International Journal of Applied Engineering Research

ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 9, Number 13 (2014) pp. 2117-2126

Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com

Consumer Buying Behaviour on Durable Products: A Study

with Reference to Chennai City
Dr B. Madhavan and Dr N.R.V. Prabhu
Professor, Department of Management, AMET UNIVERSITY, Chennai
Dean, Agni College of Technology, Chennai.

ABSTRACT
Consumer buying behaviour is quite essential for efficient and effective
marketing management. Driven by a young population with access to
disposable incomes and easy finance options, the consumer market has been
throwing up staggering figures. Marketing problem enhancing from the
consumers' behaviour has a greater degree of similarity behavioral problems
relating to the consumer durables. Hence, the present study has been chosen to
identify and ascertain the extent of problems of consumer behaviour have an
impact on the marketing of consumer durables in the fast growing Chennai
city, Tamilnadu. The consumer behaviour in relating to consumer durables is
strongly affected by some economic, social, cultural and psychological
factors; the present research has been selected for an intensive empirical
survey of the various factors influencing the buyer's behaviour on consumer
durables in Chennai city, Tamilnadu.
Keywords: Consumer durables, Lead time, Brand and Post purchase reaction.

INTRODUCTION
Consumer behaviour can be defined as the decision-making process and physical
activity involved in acquiring, evaluating, using and disposing of goods and services.
According to Webster, Buying behaviour is all psychological, social and physical
behaviour of potential customer as they become aware of evaluate purchase consume
and tell other people about the product and services. In other words of Walter and

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Dr B. Madhavan and Dr N.R.V. Prabhu

Paul, consumer behaviour is the process whereby individual decide what, when, how
and from where to purchase goods and service. Thus the buyer behaviour may be
defined as that behaviour exhibited by people in planning, purchasing and using
economic goods and service in the satisfaction of their wants.
The Indian consumer durables industry has witnessed a considerable change
over the last few years. Changing lifestyle and higher disposable income coupled with
boom in the real estate and housing industry and a surge in advertising have been
instrumental in bringing about a sea change in the consumer behaviour pattern.
Consumer durables involve any type of product purchased by consumers that is
manufactured for long-term use. As opposed to many goods that are intended for
consumption in short term, consumer durables are intended to endure regular usage
for several years or longer before their replacement is required. Just about every
household contains at least a few items that may be considered to be of consumer
durable nature. With India being the second fastest growing economy having a huge
consumer class, consumer durables have emerged as one of the fastest growing
industries in India.
Table 1.Consumer Durables
White Goods
Refrigerators
Washing Machines
Air conditioners
Speakers
and
equipments

Brown goods
Mixers
Grinders and cooking range
Microwave ovens
Audio Electric fans

Consumer Electronics
Mobile phones
Televisions
Mp3 players
DVD
and
VCD
players

CONSUMER DURABLE INDUSTRY: AN OVERVIEW

The consumer durables market in India was estimated to be around US$ 4.5 billion in
2006-07. More than 7 million units of consumer durable appliances have been sold in
the year 2006-07 with colour televisions (CTV) forming the bulk of the sales with 30
per cent share of volumes. CTV, refrigerators and Air-conditioners together constitute
more than 60 per cent of the sales in terms of the number of units sold. In the
refrigerators market, the frost-free category has grown by 8.3 per cent while direct
cool segment has grown by 9 per cent. Companies like LG, Whirlpool and Samsung
have registered double-digit growth in the direct cool refrigerator market.
In the case of washing machines, the semi-automatic category with a higher base
and fully-automatic categories have grown by 4 per cent to 526,000 units and by 8 per

Consumer Buying Behaviour on Durable Products: A Study

2119

cent to 229,000 units, respectively. In the air-conditioners segment, the sales of

window ACs have grown by 32 per cent and that of split ACs by 97 per cent.
Key Consumer Durables-Share by volume
Colour Televisions sets(CTVs)
30%
Refrigerators
18%
Air-Conditioners
13%
Washing Machines
5%
others
34%
Source: Cygnus Quarterly Report, August 2012, Edelweiss Report on industrial
production.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Large numbers of research studies have been conducted on consumer behaviour both
in India and abroad.An attempt is made here review some selected works on
consumer behaviours on consumer durables.

Bhawaniprasad and Kumari (2004) have analyzed "Impact of advertising on

consumer durables markets: A study of Refrigerator consumer", in this study a
ranking/importance of refrigerator among other consumer durables is studied.
Study of 200 owners of Allwyn refrigerator in the twin cities of Hyderabad and
Secunderabad and Districts of Nizamabad and Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh
indicates that a very positive impact of advertising is found on the consumer
durables market.

Bayus (2004) studied "The consumer durable replacement buyer", and found
that replacements account for a substantial portion of the sale of consumer
durables in the U S. Results of replacement of automobiles indicate that "early"
replacement buyers are more concerned with styling and image and less
concerned with costs than "late" replacement buyers.

Gupta &Verma (2005) have done a study under convenience sampling of 50

household of New Delhi by questionnaire. It indicates that husband's influence
is considerably higher that the wives. Children also play an active role in brand
selection of CTV.

Jain and Sharma (2006) studied 584 respondents out of 800 questionnaires of
Delhi in five professional category observed that selected products represent
different product categories in terms of both durability and frequency of
purchase as required. Study shows that the levels of consumer involvement
differ across products. As against non-durables, consumer perceives durables as
more involving products.

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Dr B. Madhavan and Dr N.R.V. Prabhu

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To study the consumer buying behaviour of durable products in Chennai City.

To study the opinion about advertisements and ISI mark of selected consumer
durables.

To identify and analyze the economic factors, social & cultural factors and
psychological factors determining the consumers' buying decision.

To study the post purchase behaviour of consumers of selected consumer

durables.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1.
The study is confined to the extent of interpreting data which is collected only
from 200 respondents of selected consumer durables.
2.
The study is based on primary data. The respondents are chosen randomly from
the different places of the Chennai city.
3.
Study of the behaviours of dealers and middlemen's are not made. There is very
less scope for collection of confidential financial data.
4.
Selected durables also only few out of total durables which are normally used by
the consumers

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study mainly based on primary data. Samples size selected for the study is 200
respondents of the selected consumer durables inChennai city. Samples are drawn on
convenience sampling technique/ method. The data for the study are drawn sample
respondents through questionnaires and schedules. Require information were also
collected from dealers, wholesalers, retailers. Collected information from the sample
respondents on consumer behaviour on consumer durables are classified, tabulated
&graphed and analyzed in a systematic manner. The present study is empirical &
analytical in nature. The relevant necessary relevant information has been collected
from sample respondents through questionnaires and schedules for the time period
January 2014 to June 2014. The collected data on consumer behaviour on consumer
durables are classified, tabulated & graphed and analyzed in a systematic manner.

Consumer Buying Behaviour on Durable Products: A Study

2121

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Table 1: Age of the Respondents
Age
0-20
20-30
30-40
40 and above
Total
Source: Field survey

No: of Respondents
15
50
90
45
200

Percentage
7.5
25
45
22.5
100

From the above table it is inferred that 45% of the respondents are in the age
group 30-40 and 25% of the respondents are in the age group 20-30.
Table 2: Income of the Respondents
Income
10000-20000
20000-30000
30000-40000
40000 and above
Total
Source: Field survey

No: of Respondents
12
37
95
56
200

Percentage
6
18.5
47.5
28
100

From the above table it is inferred that 47.5% of the respondents are in the
income group 30,000 -40,000 and 28% of the respondents are in the income group
40,000 and above.
Table 3: Gender of the Respondents
Gender
Male
Female
Total
Source: Field survey

No: of Respondents
100
100
200

Percentage
50
50
100

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Dr B. Madhavan and Dr N.R.V. Prabhu

From the above table it is inferred that 50% are male and female.
Table 4: Opinion about advertisements

Responses
Informative
Descriptive
Persuasive
Waste of Time and Money
Total
Source: Field survey

Respondents
127
43
19
11
200

Percentage
63.50
21.50
9.50
5.50
100

From the above table it is inferred that 63.50 percentage of the respondents
agree that the advertisement for durable products are informative.
Table 5: Opinion on ISI mark
Responses
YES
NO
TOTAL
Source: Field survey

Respondents
193
07
200

Percentage
96.50
4.50
100

From the above table it is inferred that 96.50 % of the respondents believe of the
ISI mark in the durable product and 4.50 doesnt believe the ISI mark in the durable
product purchased.
Table 6: Post Purchase Reactions of Respondents
Reactions
Satisfied and using now
Not satisfied but retained
Not satisfied so resold
Not satisfied so scrapped
Total
Source: Field survey

Respondents
163
17
11
9
200

Percentage
81.50
8.50
5.50
4.50
100

Consumer Buying Behaviour on Durable Products: A Study

2123

From the above table it is inferred that 85% of the respondents are satisfied with
the purchased durable products.
Table7: Purchase Time of the respondents
CONSUMER
DURABLE

ALL TIME
R
26

%
13

AIRCONDITIONAR
TELEVISION
12
6
CD PLAYER
29
14.5
COMPUTER
11
5.5
MICRO-OVEN
18
9
R- Number of Respondent
Source: Field survey

FESTIVA
L
R
%
85
42.5

MARRIAG
E
R
%
26
13

OTHERS

TOTAL

R
63

%
31.5

R
200

65
88
76
55

90
41
75
99

33
42
38
28

16.5
21
19
14

200
200
200
200

32.5
44
38
27.5

45
20.5
37.5
49.5

From the above table it is inferred that 44% of the respondents purchase CD
player during the festival seasons and 45% of the respondents purchase Television
during marriage.
Table 8: Factors affecting the purchase of durable products
Factors
Culture
Economical
Social
Psychological

Strongly
Agree
56
69
65
77

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

58
50
63
69

46
41
32
30

30
27
28
16

Strongly
Disagree
10
13
12
8

Total
200
200
200
200

Chi square Test

Hypothesis Testing
Ho: Cultural, economical, social and psychological aspects does not influence the
customer in purchasing durable product.
H1: Cultural, economical, social and psychological aspects influence the customer in
purchasing durable product.

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Dr B. Madhavan and Dr N.R.V. Prabhu

The significance level of 0.000 and it is less than 0.05,so that it indicates this
chi-square is statistically significant. So that we reject null hypothesis Ho and Accept
alternative hypothesis H1. i.e., Cultural, economical, social and psychological aspects
influence the customer in purchasing durable product.

FINDINGS
1.
45% of the respondents are in the age group 30-40 and 25% of the respondents
are in the age group 20-30.
2.
47.5% of the respondents are in the income group 30,000 -40,000 and 28% of
the respondents are in the income group 40000 and above.
3.
44% of the respondents purchase CD player during the festival seasons and 45%
of the respondents purchase Television during marriage.
4.
85% of the respondents are satisfied with the purchased durable products.
5.
63.50 % of the respondents agree that the advertisement for durable products is
informative.

SUGGESTIONS
1.
Brand consciousness among the purchases of the consumer durables is an
important trend found in the study. Consumers prefer high valued consumer
durables of well established brands.
2.
Concessions in the price, price reductions, discounts sell, gifts, etc., have
become common practices. The buyers of consumer durables should try to avail
of these benefits, whenever they are available however, the buyers of such
goods should not be lured mere by consciousness without considering the
quality and performance aspects of these higher value products.
3.
Marketers of consumer durables must identify who makes and influences the
buying decisions. This will enable the marketers in understanding how

Consumer Buying Behaviour on Durable Products: A Study

4.

2125

consumers influences, different marketing campaigns might be targeted to each

type of persons, marketers also examine buyers level of involvement and
numbers of brands available to determine whether consumers are engaging in
complex buying behavior, dissonance reducing buying behavior, habitual
buying behavior.
Marketers of consumer durables must aim at building and maintaining consumer
satisfaction, avoiding dissatisfaction. However other parties too get involved in
case of the consumer decides to approach the outside intervention mechanism
against product failure or dissatisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS
The market for consumer durables is becoming more competitive now a day.
Therefore, the producer of durable products should understand consumer interest
much to find higher sale of their products. This wider view attempts to study
Consumer Behaviour: behaviour in the light of rapidly evolving lifestyles, values,
priorities, and social contexts. Various theories on consumer research were not tested
empirically until the middle twentieth century. The distinctly practical emphasis
awaited development of the field of marketing in the business curriculum. In
particular the buying process of consumer behaviour is of more importance to
marketing practitioners than the consumption process.Hence, the present study has
been choosed and identified,ascertain the extent of problems of consumer behaviour
have an impact on the marketing of consumer durables in the fast growing Chennai
city, Tamilnadu. The consumer behaviour in relating to consumer durables is strongly
affected by some economic, social, cultural and psychological factors.

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