Business research report on factors affecting consumers decision making before buying a shampoo

Table of content
Acknowledgement Introduction Objectives of the study Why I choose shampoo market as the topic for survey Hypothesis of the study Research methodology Findings Analysis or interpretation 1. KMOs test 2. Bartletts test 3. Multiple regression of three variables Limitations Conclusion Recommendation Annexure

Acknowledgement
The Business Research Methodology paper, Factors Affecting Consumers Decision Making while Purchasing a shampoo is the most important addition to the practical application of theoretical knowledge and experience on real research aspects. This is really a delightful experience. It is amazing and fascinating finding that so many dependable people around, who have given necessary guidelines and advices while formulating this paper. Learning what determines a good employer, I remain ever grateful to them, who all have helped to write this report. I also extend my acknowledgement to all those, who helped me by answering my queries pertinent to the data collection of my report. A special debt is due to my instructor Prof. Varsha Verde, our respected faculty for the valuable guidance in the preparation of this report. I have been immensely benefited from her valuable guidance in the process of understanding and preparing this report. Without her active support, continuous encouragement, and constructive criticism, probably it would not have been possible to write an informative and objective report. Her active assistance in working out a framework for the paper has helped to complete the assignment within given time. I also acknowledge the contributions of the librarian of IBS MUMBAI for allowing me to utilize the library facilities.

Introduction
This research is prepared for the purpose of gaining a better understanding on the factors influencing the consumers buying behaviour. The shampoo market is chosen as the field of study on the consumers buying behaviour because everyone needs shampoo to wash their hair so anyone could be the respondents of my survey. The age of the respondents in this survey ranges from 11 years and above. This survey targeted 50 respondents and was given selfadministrated survey questionnaires to be filled up. The respondents can either be male or female . During the period of the survey, it was not easy to get respondents as many of them were not willing to reveal their personal information. There were also respondents that are helpful and responsive in making this survey a success. The approximation of systematic sampling method is used in this research. All the data was collected at different times and the time frame to gather all the data is within the period of 5 days.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.

To study the current Indian market for Shampoos.

2. To analyze the relationship between a specific brand and its buying behavior. 3. To assess whether advertising is influencing the buying behavior of the consumers. 4. To assess factors influencing the buying behavior of the consumers

Why I Choose Shampoo Market As The Topic of The Survey?

Shampoo is chosen as the topic of this survey because shampoo had become the part of our lives. Shampoo is used to remove oils, dirt, dandruff, skin particles, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in the hair. Besides that, it is also easy to get respondents to this survey as everyone uses shampoo and there are also an increasing number of consumers who are very concern about their hair.

4.0 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

The hypothesis used to test the positive or negative effect of the independent variables on Consumers purchase decision is:

4.1 Influence of Quality

Quality is one of the prime factors that affect consumers in a purchase decision. Consumers today dont generally buy just a brand or product rather, he/she purchase all the benefit associated with it. And quality is the totality of the features that the product offers. If the product is associated with highperceived quality, consumers trust a brand and the brands preference is also get augmented. We tried to measure whether quality of shirts are significant to the consumers or not. In our study, our first hypothesis is about the influence of quality. And the hypothesis is: H1: Quality of the shampoo has a direct positive influence on consumers purchase decision.

4.2 Influence of Brand Image

Often brand images reinforce the consumers to make a purchase decision. Brand value is one of the important factors today. Top brand names have a dominating and significant influence in evaluating a brand. In case of purchasing a shampoo, I tried to appraise the effect of brand image. In my study, the second hypothesis is about the influence of brand image and the hypothesis is:

H2: If consumers perception of brand image of the shampoo is more favorable, their evaluation of a shampoo is positive.

4.3 Influence of Fashion

Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person. The pace of change accelerated considerably in the following century, and women and men's fashion, especially in the dressing and adorning of the hair, became equally complex and changing. The current fashion, celebrity influences lure the consumers to purchase fashionable shampoo. I tried to identify the relative importance of fashion for consumers in purchasing a shampoo. So, the third hypothesis is about the influence of fashion. And the hypothesis is: H3: Consumers are influenced by current fashion while purchasing a shampoo.

4.4 Influence of Availability

For the products that are not that much significant and require less consumer involvement, consumers usually purchase those from the available sources. Instead of going to a distant shop, they purchase from the nearest outlets. In our study, we tried to measure whether consumers purchase shampoo that are nearly available to them or not. So, the fourth hypothesis is about the influence of availability. And the hypothesis is: H4: Consumers purchase a shampoo that is widely and conveniently available to them.

4.5 Influence of Price

A growing body of literature indicates that consumers do not always attend to, know, and remember actual prices of products; instead, they encode prices in ways that are meaningful to them (e.g., cheap versus expensive). Therefore, perceived price is not equivalent to objective price. However, I included price in

my study to get insight about their impact on consumers decision making. So the fifth hypothesis is: H5: Price (higher vs. lower) has a direct positive effect on consumers evaluation of a shampoo.

4.6 Influence of comfortability

H6: consumer purchase those comfortable to their hair quality. shampoo which are

4.7 Influence of social status

H7: Consumer buy branded shampoo as a social status

4.8 Influence of Payment options(credit)

H8: Consumer look for credit payment option while buying a shampoo.

4.9 Influence of Discount

H9: consumer is influenced by discounts available on shampoo.

4.10 Influence of celebrity endorsement

H10: Consumer is attracted towards those brands which are endorsed by celebrity.

4.11 Influence of variety

H11: Consumer look for different varieties of shampoo available in store.

4.12 Influence of Exchange policy

H12: Consumer is highly influenced by the exchange policy.

4.13 Influence of Color of shampoo

H13: Consumer look for color of shampoo while purchasing

4.14 Influence of package of the shampoo

H14: Consumer is influenced by package design of shampoo

4.15 Influence of size of store

H15: Consumer are fascinated by size of store

4.16 Influence of accessibility

H16: Consumer chose those brands of shampoo which is accessible

4.17 Influence of Durability

H17: Consumer is influenced by durability of shampoo

Research methodology
Keeping in view the Shampoo Market in INDIA which is very crowded and becoming competitive day by day, we decided to study the current scenario of the market.

Data Collection
The following techniques were adopted for data collection: 1. PrimaryData: Primary data was collected through face to face interviews while filling up questionnaires. (50 Respondents) 2. Secondary Data: Relevant information was gathered from magazines, newspapers and project reports that formed the secondary data. 3.Communication Approach: Face to face interviews was taken as the communication approach since it is a better method in cases where slight probing is required. 4. Questionnairedesign The questionnaire used was a printed, well structured formalized schedule to obtain and record specified and relevant information with fair accuracy and completeness. The questioning process was face to face interviews and the questionnaire was designed in such a way that it could be understood and answered easily by the respondents. The questionnaire contained both close and open ended questions. . 5.Sampling

Samplesize A sample size of 50 consumers was chosen, This sample size was based upon time and affordability approach. Sample method- Simple Random Sample 6.Data Analysis and Interpretation

Findings
From the above research the I found the fact that majority of the respondent's use shampoo only small proportion doesn't use shampoo. While purchasing the shampoos of various brands in the market respondents gave preference to reasons for purchase are their hair type, hair problem, price and fragrance while purchasing the same. In the decision making process self decision has preferred in majority by respondents, here influence of others has given least important, whereas only small proportion influenced by Advertisement. A considerable number of the respondents are neutral about their opinion about change of the shampoo brand and some respondents prefer not to change their brand. Analysis also shows that near about half of the respondents shampoo their hair 3-4 times in a week whereas second opinion of respondents about shampoo their hair 1-2 times in a week. Respondents prefer sachet first then 100 ml Bottle and then 250 ml Bottles respectively. Majority of the respondents have seen advertisement in T.V. and then on Radio. So far as product satisfaction is concerned majority of the respondents are

satisfied by the shampoo then highly satisfied and neutral sign. So far as brand loyalty is concerned respondents are very loyal to their shampoo brand andt hey are ready to go another shop at distance, whereas respondents are also of the opinion that they can postpone the purchase, whereas 17% respondents are of the opinion that will buy another brand if favorite brand is not available.

Collection, Analysis and Interpretation of The Data

The collected data was based on the questionnaires distributed to the respondents. The age as one of the personal factors influenced the consumers shampoo preference. When they go for chemical treatment on their hair, damage such as split ends and dry hair will be resulted, so they are willing to

spend more on high end shampoo to protect their hair from such damages instead of buying a normal range shampoo and cry over the damage hair at the end of the day. From that, we can conclude that lifestyle does influence the consumers buying behaviour. Asking the reason of choosing the particular brand enables the me to identify whether it was the social factor, psychological factor or promotion that influences the purchasing of the shampoo. If the respondent chooses friends recommendation, then the factor influences the buying behaviour is the social factor. Some consumers trust their friends recommendation when they share the same taste and preferences. When they see the effects of the shampoo on their friends hair they are willing to purchase that particular brand as it is proven good by his or her peers. On the other hand, if the respondent chooses gentle to hair and chemical free, then the consumer is influenced by the psychological factor which is the consumer beliefs that the shampoo is gentle to the scalp as it is chemical free. This usually occurred in the consumers mind as they belief is gentle to the scalp after they had tried the sample given by the promoters in the supermarket or during a free hair wash during the road show. The type of shampoo used by the respondents enables me to study whether the product itself and the brand influences the buying behaviour. Sometimes, the product itself also influences the buying behaviour when the packaging of the product is nice and the sophisticated features of the product is such as the shampoo is anti-dandruff, with ginseng extract which will reduce hair fall and so on. The monthly expenses spent on the shampoo helped me to conclude that the monthly income does influence the buying power of the consumer. A lifestyle with a high monthly income will influence the consumer to spend more on shampoo such as high range shampoo as they tend to be more cautious about their hair when they dye their hair.

Besides that, the price of the shampoo also influences the buying behaviour of the consumer. Some consumers are not particular about the brands of the shampoo but they choose the shampoo according to the price. Normally, these types of consumers will buy a basic shampoo which the price is cheap and when there is a promotion about other higher range shampoo, they will tend to buy it. The type promotion made on the shampoo is to ensure that the consumers are aware of the existence of this particular brand of shampoo. By asking this question to the respondents, the researcher can conclude that promotion also influence the buying behaviour in the shampoo market.

KMOS TEST:
KAISER MEYER OLKIN TEST is done to describe whether the size of respondent is appropriate or not. If KMOs significance is more than or nearer to .5 than the no. of respondent will be appropriate. So in our report analysis from SPSS we found that KMOs significance=.505 Here KMOs sig is nearer to .5 so we conclude that respondent size is appropriate to take survey.

BARTLETTS TEST:
BARTLETTS TEST signifies correlation between the variables, also it states that matrix is unit or not. BARTLETTs sig < .05, we will reject H0 (means matrix is not unit and there is correlation between variable. H0 : matrix is Unit(correlation is not exist between variables) H1 : matrix is not unit(correlation between variable exist) In our report analysis BARTLETTs test significance level =.002 So here correlation between variables is exist, hence matrix is not unit.

How many factors to be extracted?

EIGEN VALUE:
Variables, whose EIGEN value is more than 1, will be extracted.

Cumulative % of variance:
Variables, whose cumulative % of variance are more than 60% that will be extracted.

Scree plot:
Scree plot is a graph with y-axis as EIGEN value and x-axis as no. of variables. After a sudden bend in the line of a graph respective to that variable we will extract the variables.

A Priori Determination:
We will decide extractable variables beforehand only. So as per our report analysis from SPSS we will extract variables on the basis of EIGEN value From the total variance table of SPSS, variables whose EIGEN value is more than 1 will be extracted So in that table 5 variables are having EIGEN value more than 1, hence factor extraction = 5

Interpretation of Scree Plot:

In the scree plot, at the variable 3, there is a sudden band and so there are 5 variables which are to be extracted.

Name the factors that are extracted

There are four factors which are extracted and from each component we will choose the variables which are above = 0 .6 variance. FACTOR 1: Price And so first factor consists of ONE variable which are having more than .6 variance. And the value of PRICE is .772. FACTOR 2: FRIENDSHIP And so first factor consists of ONE variable which are having more than .6 variance. And the value of FRIENDSHIP is .781. FACTOR 3: SHINE And so first factor consists of ONE variable which are having more than .6 variance. And the value of SHINE is .908. FACTOR 4: ANTI-DANDRUFF And so first factor consists of ONE variable which are having more than .6 variance. And the value of ANTI-DANDRUFF is .941.

FACTOR 5:PACKAGING And so first factor consists of ONE variable which are having more than .6 Variance.and the value of packaging is .888.

SURROGATE VALUE
Surrogate variable is the one which has highest correlation among the variables in each factor. After considering each factor the surrogate variable is convenience to use because it has the highest variance correlation i.e. 0.941

Multiple Regressions of Three Variables i.e. Age, Gender, Surrogate Variable

In our research of multiple regressions we had taken Convenience to use variable as a surrogate variable as it has highest variance within all factors of the TABLET. So through SPSS software we interpret the correlation between the variables as follow: Annova table is used to identify whether the overall model is significant or not. If the sig level is less than 0.05 than we will reject null hypothesis and overall regression model is consider as significant. But in our research sig level of annova table is 0.440 which is more than 0.05 hence we will ACCEPT null hypothesis and overall model is significant.

Predict Y for X1 = 27 , X2 = 1(male) ?

Y = b0 + bX1 + bX2 Y = 1.630 + (0.005)(27) + (0.262)(1) Y = 2.027 As we got Y =2.027 , we can say that DESIGN

As a surrogate variable had received a scaling of 2.027 which is AGREE for the individuals the age group of 27 .

LIMITATIONS
The probable limitations of this study are as under : . 1. Samples were randomly selected as per convenience so error is bound to creep in the observation. 2. The conservative attitude of the respondents was a limiting factor in gaining information.

Conclusion
With studying all relevant aspects in detail the researcher arrived to the conclusion that, young generation highly involved in use of shampoos. The respondents make a self decision for purchase , frequent use of shampoos, neutral behaviour for change of shampoo, preferring pack size are sachets and small bottles,

influence of media especially T.V. is playing major role in awareness, customer satisfaction contributes the majority. Shampoo users are very loyal towards the brand they are ready to walk long distance to get the brand. In addition to that, I conclude that the types of promotion are effective in the shampoo market.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Target those people who use shampoo and trust the shampoo as their best solution for hair care. Develop quality and brand image so that by trial of your brand leaves with a good image and then followed by usage of bigger pack which then will be used by them. Identify the key benefits such as hair strengthening, Missing form shampoo and makes them the USP of new brands. The USP could be rebuilding damaged hair, shiny and healthy hair. Look for different problems for which people use shampoo for hair care, falling hair and dandruffs etc. And deliver the same of high quality and at the same time positioning the brand as solution for your hair problem and which also rejuvenate your hair, and keep your hair healthy to that target group. The ideas, associations and images that people have of a shampoo brand determine the demand side of the brand equity equation. There are two ways in which advertising is likely to influence perceived product performance. First, by guiding the expectations about the shampoo experience - process called product enhancement and second, by creating a halo of superiority around the brand via a mechanic termed Interest Status. There are two key advertising related factors First, the

advertisement needs to be remembered. This is important because its main influence is at the point of trial. Second, the message should relate in some way to the experience of using the product - for instance, does it create any expectation of what the shampoo would feel like to your hair i.e., how will it take care of your hair and especially to your specifications. But the advertiser should always bear in mind that the benefits proclaimed are in line with what the product can actually deliver. Use country wide sampling activity to acquaint potential customers with the benefit of shampoo backing up the effort with advertising to convert intent to purchase. Offer value for money impetus for the decision to use the product more intensively Again benchmark the company that has well positioned itself in the minds of the consumer and they [consumers] rarely change their shampoo. Here these people are almost satisfied with their current brand because the core features the consumer looks for is being derived from their brand. And so delivering the improved one will make them switch to your brand but it should be well advertised and substantiated This action of company will have other positive effect of attracting those switchers, changing frequently and/or occasionally and drawing the crowd towards your brand. Go for strategic sizing and pricing. Have those packs available in the market so that people have a wider option available and presence of your brand. After a gap of some time check which are the packs that are bought most and assure their availability. Last but not the least there are separate issue that have to dealt with being the male and female factor and then growing demand of herbal shampoo. Looking at first point the female factors of buying a shampoo are different than male. A female

normally have less problem of falling hair than male and so they look for those hair shampoo that improve from the current position of their hair. [Rejuvenate and healthy etc.] But one common problem [male & female] that they may have is of dandruffs. And so the company can develop the brand image and quality and communicate better to the target group of these core benefits of your brand i.e., solution for hair problem and thus improving and rejuvenating them. Second point. Can the company in the same line of chemical shampoos change the perception in the mind of the consumer of chemical shampoo having no side affects and at the same time advertise about the possible advantages of using their shampoo and/or can they come up with a herbal shampoo as the product extension and there by building a well brand image. Like the Colgate has done with the already launched product of herbal toothpaste. If yes please go ahead but probe before you plunge. The advt. Slogan could be : Expert care for every type of hair Extra protection for your hair Remove dandruffs in secs Healthy shiny u ever wanted.

Annexure
Questionnaire on shampoo
Name Age

Gender

. Please rate the importance of the following attribute on 5 point rating scale. (1) Strongly Agree (2) Agree (3) Uncertain/Neutral (4) Disagree (5) Strongly Disagree
Rating (1 to 5)

S.no

Attributes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I like to experiment with new hair shampoo. I buy hair shampoo that my friends buy. I buy expensive hair shampoo. I buy hair shampoo that I have seen advertised. Do you consider after wash fragrance in the shampoo. Do you prefer branded shampoo. Do you prefer a conditioner free with a shampoo. Do you consider packaging size of the shampoo. Do you consider antidandruff shampoo over normal shampoo Do you prefer silky shine shampoo.

Thank you for your time and patience!