Attitude of Rural customers towards Hero Honda Bikes By

Akanksha Sahai Srivastava, Nutan Singh and Somya Agrawal

A Project Report
(assignment)

is submitted to

IBM Dept. Mr. Vivek Agrawal

INTRODUCTION
India is a big country with a large population that is more than 1 crore and is in 2nd number in the world. In our country over 70% of the total population live in villages. There are states like U.P., M.P., Bihar, Rajasthan and Orissa where rural population varies from 80 to 90 %. With the time the lifestyles of the rural people are improved. The surface transport is one of the area where vast improvements can be noticed with improved roads, transportation and other means. Small and big means of transport helps rural people or consumer to purchase his goods and services beyond his village boundaries. The Two-Wheeler industry is one of the largest industries in the automobile sector with a size of Rs.1,00,000 million. The Indian two- wheeler market, there are three types of vehicles Motorcycles, Scooters and Mopeds. Among three of these segments , major growth have been seen in the motorcycles segment over the last four to five years. The main reason can be the bad roads of villages. The motorcycle has now become one most popular mode of transportation. Most of the rural areas do not have good and decent road , for these types of roads motorcycles are a good two wheeler and it is a easy mode of transportation among the Indian rural families because of it is cost effective and economical. There are a many players in the Indian motorcycles market as Hero Honda motor limited, Bajaj auto limited, TVS

motor company limited. The other players of the two wheeler industry as the kinetic motor company limited,kinetic engineering limited, LML, Yamaha motors India limited, MajesticAuto limited, Royal Enfield, and Hero Honda motorcycle and scooter private limited.There are a various models of the HERO HONDA available . CD 100 Hero Honda sleek Splendor Splendor plus CBZ Passion Passion plus Karizma Super splendor

In current scenario product are designed to meet and exceed the expectations of the consumer. But understanding attitude of rural consumer is not simple. Rural customers are now having a lot of offers from various companies. There is a need to understand the rural markets in terms of buyer behavior, attitude, beliefs of rural people towards the Hero Honda Bikes.

Review of Literature
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Consumer behaviour reflects the totality of consumers decisions with respect to the acquisition, consumption and disposition of goods, services, activities and ideas by humandecision making units. (Hoyer, Macinnis and Pinaki Das Gupta, 2008). Consumer behaviour means more than just how a person buys tangible products such as bath soap, digital music players and automobiles. It also includes consumers use of services, activities and ideas such as going to the doctor, visiting a theme park, etc. RURAL CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR Rural buyer behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of final consumers individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption. All these final consumers make up the consumer market.The rural consumer is likely to exhibit different purchase behaviour as compared to his urban areas. This is basically due to the unique characteristics of rural markets. The compositionof Indian rural market is probably the much more complex than the whole market.

Influence of consumer behaviour and its implications

http://www.scribd.com/doc/51202931/11/RURAL-CONSUMER-BUYING-BEHAVIOUR - Browsed on 25th March, 2012

Sarwade W.K in this research on Emerging dimensions of buyers behaviour in rural area studied the marketing and consumer behaviour aspects such as place of buying,frequency of purchase, brand decisions, buying motives, shopping behaviour and brand choice of buyers with reference to selected products in rural area. The study revealed that, most of the ruralconsumers are not aware of the product. The corporate image is playing a very significant role in popularizing the product in rural area. Hero Honda, the worlds largest manufacturer of two-wheelers, generates over 40 percent of sales from rural areas.
http://www.reutersmarketlight.com/images/Accenture%20Masters%20of%20Rural%20Market% 20-%20the%20Hallmarks%20of%20High%20Performance.pdf - Browsed on 25th March, 2012

RESEARCH DESIGN
The research undertaken was descriptive research in nature. The emphasis was made to understand the nature and the expectations of the customers. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: To analyze consumer perception towards Hero Honda motor bikes in rural areas. To study the position of Hero Honda motor bikes in rural areas. To test the usage of the product. PROBLEM FORMULATION: Two wheeler market penetration in rural and urban segment. Which bike people prefer to purchase. Estimation size of rural market in 2 wheelers. Growth sales of Hero Honda bikes. Sales of HERO HONDA Bikes in rural areas compare to urban areas.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Meaning of ResearchResearch is a common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. One can also define research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. Redman and Mory defines research as a Systematized efforts to gain new knowledge. Some people consider research as a movement, a movement to from the known to unknown. It is actually a voyage of discovery.

MethodologyIn planning and designing a specific research project, it is necessary to anticipate all the steps that must be undertaken if the project is to be successful in collecting valid and reliable information.

RESEARCH APPROACHThere are two basic approaches to research. Quantitative and qualitative.

SOURCES OF DATA-

Primary data:Primary data consists of original information for the specific purpose at hand. It is first hand information for the direct users of respondents. The tools used to collect the data may vary depend can be collected through various methods like questionnaire, direct personal interview. We did not use this method. Secondary data:Secondary data is the data which is already been collected and assembled. This data is available with the companies or firms and it can be collected from newspapers, periodicals, magazines, websites etc. DATA COLLECTION TOOL:To conduct a survey, we have selected a structured questionnaire as an instruction for gathering valuable information from the customers. Questionnaire consisting of questions and checklist questions to check the customer feedback. QUE 1. What is your age? AGE 18-25 25-35 35-50 NUMBER OF PERCENTAGE RESPONDENT

Above 50 Total QUE 2. What is you occupation? OCCUPATION student Labour Businessman Selfbusiness Total QUE 3. What is you maximum education? EDUCATION Below S.S.C S.S.C H.S.C Graduate Post Graduate Total QUE 4. Do you have own bike? Answer Yes No No of respondent Percentage NO OF PERCENTAGE RESPONDENT NO OF PERCENTAGE RESPONDENT

Total QUE 5. If yes, which companys bike you have? Company Hero Honda Bajaj Yamaha Suzuki Others No of respondent Percentage

QUE 6. Whom you concern for advice before making any purchase decision? Advicer No of respondent Family Friends Older villagers Dont take any advice Others QUE 7. Are you satisfied with your bike? Company Yes No Total No of respondent Percentage Percentage

QUE 8. If no, then what is the reason of it? QUE 9. If you get a second chance to purchase a new bike, which bike you would like to buy? Company Hero Honda Bajaj Yamaha Suzuki Others No of respondent Percentage

QUE.10 Did you getting after sale services after purchasing your bike? Answers YES NO TOTAL No of respondent Percentage

QUE.11. What do you think about HERO HONDA BIKES , Is it good? Answers Strongly disagree disagree neutral agree No of respondent Percentage

Strongly agree STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES 1. Bar Diagrams 2. Pie-Chart STATISTICAL TOOL 1. Statistical software like Microsoft Excel

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:The study helps in having an attitude of rural customers towards Hero Honda Bikes. As the product had a good brand image in the market, this study will help to know that it is also having a good image in the mind of rural consumers or not.

ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Two wheeler market penetration in rural and urban segment.

ANALYSISMajor portion of India population lives in rural/semi urban area. It is the area where market penetration of two wheelers is just 10% compared to 25% of urban area.

Estimated size of the rural market

spending in crores

FMCG DURABLES AGRI-INPUTS 2/4 WHEELERS

ANALYSIS:As we can see size of rural market of 2/4 wheelers is 8000 crores. Which is increased from last few years.

 Which bike people prefer to purchase.

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 HERO HONDA BAJAJ TVS HONDA YAMAHA Series

Bike

ANALYSIS:From the above data we can see the majority of bike which people of India prefer most in the survey were Bajaj bikes with 45% and then Hero Honda with 40%.

 Growth sales of Hero Honda bikes.

Particulars 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 Sales (nos.) 3000751 3336756 3337142 3722000 4600130 Growth in 14.5 11.2 .01 11.53 23.59 Sales (nos.) (%)

Growth in sales (%)

25

20

15 Growth in sales (%) 10

0 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10

ANALYSIS:As we can see with this data, sales of Hero Honda bikes are increasing rapidly. Now a days major contribution in the increase of sales is from rural areas.

 Sales of HERO HONDA Bikes in rural areas compare to urban areas.

ANALYSIS:According to above data, today Hero Hondas 45% sales come through rural segment which was around 30% few years back.

FINDINGS
After analysing these data the following were found in the study. 1. Hero Honda motor cycles were the market leader in the Two Wheeler segment. But they are losing their grip in the market. Now Customer prefer bajaj bikes more than Hero Honda. 2. Two wheeler rural segment is very less than urban. Even large no. of population lives in rural areas in India. 3. Growth sales of Hero Honda bikes is increasing rapidly. 4. Today Hero Hondas 45% sales come through rural segment. Which was 15% more than few years back. 5. Rural segment prefers to buy in cash and it is more loyal to its brand. 6. The Rural segment is also showing high disposable income growth due to increase prices of vegetables and grains. 7. The company has always targeted urban sector of Indian population. But in the rural sector escorts, Rajdoot enjoys a great market share. So, therefore Hero Honda should target this market to increase its market share.

CONCLUSION
Two wheeler automobile sector is the back bone of the automobile industry.Hero Honda is one of leading two wheeler producer in the world and a major player in the Indian Market. They were the producer of largest selling motor cycle of the world, i.e, Hero Honda Splendor, it has its own importance still in the market. But from the past two or three years Hero Honda suffered a slight loss in its market share due to Bajaj. The introduction of Bajaj Pulsar is one of the biggest threat to Hero Honda. But rural consumer attitude towards Hero Honda motorcycles is very good. It has created a very good image for it self by providing low maintenance, fuel efficient, good looking models along with efficient after sales services. Rural consumer find it affordable and adaptable according to rural environment. To help win sales among Indias more than 740 million rural residents, Hero Honda has set up health-care initiatives and services to guide people in getting driving licenses. Coupled with motorcycle tax cuts and economic growth, the programs helped Hero Honda boost sales 24 percent in the past 11 months. Simultaneously, Hero Honda is expanding its rural reach in India by adding about 500 more dealerships, service centers and other outlets across the country. The company currently has

more than 4,000 facilities nationwide, including about 700 dealers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Websites referredhttp://www.scribd.com http://bikeadvice.in http://www.heromotocorp.com http://www.indiainfoline.com http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a VNx2O2Jm29A