a preference for cheaper brands has been shown. This phenomenon mainly exist in Food and Non
Alcoholic beverages (barring carbonated drinks) where the consumer is highly price conscious but does
look for quality along with it. In personal care, carbonated drinks and alcoholic beverages consumer is
highly brand conscious and focuses on the quality of the product. Here her behavior has been more in
terms of buying smaller sku’s. Household care has always been price sensitive and is still continuing to
do so. The Indian consumer as a whole is price sensitive and this gets reflected in her product
preferences.
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Recession plays a very interesting role in consumer psychology. It induces behavior which may not be
cognitively rational. Consumer worldwide has this feeling of what goes up should come down. This
attitude is very much visible in recession. Consumers believe that if the economy is behaving badly then
it will get back to the normal course in few years time 1 . But that does not imply that the consumer’s
behavior does not change. There are certain trends that get accelerated during recession 2 :
⎯ A demand for simplicity
⎯ A call for ethical business governance
⎯ A desire to economize
⎯ A tendency to flit from one offering to another.
Then there are also trends that tend to decline2:
⎯ Green consumption
⎯ Respect for authority (deference)
⎯ Ethical consumption
⎯ Extreme‐experience seeking
All these behavioral trends are not homogenous across all product categories. While certain categories
will experience drastic changes others will continue as if nothing has happened.
Consumer Decision Making Process 3

External ¾ Culture/Subculture
Influences ¾ Demographics
¾ Family
Self ¾ Needs Consumer
¾ Desires
Concept Decision

& Making

Internal ¾ Motives Lifestyle
¾ Product
Process
¾ Attitude
Availability
Influences ¾ SKU
Availability
¾ Usage
Patterns

Figure 1: Consumer Decision Making Process
Situational
Factors

1
Psychology of recession by George Katona
2
Understanding the post recession consumer HBR July‐2009
3
Adapted from Consumer Behavior by Hawkins, Best, Coney and Mookerjee
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External •Culture / Sub‐Culture
•Demographics
Influencing •Family
Factors •Reference Groups
Internal
•Motives
Influencing •Attitudes
Factors
Situational •Product Availability
•SKU Availability
Factors •Usage pattern

Consumer’s decision making process is simultaneously driven by multiple factors. Decision making is a
complex phenomenon and various factors shape the consumer’s final decisions. A consumer’s own
perception of self, her liking and disliking contribute to the formation of self‐concept. On the other
hand, consumer leads a certain kind of life which has significant role in shaping up her behavior and her
way of leading life is her lifestyle. There are broadly two types of factors that largely affect the self‐
concept and lifestyle of the consumer
⎯ External influencing factors
o Some of these factors are culture/subculture, demographics, family, reference groups
etc. For example, a person might have developed a strong association with a particular
type of incense stick because of family practices and religious culture. A person may also
want to buy a premium brand because of influences by his immediate reference groups.
⎯ Internal influencing factors
o Motives and attitudes are two internal influencing factors. A consumer may be
motivated to buy a fairness cream. The underlying motive is to feel confident by looking
fairer. On the other hand, attitude has three components and those are explained in
detail in the following paragraphs.

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Every consumer relates her self‐concept and lifestyle to desires and wants. Both desires and wants are
highly influenced by another type of factor
⎯ Situational factors
o Depending on the situational factors, like – product availability, SKU availability, usage
pattern, payment options etc. For example, a consumer leads a very high‐ended‐life and
wants to buy a Prada perfume. But because of non‐availability, she cannot buy the
product.
Consumer Attitude 4
The consumer’s attitude is determined by three components
Cognitive
Affective Attitude
Connative

Figure 2: Consumer Attitude Components
The consumer’s mind is stimulated by initiators. Products, situations, retail outlets, sales, personnel,
advertisements and other attitude objects act as the stimuli the consumer exposes herself to. These
stimuli help the consumers form attitude as a result of the above mentioned three components of
attitude.

4
Consumer Behavior by Hawkins, Best, Coney and Mookerjee

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Cognitive Component
The cognitive component consists of a consumer’s beliefs about an object. For most attitude objects,
people have a number of beliefs. For example, during recession, consumers may believe that –
⎯ Premium soaps are waste of money
⎯ Loose tea is as good as packaged tea
⎯ Unbranded flour has more nutritious values than branded flour
⎯ Big companies unnecessarily increase the price of the products
The total configuration of beliefs about any brand or product represents the cognitive component of an
attitude toward that product. Beliefs can be about emotional benefits of owning or using a product (one
can believe it would be soothing to own or use a Palmolive Shower Gel) as well as about objective
features.
Many beliefs about attributes are evaluative in nature; for example, comfortable bathing experience,
attractive fragrance and effective performance are generally viewed as positive beliefs. The more
positive beliefs associated with a brand, the more positive each belief is, and the easier it is for the
individual to recall the beliefs, the more favorable the overall cognitive component is presumed to be.
And because of all the components of an attitude are generally consistent, the more favorable attitude
is. This logic underlines what is known as the multi‐attribute attitude model.
Affective Component
Feelings or emotional reactions to an object represent the affective component of an attitude. A
consumer states ‘I love Five Star’ or ‘Five Star is awfully sweet’ is expressing the result of an emotional
or affective evaluation of the product. This overall evaluation may be simply a vague, general feeling
developed without cognitive information or beliefs about the product. Or it may be the result of several
evaluations of the product’s performance on each of several attributes.
Because products are evaluated in the context of a specific situation, one’s affective reaction to a
product may change as the situation changes. For example, if a consumer is very strongly loyal to L’Oreal
shampoo, during recession the consumer might continue to use the same brand because of its affective
attitude towards the product. She might be even ready to cut down on the expenses for other products
to accommodate her favorite brand.
Due to unique motivations and personalities, past experiences, reference groups, and physical
conditions, individuals may evaluate the same belief differently. Some individuals may have a positive
feeling toward the belief that ‘Five Star is made by a large multinational firm’, whereas others could
respond negatively.
Connative Component
The behavioral or connative component of an attitude is one’s tendency to respond in a certain manner
toward an object or activity. A series of decisions to purchase or not purchase Five Star or to
recommend it or other brands to friends would reflect the behavioral or connative component of an
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attitude. This component provides response tendencies or behavioral intentions. Actual behaviors
reflect these intentions as they are modified by the situation in which the behavior will occur.
Since behavior is directed toward an entire object, it is less likely to be attribute‐specific than are either
beliefs or affect. However, this is always not the case, particularly with respect to retail outlets. For
example, many consumers buy ready‐to‐eat foods at modern retail formats, but purchase meats and
fresh vegetables at regular supermarkets. Thus, for retail outlets, it is possible and common to react
behaviorally to specific beliefs about the outlet. This is generally difficult to do with products because
consumers have to either buy or not buy the complete product.
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FMCG Trends
India (U+R) - Value Offtake (00,000 Rs.)
calender Calender Change in Value
Quarter 1 Quarter 4 Offtake
TOTAL FMCG MARKET 2,832,873 2,781,625 51,248.2
% % %
BISCUITS 9.1 9.1 -51.6
EDIBLE OILS 12.5 11.9 -28.0
PACKAGED RICE 7.3 7.1 -19.0
WASHING POWDERS/LIQUIDS 5.7 6.3 -18.6
PACKAGED TEA 5.0 5.2 -8.2
SKIN CREAMS 4.1 4.1 -6.9
DETERGENT CAKES/BARS 3.8 4.0 -4.7
SALTY SNACKS 3.5 3.5 -3.7
TOOTH PASTES 3.0 3.0 -3.5
HAIR OILS 2.5 2.5 -3.2
SHAMPOO 2.4 2.4 -2.9
CHOCOLATE 2.1 2.1 -2.3
BEVERAGES 2.0 2.1 -2.2
IODISED SALT 1.6 1.8 -1.6
PACKAGED ATTA 1.5 1.6 -1.6
PALMOLEIN REFINED OIL 1.9 1.5 -1.6
VERMICELLI & NOODLE 1.3 1.3 -1.1
CONFECTIONERY - TOFFEE/HBC 1.1 1.1 -0.9
MILK FOODS 1.0 1.1 -0.8
CLEANERS - UTENSIL 0.9 1.0 -0.7
TALCUM POWDERS 1.0 0.9 -0.6
SOAP CAKES/BARS 0.9 0.9 -0.6
COFFEE 0.8 0.8 -0.6
TOOTH BRUSH 0.8 0.7 -0.5
TOILET SOAPS 7.8 7.8 0.0
LIPSTICKS 0.4 0.3 0.0
NAIL ENAMEL 0.3 0.3 0.1
BREAKFAST CEREALS 0.2 0.2 0.2
CLEANERS - TOILET 0.2 0.2 0.7
CLEANERS - FLOOR 0.1 0.1 1.2
TOOTH POWDERS 0.6 0.6 1.6
AIR FRESHNERS 0.1 0.1 2.0

Figure 3: FMCG Trends 2008 5

5
AC Nielsen survey 2008
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If we look at two periods, one in the initial three months of recession and one in the recent quarter,
there is decrease in total FMCG off take. The drivers are essentials like – biscuits, edible oils, packaged
rice and washing powders. Biscuits account for 50% of the decrease in off take. This can be explained by
following reasons –
⎯ Down gradation from premium to popular or mass segments ; e.g. cookies, cream biscuits to
marie biscuits
⎯ Decrease in frequency of purchase – the saving attitude might be responsible for this
⎯ Purchase of smaller pack‐sizes
⎯ Contraction of purchase basket ; e.g. – multiple brands/segments to single brand/segment
⎯ Probable flight from packaged rice to loose rice
This trend of drop in offtake continues in negotiable also. These categories are – skin creams,
detergents, salty snacks, tooth pastes, hair oils, shampoo, chocolate and beverages. These categories
can further be divided into two brackets –
Regular negotiable
These categories are not essentials for every consumer. However, there are consumers who use them
and are very regular as compared to the irregular consumers. There is heterogeneity observed in this
bracket. Eg. – skin creams, detergent, tooth pastes and hair oils. The probable reasons for drop are as
follows –
⎯ Skin cream category has smaller SKUs (Fair & Lovely 9 gm etc) and a trend towards moving to
these smaller SKUs
⎯ Detergent and shampoos – more usage of sachets and therefore drop in offtake ; also premium
brands to popular brands
⎯ Within tooth pastes, down gradation to low priced brands – like Babool, Anchor, Cibaca Top etc.
Also, there can be flight towards tooth powders. (As offtake in tooth powders has increased)
Occasional negotiables
These categories are driven by impulse purchase and occasional usage. E.g. – salty snacks, chocolate
beverage. The drop is mainly explained by change in mindset and treating these categories as frills. This
might have led to reduction in frequency and allocation to lower share in the wallet.
On the other hand, there are categories which show almost no movement, e.g. – salt, atta, noodles,
coffee. MFD, tooth brush etc. This can be explained by the fact that these categories are more like
commodities. There is not much differentiation in terms of brands. These are essentials also. AS a result,
there is not much change in the buying behavior.
And there are frill categories, like – nail enamel, floor cleaners, air freshener, breakfast cereals etc. In
the Indian context, these are treated as frills. These have very select buyer‐bases and they refuse to
change their buying behavior even in times of recession. In fact, they show marginal increase in the off
take.
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Decision Area
Design of Marketing Strategy for FMCG during recession
Research Objective

“A research to study Indian consumer’s attitude towards FMCG during
recession”

Conceptualization

Surrogates
Measurands
INPUT THROUGH OUTPUT
PUT

Output Variable

Attitude towards various FMCG categories
and reason behind that attitude

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Throughput variables
The consumer’s attitude is determined by three components
Cognitive
Affective Attitude
Connative
Research Questions (Input Variables)
Cognitive
• Does the consumer believe that he is in a recession
• Does the consumer believe that his disposable income has decreased
• Why has he changed his buying behavior or why not?
Affective
• Is there any emotional connect to product usage during recession
Connation
• What are the product categories in which the consumer has changed brands or buying
behavior?
• How has he changed his buying behavior?

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Research Design
A research design is the framework or plan of a study, which is used as a guide to collect and analyze
data.. A research design ensures that the study will be relevant to the problem and will use economical
procedures. The major types of research‐design frameworks can be classified into three basic types:
Exploratory, Descriptive, or Causal. We would be using the Exploratory or the In‐Depth Research Design
and the Predictive Research Design in our analysis.
Exploratory Research
The general objective in exploratory research is to gain insights and ideas. It is particularly helpful in
breaking large, vague problem statements into smaller, more precise sub‐problem statements. The
exploratory research will help us in determining the various factors that influence the buying behavior of
the FMCG users. For our analysis, there are two ways in which the exploratory research would be carried
out: In depth interview and then laddering.
In‐depth Predictive Problem‐Solving
Sensitive, Socially In‐depth interview, Observation (Unobtrusive) Simulated market‐

Desirable case‐studies studies
Motives Projective Observation (for behavior),

Projective Techniques (for
Techniques ‐
state of mind)
Aware, Focused Group Survey Laboratory Experiments

Not sensitive, Discussion
No social desirability
Figure 4: Research Design Framework
In depth Interview
The technique that was used was in‐depth interviews that were
used to gauge the factors that impact the decision making process.
The method of sampling chosen for this primary research was
convenient sampling as well as availability sampling to ensure that
the interviewees were consumers of the product and responses
obtained were relevant.
In this case this was the relevant technique since there was a high
probability of obtaining socially relevant answers in a focus group
discussion due to the nature of the product category. The objective
of the interview was to:‐
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‐ Identify whether is actually perceiving recession or not.
‐ Identify categories where the consumer is changing his behavior.
‐ Determine whether the decision to continue product usage or change brands is due to cognition
or some affective component
Interviews were conducted on 12 respondents from the cities of Jamshedpur and Mandi Gobindgarh.
The overall structure of the interview was made informal with me just giving direction to the procedings.
Of the the 12 respondents 9 were female and 3 were male.
Findings
‐ Majority of the consumers accepted that they were in a recession
‐ Most of them could not though foresee any change in disposable income
‐ Most of them have changed or planned to change their brands in the following categories
o Food
Cereals
Spices
Salt
Soup
Ready to eat – (Pre‐Cooked &Frozen foods)
Biscuits
o Non‐Alcoholic Beverages
Juices
Carbonated drinks
Tea
Coffee
Packaged Milk
o Alcoholic Beverages
Whiskey
Rum
Scotch
Vodka
o Personal Care
Face Creams
Colored Cosmetics
Soaps
Shampoos
Tooth Paste
Deodorants
Hair Oil
o Household Care
Washing Powder
Floor Cleaner
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Toilet Cleaner
Kitchen Cleaner
‐ The decision to change the product is more affective rather than any product knowledge as such
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Descriptive Research
The objective of this part of the research is to
‐ Which categories have exactly shown any perceptible difference
‐ Is there any trend amongst the categories as such?
For this, a survey was conducted amongst the people for Jamshedpur and Mandi Gobindgarh (Punjab).
They were asked to
‐ Confirm whether they think that there is any recession or not
‐ Has there been any change in their disposable income
‐ Identify categories from exploratory research which the consumer downgraded in terms of
brand preference and how many times.
The sampling technique was first convenient sampling and then simple random in it. The population is
the overall population of India. The sampling frame here is the voter id system.
For the research the consumer was asked that of they had shopped for ten times last year, how many
times did they bought a cheaper brand or a unbranded product last year. The objective here was to find
exactly which categories suffered due to recession and to what scale 6 .
Findings
‐ 69.23% of the sample accepted there is a recession going on
‐ But only 32.69% said there was any change in their disposable income
‐ Result from categories.
o Cereals, Spices, Packaged Milk, Ready To Eat foods, Tea, Biscuits and Kitchen Cleaners
are the categories where the consumer have downgraded to a low price brand or loose
product in decreasing order of magnitude.
o Carbonated Drinks, Toothpaste, Shampoos, Face creams, Deodorants, Color Cosmetics
Soups , Whiskey, Hair Oil and Floor Cleaner are the category have been very particular
about the brands and have not downgraded in any form in decreasing order
o Toilet Cleaner , Washing Powder, Salt and soaps are categories where a certain mix of
customers have been brand conscious while others have been value focused

6
Appendix 1 Questionnaire
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One-Sample Statistics
N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Cereals 52 6.3269 1.73455 .24054
Spices 52 6.5000 1.44846 .20087
Salt 52 4.4615 1.63853 .22722
Soup 52 2.6154 1.33069 .18453
Ready To Eat 52 5.9231 1.99849 .27714
Biscuits 52 5.6923 2.00527 .27808
Juices 52 3.1538 1.81912 .25227
Carbonated Drinks 52 .8654 .90811 .12593
Tea 52 5.8462 1.86174 .25818
Coffee 52 3.1923 1.79365 .24874
Packaged Milk 52 6.1923 1.87907 .26058
Whiskey 52 2.6923 1.36538 .18934
Vodka 52 3.0577 1.48738 .20626
Face Creams 52 1.8654 1.35804 .18833
Color Cosmetics 52 2.2115 1.55092 .21507
Soaps 52 3.5192 1.61477 .22393
Shampoos 52 1.5769 1.34815 .18695
Toothpaste 52 1.1923 1.28397 .17805
Deodorants 52 2.0000 1.35762 .18827
Hair Oil 52 2.7308 1.78353 .24733
Washing Powder 52 4.0192 1.89416 .26267
Floor Cleaner 52 2.8462 1.67314 .23202
Toilet Cleaner 52 4.2308 1.46348 .20295
Kitchen Cleaner 52 5.6346 2.12390 .29453
Figure 5: Means Test
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‐ The response from customers was then passed through a cluster analysis
o Cereals, Tea, Packaged Milk, Spices, Ready to Eat Food and Biscuits form one cluster
In this cluster the consumer has downgraded to a private label, cheaper brand
or loose product. The consumer seems to highly value conscious in this
category. This could be termed as Food and Non Alcoholic beverages.
o Carbonated Drinks, Toothpaste, Shampoos, Color Cosmetics, Face Creams, Deodorants
and Whiskey form one cluster.
The consumer is highly brand conscious and prefers more of quality than value
in this region. This is more of Personal Care
o Juices, Floor Cleaner, Vodka, Soup and Soaps form one cluster
Here there exists two diff set of consumers, one who have downgraded and
others who prefer quality over anything.
Figure 6: Hierarchical Clustering (Dendogram) for all the categories
Having found these clusters the objective now is to find the reasons behind these consumer attitude
trends. For this we conducted another exploratory research on the same set of consumers to identify
the specific rationales in each of these clusters and categories.
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Exploratory Research
For conducting this research we use the means end chain methodology and implement it using
laddering. Means‐End Chain (MEC) theory clarifies the mechanism by which values guide consumer
behaviour. In particular, MEC theory states that consumers select offers (products/services) with
attributes that are instrumental in achieving their desired consequences. These consequences are
desired in as far as they relate to consumers’ values. MEC has a long history. Gutman and Reynolds
(1979) introduced the concept, with a focus on qualitative in‐depth understanding of consumer motives.
Reynolds and Gutman (1988) made MEC well‐accepted by providing a hands‐on description of how to
conduct, analyze and use MEC interviews. MEC has been a popular and ever‐evolving research domain
since (e.g., Kaciak and Cullen 2006). MEC theory is closely related to MEC interviewing techniques. In a
MEC interview, also frequently described as a laddering interview, respondents identify attributes and
attribute levels of a product (e.g., strong taste), link the attribute levels to one or more consequences
(e.g., feel pleasure) and to one or more values (e.g., hedonism). Respondents are probed to link the
subsequent Attributes (A), Consequences (C) and Values (V) by repeatedly asking the question “why is
that important to you?” and by means of additional probing techniques (cf. Reynolds and Gutman
1988). Based on the resulting MEC’s, researchers can better understand what a consumer tries to
achieve by consuming a product/service. From a practical perspective, MEC’s can provide indications of
what attribute levels are important to consumers and why.
The objective of this research is to
‐ Identify the specific mindset and consumer attitude in each of the categories.
‐ Map each of this mindset to the basic QSP(Quality, Service, Price) triad.

The final finding would be to identify which of these three parameters influence the consumer attitude
in these main clusters.
Methodology
Respondents
We conducted means‐end chain interviews with 40 respondents, all aged between 25 and 55 years (M =
41, SD = 4.8) and living in the Mandi Gobindgarh. In our sample, we had 35 women.
Instrument
A topic guide served to structure the interviews. The topic guide consisted of 4 categories:
• Food and Non‐Alcoholic Beverages
• Personal Care
• Alcoholic Beverages
• Household Care
Data collection
The interviews took place on the telephone and were recorded with a digital audio recorder.
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Data analysis
In line with the MEC approach, we performed a content analysis on the interview transcripts as detailed
in Reynolds and Gutman (1988). In particular, every element was assigned a label A, C or V (for attribute,
consequence or value). As a point of reference, we used the QSP triad. Next, we constructed A‐C‐V
ladders. The ladders were then summarized in an implication matrix, in which we coded how often each
element led to each other element. Based on this implication matrix, we constructed a Hierarchical
Value Map.
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Key findings
Food and Non‐Alcoholic Beverages: 35 respondents finally based price as their decision making criteria
while 20 of them also talked about quality.
• Hence Price (Value for money) plays the most important role in this category
• Indian consumers are opting for higher quality food and beverages but are still highly cost/value
conscious
• Brands are a source of credibility which usually comes from reputation and reliability
• Many Indian shoppers consider private label food and non‐alcoholic beverages to be identical to
famous branded equivalents
• A resurging desire to cook more often at home has occurred
Service Price Quality
Credibility
Value for Money Reliability Past Experience Reputation Taste Freshness
Figure 7: Hierarchical Value: Food and Non Alcoholic Beverages
* Here each response is equal to 0.1 cm width of the line.
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Personal Care: 41 respondents finally based quality as their decision making criteria while only 5 of
them talked about price
• The majority of Indian citizens are committed to looking their best in day‐to‐day life
• Price and value conscious personal care/beauty shoppers in India have not made notable
changes to their personal care shopping and usage in order to save money
• Indian consumers are generally aware of private label personal care products but strongly value
brand name
• Packaging brings certain expectation and imagery of the product.
• Indian consumers' health and beauty regimes are proving to be largely recession resistant
Credibility Imagery
Value for Money Reliability Past Experience Reputation Effectiveness Packaging
Figure 8: Hierarchical Value: Personal Care
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Household Care: 24 respondents finally based price as their decision making criteria while 23 of them
based their decision on quality
• Price‐led value is still the most influential factor for Indian consumers' household and laundry
care purchases but preferences do reflect other important influences
• The private label household care market in India is small, but Indians do not necessarily perceive
a significant compromise in buying store branded products
• Indians associate hygiene and cleanliness with wellbeing and this, combined with their inherent
dislike of household chores, makes them somewhat quality conscious
Credibility Effectiveness
Value for Money Reliability Past Experience Reputation Cleanliness Germ‐Kill
Figure 9: Hierarchical Value: Household Care
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Alcoholic Beverages: 21 respondents finally based price as their decision making criteria while 28 of
them based their decision on quality.
• Value consciousness has had a similar affect on Indians' at‐home alcoholic beverage choices
compared to their out‐of‐home choices
• Private label alcohol penetration in India is low which results in uncertainty about comparative
quality against branded equivalents
• Taste is the most important quality deciding factor
• Habit and brand have more influence on Indians' alcohol purchases than price
• There has been little change for the majority of Indian drinkers suggesting that alcohol is largely
'recession resistant'
Taste Imagery
Value for Money Aroma Past Experience Smoothness After Taste Packaging
Figure 10: Hierarchical Value: Alcoholic Beverages
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Conclusion
Consumer as whole does feel that the recession is affecting her life. She has responded more in the
commodities by going back to loose or unbranded products. In certain case a preference for cheaper
brands has been shown. This phenomenon mainly exist in Food and Non Alcoholic beverages where the
consumer is highly price conscious but does look for quality along with it. In personal care and alcoholic
beverages consumer is highly brand conscious and focuses on the quality of the product. Here her
behavior has been more in terms of buying smaller sku’s. Household care has always been price
sensitive and is still continuing to do so. The overall reaction of the consumer is highly affective. Even
without much perceivable difference in disposable income, consumer has down gradedfor few of the
categories. This tendency though seems to be temporary with certain categories already showing
improvements.
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Appendix
Questionnaire
1. Do you think you were hit by recession?
Ans: Yes/No
2. Did it lead to reduction in your disposable income?
Ans Yes/No
3. Suppose you made 10 visits for shopping last year. How many times do you think you would
have downgraded to a private label, cheaper brand or bought loose(unpacked) in each of these
categories:
o Food
Cereals [ ]
Spices [ ]
Salt [ ]
Soup [ ]
Ready to eat – (Pre‐Cooked &Frozen foods) [ ]
Biscuits [ ]
o Non‐Alcoholic Beverages
Juices [ ]
Carbonated drinks [ ]
Tea [ ]
Coffee [ ]
Packaged Milk [ ]
o Alcoholic Beverages
Whiskey [ ]
Rum [ ]
Scotch [ ]
Vodka [ ]
o Personal Care
Face Creams [ ]
Colored Cosmetics [ ]
Soaps [ ]
Shampoos [ ]
Tooth Paste [ ]
Deodorants [ ]
Hair Oil [ ]
o Household Care
Washing Powder [ ]
Floor Cleaner [ ]
28 | P a g e

Toilet Cleaner [ ]
Kitchen Cleaner [ ]

29 | P a g e

Dissertation B08114

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Dissertation B08114

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Copyright:

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In‐depth Predictive Problem‐Solving

Sensitive, Socially In‐depth interview, Observation (Unobtrusive) Simulated market‐

Motives Projective Observation (for behavior),

Aware, Focused Group Survey Laboratory Experiments

Coffee 52 3.1923 1.79365 .24874

Packaged Milk 52 6.1923 1.87907 .26058

Whiskey 52 2.6923 1.36538 .18934

Vodka 52 3.0577 1.48738 .20626

Face Creams 52 1.8654 1.35804 .18833

Color Cosmetics 52 2.2115 1.55092 .21507

Soaps 52 3.5192 1.61477 .22393

Shampoos 52 1.5769 1.34815 .18695

Toothpaste 52 1.1923 1.28397 .17805

Deodorants 52 2.0000 1.35762 .18827

Hair Oil 52 2.7308 1.78353 .24733

Washing Powder 52 4.0192 1.89416 .26267

Floor Cleaner 52 2.8462 1.67314 .23202

Toilet Cleaner 52 4.2308 1.46348 .20295

Kitchen Cleaner 52 5.6346 2.12390 .29453

Service Price Quality

Value for Money Reliability Past Experience Reputation Taste Freshness

Service Price Quality

Value for Money Reliability Past Experience Reputation Effectiveness Packaging

Service Price Quality

Value for Money Reliability Past Experience Reputation Cleanliness Germ‐Kill

Service Price Quality

Value for Money Aroma Past Experience Smoothness After Taste Packaging

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