CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1
 INTRODUCTION

This study is conducted to determine ‘BRAND AWARENESS OF MERIIBOY

ICE CREAM”. The organization selected for the purpose is “MILKY FOOD
INDUSTRIES”, Trivandrum.
The new business horizon will be the most challenging era for the most of the
companies delivering goods and services to the buyers directly through their network. The
increasing competition in the global markets will make the existence of the companies
difficult as the buyers being the kingpins.
A brand is much more than a name, logo, colours, a tagline or a symbol. These are
marketing tool tactics. A brand is essentially a marketers promise to deliver a specific set of
feature, benefit and services consistently to the buyers. The marketer must establish a
mission for the brand and a vision of what the brand must be and do.
Brand awareness can be measured by showing the consumer the brand and asking
whether or not they knew of it beforehand. However, in common market research practice a
variety of recognition and recall measures of brand awareness are employed all of which test
the brand name's association to a product category cue. This came about because most
market research in the 20th Century was conducted by post or telephone, actually showing
the brand to consumers usually required more expensive face-to-face interviews. This has
led many textbooks to conceptualize brand awareness simply as its measures, that is.
knowledge that the brand is a member of a particular product category, e.g. soft-drinks.
Examples of such measures include:
• Brand recognition - Either the brand name or both the brand name and category
name are presented to respondents.
• Brand recall - the product category name is given to respondents who arc asked to
recall us many, brands as possible that are members of the category
There has been discussion in industry and practice about the meaning and value of
brand awareness metrics. Recently an empirical study, appeared to put this debate to rest by
suggesting that all awareness metrics were systematically related, simply reflecting their
difficulty, in the same way that certain questions are more difficult in academic
2
examinations. While brand awareness scores tend to be quite stable at aggregate level,
individual consumers show considerable propensity to change their responses to recall based
brand awareness measures. Brand building deals with name, term, sign, symbol or design or
a combination of all these which is intended to identify the goods or services of one seller
or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.
Brand awareness is the consumers ability to recognise or recall the brand within a
given product category in sufficient category in given sufficient detail to make a purchase
decision. This also means that the consumers can propose, recommend, choose or use the
brand. The objectives of most advertising campaign are to create and maintain brand
preference. The first step is to make potential consumers aware of a brands existence. One
of the prominent goals of any business should he to build brand image and awareness of its
product, effective traditional advertising methods.
Consumer tends to make purchasing decision based on peer recommendation and
direct experience as well as traditional advertising methods. Brand awareness is the
probability that consumers are familiar about the life and availability of the brand. It is the
degree to which consumers precisely associate the brand with the specific Product. It is
measured as ratio of niche market that has former knowledge of brand. Brand awareness
includes both brand recognition as well as brand recall. Brand recognition is the ability of
consumer to recognize Prior knowledge of brand when they are asked questions about that
brand or when they are shown that specific brand. ie., the consumers can clearly differentiate
the brand as having being earlier noticed or heard. While brand recall is the potential of
customer to recover a brand from his memory when given the product class/category, needs
satisfied by that category or buying scenario as a signal. In other words, it refers that
consumers should recover brand from the memory when given a clue or he can recall the
specific brand when the product category is mentioned. it is generally easier to recognize a
brand rather than recall it from the memory.
One of the important aims of every business should be to build brand awareness of
its product. Companies should understand the facts that builds a positive brand image
depends on possessing high brand awareness because when a brand is well established in
the memory. it is easier to create, attach and associate. Brands are key to winning position
in marked place because they deliver a unique benefit and build deep connections with
customers. In addition customers are most critical. Though very important group to take into

3
consideration became customers can always choose from where the, buy. Consequently. they
will buy from the manufacture that provides the most value.
Brands are seen More than just symbols and name. Brands are major assets of a
company due to fact that a brand represents everything that a product or service means to
consumers.
That is the reason why brands should be carefully developed and managed However;
very often firms consider brands just as a tool for advertising, but that is not the case: good
brands don't just sell, they act. Due to the present competitive environment every line
attempts to generate favourable and positive associations about their brand which result in
positive image of the brand.
The relative importance of brand recall and recognition will rely on the degree to
which consumers make product-related decisions with the brand present or not. For instance
In a store, brand recognition is more
Meriiboy Ice Cream, though not a national brand, is one of the biggest in south India
especially in Kerala, and an emerging brand in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The present study
can be described as an attempt to systematically and empirically evaluate which image
dimensions in previous literature that specifically determines customer’s willingness to pay
a price premium for Meriiboy Ice Cream. Origin of the product has not been used because
the present study examines only one products in the previous researches. Also, specific to
the product under consideration, a new factor has been added-Natural Label.

1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In the emerging Knowledge based economy it has became necessary to know market
power lies with the brand name. The study of the level of brand awareness is essential in
marketing planning. Customer needs and preferences keep changing where the brands
ultimately command customer’s loyalty. There are some other competitors in the market and
due to this MILKY FOOD INDUSTRIES company faces a considerable and constant
competition in sales revenue. Though this study, researcher is trying to identify the brand
awareness level of Meriiboy ice-cream in Trivandrum District. This study is expected to help
MILKY FOOD INDUSTRIES for analysing the factors of brand awareness of Meriiboy ice-
cream.

4
 1.2 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

The average ice cream consumption of the world is 2.3 litres per annum. With ice
cream treats becoming a part of Indian culture, Indian ice cream market is rapidly growing
globally. Indian customers are visiting ice cream parlours frequently, helping to fuel greater
interest in packaged offerings in the country. The current Ice Cream market of India is worth
Rs.3000 Cr, including the unorganized sector. According to PHD Chamber of
Commerce With its growing institutional sales coupled with youngsters spending habits on
it as well as increasing disposable income of middle and lower middle class Indians in the
recent times, which has developed its penchant for the frozen product, the size of the ice
cream industry is likely to jump at about Rs.7000 Crores by 2018. The branded market has
a host of home-grown and international players, namely, Amul, Kwality Walls, Mother
Dairy, Vadilal, Cream Bell, and Baskin-Robbins etc.

The study is more of an exploratory in nature. The methodology used for collecting the
primary data was survey method using a structured questionnaire and secondary data from
the websites, journals, books, newspaper articles etc.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

Primary Objectives
To study the level of brand awareness of Meriiboy among the people of
Trivandrum.

5
 1.4 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

1. Lack of co-operation of the respondents.

2. In some cases the respondents might have given false answer in order to maintain their
image.
3. Lack of available data, due to the busy schedule of the managers and executives it was hard
to get accurate information from them.

6
 CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

7
 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Review of literature shows the previous studies carried mu by the researcher in this lield.
Previous studies are reviewed in order to gain insight into extent of research. The research
problem can be more understood and made specific referring to theories. reports. records
and other information made in similar studies. This will provide the researcher with the
knowledge on what lines the study should proceed and serves to narrow the problem. The
main objective of the study is to improve the Brand Awareness of Merriboy brand among
the people.
A traditional definition of a brand was: “the name associated with one or more items in
the product line, that is used to identify the source of character of the items” (kotler,2000).
The American Marketing Association (AMA) definition of a brand is -a name, term, sign,
symbol, design or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one
seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors-
According to Kotler (2003:420), a brand is essentially a marketer's promise to deliver a
specific set of features, benefits and services consistently to the consumer. Brand awareness
can provide a host of competitive advantages for the marketer. These include the following
(Aaker, 1996,174)
• Brand awareness
• Perceived quality
• Brand loyalty
• Brand associations
Brand awareness provides the brand with a sense of familiarity. Name awareness can be
a signal of presence, commitment and substance. The salience of a brand will determine if
it is recalled at a key time in the purchasing process. Brand awareness is an asset that can be
remarkably durable and thus sustainable. It may be extremely difficult to dislodge a brand
that has achieved a dominant awareness level.
Organizations can create brand awareness by firstly, having a broad sales base and
secondly. becoming skilled at operating outside the normal media channels (Aaker,
1996,161. A brand with high brand awareness and with positively distinguishing
associations will have a high added value to the consumers. Brand awareness is measured

8
according to the different ways which the consumers remember a brand. which may include
brand recognition, brand recall (Aaker, 1996:10-16).
• Brand recognition- Brand recognition relates to consumers. ability to confirm prior
exposure to that brand when given the brand as a cue. It requires that consumers can
correctly discriminate the brand having been previously seen or heard.
• Brand recall- Brand recall relates consumers' ability to retrieve the brand from memo,
given the product category. the needs fulfilled by the category or a purchase or usage
situation as a cue. it requires consumers to correctly generate the brand from memory when
given a relevant ClIC
Customers need information to be able to choose between alternative brands. However.
consumers are bombarded with increasingly more marketing messages. The challenge
therefore faced by marketers is to build awareness and presence both economically and
efficiently (Aaker, 1996:174).
Note on Measuring Brand Awareness, Brand Image, Brand Equity and Brand Value by
P. Chandon on March 2003 has well defined how we will measure the brand awareness. The
purpose of this note is to provide an overview and references of the various methods that
can be used to measure brand knowledge, brand awareness, brand image, brand equity and
brand value. This note provides a short definition of each concept-and illustrations of the
most widely-used measurement techniques. Once you know what you want to measure, is
important to look at the original sources cited to understand how to properly use these
techniques. Kellers (2003) book also provides detailed information on each concept and its
measurement.
Brand awareness measures the accessibility of the brand in memory. Brand awareness
can he measured through brand recall or brand recognition. Brand recall reflects the ability
of consumers to retrieve the brand from memory when given the product category, the need
fulfilled by the category or some other type of probeasacue. Brand recognition reflects the
ability of consumer, to confirm prior exposure to the brand, (Aaker, 1996)

it is important to measure not only the depth of recall (the percentage of people who
know the brand) but also the width of recall (the cues that lead to brand recall). Therefore,
it is important to ponder the choice of the Cue that will be used in the recall question. A
good start is to think about who, when, where and how the brand will be bought or used).

9
 Kutay OKTAY conducted a study on The Level of Brand Awareness in Consumer
Electronic Products: The Example of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In this Brand awareness
which is considered as one of the most important factor affecting the consumer purchasing
preferences has been investigated by both academicians and practitioners in the field of
marketing in recent years. The current study investigated brand awareness in Kazakhstan
and Kyrgyzstan regarding consumer electronic products such as laptop computers, tablet
computers and cell phones.
A study was conducted on the Impact or Brand Awareness on Consumer Purchase
Intention: The Mediating Effect of Perceived Quality and Brand Loyalty. The purposes of
the study are to explore the effects among brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty
and customer purchase intention and mediating effects of perceived quality and brand
loyalty on brand awareness and purchase intention. The samples arc collected from cellular
phone users living in Chiyi and the research adopts regression analysis and mediating test
to examine the hypotheses. The results are: (a) the relations among the brand awareness,
perceived quality and brand loyalty for purchase intention are significant and positive effect,
(b) perceived quality has a positive effect on brand loyalty, (c) perceived quality will
meditate the effects between brand awareness and purchase intention. and (d) brand loyalty
will mediate the effects between brand awareness and purchase intention. The study suggests
that cellular phone manufacturers ought to build a brand and promote its brand awareness
through sales promotion, advertising and other marketing activities. When brand awareness
is high its brand loyalty will also increase. Consumers will evaluate perceived quality' of a
product from their purchase experience.
According to the study conducted by P. Guru Ragavendran, G. DevAumar and Santhosh
Upadhyay on 'A Study on Brand Awareness of Shampoo Products for CavinKare Pvt. Ltd’
brand awareness among consumers play a decisive role in the sales turnover ol the company.
Every company invest heavily in this aspect to catch the lion's share of the market. Cavin
Kare is one or such aspiring Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies in India. with
turnover of 5000 million INR in 2006-2007. Although. CavinKare had done a lot of research
on brand awareness of their hair cae products. only a limited research has been reported for
its new Chik and Chile Satin shampoo in Bangalore.
In the present work, a study was carried out to estimate the current brand awareness and
to suggest methods for improving the same. In this process, the socio economic stratum of
women consumers was identified using socio economic classification grid during personal

10
interview at individual households. The data was collected from the target audience of 18-
35 years age at 30 different places in target population through questionnaire. Pareto analysis
was used to know the quality problems of major attributes. Quality Function Deployment
was deployed to relate the consumer voice and technical descriptors for quality
improvements in the shampoo brand. The results revealed that, the major consumer
expectations were quality, benefits offered and packaging of shampoo product. Based on the
results obtained, measures were suggested to improve the brand awareness from 8% to
12.6% in target population. Suggestion towards improving sales by 45.39% on focusing the
lagging quality attributes of shampoo has been made.

11
 CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

12
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The research design is the arrangement of condition for collection and analysis of
data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in
procedure. In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure with in which research is
conducted. The design adopted for the study is descriptive research design and explanatory
research design. Descriptive study is concerned with describing the characteristics of a
particular individual or of a group or phenomenon; it just says what is what and give as
actual picture of reality.

3.2 SOURCES OF DATA

For this research, the data is collected from the respondents through a survey questionnaire. There
are two types of data sources that are used to obtain required data:
a) Primary data
 Direct interview through survey questionnaire
b) Secondary data
 Commercial websites of Meriiboy ice cream
 Previously conducted research studies on brand awareness

13
Primary data is used for conducting the survey for the responses which is required for the project
and secondary data helps to identify the problem and to decide the topic for this project.

3.3 SAMPLING
Sampling is done on the basis of convenience sampling. The sample size was 240. Sampling unit
will be the customers of ice cream products in Trivandrum district.

3.4 STATISTICAL TOOLS

Statistical treatment of data is essential in order to make use of the data in the right form. Here we
used percentage and count to analyse the collected data and calculate the brand awareness level.
Through this tool researcher can do study on data collected by him and make the interpretation.
The statistical tools used for interpretation is percentage analysis.

14
 CHAPTERIZATION

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Review of Literature

Chapter 3 Research Methodology

Chapter 4 Industry Profile

Chapter 5 Company Profile

Chapter 6 Data Presentation and Analysis

Chapter 7 Results: Findings and Suggestions

Chapter 8 Conclusions

15
 CHAPTER 4

INDUSTRY PROFILE

16
4.1 THE EVOLUTION OF ICE CREAM

Ice-cream's origins are known to reach back as far as the second century B.C.,
although no specific date of origin or inventor has been undisputedly credited with its
discovery. We know that Alexander the Great enjoyed snow and ice flavored with honey
and nectar. Biblical references also show that King Solomon was fond of iced drinks during
harvesting. During the Roman Empire, Nero Claudius Caesar (A.D. 54-86) frequently sent
runners into the mountains for snow, which was then flavored with fruits and juices.

Over a thousand years later, Marco Polo returned to Italy from the Far East with
a recipe that closely resembled what is now called sherbet. Historians estimate that this
recipe evolved into ice cream sometime in the 16th century. England seems to have
discovered ice cream at the same time, or perhaps even earlier than the Italians. "Cream
Ice," as it was called, appeared regularly at the table of Charles I during the 17th century.
France was introduced to similar frozen desserts in 1553 by the Italian Catherine de Medici
when she became the wife of Henry II of France. It wasn't until 1660 that ice cream was
made available to the general public. The Sicilian Procopius introduced a recipe blending
milk, cream, butter and eggs at Café Procure, the first café in Paris.

4.2 GLOBAL SCENARIO

The annual world trade in milk products (excluding intra-EU) amounts to 33million
tons, valued at US$ 10 billion. Barely 6 to 7% of the world milk Production is traded
internationally. The bulk of the world dairy trade is in Cheese, Butter and Powders. A
growing shift towards cheese is expected in the near future. Two dynamic products with a
substantial projected growth in the coming years are yoghurt and dessert.

The international dairy trade is dominated by four players - EU, New Zealand,
Australia and USA - which together account for 85% of all exports. New Zealand and
Australia export as much as 80 and 50% of their milk production respectively. The Asia-
Pacific region has been and will remain a net milk importer in the foreseeable future. It
accounts for the bulk of milk powder imports and half of the imports of condensed and

17
evaporated milk. In contrast, most cheese imports go from developing countries to developed
countries such as Japan and the United States.

The dairy industry is regulated in most countries through various ways. Imports are
commonly restricted, and exports frequently subsidized. High dairy price supports in many
countries are put in place to stimulate production to the extent that subsidies for exports are
necessitated to maintain domestic dairy programs.

In the United Kingdom, all the milk produced by farmers is procured by the
cooperatives. Private dairies are required to buy their milk requirement from cooperatives.
New Zealand has no private sector dairy plants. As many as 90 Percent of dairies in the
erstwhile West Germany and 100 percent in Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden are in the
cooperative sector.

In the United States, 70 per cent of the dairy industry is cooperative. Dairy programs
are subject to more Government participation or regulation than most other domestic
agricultural industries in the USA. There are also Federal Milk Marketing Orders and
movement barriers in the USA for “orderly marketing control, which is associated with
stabilizing fluid milk prices, providing secure and dependable markets for individual dairy
farmers, primarily for the fluid market and improving the balance of market power between
farmers and handlers.

In the emerging liberalized global scenario, trade-distorting agricultural policies have

been the focus of the GATT multilateral trade negotiations. With the liberalization of
agricultural trade under the new GATT regime, the heavy subsidies prevalent in the dairy
sector in the countries of the EU as well as in the USA will have to be brought down in the
next few years. The competitive advantages of the Indian dairy industry are then considered
to be substantial.

With substantial and continued investment in building up milk production, India

can emerge as a major exporter of dairy products and technologies in the next few decades.

18
4.3 INDIAN SCENARIO

Ice cream industry occupies important place in India. It is one of the consumer goods
industries its products is important popular diet. India is an agriculture-based country
because of the large number of cattle and large milk production most of the dairy and ice-
cream industries has developed and India is well ranked in the world. Ice cream industry has
brought magnificent change in the rural economy. It provides employment to the marginal
farmers. Today the competition in ice-cream of players like Amul, Kwalitywalls, and Vadilal
etc. as ice cream has been a regular edible item the consumption of ice cream is more. In
1983 when Indian Government Issued a control in which the certain price level was fixed. It
has an important role in employment generation and reducing the migration of villagers
towards the town and cities for live hood.

India has one of the largest livestock populations in the world. Fifty percent of the
buffaloes and twenty percent of the cattle in the world are found in India, most of which are
milk cows and buffaloes. Dairy development in India has been acknowledged the world over
as one of modern India’s most successful developmental program. Today, India is the largest
milk producing country in the world. Milk and milk products is rated as one of the most
promising sectors which deserves appreciation in a big way. When the world milk
production registered a negative growth of2 percent, India performed much better with 4
percent growth. The total milk production is over 72 million tons and the demand for milk
is estimated at around 80 million tons.

By 2005, the value of Indian dairy produce is expected to be Rs. 1,000,000 million.
In the last six years foreign investment in this sector stood at Rs. 3600 million which is
about one fourth of the total investment made in this sector. Manufacture of casein and
lactose, largely being imported presently, has good scope. The milk surplus states in India
are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The manufacturing of milk products is concentrated in these
milk surplus States.

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LIVESTOCK POPULATION: India is rich in its livestock wealth. It accounts for
nearly15.8% of the world cattle population, more than half of the world buffalo population.
As per the 1992 Livestock census of Ministry of Agriculture, highest cattle population was
reported in Madhya Pradesh (28.68 million nos.) followed by Uttar Pradesh (25.63
million’s.) Bihar (22.15 million nos.) Maharashtra (17.44 million nos.) and West Bengal
(17.45 million nos.). According to livestock census the highest population of buffaloes is
reported in U.P. (20.08 million nos.) followed by A.P. (9.15 million nos.), M.P. (7.97 million
nos.) and Rajasthan (7.74 million no’s).

PRODUCTION OF MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS: The milk production was almost
stagnant between 1947 to 1970 with an annual growth rate of merely one percent which has
since registered a vigorous growth of over 4.5% per annum after the year 1970. The major
milk producing states are UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, M.P, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Numbers
of milk products manufacturing Plants have come up in these states for Processing of milk.

PRESENT STATUS: The Indian dairy industry achieved substantial growth during
the8th Five Year Plan, achieving an annual output of over 60 million tones of milk. This
not only places our industry second in the world after the United States, but represents
sustained growth in real availability of milk and milk products for our burgeoning
population. Most important, dairying has become an important secondary source of
income for millions of rural families. Improved genetic material achieved primarily
through cross breeding of cattle and upgrading of the national buffalo herd has played a
significant role in increasing the productivity. Gradual extension of improved husbandry
practices; increase in consumption of balanced concentrates made possible, in part,
through innovations in the field of nutrition; expanded area under fodder; greater access
to veterinary care; and advances in the fight against endemic and epidemic cattle diseases
have also contributed to increased production and productivity.

About three quarters of the milk produced is consumed at the household level. Of the
milk supplied to the market, about 9-11 percent is processed in over 275 dairy plants and 83
milk product factories operated by cooperative, private dairy processors, and government
milk schemes in the organized sector. Milk channeled through Operation Flood cooperatives
20
are generally processed in dairy plants located in the rural areas and then transported into
cities and towns. Operation Flood Milk productions account for about 10% of total milk
production or 40% of the marketed output. The balance (about 90% of total production) is
handled by the private traders and processors. About 45% of milk production is consumed
as fluid milk. About 35% is processed into butter or ghee; about 7% is processed into Paneer
(cottage cheese) and other cheeses, about 4% is converted into milk powder; and the balance
is used for other products such as Dahi (yoghurt) and sweet meats. In recent years, there has
been an increasing ice cream production as foreign companies have invested in India.

4.4 FUTURE MARKETS

South East Asia, Russia and Africa will be the emerging market for Indian dairy products.
In the immediate future, there is prospect of an additional demand of over 3 million tons of
milk products in the ASEAN region alone. The EU dairy exports will become limited by
GATT agreements, while Australia-New Zealand does not have adequate production
capacity. Equally significant is the rise of Russia as the world’s biggest dairy importer
although by far the biggest milk.

Producer in Europe, the Russian output has declined by more than 25 percent in the
past five years. The shortfall in milk production is estimated to be 13 million tons a year.
These major deficits in milk availability offer an opportunity for India to fill this vacuum
and to become leading dairy exporting nations.

21
 CHAPTER 5

COMPANY PROFILE

22
 5.1 COMPANY DETAILS

Following table shows that the brief details about the Milky food industries

TABLE NO 5.1

Name of the company MERIIBOY ICE CREAM (MILKY

FOOD INDUSTRIES), TRIVANDRUM

Year of incorporation 2010

Place Pattom

District Trivandrum

State Kerala

Country India

Type of organization Partnership organization

Nature of organization Partnership firm

Nature of product Manufactured

No. of employees 150

Production capacity 6000 litres

Exporting products to Karnataka , Tamilnadu

23
 Company website www.meriiboy.com

5.2 PARTNERS OF THE COMPANY

o A. V Thomas

o K,M Joseph

o E.V Joseph

o Daisy Devassy

o Mini Varghese

5.3 YEAR OF INCORPORATION

The company started its function as a partnership enterprise on 2003.

5.4 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

Meriiboy is a division of Cousins Group, a business venture founded in 1990, by 5

closely-knit families. Over the years, the group has developed diverse interests from plastic
24
modeling to ice cream and more. The first ice cream factory unit was set up in 2003 at Kalady
with a capacity of 600L a day. Today, the group holds four advanced units manufacturing
over 5 million litres every year.

In 2006 Cousins Group started the second ice cream factory in Kinfra Food Processing
Park, Calicut, catering to Northern Kerala. In 2010 the third factory commissioned at
Trivandrum as a part of market expansion the fourth factory inaugurated at Kannur and
reaches production capacity of8 million litre/annum. In 2013 Meriiboy becomes a major
player in Kerala. Awarded ISO 22000: 2005 certifications by BUREAU VERITAS for
Kalady factory. Distribution network spreads across 1200 dealers and 400 distributors in
Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Establishes own retail outlets in Lulu & Oberon malls
in Ernakulum, Vega Land, Food Mall at Revenue Tower, R P Mall at Calicut, Bakker
junction at Kottayam.

Meriiboy is one of the largest producers of fresh ice cream, based in South India. The brand
is known across Kerala and in the emerging markets of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for its
original freshness and unmatched quality. The brand pays great attention to quality at every
level, from the sourcing of fresh raw materials to testing, manufacturing, packaging and the
finished product. Made with state-of-the-art production techniques and a comprehensive
hygiene policy, every Meriiboy product is nothing less than world class. To ensure this, Tetra
Pak Hoyer, Denmark has been involved as consultants and quality advisors.

5.5 VISION STATEMENT

The Milky food industry (Meriiboy Ice cream Company) has a great vision of
becoming a leader of fast moving consumer goods and products. Its vision is to provide total
customer satisfaction through continuous improvement in production process and services.

25
 5.6 MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the company is to deliver high quality food products that set
themselves apart from others in taste and value.

5.7 QUALITY POLICY

Meriiboy ice cream provides quality policies mainly on the following areas:

 They periodically check the quality in production of ice creams.


 Packaging process also include quality procedures such as inspection of packages.

 They also provide quality protection on handling such as refrigerator vans for their
products while marketing.

In process

o The procedures are processes adopted – adhering to HACCP standards.

o Most modern machines imported from Italy & Europe.

o Procedures like disinfection.

o Fully automated plants to avoid human involvement in manufacturing.

o Each batch tested for quality.

o In house laboratory with trained microbiologists and chemists.

26
o Dynamic printing of batch number to trace manufacturing details of a particular
product.

In Packaging

o Paper packaging done with white ITC food grade cartons.

o Packaging workers are inspected before they engage in packaging.

o Packaging materials supplied by reliable suppliers.

In Handling

o Refrigerated vans for transportation.

o Well trained distributers and dealers.

o Well maintained cold chain facilities- less breakdowns.

5.8 OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPANY

o Quality

They mainly focus on quality. They use pure milk collected from nearby
PDDP centers for ice cream production.
o Profit maximization

MERIIBOY Ice Cream Company is looking forward to maximize its profit

through its quality products.

27
o Cost minimization

Minimizing the cost is the best way to maximize profit. They are using cost
minimization techniques and are implementing it to their production.

o More employment

As a part of the expansion of the company more employment opportunities

are provided by the company.

o Time delivery

The company is strict in timely delivery and feedback of the products

provided to various dealers.
o Proper utilization of resources

The resources available to the company were utilized in the effective way in
order to avoid wastage and increasing cost.
o Provide service to society

Moreover the company provides finance to charitable institutions on yearly

basis.

5.9 VALUES OF THE COMPANY

o High quality products

Maintaining good quality with purity raw materials in production is one of

the values which MERIIBOY Company focused on its production.

28
o Customer orientation

The company and management give high weightage on feedback of their

customers.

o Good relation between management& workers

There exists a formal and informal relationship between management and

workers in the organization. Employee grievances are handled by the management
with due care.

5.10 QUALITY CERTIFICATION

 
ISO 22000-2005 Certification

ISO 22000:2005 specifies requirements for a food safety management system where an
organization in the food chain needs to demonstrate its ability to control food safety hazards
in order to ensure that food is safe at the time of human consumption.

 
ISO 22000:2005 specifies requirements to enable an organization

To plan, implement, operate, maintain and update a food safety management system
aimed at providing products that, according to their intended use, are safe for the consumer.

To demonstrate compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory food safety

requirements.

To evaluate and assess customer requirements and demonstrate conformity with those
mutually agreed customer requirements that relate to food safety, in order to enhance
customer satisfaction.

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 To effectively communicate food safety issues to their suppliers, customers and relevant
interested parties in the food chain,

To ensure that the organization conforms to its stated food safety policy,
To demonstrate such conformity to relevant interested parties,

To seek certification or registration of its food safety management system by an external

organization, or make a self-assessment or self-declaration of conformity to ISO
22000:2005.

5.11 OWNERSHIP STATUS

Partnership firm - The members of the board of directors of the company areclosely
related family members.

5.12 PRODUCTS OF THE COMPANY

o ICE CREAMS

Ice cream (derived from earlier iced cream or cream ice) is a frozen dessert usually

made from dairy products, such as milk and cream and often combined with fruits or other
ingredients and flavors. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other
sweeteners. In some cases, artificial flavorings and colorings are used in addition to, or
instead of, the natural ingredients. The mixture of chosen ingredients is stirred slowly while
cooling, in order to incorporate air and to prevent large ice crystals from forming. The result
is smoothly textured semi-solid foam that is malleable and can be scooped.

Meriiboy ice creams are available at various flavors‟ like Vanilla, Strawberry, Orange,
Pineapple, Coffee, Lemon Delight, Guava, Pista, Alphonso Mango, Butterscotch, Spanish
Delight, Chocolate, Black Currant etc.

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o SUNDAE

The sundae is a sweet ice cream dessert. It typically consists of one or more scoops

of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup, and in some cases other toppings including
sprinkles, whipped cream, maraschino cherries, or other fruits.

In Meriiboy Sundae is available at Chocolate, Strawberry and Pista flavours.

o CASSATA

The different varieties of Cassatas available in Meriiboy are Cassata King, Cassata
Queen, Cassata Prince and Cassata Kid.

o BARS

An ice cream bar is a frozen dessert on a stick or a candy bar that has ice cream in it. The
coating is usually a thin layer of chocolate used to prevent the melting and dripping of ice
cream. Flavors available at Meriiboy are:

 Chocolate

 Mango

 Strawberry

o CONFETTI

Flavors:

 Chocolate

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
 Mango

 Strawberry

 Pista

o MILK LOLLY

Milk lolly is a special item produced by Meriiboy Ice Cream Company. It is the mix of
various ingredients like milk powder, emulsifier, flavors etc. milk lolly is available at various
flavors like Vanilla, Strawberry, Pineapple, Mango etc.

o KULFI

Kulfi is a popular frozen dairy dessert from the Indian Subcontinent. It is often described
as "traditional Indian Subcontinent ice cream”. As popularly understood, Kulfi has
similarities to ice cream in appearance and taste; however it is denser and creamier. It comes
in various flavors like Mango and Cardamom. Meriiboy ice cream company produces
cardamom flavoredKulfi.

5.13 RAW MATERIALS

The major raw materials used by Meriiboy are:

 Milk

 Butter

 SMP Milk powder
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
 Sugar

 Fresh fruits

5.14 PROMOTION STRATEGY

Promotion is the method used to spread the word about the product or service to
customers, stakeholders and the broader public. In Meriiboy ice cream company
advertisements is the widely used promotional strategy. They use media like television,
radio, newspaper, magazines etc.

5.15 PRICING STRATEGY

A business can use a variety of pricing strategies when selling a product or service.
The Price can be set to maximize profitability for each unit sold or from the market overall.
It can be used to defend an existing market from new entrants, to increase market share
within a market or to enter a new market.

Businesses may benefit from lowering or raising prices, depending on the needs and
behaviors of customers and clients in the particular market. Finding the right pricing strategy
is an important element in running a successful business.

The pricing strategy adopted by Meriiboy Ice Cream Company was cot plus pricing
and market oriented pricing.

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5.16 COST PLUS PRICING

Cost-plus pricing is a pricing strategy companies use to maximize their rates of return. Firms
may accomplish their objective of profit maximization by increasing their production until
marginal revenue equals marginal cost and then charging a price which is determined by the
demand curve. However, in practice, most firms use either value-basedpricing or cost-plus
pricing which is also known as mark-up pricing. (Cost + mark-up = selling price).There are
several variations of cost-plus pricing, but the most common method is to calculate the cost
of the product then add a percentage of the cost as mark-up. This approach sets prices
covering the cost of production and provides enough profit margins for the firm to reach its
target rate of return. It also provides a way for companies to calculate how much profit they
will make.

5.17 MARKET ORIENTED PRICING

Setting a price based upon analysis and research compiled from the target market.
This means that marketers will set prices depending on the results from the research. For
instance if the competitors are pricing their products at a lower price, then it's up to them to
either price their goods at an above price or below, depending on what the company wants
to achieve.

5.18 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The consumer market is flooded by several brands in the same category. The result
is intense competition among the brands based on price. The times of increasing margin
selling low quality products are bygone. Manufactures realized the importance of ‘quality”
in differentiating their brand among many in the same category. Brand managers worldwide
began focusing on ‘quality’ of their products as their major selling point to charge a premium

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price for their brands. Recent studies shows that ‘product quality’ alone cannot sustain a
competitive advantage for any brand in long run to gain a premium price. It’s in this context
that this study finds its use, to study about the determinants of customers willingness to pay
a premium price for a product.

Most of the studies that seek to understand the underlying factors of customers
willingness to pay a premium price focuses on product related factors alone. One exception
is a qualitative, explorative and conceptual study by Anselmsson et al.(2007), which
suggests that customers willingness to pay for food brands is determined by five dimensions:
Awareness, perceived quality, loyalty, uniqueness and non-product-related brand
associations including associations to corporate social responsibility(CSR), social image and
origin.

Meriiboy Ice Cream, though not a national brand, is one of the biggest in south India
especially in Kerala, and an emerging brand in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The present study
can be described as an attempt to systematically and empirically evaluate which image
dimensions in previous literature that specifically determines customers willingness to pay
a price premium for Mariiboy Ice Cream. Origin of the product has not been used because
the present study examines only one products in the previous researches. Also, specific to
the product under consideration, a new factor has been added-Natural Label.

5.19 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

DEFINITION OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Consumer behavior referred to „the study of the processes involved when individuals
or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to
satisfy needs and desires‟ (Solomon, 2006). If the company can understand consumer
behaviour well, they will able to develop good business. For instance, they must understand
the way to satisfy the consumers‟ needs, gain more knowledge and data about customers.
So they could define the market and identify threats or opportunities to a brand easier
(Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel, 2006).

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5.20 CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS

CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS MODEL

The consumer decision process model illustrated a roadmap of consumers‟ minds
that the marketers and managers could use to help and guide product mix, communication
as well as sales strategy.

The model captured the activities which would occur when decisions are made in a
schematic format. It also showed how different internal and external forces would interact
and affect consumers‟ thinking, evaluation, and acts. Furthermore, it could help people to
solve the problems which lead them to make a purchase and consume the products
(Blackwell, et al. 2006). Thus, culture, social class, personal factors, group association,
celebrities and celebrity endorsement advertising were some of the examples of external
forces. For the internal forces, it included own attitudes, personality, perceptions, self-
concepts, emotions, knowledge, value and lifestyle.

Meanwhile, the steps of consumer decision process included, problem recognition,

information search, evaluation of alternatives, and product choice. After that were
consumption, post purchase evaluation and divestment. As shown in the figure

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 Need recognition

Information search

Pre-Purchase Evaluation

of Alternatives

Purchase

Consumption
Post-Consumption
Evaluation
Divestment
Fig 5.1
Consumer decision model
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NEED RECOGNITION

First of all, significant differences were existed between the current state of affairs
and the ideal state. So consumers recognized there was a need to find the product or service
which could deliver some benefits (Blackwell, et al. 2006). For instance, the product or
service had the ability to fill consumers‟ needs or to solve the problems which was worth
more than the cost of buying it. On the other hand, opportunity recognition could be occurred
when consumers were exposed to different or better quality products (Solomon, 2006).

In fact, need recognition could occur naturally or induce by marketers‟ efforts. The
marketers created primary and secondary demand for the consumers. Primary demand
referred to the consumer was encouraged to use a product or service regardless of the brand
which they chose. Secondary demand referred to the marketer persuaded the consumer to
use specific brand of product (Solomon, 2006). For example, when consumers were exposed
to the advertisement which the celebrity endorser wear the latest fashion and look
beautifully, it might enlarge the difference between consumers‟ current state and ideal state.
Then a need was created. As a result, they would like to make a purchase on the apparel
products which featured in the advertisement which endorsed by the celebrity.

INFORMATION SEARCH

After the consumers recognized a need was existed, they needed to acquire sufficient
information to resolve it. So the process of information search was necessary for them to
survey on their environment to collect appropriate data to make a reasonable decision.
Information could be searched internally or externally. Internal search of information
referred to scan and retrieve the decision-relevant knowledge which stored in our memory,
such as experience. External search referred to the information was collected from the
external environment. Consumers were able to gather information from the source which
was non-marketer-dominated and marketer-dominated. Non-marketer-dominated source
was simply come from word-of moth, which was considered as an objective source. For
instance, it included family, friends, opinion leaders, reference group, consumer reports and

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government and industry reports. On the other hand, marketer-dominated source was
anything that the marketers did for the purpose of persuasion, which included advertisement
in fashion magazines, catalogs, books and newspaper, salespeople, fashion show, web-site
and window and in-store displays (Blackwell, et al. 2006). Besides, the intensity of
information research depended on the risk which consumer perceived, such as the cost of
wrong choice.

Furthermore, celebrity was one of the common information sources for consumers.
It is because celebrity acted as a reference group for the consumers, which could influence
individual’s evaluations, aspirations, or behavior (Park and V. Parker, 1977).

Consumers might imitate the behaviors of their admired celebrities in order to

enhance self-esteem through identification with certain desirable images (Alsmadi, 2006).
So celebrity endorsement was one of the persuasive sources of information which might
affect consumers‟ purchase decision.

PRE-PURCHASE EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES

After the search process, there would be possible amounts of alternative options
which generated by the consumers. They believed the selected products or brands were able
to resolve their needs. Because of limited resources, consumers had to narrow down their
choices by assessing some standards. They might use pre-existing evaluations, prior
purchase or consumption experience which stored in memory to assess the selected options
that could provide the greatest satisfaction with the purchase and consumption. They could
also rely on the experiences or impressions gained second-hand. Moreover, they could
construct new evaluation standards based on the information they search in the previous
process. Although different consumers had different standards in the evaluation process, the
decision rule was usually based on appropriate to personal style, economy, aesthetics,
quality, other-people-directed, country of origin and so on. For example, the consumer was
totally enthralled by the celebrity which endorsed in the advertisement. Then the consumer
would evaluate the products based on the celebrity endorser.

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PURCHASE

After narrowed down the product choices, consumers could purchase the products
by choosing a specific retailer and in-store choice. Meanwhile, consumers must decide
whether, where, what, when and how they buy. Usually, they would like to choose a store
which the image matched with their personality and purchase characteristics. Their past
experience was able to influence their store choice too. Even in the stage of purchasing,
consumer’s purchase intention still could be influenced by several factors. For example, in-
store promotions, discounts, persuasion of salespeople, failure to find the product in a store
or lack of financial resources. As a result, if consumers saw an in- store advertisement with
their admired celebrity, it could reinforce their purchase intention.

CONSUMPTION

After the consumer purchased and owned the product, consumption would be
occurred. Consumption was the process of utilizing the purchased product or service to
satisfy the needs of consumer. However, it did not guarantee consumers‟ needs could be
satisfied. It is because positive and negative feeling could be resulted from consumption.
Positive feeling resulted in positive reinforcement, which occurred when consumer received
positive outcome from product usage. Besides, negative reinforcement could occur when
consumption helps to avoid negative outcomes. On the contrary, negative feeling resulted in
punishment, which referred to consumption lead to negative outcomes.

As a result, it was a key for the companies to enhance positive feeling while eliminate
negative feeling. So a pleasant and positive experience could be created.

POST-CONSUMPTION EVALUVATION

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Consumption was an important determinant of the level of satisfaction. Consumer was
satisfied by the product, if their expectation was matched by the perceive performance. On
the contrary, consumers felt dissatisfaction if their experiences and performance fell short of
expectations. In other words, customer satisfaction was very important because it might
affect whether consumers would remain loyal and repeat buying the product or not. So the
company must ensure the product performance by creating positive consumption feeling to
the consumers. Furthermore, satisfaction was an important determinate factor for shaping
word-of-mouth and word-of-mouse communication. As a result, consumers could
communicate with others about their consumption experiences, no matter positive or
negative. Finally, it might affect the purchase decisions of the others. In sum, companies
must try their hardest to meet and exceed consumer’s expectations.

DIVESTMENT

At the end, consumers would dispose the product after its useful life. Normally, there
were three types of divestment, which included disposal, remarketing and recycling. Since
the fashion trend was always changing, so disposal of apparel items were commonly found.
Besides, there were some celebrities in Hong Kong who engaged in the business of selling
second-hand clothes. Many consumers, especially the young people were adored to these
clothes. It is because the clothes were from their favourite celebrities, the price was attractive
and to support environmental protection.

5.21 GENDER

DEFINITIONS OF GENDER
Gender referred to the physical attributes that differentiate males and females (Phang
and De Run, 2007).Every society had their own set of expectations about the appropriate
behaviours for males and females (Solomon, 2006). People were well-trained by the social
norm since they were very young. They tended to behave according to their genders, which
included the way they acted, spoke and dressed. However it did not determine male and

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female will follow the characteristics which are stereotypically associated with their gender.
In the society, there were gender differences which the marketers had to further investigate.

In addition, it was a common demographic variable, which existed in almost all the
researches but only casual mentioned in the respondents‟ personal profile. In other words, it
seldom fully utilized in the research which related to celebrity endorsement. As a result, it
provided a room for the research to focus on the possible gender differences among the
perception and selection of celebrity endorsers.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MALE

Males were more likely to make emotional buying base on partially digested
information (Elliott, 2006). They did not need to acquire a lot of information or details when
making a purchase decision. Besides, males viewed shopping as purchase-driven activities.
They would go shopping only when there was a need. According to the research done by a
famous global research agency, Millward Brown (2011), males were easily to be appealed
by humour, distinctive creative styles, and sexual imagery in the advertisement. Besides,
they preferred the marketing message which was straight to the point rather than
complicated. It was also found that colors and pictures in the advertisement could grab
male’s attentions. Meanwhile, in Germany, males liked the women which featured in the
advertisement than female did (Millward Brown, 2011).

CHARACTERISTICS OF FEMALE

Females tended to be more sensitive and careful to details of the information. So they
preferred detailed advertisements in order to get a clear message. They also favoured
objectives over subjective claims but it would be better if the marketer were able to combine
the emotional and rational factors (Elliott, 2006). Furthermore, they enjoyed the
advertisements which featured with children or a slice of life. Besides, female hated the
advertisements for being sexist or erotic (Millward Brown, 2011).

Some researchers investigated females were far more influenced by the experts and
expert advertising than males (Aronson, 1972). Besides women were more fashion

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conscious and bigger spenders in fashion than males (Goldsmith, Freidan, and Kilsheimer,
1993).Furthermore, women had been shown to score higher on the opinion leadership and
fashion innovativeness than males (Stith and Goldsmith, 1989). On the other hand, women
were more likely to go shopping and usually exhibited positive attitude towards shopping.
But male hated shopping. (Alreck and Settle, 2001; Falk and Campbell, 1997).

In addition, women viewed shopping as enjoyment which could satisfy their needs
at the same time, especially went for fashion shopping (Falk and Campbell, 1997). As the
purchase behaviour of females was totally different from males, so the possible differences
among genders were a critical factor to marketers as well this research.

5.22 STORE ATTRIBUTES

Considerable research has been directed towards store attributes and customer
loyalty in western countries (Carpenter and Moore, 2006). However, limited attention has
been paid to this issue in developing countries. Consumers‟ perception of store attributes
influenced by retail formats, type of products, cultural value, shopping intention and
customer base (Paulins and Geistfeld, 2003). Bearden (1977) states that store atmosphere,
location, parking facilities, and friendliness of store people are the salient factors that
influence consumer store patronage. As a result store attributes such as service offering,
activities, facilities and convenience have major influence on customer satisfaction and
loyalty (Chang and Tu, 2005).

5.23 PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES

Consumer preferences of product attributes vary according to product nature and

socioeconomic nature of consumer (Uusitalo, 2001). Product attributes are often continuous
in nature (Vishwanathan and Childers, 1999). The attributes model proposed by Gwin and
Gwin (2003) posits that consumer choice is based on maximising utility from the product
attributes subject to budget constraints. Choice theory suggests that, consumers‟ decision
making process depends on certain basic product attributes (Vishwanathan and Childers,
1999). The basic product attributes used in previous studies are quality, price, variety,
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assortment and value of the products (Gwin and Gwin, 2003). Sinha and Banerjee‟s (2004)
study in India indicate that store convenience and customer services positively influence
consumers store choices, whilst, entertainment, parking and ambience facilities had a
negative influence on consumer choice. Indian consumers were also found to be price
sensitive and quality conscious (Tuli and Mookerjee, 2004). Choo, Jung and Pysarchik
(2004) note that Indian consumers‟ attitude towards new products are changing significantly
and this can increase their intention to shop in new retail formats such as supermarkets. Thus,
product attributes such as quality, price, and availability of new products are important
constructs within the Indian context.

5.24 STORE CHOICES

To capture store choice, it is essential that, both the store attributes as well as the
shopper attributes are captured.

In the study conducted by Kau and Ehrenberg (1984); Uncles and Hammond (1995);
PopkowskiLeszczyc and Timmermans (1997) found that the problem comes from the fact
that in the existing studies on store choice, the relationship between store choice and the
shopper attributes are very weak. An analysis of the store switching behaviour by Galata,
et.al, (1999), revealed modest levels of inter-format switching, but a large extent of intra-
format switching, their study further found that when shoppers switch they choose a store of
the same format. This again indicates that, the choice is at two levels, the format and then
the store.

Substantiating this, Bhatnagar and Ratchford (2004) found that consumers evaluate
a group of stores on a set of attributes and then, depending upon their individual preferences,
patronize the best store. It has generally been seen that all the stores in the choice set are in
the same formats. This indicates that the first choice for the shopper is that of the format and
store is the subsequent choice Sinha and Banerjee (2004), discovered different drivers of
store choice for different merchandise categories such as grocery, durables, pharmacy,
apparel. The importance given to store attributes varies from market to market even for the
same store format and the same merchandise categories.

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5.25 INFLUENCE OF 4 P’S

Besides marketing –mix, there are other factors are important for retailers. Product:
Wood (2004), Longenecker et al. (2006), and Manning and Reece (2007) suggest that
customers perceive the product’s value based on its benefits which, in turn, is influenced by
the product’s performance, features, quality, warranties, packaging and labelling. Jung and
Pysarchik (2004) note that Indian consumers„ attitude towards new products are changing
significantly and this can increase their intention to shop in new retail formats such as
supermarkets. Thus, product attributes such as quality, price, and availability of new
products are important constructs within the Indian context.

Vishwanathan and Childers (1999) proved that the Choice theory suggests that, consumers„
decision making process depends on certain basic product attributes. Uusitalo (2001) found
Consumer preferences of product attributes vary according to product nature and
socioeconomic nature of consumer. The attributes model proposed by Gwin and Gwin
(2003) posits that consumer choice is based on maximising utility from the product attributes
subject to budget constraints.

According to Gwin and Gwin (2003) the basic product attributes used in previous
studies are quality, price, variety, assortment and value of the products. Price: Price is one
of the easily noticeable attributes (Arnold, Oum and Tigert, 1983, Bell, Ho and Tang, 2001;
and Freymann, 2002 ;) and considerable work exists, on how, the price of store offerings,
affects the store choice. Litz& Stewart1(1998) shown that smaller retailers often charge
higher prices for their products as they could be restricted by less financial resources,
resulting in higher purchasing costs, as they cannot afford to buy in bulk, whereas franchise
prices may be lower because of higher volume purchases. Du Plessis and Rosseau (1999)
explain that price„s effect on consumer behavior is more direct and immediate and that
consumers„ perception of price, whether high, low or fair, could have a strong influence on
their purchase intentions and, ultimately, their satisfaction. Place/ location Huff, 1964; Craig,
Ghosh, and McLafferty 1984, and Brown ,1989, found store location plays an important role
in the store choice.

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 Meyer and Eagle (1982) found in the store choice literature gives primacy to the store
location and believes that the consumers are influenced by the travel costs of shopping.
Fotheringham (1988) found while brand choice is independent of the location aspect, and is
not affected by it; the store choice is very much influenced by location. Ghosh and Craig
(2001) suggest that retailers can capture a larger share of potential customers by choosing a
better location than their competitors. Hawkins and Mothersbaugh (2010) support this view
by explaining that a store„s location plays an important role in consumer store choice as
consumers would generally choose a store that is located closest to them when all other
things (for example price, product variety, brand names) offered by competing stores are
equal.

5.26 PROMOTIONS

Fam&Merrilees (1998) opined that Promotion includes advertisements, sales

presentations and exhibits that could influence consumers„ perceptions of a retail store, as
consumers are made aware of the products and services businesses sell through their
promotional activities. Pride & Ferrell (2010) have given other aspects under marketers„
control that could also influence consumers„ perceptions of a retailer or store include a
store„s image and related store image attributes (for example accessibility to the store,
parking facilities offered, credit card facilities, displays, lighting, cleanliness), quality of
supporting services provided and whether a personal relationship exists with the store owner
or employees. STORE IMAGE Store image, as one of the determinants of store choice, is
largely based on store attributes, which can gain a selective advantage for retailers in the
minds of consumers. Coupled with such consumer characteristics as shopping orientation,
store attributes help retailers to predict which shopping outlets people will prefer.

5.27 STORE IMAGE

Concept of store image Martineau (1958) was the first writer to introduce store image
concept. He described store image as ―the way in which the store is defined in the shoppers
mind, partly by its functional qualities and partly by an aura of the psychological attributes‖.
In Martineau„s words, ―regardless of the ability to pay, all shoppers seek stores whose total

46
image is acceptable and appealing to them individually‖. He states that the store’s personality
draws shoppers to one store rather than another. Martineau says that not only should retailers
be concerned with value and quality of merchandise, but also with a wide range of other
factors. All of these factors are expected to play a critical role in the success or failure of
stores. Importance of store image Hildebrandt (1988) said, ―The major success factor in
the retail industry is store image and measurement model of store image that conceptualize
the perception of store image attribute such as price level is used to forecast marketing
performance as a business success measure.

Wedel (1991) mentioned that the consideration of store image made an important role
in the development of marketing strategies for shoppers„ loyalty of both individual and chain
stores and shopping centers. Research on store image has undoubtedly acted to inform
retailers on the positioning strategies for their outlets, enabling them to differentiate their
stores in terms of their products, their prices, or the services they offer (Wortzel, 1987;
Birtwistle, Clarke and Freathy,1999).

In the context of the retail sector the overall image is termed as store attributes or
store image. These store attributes are basically the marketing mix of the retailer (Morschett
et al 2005; Ghosh 1990). Store image is also recognized as being an important antecedent of
store satisfaction and loyalty. Store loyalty is built by satisfaction and this satisfaction, in its
turn, is built by store image (Bloemer and Ruyter1998).

Varley, (2005) opined that consumers use store image as an evaluative criterion in
the decision-making process of selecting a retail outlet (Store attributes refer to the
underlying components of a store image dimension like merchandise, physical facilities,
services, atmospherics and so on). Store image has been found to be linked to store loyalty
and patronage decisions (Assael, 1992; Wong and Yu, 2003). Measurement of store image
Research on store image has yielded a large number of attributes (Martineau, 1958; James
et al, 1976; Peter and Olson, 1990). Multi-attribute model In their effort to understand how
consumers make store choice decisions given a set of store attribute preferences, researchers
have emphasized the extent to which consumer attaches importance to attributes of
individual stores. This interest is grounded in the traditional multi-attribute model set forth
by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) depicting the relationship between belief, attitudes and
47
behaviour. They posit that a person’s attitude toward a given object is a summation of beliefs
about the object’s attributes weighted by the evaluation of the importance of these attributes.
Within this model, beliefs involve perceptions of the object’s attributes. In addition to beliefs
about an object’s attributes, this model accounts for the importance assigned to an attribute.
Thus, attitude can vary substantially by how important attributes are to a consumer. Applied
to the retail situation, the multi-attribute model indicates that a consumer’s attitude toward a
retail store is a function of (a) the degree of importance attached by the consumer to various
store attributes, and (b) the consumer’s perception of the degree to which a retail store
possesses each attribute.

5.28 CONSUMER PERCEPTION

Engel et al. (1995) found that if consumer’s perceptions of the store attributes are
positive, then they may decide to purchase from the store. On the other hand, if consumer’s
perceptions of the store attributes are negative, then they are unlikely to shop in the store. The
role of store atmospherics, store ambience and store environment has also been studied as a part
of store attributes. Every retailer must examine for which special area he can gain competence
and which experience area has the largest profiling potential (Weinberg, 1992; Kroeber-Riel,
1984), but it has been verified that the appraisal of both internal "atmospheric" elements, such
as design, lighting and temperature, and external elements, such as parking facilities,
accessibility, can affect consumers attraction to a shopping facility, influences a consumer's
desire to remain longer in an outlet (Babin and attaway, 2000; Bitner, 1992; Wakefield and
Baker, 1998) and a consumer’s in-store shopping behaviour (Tai Fung, 1997). Additionally this
experience value of the shopping outlet contributes to the subjective quality of life of consumers
(see Weinberg, 1992). Lindquist (1974) has proved that apart from the components of the
marketing mix, store image attributes include components such as customer service, parking
8facilities, security, credit card facilities and the relationship of the client with the store owner
and/or the employees. According to him store image consists of a combination of tangible (or
functional) and intangible (or psychological) factors that consumers perceive to be found in retail
stores. Bearden (1977) states that store atmosphere, location, parking facilities, and friendliness
of store people are the salient factors that influence consumer store patronage Gripsrud and
Horvetak (1986) opined that consumers tend to base their patronage decisions on the shopping
complex rather than on individual stores. Hansen and Deutscher (1978) used a base of 485
consumers in Ohio and examined the relative importance of the various aspects of retail image
48
 to different consumer segments. They made comparison of d8ifferent attributes across
departmental and grocery stores to indicate congruence and concluded that the same attributes
are important across different types of stores.

Heinemann (1989) has tried to identify major differentiation factors for retailers by
conducting an empirical analysis. It was based on key performance factors such as assortment,
service, price, communications policy, layout and design. One performance factor has emerged as
the most important and effective one, the design of a shopping outlet. Kahn and Schmittlein (1989)
found that store choice is dependent on the timing of shopping trips, with consumers visiting
smaller local store for short ―fill-in‖ trips and larger store for regular shopping trips. Engel,
Blackwell and Miniard (1990) found that purchasers distinguished acceptable stores from
unacceptable stores in the process of comparing their evaluation standards with perceived image
attributes and mentioned that “store image is a variable that consumers depend on in their choice
of stores‖. Arnold et al (1983) used consumer cross-shopping data to study food store choice in
developed countries. They found that the following were important food store choice determinants:

1. Location

2. Assortment

3. Price

4. Fast Check-Out

5. Friendly & Courteous Service

6. Weekly Specials; and

7. Pleasant Shopping Environment

A study by Cassill et al. (1993) found that consumers chose to patronise individual
department stores for clothing purchases when a combination of factors present: the stocking
of particular brands; the presence of national and own-branded products; and where

49
 garments offered functional value rather than fashion appeal in their study on the
segmentation of retail markets based on store image.

5.29 STORE IMAGE COMPONENTS

Barich& Srinivasan (1993) selected 6 store image components - product variety, product
quality, store attractiveness, reasonable prices, convenience, and customer service Arnold,
Handerman and Tigert (1996) surveyed low-priced department store shoppers in five
different cities in the US and Canada. They found that a store which was identified as being
the best on the performative attributes such as location, convenience, price and assortment
of merchandise was more likely to be patronized by customers. The study also revealed that
a store identified as having a strong community reputation not only directly affected store
choice, but also moderated the effect of location, price and assortment attributes. Lee and
Johnson (1997) found that customer expectations of store attributes also differ according to
store type. They observed that customers did not expect much customer service at discount
stores while they expected extensive service from specialty stores. In an effort to determine
how consumers organize their shopping trips when faced with an increasingly enlarged set
of retail formats, Bell and Lattin (1998) has shown that there exists a logical relationship
between a household's shopping behavior and store preferences. Leung and Oppewal (1999)
had conducted research on the roles of store and brand names in consumers„ choice of a
retail outlet and concluded that a high-quality brand or high-quality store is sufficient to
attract the customer to a retail store. The study also revealed that store names have a larger
impact on store choice than the brand names of the products that these stores have on offer.
According to Moye (2000), consumers engage in a comparison process in their minds to
determine whether their evaluation of the relative importance of store attributes aligns with
their perceptions of these attributes. If the two factors match, then the consumer chooses the
store. Consumer compares the importance of store attributes with the store image (i.e. overall
perception) to determine acceptable and unacceptable stores.

Popkowski-Leszczyc and Timmermans (2001) found that consumers tended to choose a variety
of stores and overall preferred to shop at specialty stores. Furthermore, consumers were
increasingly likely to select a single store when prices were lower, parking costs were less, better

50
assortments were offered, travel time was reduced and checkout lanes were shorter. Baker,
Parasuraman, Grewal, and Voss (2002) studied how store environment cues influence consumers'
store choice decision criteria, such as perceived merchandise value and shopping experience.
Paulins and Geistfeld (2003) opined that consumers„ perception of store attributes influenced by
retail formats, type of products, cultural value, shopping intention and customer base. Paulins and
Geistfeld (2003) showed that apparel store preference is affected by type of clothing desired in
stock, outside store preference, shopping hours and store advertising. Accordingly, consumer„s
perceptions of store attributes were found to vary by store type. Lindquist and Sirgy
(2003)suggested that psychological attributes are a little more difficult to identify and compare
across outlets. They inc-lude such objective considerations as a sense of belonging, a feeling of
warmth, or friendliness, or a feeling of excitement. Consumers form an outlet image based
simultaneously on functional and psychological attributes. According to Levy and Weitz (2003),
the store satisfaction is a post consumption evaluation. However, previous research suggests that
the merchandise or product type & other environmental factors influence the customer evaluation
of the store image (Sinha, Banerjee, and Uniyal, 2002).

In a study to determine predictors of store choice in the Indian market, Sinha and
Banerjee (2004) find the following factors determining store choice: Proximity;
Merchandise; Ambience; Service; & Patronized store. Sinha and Banerjee add that for
grocery stores the most important factors are: Proximity; Visiting for many years &
Relationship with retailer. In a study in Germany Morschett et al. (2005) extracted the
following factors:
o Quality of Performance (store design, orderliness, service, quality of assortment)

o Scope of Offers (OSS & variety)

o Price Level (Price)

Chang and Tu (2005) found store attributes such as service offering, activities, facilities
and convenience have major influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Hedrick et al
(2005) propose that store environment and store atmospherics can influence customer's
expectations on the retail salesperson. They conducted a study on sales people and store
atmosphere, and identified that customer's perceptions of a salesperson's attributes and

51
 relationship building behaviors„ were important drivers of customer satisfaction. In retail,
intentions are usually determined by a willingness to stay in the store, willingness to
repurchase, willingness to purchase more in the future and willingness to recommend the
store to others. Kaul (2005) made a study on which store attributes are appealing for self-
image of consumers and their impact on in-store satisfaction and patronage intentions. She
concluded that service expressiveness value is distinct from the performance value obtained
from service delivery. Consumers satisfied with service quality are most likely to become
and remain loyal. He further observes that a store having modern equipment, good and clean
physical facilities and ease in transactions would be able to yield satisfaction and patronage
intentions. Tripathi and Sinha (2006) have studied retail store choice not from the
perspective of an individual but of the family. They argue that it is mostly that it is mostly
the family and not the individual who is the consumer of the retail offering.

Visser et al (2006) studied the importance of apparel store image attributes as

perceived by female consumers by means of eight focus groups. Results indicated that
merchandise and clientele were perceived as the most important dimensions, followed by
service; physical facilities were the least important. Yildirim et al (2007) did a study focusing
on determining the effects of a store window type (flat or arcade) on consumers “perception
of store windows (promotion, merchandise and fashion) and shopping attitudes (intentions
for store entry and purchase) in the context of retail outlets. To test the assumption that there
are relationships between various types of store windows and consumers “perception of store
windows and shopping attitudes, they conducted a study based upon digital pictures of two
types of store windows hypothetically located in a big store. Results revealed that consumers
seem to have a more positive perception of flat windows than arcade windows with respect
to promotion, merchandise and fashion. Carpenter and Moore (2006) in their study examined
store attributes (e.g. price competitiveness, product selection, and atmosphere) as drivers of
format choice. In a study exploring the key factors influencing customer preferences as
applied to the concept of ―Amul Preferred Outlets‖ (which are franchisee run food retail
outlets) Rao & Kapoor (2006) identified 14 variables to study the store choice criteria. These
14 factors were subject to data reduction through factor analysis that identified three factors
namely: Convenience; Snacks Joint and Value added services. Min (2006) found that eleven
store attributes are perceived important by shoppers in the US.

1. Quality of products

52
2. Special Products

3. Variety of merchandise

4. Competitive prices

5. Fast Check-out

6. Cleanliness

7. Proximity

8. Store hours

9. General services

10. Employee courtesy

11. Ease of payment

Sondhi and Singhvi (2006), found the following factors-through Principle

Component Analysis (PCA)-to be important determinants of apparel store choice:

1. Quality judgment - quality of merchandise, touch & feel;

2. Available range- depth and width of merchandise, availability of merchandise;

3. Customization- convenience in locating desired product, alteration facility

4. Value for time- shopping time, speed and quality

5. Customer care- personal attention, recommendation based on personal preference.

53
 To sum up, based on the literature the common attributes used by most of the
researchers in their studies are:
o Merchandise quality

o Merchandise range

o Level of services

o Facilities

o Layout

o Atmosphere

o Location

o Quality of display

o General reputation o Image

o Prices

5.30 REVIEW ON RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study population is the customer of Trivandrum District. The sample size taken
for the study was 240, where 44.2% of Male and 55.8% of Female. The total population of
this district is 3279860. Here I took 0.067% of the total population. The sampling technique
used is exploratory research, investigation in to a problem or situation which provides insight
to the researcher. This research is meant to provide details were small amount of information
exist.

54
 CHAPTER 6

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

55
6.1 TOOL FOR DATA ANALYSIS

Statistical treatment of data is essential to make use of data in the right form. Here
we used percentage and count to analyse the collected data and calculate the brand
awareness level. Software used is MS Excel.

6.2 SAMPLING PROFILE

The total numbers of responses were 240. The demographic profile of the sample
is presented in the tables and graphs below respectively.

56
 Table 6.1
Gender classification
Gender Frequency Percent

Female 134 55.8

Male 106 44.2

Total 240 100.0

Source: Primary data

44.2

55.8

Female Male

Fig 6.1

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 134
were females i.e. 55.8% of the respondents were females.
Secondary, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 106 were males, i.e. 44.2%
of the respondents were male.

57
 Table 6.2
Age of the respondents
Responses Frequency Percentage

Below 20 years 38 15.83

20-25 years 144 60

25-30 years 28 11.6

30-35 years 16 6.6

Above 35 years 14 5.8

Total 240 100

Source: Primary data

70
60
60

50

40

30

20 15.83
11.6
10 6.6 5.8

0
Below 20 years 20-25 years 25-30 years 30-35 years above 35 years

Fig 6.2

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents,15.83% are below 20
years, 60% people are between 20 and 25 years, 11.66% are between 25 and 30 years, 6.6% are
between 30 and 35 years and 5.8% are above 35 years.

58
 Table 6.3
Qualifications
Qualifications Frequency Percentage
SSLC 25 10.4
Plus two 24 10
Degree or above 76 31.6
PG or above 115 48
TOTAL 240 100
Source: Primary data

60

50 48

40
31.6
30

20
10.4 10
10

0
SSLC Plustwo Degree or above PG or above

Fig 6.3

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 10.4% of people are
in SSLC, 10% of people are in plus two, 31.6% are graduates and 48% have post graduate or
above.

59
 Table 6.4
Annual income

Responses Frequency Percentage

Below 100000 97 40

100000-300000 64 27

300000-500000 40 17

Above 500000 39 16

TOTAL 240 100

Source: Primary data

16

40

17

27

Below 100000 100000-300000 300000-500000 Above 500000

Fig 6.4

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 40% of people have
annual income below 100000, 27% of people between 100000 and 300000, 17% between 300000
and 500000 and 16% above 500000.

60
 Table 6.5
Occupation
Responses Frequency Percentage

Students 187 78

Professional 53 22

TOTAL 240 100

Source: Primary data

22

78

Students Professional

Fig 6.5

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 78% of people are
students and 22% of people are professionals.

61
 Table 6.6
Number of respondents who likes ice cream
Responses Frequency Percentage

Yes 233 93

No 17 7

TOTAL 240 100

Source: Primary data

100
93
90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20 17

10

0
Yes No

Fig 6.6

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 93% like the ice
creams and 7 % don’t like the ice creams.

62
 Table 6.7
Number of respondents who are aware of Meriiboy ice cream
Responses Frequency Percentage

Yes 231 96

No 9 4

TOTAL 240 100

Source: Primary data

96

Yes No

Fig 6.7

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 96% of people are
aware of the ice creams and 4% of people are not aware of the ice creams.

63
 Table 6.8
Ways in which the respondents came to know about Meriiboy ice cream
Responses Frequency Percentage
Advertising 146 61
Sales Person 21 9
Friends & relation 36 15
Point of purchase display 17 7
Public relation / publicity 20 8
TOTAL 240 100
Source: Primary data
70
61
60

50

40

30

20
15
9 8
10 7

0
Advertisement Sales Person Friends & relations Point of purchase Public relation/
display publicity

Fig 6.8

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 61% came to know
about meriiboy through advertisements, 9% through sales person, 15% through friends and
relations, 7% through point of purchase display and 8% through public relations or publicity.

64
 Table 6.9
Respondents who buy Meriiboy ice cream
Responses Frequency Percentage

Yes 227 95

No 13 5

TOTAL 240 100

Source: Primary data

100 95

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20
9
10

0
Yes No

Fig 6.9

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 95% buy Meriiboy
ice creams and others not

65
 Table 6.10
Number of respondents who have purchased the brand before
Responses Frequency Percentage
Yes 229 95
No 11 5
TOTAL 240 100
Source: Primary data

95

Yes No

Fig 6.10

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 95% of people have
purchased this brand before and others not.

66
 Table 6.11
How familiar are the respondents with the brand’s products and services
Responses Frequency Percentage
Not at all 8 3
Slightly 7 3
Moderately 16 7
Extreamly 209 87
TOTAL 240 100
Source: Primary data
100

90 87

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10 7
3 3
0
Not at all Slightly Moderately Extreamly

Fig 6.11

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 87% of people are
extremely familiar with the brand, 7% are moderately familiar and 3% of people are slightly and
not at all familiar.

67
 Table 6.12
Does any brand comes into the respondents mind when they think of this brand?
Responses Frequency Percent
Yes 113 47
No 127 53
TOTAL 240 100
Source: Primary data

47

53

Yes No

Fig 6.12

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 53% said that certain
brands comes to their mind and rest says no brand comes to their mind.

68
 Table 6.13
How do the respondents feel about the logo of the brand?
Responses Frequency Percentage

Creative 97 40

Artistic 119 50

Does not link with the purpose 24 10

of brand
Mystic 0 0

TOTAL 240 100

Source: Primary data

60

50
50

40
40

30

20

10
10

0
0
Creative Artistic Does not link with the Mystic
purpose of the brand

Fig 6.13

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 40% states that the
brand is creative, 50% said that brand is artistic, 10% suggest that it has no link with the purpose
of the brand.

69
 Table 6.14
Do the respondents have any special interest to the brand after Manju Warrier being the
brand ambassador?
Responses Frequency Percentage

Yes 19 8

No 221 92

TOTAL 240 100

Source: Primary data

92

Yes No

Fig 6.14

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 92% have no special
interest after Manju Warrier became the brand ambassador and rest of 8% have interest.

70
 Table 6.15
When did the respondents last hear about the brand?
Responses Frequency Percentage
In the last month 117 74
Before 6 months 38 16
Before 12 months 11 5
Before 3 years 8 3
Have never heard of it 6 2
TOTAL 240 100
Source: Primary data
80
74

70

60

50

40

30

20 16

10 5
3 2
0
In the last month Before 6 months Before 12 months Before 3 years Have never heard of
it

Fig 6.15

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 74% hear about the
brand in last month, 26% of people hear above it before 1 month and 2% of people have not heard
about it.

71
 Table 6.16
How the perception of the respondents about the brand changed in past 3 months?
Responses Frequency Percentage
Much more favourable 56 23
More favourable 47 19
Stayed the same 98 41
Less favourable 21 9
Much less favourable 18 8
TOTAL 240 100
Source: Primary data
45
41
40

35

30

25 23

19
20

15
9
10 8

0
Much more More favourable Stayed Less favourable Much less favourable
favourable

Fig 6.16

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, perception of the
brand remains the same in last 3 months, 23 % said that it is much favourable, 19% said that it is
more favourable, 9% suggest that it is less favourable and 8% conveyed that it is much less
favourable.

72
 Table 6.17
The one attribute of the brand the respondents feel is unique from other brands
Responses Frequency Percentage
Taste 123 51.2
Quality 98 41
Brand name 13 5
Packaging 4 2
Others factors 2 0.8
TOTAL 240 100
Source: Primary data

0.8

5 2

51.2
41

Taste Quality Brand name Packaging Other factors

Fig 6.17

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 51.2 % of the
respondents said that brand is unique because of the taste, 41% of persons said that it is because
of quality, 5% suggest that it is because of brand name, 2% suggest that it’s because of packaging
and ,8% suggest that it’s because of other factors.

73
 Table 6.18
What do the respondents feel about the tagline of the Meriiboy ice creams?
Responses Frequency Percentage

Unique 137 57

Inappropriate 38 16

Boastful 0 0

Does not link with the purpose of 65 27

the brand
TOTAL 240 100

Source: Primary
60 57

50

40

30 27

20 16

10

0
0
Unique Inappropriate Boastful Does not link with the
pupose of the brand

Fig 6.18

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 57% of people
commented that its unique, 27% said that it does not have any link with the purpose of the brand,
16% says that its inappropriate.

74
 Table 6.19
Does the brand name affect the purchase decisions of the respondents?
Responses Frequency Percentage

Yes 125 52

No 115 48

TOTAL 240 100

Source: Primary data

48

52

Yes No

Fig 6.19

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 52% of people said
that brand name affects the purchase decisions and 48% says it does not affect the purchase
decision.

75
 Table 6.20
Have the respondents ever purchased Meriiboy ice cream from their own outlets?
Responses Frequency Percentage

Yes 41 17

No 199 83

TOTAL 240 100

Source: Primary data

90
83
80

70

60

50

40

30

20 17

10

0
Yes No

Fig 6.20

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 83% of respondents
have not purchased the ice creams from their own outlets.

76
 Table 6.21
Which are the factors that influenced the respondents the most to choose Meriiboy ice
cream?
Responses Frequency Percentage
Quality 97 40
Promotional mix 21 9
Brand image 35 15
Taste 58 24
Price 16 7
Other factors 13 5
TOTAL 240 100
Source: Primary data

5
7

40

24

15 9

Quality Promotional mix Brand image Taste Price Other factors

Fig 6.21
From the above table and graph its understood that, 40% of respondents choose the brand for its
quality , 24% of them chooses the brand for its taste and another 5% of them chooses the brand
for other factors.

77
 Table 6.22
Are the respondents aware of the marketing strategies of Meriiboy ice cream?
Responses Frequencies Percentage
Yes 96 40
No 144 60
TOTAL 240 100
Source: Primary data

40

60

Yes No

Fig 6.22

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 60% of respondents
are not aware of the marketing strategies of Meriiboy ice cream and 40% are aware of the
marketing strategies.

78
 Table 6.23
Are the respondents aware of the different flavours available with the brand?
Responses Frequency Percentage

Yes 211 88

No 29 12

TOTAL 240 100

Sources: Primary data

12

88

Yes No

Fig 6.23

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 88% of people are
aware of the different flavours of Meriiboy and 12% are not aware of the flavours of Meriiboy.

79
 Table 6.24
Do the respondents recommend Meriiboy ice creams to others?
Responses Frequency Percentage

Yes 233 97

No 7 3

TOTAL 240 100

Sources: Primary data

120

100 97

80

60

40

20

3
0
Yes No

Fig 6.24

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 97% of people
recommend meriiboy to others and 3% of people don’t recommend.

80
 Table 6.25
Would the respondents continue to buy Meriiboy ice creams?
Responses Frequency Percentage

Yes 208 87

No 32 13

TOTAL 240 100

Sources: Primary sources

100

90 87

80

70

60

50

40

30

20
13
10

0
Yes No

Fig 6.25

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 87% continue to buy
Meriiboy ice cream in future and 13% will not buy Meriiboy ice creams in future.

81
 Table 6.26
Are the respondents aware of the quality certification of the brand?
Responses Frequency Percentage

Yes 127 53

No 113 47

TOTAL 240 100

Sources: Primary data

47

53

Yes No

Fig 6.26

From the above table and graph, it’s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 53% of people
are not aware of the quality certification of Meriiboy and 47% are aware of the quality certification
of Meriiboy.

82
 CHAPTER 7

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

83
 7.1 FINDINGS:

1. 61% of respondents were aware about the brand through television advertisement and 7%
of them were aware through Point of purchase display.
2. 95% of respondents are users of Meriiboy ice cream and 5% are not.
3. 97% of respondents are familiar with the brand while 3% of respondents are not at all
familiar with the brand.
4. 8% of respondents have special interest towards the brand Meriiboy ice cream after Manju
Warrier being the brand ambassador. 92% have no special interest towards the brand after
Manju Warrier being the brand ambassador.
5. 40% of the respondents think that the logo of the Meriiboy ice cream is creative while
another 10% thinks that the logo has no link with the purpose of the product.
6. 23% of respondents thinks that the brand become more favourable in last three months
while for 19% it stayed the same.
7. 51.3% respondents prefer Meriiboy over competitors brand because of taste while 41
others prefer it for its quality.
8. The brand name affects the purchase decision of 52% of respondents only.
9. Only 40% of respondents are aware of the marketing strategies of Meriiboy.
10. 12% of respondents are not aware about the variety of flavours available for Meriiboy ice
cream.
11. 97% of respondents is willing to recommend the brand to others.
12. 87% of the respondents will continue to be a customer of the brand.
13. Only 53% of respondents are aware of the quality certification of Meriboy while 47% of
others are not aware of it.

84
7.2 SUGGESTIONS:

 Meriiboy has to grow further as a brand and should take necessary steps to
do so as the brand name influences the purchase decisions of a very few
respondents.
 It should implement necessary steps to give more awareness to the
consumers about the varieties of flavours available with the brand.
 The brand should make efforts to make the customer aware about the quality
certification of Meriiboy which will make the brand more trustful among
the potential customers.
 Many of the respondents prefer the brand for its taste and quality so focus
should be given for it and should be improved.
 As the current celebrity brand ambassador does not make much influence
among the customers the brand may go for an employee ambassador
program. This can motivate them and will result in them talking good about
the brand.

85
CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSION

86
 CONCLUSION

Accomplishing this project on level brand awareness was an excellent and knowledge
gaining experience for me. Despite small sample size for questionnaire this project helped me to
know the view of common people towards the brand awareness of Meriiboy
Brands are now a central feature of consumer marketing, they are important in building
long-term relationships with the consumer, irrespective of the type of market. Their importance is
now also being recognized in other markets. It requires a consistent and long-term strategy. Only
a few brands have emerged as truly global.
In conclusion I would say that the brand is well known to people. Meriiboy has built its
brand awareness among the people in an around Trivandrum district. The product would be able
to grow more in the market with its popularity and its variety of flavours provided by the company.

87
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. John Anselmsson, NiklasBondesson, Ulf Johansson, (2014) “Brand image and customers’
willingness to pay a price premium for food brands”, Journal of Product & Brand
Management, Vol. 23 Issue: 2, pp.90-102, doi: 10.1108/JPBM-10-2013-0414.
2. “PUSH Integrated Communication Pvt Ltd”. Pushintcom,com, Web. 5 June 2017.
3. “Home | Meriiboy”. Meriiboy.com.N.p., 2017. Web. 10 May 2017.
4. “A study of India’s Ice Cream Market 2016- Research And
Markets”.Researchandmarkets.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 19 May 2017.
5. “Global & Country Specific IndepthMaret Analysis.” India Ice Cream MarketForecast to
Grow at CAGR 17% till 2021. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2017.
6. Das, Sohini. “Brand play to the ice cream stands” Business Standard. Business-Standards,
04 May 2016. Web. 13 June 2017.
7. Kishore, P. “Rain or Shine, Ice cream is hot.” Onmanorama. N.P., 15 June 2015. Web. 13
June 2017.

88
APPENDIX

89
 QUESTIONNAIRE

“A STUDY ON BRAND AWARENESS FOR MERIIBOY ICE CREAM”

Dear sir/madam,
The questionnaire is a part of a project work entitled “A Study on Brand Awareness for
Meriiboy ice cream” conducted by Arun Radhakrishnan for the completion of master
business administration in marketing. Please complete all the parts of this questionnaire in
accordance with your experience. I assure that all of your information acquired from this
questionnaire will confidentially keep and will be used for academic purpose only. Thank
you in advance for your kindly cooperation.

Name:

Age:
a) Below 15 b) 15-35 c) 35-55 d) Above 55

Gender:
a) Male b) Female

Educational qualification:
a) SSLC or below b) Plus two c)Degree or above d) PG or above

Annual Income:
a) Below 100000 b) 100000 – 300000
c) 300000 – 500000 d) Above 500000

Occupation:
a) Students b) Professional

90
1. Do you like ice cream?
a) Yes b) No

2. Are you aware about Meriiboy ice cream?

a) Yes b) No

3. How do you come to know more about the brand Meriiboy?

a) Advertisement b) From sales persons
c) Friends & Relatives d) Point of purchase display
e) Public relation/ publicity

4. Do you buy Meriiboy ice cream?

a) Yes b) No

5. How do you feel about this brand?

a) Very Negative b) Negative
c) Neutral d) Positive
e) Very Negative

6. Have you purchased from this brand before?

a) Yes b) No

7. How familiar are you with the brands product and services?
a) Not at all b) Slightly
c) Moderately d) Extreamly

8. Do any brands come to mind when you think of this brand?

a) Yes b) No

9. How do you feel about the logo of Meriiboy Ice cream?

a) Creative b) Artistic
c) Does not link with the purpose of the brand d) Mystic

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10. Do you have any special interest to the brand after Manju Warrier being the brand ambassador?
a) Yes b) No

11. When you last hear about this brand?

a) In the last month b) In the last 6 months
c) In the last 12 months d) In the last 3 Years
e) I have never heard of it

12. In the past 3 months, how often did you hear people talking about the brand?
a) Very often b) Often
c) A few times d) Once or twice
e) I haven’t heard people talking about it

13. How has your perception of the brand changed in the past 3 months?
a) Much more favourable b) More favourable
c) Stayed the same d) Less Favourable
e) Much less Favourable
14. What is the one attribute of the brand that you feels unique from our competitor brands?
a) Taste b) Quality
c) Brand name d) Packaging
e) Other Factors

15. What do you feel about the tagline of the Meriiboy Ice cream?
a) Unique b) Inappropriate
c) Boastful d) Does not link with the purpose of the brand

16. Does the brand name affect your purchase decisions?

a) Yes b) No

17. Have you ever purchased Meriiboy ice cream from their own outlet?
a) Yes b) No

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18. Which are the factors influenced you most, to choose the brand Meriiboy?
a) Quality b) Promotional mix
c) Brand image d) Taste
e) Price f) Other factors

19. “Are you aware of the Marketing strategies of Meriiboy?

a) Very Negative b) Negative
c) Neutral d) Positive
e) Very Negative

20. Are you aware of the different flavours in which the ice creams are available?
a) Yes b) No

21. Do you recommend Meriiboy ice cream to others?

a) Yes b) No

22. Would you continue to buy Meriiboy ice cream in future?

a) Yes b) No

23. Are you aware about the quality certification of Meriiboy?

a) Very Negative b) Negative
c) Neutral d) Positive
e) Very Negative

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