INTRODUCTION

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 CHAPTER 1:
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

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Nature Scope and Importance of Consumer behavior:

Consumer behavior is defined as “The dynamic interaction of affect and

cognition, behavior and the environment b which human beings conduct the exchange
aspects of lives”. IT means that the buying habits of the consumer are greatly affected by
their thought process and their feelings experienced. Human beings are greatly influenced
in their buying actions by various factors like opinion of others, marketing stimuli like
product, advertising, packaging and product appearance.

As a principal, the marketing concept involves understanding the needs of the consumers
and translating these needs into products or services to satisfy these needs. The basic
objective in marketing is to achieve the goal of profit making through customer
satisfaction. To do this, an organization should understand the consumer very closely.

The feelings, thinking, perceptions and actions of the customer and the society at
large keep changing frequently. For example number of working women is on rise and
this has changed the concept of shopping. The dynamic nature of the consumer behaviour
offers challenges to marketers and the task of creating marketing strategies becomes
complex, and exciting. Strategies that work today may not work tomorrow. Strategies
adopted in one market ma not work in another. The product life cycle are becoming
shorter and create additional pressures on marketers to bring innovative products and
concepts. The concept ‘value’ changes from time to time. Mahindra and mahindra had to
come out with ‘Scorpio’ within launch of ‘Bolero’.

Consumer behavior involves interactions:

Consumer behaviour involves interactions among peoples thinking, feelings, and

actions and the environment. This forces marketer to understand three things:

• What products and services mean to customers.

• What influences shopping, purchase, and consumption.
• What consumers need to do to purchase and consumer products and services?

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Consumer behaviour involves exchanges between human beings. People give up
something of value to others and receive something in return. Much of consumer
behaviour involves people giving up money to obtain product and services, that is,
exchanges consumers and sellers. The role of marketing in society is to help create
exchange by formulating and implementing marketing strategies.

2. Consumer Research.
Consumer research is the systematic collection and analysis of consumer information for
the purpose of important decision making for marketing. Consumer research plays an
important role in marketing process, helps in consumer measurement, market potential,
sales forecast, each element like product mix, distribution mix, price, effectiveness of an
advertisement campaign, consumer acceptance of a product. In fiercely competitive
situation, it is extremely critical for and organization to monitor the customer
relationship.
Consumer Research is used for following two purposes

• Routine problem analysis .i.e. product potential, sales forecasting.

• Non-routing problem analysis .i.e. new product launch, success of promotional
schemes.

Needs for Consumer Research.

• How do consumers interpret information about marketing stimuli such as products,

stores, and advertising?
• How do consumers choose from among alternative product classes, products, and
brands?
• How do consumers form evaluation of products and brands?
• How does consumer interpret the benefits of market offerings?
• How do behavior and environment affect consumer beliefs and attitudes?
• Why consumers are more interested or involved in some products or brands than
others?
• How the marketing strategies influence consumer’s beliefs and attitudes?

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Answers to such questions can only be obtained through consumer feedback and for this
it is imperative to study Consumer Research and integrate it into the overall marketing
function.

Approaches to Consumer Research:

There are two main categories of research methods. Secondary research uses
research that has already been done by someone else. For example, marketers often find
information compiled by the U.S. Census very useful. However, in some cases,
information specific enough to satisfy a firm’s needs is not publicly available. For
example, a firm will have to run its own research to find out whether consumers would
prefer that more vanilla taste be added to its soft drink brand. Original research that a
firm does for itself is known as primary research.
There is no one perfect primary research method. Each has strengths and weaknesses, and
thus the appropriate method must be selected based on research needs.
Surveys are useful for getting a great deal of specific information. Surveys can contain
open-ended questions (e.g., "In which city and state were you born? ____________") or
closed-ended, where the respondent is asked to select answers from a brief list (e.g.,
"__Male ___ Female.") Open ended questions have the advantage that the respondent is
not limited to the options listed, and that the respondent is not being influenced by seeing
a list of responses. However, open-ended questions are often skipped by respondents, and
coding them can be quite a challenge. In general, for surveys to yield meaningful
responses, sample sizes of over 100 are usually required because precision is essential.
For example, if a market share of twenty percent would result in a loss while thirty
percent would be profitable, a confidence interval of 20-35% is too wide to be useful.
Surveys come in several different forms. Mail surveys are relatively inexpensive,
but response rates are typically quite low—typically from 5-20%. Phone-surveys get
somewhat higher response rates, but not many questions can be asked because many
answer options have to be repeated and few people are willing to stay on the phone for
more than five minutes. Mall intercepts are a convenient way to reach consumers, but
respondents may be reluctant to discuss anything sensitive face-to-face with an
interviewer.
A survey, as any kind of research, is vulnerable to bias. The wording of a question
can influence the outcome a great deal. For example, more people answered no to the
question "Should speeches against democracy be allowed?" than answered yes to "Should

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speeches against democracy be forbidden?" For face-to-face interviews, interviewer bias
is a danger, too. Interviewer bias occurs when the interviewer influences the way the
respondent answers. For example, unconsciously an interviewer that works for the firm
manufacturing the product in question may smile a little when something good is being
said about the product and frown a little when something negative is being said. The
respondent may catch on and say something more positive than his or her real opinion.
Finally, a response bias may occur—if only part of the sample responds to a survey, the
respondents’ answers may not be representative of the population.

The case of "The Pentagon Declares War on Rush Limbaugh" illustrated that
biased surveys are often taken at face value. It was reported in the national media,
without question of the validity of the research, that only 3.8% of listeners to the Armed
Forces Network wanted to listen to Rush Limbaugh. It turned out, however, that this
inference was based on the question "What single thing can we do to improve
programming?" Only if a respondent wrote in an answer mentioning Rush Limbaugh
were he or she counted as wanting to listen to Rush.

Experiments are used when the researcher wants to rule out all but one
explanation for a particular observation. Suppose, for example, that we observe that sales
of our brand increase when we send out coupons. However, retailers may also give us
better shelf space when the coupon is out; thus, we can’t tell if it was the coupon or the
shelf-placement that caused sales to increase—the two variables are confounded. In an
experiment, we carefully control what varies. In this case, we invite in one hundred
people and ask them to shop in a simulated store. Half of the respondents are randomly
selected and get a coupon; the others do not. Since the only difference here was whether
the subjects got a coupon or not, we can be more confident that differences in brand
choice were due to the coupon. Experiments do, however, have a serious drawback in
that the consumer is removed from his or her natural surroundings. For example, if we
pay some consumers to come into a lab and watch TV "as you normally would," these
consumers, figuring that they are being paid, may give more attention to the
advertisements than they would at home.

Focus groups involve getting a group of 6-12 consumers together to discuss

product usage. Focus groups are especially useful if we do not have specific questions to

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ask yet, since we don’t know what consumers’ concerns might be. We start out talking
broadly about the need that a product might serve, and only gradually move toward the
product itself. For example, a firm considering the marketing of sugar free cookies might
start out its group talking about snacks—why people consume them and the benefits they
expect. Gradually, we then move toward concerns people have about snacks. Eventually,
we address sugar content and concerns that consumers have about that. Only toward the
end of the session do we show consumers the actual product we are considering and ask
for feedback. We postpone our consideration of the actual product toward the end
because we want to be sure that we find out about the consumer’s needs and desires
rather than what he or she thinks about the specific product we have on the drawing board
right now (that product can be changed, and it can be repositioned). Drawbacks of focus
groups include high costs and the fact that generalization toward the entire population is
difficult for such small sample sizes. The fact that focus groups involve social interaction
also means that participants may say what they think will make themselves look good
rather than what they really believe (the social desirability bias).

Personal interviews involve in-depth questioning of an individual about his or her

interest in or experiences with a product. The benefit here is that we can get really into
depth (when the respondent says something interesting, we can ask him or her to
elaborate), but this method of research is costly and can be extremely vulnerable to
interviewer bias.

Projective techniques are used when a consumer may feel embarrassed to admit to
certain opinions, feelings, or preferences. For example, many older executives may not be
comfortable admitting to being intimidated by computers. It has been found that in such
cases, people will tend to respond more openly about "someone else." Thus, we may ask
them to explain reasons why a friend has not yet bought a computer, or to tell a story
about a person in a picture who is or is not using a product. The main problem with this
method is that it is difficult to analyze responses.

Observation of consumers is often a powerful tool. Looking at how consumers

select products may yield insights into how they make decisions and what they look for.
For example, some American manufacturers were concerned about low sales of their
products in Japan. Observing Japanese consumers, it was found that many of these

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Japanese consumers scrutinized packages looking for a name of a major manufacturer—
the product specific-brands that are common in the U.S.(e.g., Tide) were not impressive
to the Japanese, who wanted a name of a major firm like Mitsubishi or Proctor &
Gamble. Observation may help us determine how much time consumers spend comparing
prices, or whether nutritional labels are being consulted. Physiological measures are
occasionally used to examine consumer response. For example, advertisers may want to
measure a consumer’s level of arousal during various parts of an advertisement.

Types of Data:

Primary Data: Data collected at first hand either by the researcher or by someone
especially for the purpose of the study are known as primary data.

Secondary Data: Data which have been collected earlier for some other purpose are
secondary data in hands of marketing researcher.

3. Consumer Learning:

Learning is defined as a permanent change in the behaviour of a consumer as a result of

past experience.

The characteristic features of learning are as under:

• Learning involves a change in behaviour. This change may or may not be an important
over previous behaviour.
• Learning is a process, which continuously evolves and changes as a result of newly
acquired knowledge.
• Learning can occur by increase in knowledge through reading books, articles,
observation, thinking, and through discussions.
• The behaviour change is based on some form of practice or exception.

Thus we see that learning is based on two vital aspects that are behaviour and
experience. Learning can be either intentional or incidental. Intentional learning occurs

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when the individual is deliberately searching for the information on the feature, benefits
etc of the product before a purchase. Incidental learning occurs when the information
comes to him on its own either through the print or electronic media, exhibitions etc.

4. Consumer Perception.
It is selection, organization, and interpretation of marketing and environmental
stimuli into a cohesive picture. Following are the some feature of perception, which are
asunder:

• Perception is a mental process, whereby an individual selects data or information from

the environment, organizes it and draws significance or meaning from it.

• Perception is a basically a cognitive or thinking process and an individual’s activities,

emotions, feelings etc. are based on his perception of his perception of his surroundings
or environment.

• Perception being an intellectual and cognitive process will be subjective in nature. This
means that different people may perceive the same environment differently based on the
effect of the environment.

Characteristics Affecting Perception.

Characteristic effecting perception can be divided into sensory elements and structural
elements.

Colour.
Colour has important sensory connotations. Evidence suggests that red is
regarded as warm, sensual and not intimidating. Blue is seen as conforming and is
regarded to be colour that attempts to convey friendlier image. Pepsi attempt to cash on
the blue colour of the Indian cricket team during the recent World Cup cricket matches
has received a similar response. Many retailers in Mumbai call it ‘Ghaslet Pepsi’. This is
because Indians are more used to identify blue with kerosene and their long term
association with blue color of kerosene led to call blue Pepsi as Ghaslet Pepsi.
Taste.

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 Taste is another sensory factor that will condition consumers brand perceptions.
The importance of taste is illustrated by P&G blunder when it first introduced Pringles
potato chips. The chips were packed in an easy-to-stack cylindrical can to avoid breakage
of chips. The consumers responded by saying that the packaging resembles a tennis ball
can. Further consumers felt that the chips tasted like tennis ball.

Smell.
Smell is important for food products and cosmetics products. In one study, two
fragrances were added to the same facial tissue. Consumers perceived one facial issue as
elegant and expensive and the other as a product to use in the kitchen.

Sound.
Sound is another important sensory stimulus. Advertisers have traditionally used
accent to convey status and authority. Even in case of serials, voice is being used to
create an impact on the masses. The ‘Binaca geetmala’ was characterised by the voice of
AminSayani.s

Feel.
The feel of certain products will also influence consumer’s perceptions. Softness
is considered a desirable attribute in many paper products. Feel is also a means of
determining quality. Consumer often use of a textile fabric, clothing, carpeting, or
furniture to evaluate quality. For example, a smooth, velvety feel in textile fabrics is
considered an indication of quality.

StructuralElements.

Intensity and Size: The brighter and advertisement and larger the size, more it is
able to attract the attention of potential consumers. Such large advertisements can be in
the form of full page advertisements in newspapers or in the form of large hoardings on
the road.

Position.
Attraction towards and advertisement depends largely on the place where it is
positioned. Positioning includes the page of a newspaper. Similarly, the placement of

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product for display on shelves at the retail outlet plays an important role in attracting the
attention.

Contrast.
A black and white advertisement with a small spot used by Jet Airways is likely
to attract attention. A quite commercial after a loud program can attract attention like the
advertisement of ‘De Beers’ diamond after listening to a frantic rock show.

Novelty.
It is observed that anything which is different from what is normally expected
tends to attract attention like an unusual bottle shape or different packaging material. For
e.g. ‘Frooti’ was the first to introduce the soft drink in tetra pack .

Repetition.
Advertisements are repeated often to enable consumers to brand recall as well as
stimulate them and create a strong desire for interest in the purchase of the product.
Repetition is particularly important in case of low involvement convenience goods like
soaps, toothpastes.

Consumer Characteristics Affecting Perception:

Stimulus Discrimination.
One of the basic questions regarding the effect of marketing stimuli. The ability to
discriminate among stimuli is learned. Generally, frequent users of a product are better
able to notice small difference in product characteristic between brands.

Threshold levels.
The ability of consumer to detect the various in sensory elements is determined
by their threshold level. Some consumers are more sensitive to these stimuli than others.
This will be quite clear from the fact tea and coffee companies employ persons called tea
or coffee ‘tasters’.

Just Noticeable difference.

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 It is based on the differential threshold of a consumer. A consumer will not be
able to detect any change in stimulus below his threshold. For e.g. If an unbranded
detergent cost 5 percent less that consumer is regular brand, the consumer ma not notice
the difference. However, if the same unbranded product costs less than 30 percent less
than he is definitely going to notice the difference.

Weber’s Law.
It states that the stronger the stimulus, the greater the change required for the
stimulus to be seen as different. The most important application of this law is in price.
One critical implication is that the higher the original price of an item, the greater the
markdown required to increase sales. For e.g. If price of a Mercedes Benz S class is
reduced by 25000/-, it will not have any impact on sales because the basic price is in
several Lakhs that a difference of Rs25000/- may not be noticeable for consumers. On the
other hand a price reduction of even Rs5000/- for a maruti 800 is seen to push sales
substantially because of its low original price.

Absolute Threshold.
It is stimulus below which consumers cannot detect the stimulus at all. It is also
referred to as subliminal perception .i.e. perception of stimulus below the conscious level.
One of the major controversies regarding consumer perceptions is whether consumers
can actually perceive marketing stimuli below their absolute level.

Adaptation law.
It is the level at which consumer’s no longer notice a frequently repeated
stimulus. An individual walking into an air-conditioned room, kitchen full of fragrance,
or a noisy party will notice these stimuli after a period of time. Consumer differs in their
level of adaptation. Some tune out more quickly then others. Novelty, humour, contrast,
and movement are all stimulus effects that may gain consumer’s attention and reduce
their attention and reduce their adaptation.

Price and Quality Perceptions.

Price perceptions directly influence consumer’s perceptions of brand quality and
determine their purchasing behaviour. For e.g. Parker pens were positioned as expensive,
hand finished pens. In order to achieve large volume of growth and to share a pie of the

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explosive growing ballpoints, Parker entered this market for cheap pens moving away
from its traditional positioning. The results were disastrous because company’s image
was not consistent with its price. In the late eighties, it moved back to its strength, high
priced fountain pens, with an ad campaign featuring style and luxury. This shift made the
company profitable again.

5. Consumer Involvement:

Involvement.
A consumer is said to have a high involvement in purchase, when he considers the
product be important and strongly identifies with it.

Conditions for involvement.

A consumer is likely to be more involved with a product when:

• The consumer’s self image is tied to the product e.g. aggressive youth craving for power
identify themselves with the Enfield Bullet. Khadi is preferred by politicians and budding
politicians. Similarly, we find politician preferring a multi-utility vehicle like Scorpio or
Tata Safari.
• Product has a symbolic meaning tied to consumer values e.g. ownership of a BMW car,
a cross pen, Rolex watches have s symbolic value of the affluent class.
• Product is expensive .e.g. Jewellery, real estate etc.
• It has some important functional value e.g. fuel efficiency of a vehicle, cricket gear for a
cricketer.
• Product has an emotional appeal e.g. buying of a gift article, buying of articles for
religious purpose.
• Product is continually of interest to the consumer .e.g. fashion-conscious customer has
continuous appeal in clothing and apparel.
• Product entails significant risk e.g. buying a technology complex product, buying a
house.
• Product is identified with the norms of the group. E.g. School children buying
‘Pokemans’ articles.

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Type of Involvement:

Situational Involvement.
It is one that occurs only in specific situations and is temporary. For e.g. a person
buying suit for marriage. Formal dressing for the marriage is a necessary and
hence a person not very fashion-conscious about clothes gets involved temporary for his
marriage in a piece of suit. Enduring Involvement: It indicates an ongoing interest in the
product category. For example,

Attitudes.
Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumer’s (1) beliefs about, (2) feelings
about, (3) and behavioral intentions toward some object--within the context of marketing,
usually a brand or retail store. These components are viewed together since they are
highly interdependent and together represent forces that influence how the consumer will
react to the object.

Beliefs.
The first component is beliefs. A consumer may hold both positive beliefs toward
an object (e.g., coffee tastes good) as well as negative beliefs (e.g., coffee is easily spilled
and stains papers). In addition, some beliefs may be neutral (coffee is black), and some
may be differ in valance depending on the person or the situation (e.g., coffee is hot and
stimulates--good on a cold morning, but not good on a hot summer evening when one
wants to sleep). Note also that the beliefs that consumers hold need not be accurate (e.g.,
that pork contains little fat), and some beliefs may, upon closer examination, be
contradictory (e.g., that a historical figure was a good person but also owned slaves).

Affect.
Consumers also hold certain feelings toward brands or other objects. Sometimes
these feelings are based on the beliefs (e.g., a person feels nauseated when thinking about
a hamburger because of the tremendous amount of fat it contains), but there may also be
feelings which are relatively independent of beliefs. For example, an extreme
environmentalist may believe that cutting down trees is morally wrong, but may have
positive affect toward Christmas trees because he or she unconsciously associates these
trees with the experience that he or she had at Christmas as a child.

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Behavioral intention.
The behavioral intention is what the consumer plans to do with respect to the
object (e.g., buy or not buy the brand). As with affect, this is sometimes a logical
consequence of beliefs (or affect), but may sometimes reflect other circumstances--e.g.,
although a consumer does not really like a restaurant, he or she will go there because it is
a hangout for his or her friends.

Attitude-Behavior Consistency.
Consumers often do not behave consistently with their attitudes for several reasons:

o Ability.
He or she may be unable to do so. Although junior high school student likes pick-
up trucks and would like to buy one, she may lack a driver’s license.

o Competing demands for resources.

Although the above student would like to buy a pickup truck on her sixteenth
birthday, she would rather have a computer, and has money for only one of the two.

o Social influence.
A student thinks that smoking is really cool, but since his friends think it’s
disgusting, he does not smoke.

o Measurement problems.
Measuring attitudes is difficult. In many situations, consumers do not consciously
set out to enumerate how positively or negatively they feel about mopeds, and when a
market researcher asks them about their beliefs about mopeds, how
important these beliefs are, and their evaluation of the performance of mopeds with
respect to these beliefs, consumers often do not give very reliable answers. Thus, the
consumers may act consistently with their true attitudes, which were never uncovered
because an erroneous measurement was made.

o Attitude Change Strategies.

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 Changing attitudes is generally very difficult, particularly when consumers
suspect that the marketer has a self-serving agenda in bringing about this change (e.g., to
get the consumer to buy more or to switch brands).

o Changing affect.
One approach is to try to change affect, which may or may not involve getting
consumers to change their beliefs. One strategy uses the approach of classical
conditioning try to "pair" the product with a liked stimulus. For example, we "pair" a car
with a beautiful woman. Alternatively, we can try to get people to like the advertisement
and hope that this liking will "spill over" into the purchase of a product. For example, the
Pillsbury Doughboy does not really emphasize the conveyance of much information to
the consumer; instead, it attempts to create a warm, fuzzy image. Although Energizer
Bunny ads try to get people to believe that their batteries last longer, the main emphasis is
on the likeable bunny. Finally, products which are better known, through the mere
exposure effect, tend to be better liked--that is, the more a product is advertised and seen
in stores, the more it will generally be liked, even if consumers to do not develop any
specific beliefs about the product.

o Changing behavior.
People like to believe that their behavior is rational; thus, once they use our
products, chances are that they will continue unless someone is able to get them to
switch. One way to get people to switch to our brand is to use temporary price discounts
and coupons; however, when consumers buy a product on deal, they may justify the
purchase based on that deal (i.e., the low price) and may then switch to other brands on
deal later. A better way to get people to switch to our brand is to at least temporarily
obtain better shelf space so that the product is more convenient. Consumers are less likely
to use this availability as a rationale for their purchase and may continue to buy the
product even when the product is less conveniently located. (Notice, by the way, that this
represents a case of shaping).

o Changing beliefs.
Although attempting to change beliefs is the obvious way to attempt attitude
change, particularly when consumers hold unfavorable or inaccurate ones, this is often

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difficult to achieve because consumers tend to resist. Several approaches to belief change
exist:

o Change currently held beliefs.

It is generally very difficult to attempt to change beliefs that people hold,
particularly those that are strongly held, even if they are inaccurate. For example, the
petroleum industry advertised for a long time that its profits were lower than were
commonly believed, and provided extensive factual evidence in its advertising to support
this reality. Consumers were suspicious and rejected this information, however.

o Change the importance of beliefs.

Although the sugar manufacturers would undoubtedly like to decrease the
importance of healthy teeth, it is usually not feasible to make beliefs less important--
consumers are likely to reason, why, then, would you bother bringing them up in the first
place? However, it may be possible to strengthen beliefs that favour us--e.g., a vitamin
supplement manufacturer may advertise that it is extremely important for women to
replace iron lost through menstruation. Most consumers already agree with this, but the
belief can be made stronger.

o Add beliefs.
Consumers are less likely to resist the addition of beliefs so long as they do not
conflict with existing beliefs. Thus, the beef industry has added beliefs that beef (1) is
convenient and (2) can be used to make a number of creative dishes. Vitamin
manufacturers attempt to add the belief that stress causes vitamin depletion, which
sounds quite plausible to most people.

o Change ideal.
It usually difficult, and very risky, to attempt to change ideals, and only few firms
succeed. For example, Hard Candy may have attempted to change the ideal away from
traditional beauty toward more unique self expression.

o One-sided vs. two-sided appeals.

Attitude research has shown that consumers often tend to react more favorably to
advertisements which either (1) admit something negative about the sponsoring brand

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(e.g., the Volvo is a clumsy car, but very safe) or (2) admits something positive about a
competing brand (e.g., a competing supermarket has slightly lower prices, but offers less
service and selection). Two-sided appeals must, contain overriding arguments why the
sponsoring brand is ultimately superior--that is, in the above examples, the "but" part
must be emphasized.

o Appeal approaches.
Several approaches to appeal may be used. The use of affect to induce empathy
with advertising characters may increase attraction to a product, but may backfire if
consumers believe that people’s feelings are being exploited. Fear appeals appear to work
only if (1) an optimal level of fear is evoked--not so much that people tune it out, but
enough to scare people into action and (2) a way to avoid the feared stimulus is explicitly
indicated--e.g., gingivitis and tooth loss can be avoided by using this mouth wash. Humor
appears to be effective in gaining attention, but does not appear to increase persuasion in
practice. In addition, a more favorable attitude toward the advertisement may be created
by humorous advertising, which may in turn result in increased sales. Comparative
advertising, which is illegal in many countries, often increases sales for the sponsoring
brand, but may backfire in certain cultures.

oCulture.
Culture is part of the external influences that impact the consumer. That is, culture
represents influences that are imposed on the consumer by other individuals. The
definition of culture offered in the text is "That complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by
man person as a member of society." From this definition, we make the following
observations:

• Culture, as a "complex whole," is a system of interdependent components.

• Knowledge and beliefs are important parts.

In the U.S., we know and believe that a person who is skilled and works hard will
get ahead. In other countries, it may be believed that differences in outcome result more
from luck. "Chunking," the name for China in Chinese literally means "The Middle

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Kingdom." The belief among ancient Chinese that they were in the centre of the universe
greatly influenced their thinking.

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 CHAPTER 2:
INTRODUCTION TO THE
APPAREL INDUSTRY

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 Current scenario of Apparel Industry

Industry scenario

The Indian textile and apparel industry has made a major contribution to the
national economy in terms of direct and indirect employment generation and net foreign
exchange earnings. The textile and apparel sector accounts for 18 per cent of employment
in the industrial sector, 20 per cent of industrial production, 9 per cent of excise duty
collections and more than 30 per cent of Indian’s total exports.

India had few competitors in the booming international textile trade during the
post-independence period of the 1950s and 1960s, due to abundant supply of cotton and
cheap labour and thriving mill sector. But Indian trade lost market share during 1970s in
the face of growing competition from few new industrializing nations (NICs) in an
expanding global economy. The 1980s marked rapid growth for apparel exports, which
were valued at Rs 6500 million in 1981, Rs 8500 million in 1985. Due to devaluation of
the rupee in 1991 and enactment of export-oriented policies, value of apparel exports
jumped to Rs 62823 million in 1991-92, Rs 183896 million in 1998-99 and to Rs 254799
million in 2000-01.
Indian apparels accounted for a tiny fraction of less than 3 per cent of overall
world export of apparel, suggesting an opportunity for considerable growth. There is a
very large domestic market for Indian apparel manufactures. As per McKinsey study, the
market size is of Rs 20,000 crore, out of which only Rs 4,000 crore is catered to by
branded apparel. So there is still an Rs 16,000 crore market, which is catered by the
unorganized small size units. The developed nations, which are the destinations for
Indian textile products, use textiles in the form of apparel. Therefore, in order to improve
the presence in these markets and capture larger values of the chain the focus needs to be
shifted towards the effective performance of the textile-apparel supply chain network,
rather than looking at textile industry in isolation.

Market Scenario:

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 The speed at which the world economy is moving is truly incredible. And in this
fast paced global scenario, the spotlight is on India.

The Indian economy is growing at a rapid pace and the true emergence of the
middle class is what is driving this growth in our domestic market at an exponential rate,
which we have never seen before. With the rise in investments in the economy and
decrease in costs, people’s needs have increased in terms of goods and services, different
retail experiences such as malls – all have contributed toward increasing consumer
demand.

India is close to achieving a GDP growth rate of 8% that was projected by the
government for this year. I am optimistic that in the current scenario, the GDP growth
could even touch 10%.

In this environment, The Raymond Group too has grown at a tremendous pace as
made the most of the global opportunities that the post-quota era presented us while
consolidating our business in the domestic market.

From being one of the most respected textile companies in the world Raymond
Group are now the world’s largest vertically and horizontally integrated
manufacturer of worsted suiting fabric - a ‘one stop shop’ providing various solutions
to our customers across various product categories - worsted suiting to formal suits,
shirting to formal shirts and denim fabric to jeans wear.

Raymond Group has expanded capacity of worsted suiting to 28 million metres

with a new facility at Vapi, Gujarat. In addition to expanding capacity of our denim
fabric facility to 40 million metres, Raymond Group have joined hands with UCO NV of
Belgium, a leading producer of high end denim to form a global denim company with a
combined capacity of 80 million metres, manufacturing facilities in 3 continents and a
global marketing network.

26
 Raymond Group further expanded their textile business by entering a JV with
Gruppo Zambaiti, a textile major from Italy in the form of a 50:50 JV with Cotonificio
Honegger SPA for setting up of a Greenfield facility in India for high value cotton
shirting fabric. This JV with Gruppo Zambaitil helps them bring in best of the best
technological & design inputs and a strength of a global marketing network. Their JV
with Lanificio Fedora is Italy’s leading woolen fabric manufacturer for the manufacture
of carded woolen products and a respected name in the global markets has helped
enhance our carded woolen business as well.

Raymond Group have set up three world class garmenting units near
Bangalore – for the manufacture of formal suits, jeans wear and dress shirts. These
garmenting units will act as forward integration to their textile business enabling them to
offer a complete solution to their customers from fabric to apparel.

Through the entire growth and consolidation phase, Raymond Group have
never lost sight of what makes Raymond great – Their strength in innovation and
dedication in developing great products. Raymond proved its global excellence by being
the first Indian company in the world to bid for the world’s rarest bale of wool and
create the world’s finest fabric - Super 230s fabric made of 11.8-micron wool..
Raymond Group also unveiled their newest innovation ‘Expressions’ an exquisite
collection of wool and polywool suiting fabric specially crafted using exotic fibers’ like
Cashmere, Angora, Mohair, Bamboo, Casein- a fibre developed from milk protein,
Linen, Silk, Soya bean, Tencel blended with Super 120s, 100s Merino Wool and fine
polyester.

In keeping with their objective to provide complete wardrobe solutions for

the Indian male, they unveiled exclusive brand stores for Park Avenue, Manzoni and
Parx. Their acquisition of ColorPlus is now complete. They have also expanded their
‘The Raymond Shop’ network and set up an exclusive 10,000 sq foot Flagship store for
Raymond. Raymond also ventured into a new area for the first time with a kids wear
brand - Zapp!

27
Strengths of the Apparel Industry

The Indian textile industry is globally more competitive than other

industries in the country on relative terms. Most of the inputs required for this sector
being available from domestic sources and there are very little requirements of imports
and precious foreign exchange.

The Indian apparel-manufacturing sector was highly fragmented as knitted

hosiery and yarn-dyed, woven apparel. Units employing over 50 machines accounted for
a mere 6 per cent of all firms, while 80 per cent firms employed up to 20 machines. The
extreme decentralization helped manufacturers to avoid labour problems and the labour
related laws, as well as seasonal fluctuations in business. It also imparted flexibility to
operations and provided surge capacity in production.

From middle of 1990s, manufacturing units of larger capacity with upgraded

technology, mostly in collaboration with a joint venture partner were established. During
the same period, Indian consumers could see availability of international brands in
domestic market, which were made by Indian garment manufacturers. This had raised the
expectation level of discerning consumers and apparel industry faced the challenge to
improve its performance from this set of demanding consumers. Importers of Indian
apparels were generally satisfied with price and enthusiastic about the ability to source
small production quantities. With the entry of international garment companies into India,
they bring in new designs, new craftsmanship, modern scientific management and also
the marketing strategies. These all can strengthen the competition mechanism so that the
industry will gain more resources for developing new products, new brand names,
technology development and staff training in order to increase the market
competitiveness.

28
 CHAPTER 3:
RAYMOND APPAREL LTD

29
 To some the ultimate in fashion, to others something to aspire for. Brands from
Raymond Apparel Ltd - the finest in readymade garments are more of a tradition that
lives on forever. Dressing up gentlemen over the ears, it is nirvana for the senses.

Products

Park Parx Manzoni Colour plus Notting Hill

Avenue
Suits  
Shirts     
Trousers     
Jackets   
Accessories   
T-shirts   
Denims  

30
 CHAPTER 4:
BRANDS UNDER RAYMOND
APPAREL.

31
 Industry is evolving & moving from stitched tailor made clothing to ready to wear
branded clothing. Raymond recognized the changing environment and consumer needs as
early as 1986 and came out with its premium range of men’s formal garments under the
brand name of ‘Park Avenue’.
‘Park Avenue’ has come to be recognized as a leading and most respected brand
for men’s formal garments. Its comprehensive product range comprises of suits, jackets,
trousers, shirts, ties, accessories, men’s cosmetics, toiletries, etc. It is the single largest
formal wear brand in the country and had recently bagged the” Most Admired Brand”
and “ Best Trouser Brand” awards.

‘Parx’ was born as the need to meet the requirement of new and influential
young audience who prefer casual look. Parx was launched in 1999 and its target
audience is young Indian male. It complements Park Avenue, which is a wardrobe brand
in the formals category.

This stunning range of menswear consists of soft cottons, the ideal apparel for
the Indian workplace & Authentic Ring Denim that's made from the softest cotton &
perfect to lounge around in. Parx offer ‘Parx Cotton’ and ‘Parx Jeans wear’. The USP for
Parx Cottons is: “Look Sharp, Be Comfortable” and for Parx Jeans wear is “The last
word in Comfort”.

32
 Manzoni is the youngest brand in the Raymond Apparel portfolio. This brand
has been launched to cater to the fashion conscious premium end consumers in India.
Manzoni was launched in April 2000. Manzoni, the luxury lifestyle brand of premium
men's wear & accessories from Raymond Apparel Ltd. brings the best of Italian fashion
to Mumbai with its new luxury boutique at Nepean Sea Road. The brand has already
risen to the popularity charts in its category acknowledged for its highest quality and
international style.
Manzoni range of shirts, ties and suits are made for high quality fabrics and
great emphasis is placed on the workmanship and detailing. Manzoni is distributed
through a selected 50 Raymond shops only.

With the launch of kids wear brand Zapp!, Raymond now has something to
offer for children. The exclusive brand covers the spectrum of children's lifestyle
products that includes an entire range of children's apparel and accessories. ‘ZAPP!'
would be targeted at kids between the age group 4 to 12 years. The children apparel

segment is a largely unorganized market but is worth 25000 crore and is growing at an
annual rate of 25%. Raymond plans to set up around 12 ‘ZAPP!' stores across key metros
in India over the next one year. It has opened the first ‘ZAPP!' store in Ahmadabad in
April 2006. Zapp has acquired an exclusive license on Superman logo in India which will
help the brand to build a super image. Company has planned to form “Zapp Club” for
kids as a part of customer relationship program.

33
 Premium casual wear was a new fashion concept in India a decade ago, but today,
after an intense awareness exercise, Color Plus with its superior quality and styling, is
firmly lodged as the number one casual wear brand in the country. The range has
predominantly been men’s wear.
The ColorPlus brand has a high value in India and Middle East. Color Plus as a
brand is currently exported to the Middle East with plans to expand its frontiers to
Europe.
The first showroom was opened in 1994 at Chennai, and was followed by
intensive test marketing and consumer feedback surveys. Today with more than 150
outlets, in over 60 cities, the brand has built an enviable reputation. Sophisticated markets
in the Middle East have already accepted the range and the brand is now selling at
premium locations.

34
 Notting Hill reflects style and manifests originality of today’s fashion-conscious
and discerning young professionals at an affordable price.
Notting Hill was launched in 2007 to cater to the popular price segment. Designed
in-house, the brand collection features a spectrum of men’s lifestyle products comprising
of suits, shirts, trousers, jeans, t-shirts and also accessories like ties, handkerchiefs and
socks. With exceptional fits, styling and color range, Notting Hill promises to be an
instant hit with the young working professionals.
Notting Hill would be retailed across India in a phased manner, beginning with
Pune and other cities in Maharashtra. By the end of the first year Notting Hill would be
made available across India with over 400 distribution points

35
 CHAPTER 5:
APPROACH TOWARDS STUDY

36
 Awareness

Evaluation
Purchasing habits. & Competitors
Assessment Current positioning
Brand preference,
& Communication
perception &
loyalty

Retail &
Communication
Different marketing strategies that
needs to be adopted?
What are the relevant, effective
positioning options available?

37
 METHODOLOGY

Objective of the study:

38
 1. To understand the consumer perception regarding Raymond Shirts.
2. To understand if Notting Hill can be the consideration set of the desired target
audience.
3. To understand the recall level of Shirts.
4. To understand the influence & the time spent on tags by the consumer.
5. To understand the influence of advertisement on consumer.

Scope of the Study:

The study will be limited to the Raymond Brands in Bhopal city only.

Sample Size
Our sample size was 200 respondents.

Target Respondents:
Age Group 23-35

Sampling Method: Convenience Sampling

39
 ANALYSIS
AND
INTERPRETATION

Awareness about different brands of shirt:

40
BRAND PERCENTAGE RESPONSES
Raymond, Park Avenue, Parx 19% 40
Van Heusen 19% 40
Arrow 18% 30
Louis Philippe 16% 40
Zodiac 10% 10
Allen Solly 8% 20
Others 10% 20
TOTAL 100% 200

Fig 1

Interpretation:
Other brands which people have heard of includes : Fcuk, Ck, Wills, Marks & Spencer,
Black Berry, Turtle, Peirre Cardin, Armani, Wills lifestyle, Charag din, Tuscan verve,
Provogue,lee cooper, mufti, , colour plus, Zamkudi, Urban Hill, British Micros, Element,
Acronomous, Globus, R & C, Guess, Tamarind, Zara, Vettrio Fratini, Stop, Koutons,
Westlife, Cotton County, Henry Hills, Lifeline, Louis Vitton, John millers, Crocodile,
IndianTerrain, Selfridge.

Availability of formal shirts with the customers

RANGE PERCENTAGE

41
1–5 10%
5 – 10 20%
10 – 15 25%
15 – 20 22%
20 – 25 5%
25 & Above 18%
TOTAL 100

Fig .2

Interpretation:
The above diagram shows the number of formal shirts being acquired by the
target respondents for their daily activities.

It can be interpreted from above that an average respondent have more that 10
formal shirts which clearly shows the market for formal shirts and the growth of apparel
industry in India.

Frequency of visits by the consumers

RANGE PERCENTAGE
0 – 1 Month 6%
1 Month 7%
2-5 Months 36%

42
 6 Months 17%
7-11 Months 6%
Once a Year 4%
No Particular Frequency 24%
Total 100%

Fig.3

Interpretation:
The above diagram shows the consumers buying frequency for shirts, maximum people
told that they purchase shirts at the interval of 2 to 5 months .This give a fair chance for
frequent sale of shirts for the company.

Number of purchasing done by consumer in single time

NUMBER OF SHIRTS PERCENTAGE

1 16
2 52
3-5 23
5 & more 7
Depends 2

43
 Fig.4

Interpretation:
This pie shows no. of shirts bought in single purchase maximum number of people
told that they buy 2 shirts at a time followed by 3 to 5 shirts at a time, which replicts huge
sales potential.

Purchase by the consumer on special occasions

PURCHASE ON SPECIAL OCCASION PERCENTAGE

Yes 79
No 21

44
 Fig.5

Interpretations:
Major part of candidates was in favor of random purchases of shirts rather than
any special occasional purchases. 79% of shirts are purchased randomly while 21% of
shirts are purchased on special occasions.

Comparative Availability of different brands of shirts by the consumers

(B): How many of each?
BRAND NONE 1 2 3-5 5& MORE
NAME
EXCALIBUR 55% 25% 13% 4% 3%
PETER 49% 23% 21% 3% 4%
ENGLAND
JOHN 68% 12% 13% 4% 3%
PLAYER
BELLMONTE 94% 1% 1% 3% 1%

45
THOMAS 92% 3% 2% 0% 3%
SCOTT
CAMBRIDGE 41% 18% 10% 21% 9%
OXEMBERG 80% 8% 5% 6% 1%

Fig.6

INTERPRETATIONS:
The above diagram shows the allocation of various brands of shirts in the
consumer’s wardrobe. The most preferred brand by the respondents was Cambridge and
the least preferred was Bellmont which shows there is a great market of the brand of
Raymond’s i.e. Notting Hill as it from one of oldest & finest company of India.

Preference of consumers with respect to different brands of shirts

BRAND PREFRENCE PERCENTAGE
Excalibur 19
Peter England 26
John Player 30
Bellmont 1
Thomas Scott 1
Cambridge 19
Oxemberg 4

46
 Fig.7

INTERPRETATION:
The above diagram shows the consumers preference towards various brands of
shirts. The most used brand is Cambridge but the most preferred that was finded out is
John Player.

Brand Loyalty of consumers with respect to different brands of shirts.

(Respondent’s preferred)
NUMBER OF YEARS PERCENTAGE
1-6 months 31
1 29
1-2 25
2 or more 12
No Idea 3

47
 Fig.8

INTERPRETATION:
The above diagram shows the Brand perception and the Brand Loyalty of the
preferred brand of the consumer. Maximum consumer told that they are using their ideal
brand from last one year. This clearly shows that there is no brand loyalty in the segment,
which gives opportunity for Notting hill to become successful by its launch.

Shopping location of consumers in purchasing different brands of

shirts.

SHOPPING LOCATIONS PERCENTAGE

Exclusive Brand Outlets 39
Multi Brand Outlets 43
Departmental Store 18

48
 Fig.9

INTERPRETATIONS:
People usually shop at Multi brands outlet followed by Departmental stores. The results
show the significance of marketing the product from MBO.

Factors which influence the purchasing behavior of consumers.

REASONS FOR CHOOSING MBO’S PERCENTAGE

Variety 56
Convenience 20
Price 7
Availability 4
Proximity from Residence 3
Relationships/Style Tips/Experience 3
Quality 2
No Specific Reason 5

49
 Fig.10

INTERPRETATIONS:
The above diagram shows that maximum consumers prefer shopping at MBO`S because
MBO`S are the “One stop shopping solution” where consumers get each and every
brands with respect to Variety, Price, Quality, Convenience, etc under One Roof.

Consumers purchasing from malls

PEOPLE SHOPPING AT MALLS PERCENTAGE

Yes 74
No 26

50
 Fig.11

INTERPRETATIONS:

Seeing the emerging trend of malls it is learnt that 74% of people shop in malls

Factors influencing the purchasing of consumers.

FACTORS WHILE SHOPPING PERCENTAGE
Shop Ambience 15
Courteous and helpful Sales Staff 15
Trial Rooms 14
Parking 6
Proximity from home 11
Variety 20
Prices offered 17
Others 2
51
 Fig.12

INTERPRETATIONS:
The above diagram shows the important external factors which consumers consider
important while purchasing apart from the product to be purchased. Again Variety hits
the top of list. This signifies that Company should have different variety & variants in
their product category.

Recalling ability of consumers with respect to advertisements of

different brands of shirts.
LAST ADD REMEMBERED PERCENTAGE
John Players 42
Bellmonte 18
Koutons 10
Raymonds 8
Zodiac 7
Others 7
Don’t Recollect 13

52
 Fig.13

INTERPRETATIONS:
The other high recall advertisements were of the brands: Provogue, Charaugh Din, Arrow
& Cambridge.

FINDINGS
53
1. Most of the Customers like to go to factory outlets and branded showrooms.
2. Before going for the purchase customers collect the information regarding the
apparels through friends and magazines.
3. Dissatisfied customers do not complain; they just stop buying.
4. Between occupation of the respondents students are influenced by their friends
whereas salaried class people are by their colleagues.
5. Only few respondents have low reference towards the Branded garments.
6. Comparing the age group with frequency of purchase shows that people from age
group 20-30 likes to purchase more often.
7. The slower the company is to respond to customer complaints, the more
dissatisfaction may grow and lead to a negative word of mouth.

54
8. The important external factors which consumers consider while purchasing apart
from the product to be purchased is Variety which hits the top of list. This
signifies that Company should have different variety & variants in their product
category.
9. There are large number of people that love to shop at malls.
10. People use to shop at multi brand outlets or the departmental store.
11. The most used brand is of Cambridge and the most preferred brand is of John
Player.

55
 RECOMMENDATIONS

Marketing Communications:

Being a new launch, the main objectives of the Notting Hill brand should be to:

1. Inform potential customers

2. Induce product trials
3. Secure distribution in retail outlets

For clothing and footwear the price-off promotions are the most popular. Price-
off (offering a discount on the regular price of purchase) and extra-product offer (offering

56
an increased quantity of the product / service without an increase in the regular price)
constituted 8% each of the promotional schemes for the period 1996 to 2003.
Other popular promotions include premium offer, sweepstake, buy more and save,
exchange offers, contests of skill, exchange offers etc.

The traditional notion of ‘wearing anything that’s comfortable’ is passé and has
been completely over-shadowed by branded threads, which may not always be high on
comfort but are definitely high on attitude and quality.

"India is witnessing a boom in retail. Gone are the days of 'one size fits all' theory.
The consumers' demands have become far more specific and customized...”Company’s
should therefore focus on the needs of consumer.

We suggest that the product should be extended to the Multi Brand outlets and Large
Format store; as these are the Major focus areas of Consumer reach.

As Notting Hill is an upcoming brand from Raymond Apparels the company should make
some efforts to create a Value in mind of Consumers by using the image of Raymond
Ltd. for its Uniqueness / Quality Product. Value that will bring in change in Attitudes /
Brand perception of Consumers.

Extending its elements in various product lines uncovered such as Casuals/Club/Denim

wear will increase its reach/value for all requirements.

Shop in shop tie-ups in Shopping malls, Mega retail outlets.

Notting hill can take up a pace in market and can grow at a very speed, as the brand is
what the consumers were waiting for. As During our survey we noticed that people say
Park Avenue is a very good brand but its too costly so Notting Hill is what the consumer
wanted. So this is the place where Notting Hill has a good market and can be a valuable
asset for Raymond Apparel Ltd.

Brand awareness to be increased through print advertisements, Outdoor hoardings and

Direct mailers etc.

57
TV advertisements for improving brand awareness.

To improve sales in Mega retail outlets, company should indulge in shop promotions &
displays.

58
CONCLUSIONS

59
Since the consumer buying behavior is an important factor to forecast the sales of any
product in a particular area. So company should keep a close eye on the market situation
yet customer were price sensitive, but the changing market trend and customer view and
reference shown that customer are quality sensitive. They want quality product, good
services, easy availability of product and better performance from the product. These
days the number of persons buying from malls has been increased. Also the frequency to
visit the mall has been increased substantially. People are more brand conscious and they
are satisfied with the products available.

60
Bibliography
Books
• Khotari, C.R. (2006) “research methodology”, viswa publication, New Delhi.

• Dessler Gary and Varkkey Biju (2009) Human Resource Management,11th

Edition,Pearson Prentice Hall.
• Aswathappa K. (2008) Human Resource Management, 5th Edition, New Delhi,
Tata Mc Graw-Hill Education Private Limited
• Jhunjhunwala B. (2008) Business Statistics, 1st Edition, New Delhi, S Chand and
company limited.

Webliography
• raymondindia.com
• google.com
• markeresearch.com
• Newspaper:- The Economic Times, Business Standard
• Website: Wikipedia
• Book: Philip Kotler, Principle of Marketing Management

61
QUESTIONNAIRE

62
1. Which brands of shirts do you have in your wardrobe?
_____________________________________________________________________

2. How many formal shirts do you have in your wardrobe?

3. What is your frequency of buying?

4. How many shirts do you buy at a time?

_____________________________________________________________________

5. Do you purchase shirts on special occasions only?

____________________________________________________________________

6. Do you have shirts of any of the following brands? How many of each?

Excalibur
Peter England
John player
Bellmont
Thomas Scott
Cambridge
Oxemberg
Other specify

7. Which of the above brands do you prefer most and why?

____________________________________________________________________

8. For how long have you been using this brand?

____________________________________________________________________

63
9. Where do you usually shop?
________________________________________________________________
10 Why at Multi brand outlet?

11. What do you look in a store where you shop?

• Shop Ambience
• Courteous and helpful sales staff
• Trial Rooms
• Parking
• Proximity from home
• Variety
• Prices offered
Any other specify_________________

12. Which is the last shirt ad you have seen and you remember?
_____________________________________________________________________

64
 Bibliography
• Cygnus research Monitor
• Cmie Database
• Marketing Management-Philip Kotler South Asian Edition
• It Happened In India- Kishor Biyani & Dipayan Baishya

65