Weekly Report 2

Enrolment no:

BM/JULY/14/27/2974

Students Name:

Sushmita Mukherjee

Project title:

Consumer Perception and Buying Behavior

Towards Vending Machine.

Faculty Guide:

TITLE:

Prof. Gaurav Malpani Sir

Consumer Perception and Buying

Behavior towards Vending Machine

INTRODUCTION:

Installing Vending Machines in each and every work group is a good way to
promote the idea of self-service and a culture which is open and classless.
People should be encouraged to serve themselves as and when they want to and
whilst doing so should have an opportunity to interact with other members of the
group and build friendship. Friendship at work, enhances the emotional
Well-being of group members and foster a sense of belonging.
Vending Machine makes people more self-reliant and makes them feel good about
themselves as they are able to serve themselves. Encouraging people to perform
their routine office chores themselves such as mail processing,
Filing of papers, handling of phone calls, making photocopies etc frees them from
the dependencies built into the work system. Self-service promotes active work-life
full of movement and interactions as opposed to a dull and
Sedentary one.

CUSTOMERS PERCEPTION - It is defined as the way that the

customer usually view and feel about certain products and services. It cans
also cultural: related to customer satisfaction which is the expectation of the
customers towards the product.

Factors influencing customer perception- It is generally influenced by

price, quality, manufacturers reputation, experience with service and the
quality of packaging and branding, a number of complex and interrelated
psychological factors.

BUYING BEHAVIOR Acquiring, usage and dispose of goods and

services is the majorly termed as consumer behavior.

Review of Literature

This study is one of the kind to this report, based on consumer survey, data,
consumers' usage behavior, and opinions and attitudes toward the services
rendered by food and beverage vending machines. Consumer
satisfaction/dissatisfaction and complaint behavior arc also investigated. The results
reveal that consumers consider Vending machines as quite useful, beneficial,
important, and meaning a lot to them.

More than two decades ago, Quelch and Takeuchi (198 I) predicted that the
vending machine would become one of the most important non-store marketing
channels. Comparing the two million vending machines as cited in their article at
that time. .
Presently, the vending machine business is a $4 1 billion
industry (National Automatic Merchandising Association 2002)
and one of the most pervasive retail business forms, though still
low profile. Given the ever increasing presence and the
pervasiveness of sending machines in the lives of consumers, it is
surprising that there have been to date no studies in the
marketing and consumer behavior literature that shed light on
consumers usage behavior, experiences, opinions, and attitudes,
not to mention their satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and complaining
behavior, with the vending machine services. This glaring lack of
knowledge about consumer behavior regarding vending machine
service is even more surprising, considering the fence that our
knowledge and understanding of consumer behavior in the
retailing field have dramatically increased during the past two
decades. The present study is conducted as a first step to fill such
a gap in consumer behavior and non-store retailing literature.

VENDING MACHINE BUSINESS

The Value of Vending Machine Services

For Marketers. Vending machines compliment the traditional

distribution channels arid enable marketers to increase the reach
and intensity of their retail distribution network. Because of their
around the clock self-service capability, vending machines are
typically placed outdoors and in unattended environments such
as the comers of factories and offices, large retail stores,
gasoline stations, railroad stations, hotels. . Their compact size
means they can fit into many places where there is not enough
space for a full-sized convenience store. A strong presence in
the vending machine channel helps to enhance visibility and
brand recognition in the long term (ct. Phillips 1992).
The
greater the exposure afforded to brands via
vending machines,
the stronger the brand cognition and image recognition in the
integrated marketing.

For

Consumers. Vending machines are mainly valued by consumers for their

convenience and time saving benefit. Another value of vending machines lies in
the fact that they offer 24-hour availability and reasonably fresh and ready to serve
products.

These

transactional

characteristics

make

vending

machines

particularly appealing for the products that are demanded around the clock, that
are of impulsive demand, that do not require sales help or need to be closely
inspected before purchase, and that can be sold for relatively small amounts of

cash.

Description of Problem

Despite the many positive aspects, there are inherent drawbacks to vending
machine services which may negatively affect consumers
term. First,

the

shopping the

long

very nature of no personal, no human contact, transactions

can create unique problems that frustrate and potentially alienate consumers. Some
consumers are not comfortable with the lack of human

touch

in vending

m a c h i n e s . Unlike its retail store counterpart, the machine itself cannot

interactively offer consumers services accompanying a transaction, and is
confined to merely dispensing the product in return for payment (even this can be
a problem as discussed later in the study).

Another downside is that consumers sometimes do not feel secure

because vending transactions occur in unattended and isolated environments
in late hours such as on street comers in a big city or by a forlorn little
motel. In addition, people become captive customers of vending machines.

Database
The Database which I used was fully through primary source. Through personal
interview, observation, questionnaire. Mostly I used the questionnaire part.

The questions which were asked by me are as follows:

1.

Are you aware that Godrej is intoVending Machine?

(a) Yes
(b) No

2. Which companys vending machine name you know?

(a) Nescafe
(b) Lipton
(c) CCD
(d) Godrej
(e) Others
3. Factors affecting the buying decision?
(a) Cost
(b) Hygiene
(c) Taste
(d) Services
4. Reasons for purchasing Vending Machine are:
(a) Time saving

(b) Cost Saving

(c) Taste Consistency

5. Mode preferred for taking vending machines are:

(a) Purchase mode
(b) Rent mode
(c) Not interested

6. Perception about hygiene from the customer through vending machine:

(a) Highly Satisfied
(b) Dissatisfied
(c) Unsatisfied
7. Changes and feedback from customers:
(a) Lowered Cost
(b) Quality Improvement
(c) Higher Advertisement
8. Reasons for not purchasing Godrej vending machine?
(a) Low Awareness
(b) High Cost
(c) Service issue

Observatory Method
Observation is a process of recording the behaviour patterns of people, objects, and
occurrences without questioning or communicating with them. Observation can
take the place in a laboratory setting or in a natural setting. Generally there are two
ways to conduct observation, namely non-participative observation and
participative observation.
The researcher in non-participative observation does not involve in the activities of
the people being observed. He or she merely record whatever happens among the
people , including their actions and their behaviour, and anything worth recording.
On the one hand, the researcher in a participative observation involves fully with
the people being observed, with the objective of trying to understand the values,
motives and practices of those being researched.
The main advantage of observation as compared to questionnaire survey is you can
obtain richer and more in-depth information. You can able to catch phenomena,
characteristics, activities and other things impossible to detect by questionnaire
survey . However,there are some weaknesses associated with observation method
as shown below:
Cannot control variables in the natural setting
Researcher own values and ethics might affect his objectivity and give rise
to observer bias
Failure to observe some activities due to distractions.

Plan of Action
For plan of action firstly I set the objectives. For example I set the objective to
survey X number of customers for Y number of days. The strategies which I had
used in completing my task in the decided date are said to be Plan of Action.

My objectives in the topic was:

Selling 8 vending machines in 15 days.
Directly place 4 vending machines in the large firms.

Achieving our sale target by giving maximum efforts in equipment line.

Keys to Success

We must be focused and work hard to create acceptance for ourselves and our
products within the marketplace. The keys to our success are:
1. Quality support and service, recognizing that Chef Vending's success
depends most critically on the relationships it's able to create.

2. Innovative, quality products that are able to both expand existing markets
and create new ones for our customers.
3. Steady, disciplined pattern of growth.
4. Our customers and keeping them happy.