Review of Literature

There are various studies which have already been conducted, o n v a r i o u s d i m e n s i o n s o f Customer Perception towards Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Beauty and Personal care products. Some of the studies and findings in relation to this area are mentioned here. Ann Kris (2009), in his article, Brand Recognition will change customer perception, explained the customers inclination to known and recognized brands. Big businesses realized the importance of spreading brand knowledge among customers long ago. He states that it helps in altering the perception of customers towards the brand and brand recognition building is one of the first steps of the inception of a new product or brand. Advertising is the most common way, though this would take a lot of time. False hype should not be built as this might never get out of the mind of the customer which can lead to long term rejection. He suggests that Custom logo and brand name should be constantly exposed to the customer. Laura Lake A. (2009), in her book, Consumer Behaviour for Dummies, expressed about the meaning of consumer perception, its development and eventually leading to the decision-making. Perception is how people understand things around them, based on the inf ormation received through their senses. Based on this stimulus, they subconsciously evaluate their need, values and expectations, and then they use the evaluation to select, organize and interpret the stimuli. Consumers make decision to buy based on their perception. Marketers cannot force a perception on the consumers but they can understand it and influence it, by making their marketing strategies according to them. The internal sensory characters that influence consumers senses are vision, taste, smell, sound and feel. The external characteristics that influence consumers senses are intensity and size. After receiving and organizing the stimuli, the consumer interprets it by using the physical appearance, stereot ypes, first impressions, e arl y informatio n and halo effect. She stated that the common mistakes made by businesse are their assumption that consumers perception is based on the features and benefits of the product but in fact it is based on the value that the product would provide. Consumers perception of value depends on their criteria. T o ensure that consumer place best value on the product or s e r v i c e s , b e s t q u a l i t y n e e d s t o provide to them, service and support should be immediate, delivery should be made at the right place, in right condition , etc, to over exceed the consumers expectation. Laura even states that while making marketing strategies, it should be kept in mind that perception is unique to each customer, no two people view the world exactly the same and perception is not necessarily as the world is in reality, but more often it is as a person thinks of the world. Stein Sammy (2010), in his article How Motivation and Perception Influence Consumer Behaviour? described the influence, motivation and consumer perceptions have on the behaviour of the consumer. Companies motivate the consumer by means of being pioneers in the latest technology, quality, celebrity endorsements; these motivate the consumers to be among the elite group. Perception influences consumer behavio ur too, consumers want to be perceived as being innovative and attracting the customers. They observed that this was not so a few years back, as not much emphasis was given on the packaging, but now with technology up gradation, awareness and increased competition, smaller brands established themselves in little time.

Mulky Avinash G. e t a l (2007), in their article Price Endings and Consumer Perception, explained the impact of price ending with 9, it has a different recollection from other price endings and the impact it has on consumers perception of value, quality and recall of a product. The y stated that there are number of theories that have been proposed in the context of price ending, based on it they have divided it into Level effects and Image effects. Level effects, referred to as underestimation effects, are the skewed perception of price levels due to price endings and Image effects are the consumers perception of the firm behaviour as a result of price signal. They found that that there is a definite relationship in the Indian context of 9 endings being associated with value. 9 endings are related to sales promotions. Most advertisements involving a sale or promotion do have 9 ending p rices. They also clarified that consumers do make a decision regarding value based on touching, but they are keeping visual affect in concern. The signalling of quality b y 0 ending is not very strong in the Indian context and non-zero even endings are not perceived to be different from 0 endings. As in case of internet shopping, feel and touch, context is missing, so buyer takes cues from the descriptions, price ending can have a huge impact on the buyer, so it can be used to convey information. M u l k y A v i n a s h e t a l .,concluded by positing price ending with 9 are high value, product is on sale and that customers remember the price ending 9 and 0 and there is no difference in the Indian consumers perception regarding non- zero endings and zero endings. Grewal Dhruv et al. (1996), in their study The Effects of Price -Comparison Advertising on Buyers Perceptions of Acquisition Value and Transaction Value, expressed the effect of price comparison advertisements on buyers perception of value. They examined the perceived acquisition value (the benefit from acquiring the product relative to the displeasure of paying for it) and perceived transaction v alue (the satisfaction of taking advantage of price -offer or deal).They found that advertised reference price increased the buyers internal reference price (the mental price scale by which a buyer judges the fairness of an actual price). With the higher internal reference price, the value of the transaction is enhanced in the buyers eyes. This in turn affects the buyers decision to buy the product or to search further for a lower price. They even stated that with these findings, the common belief that perceived quality is an important part of the value equation was reaffirmed. Joshi Vivek & Ahluwalia Supreet (2008) The Impact of Celebrity Endorsements on Consumer Brand Preferences, in their article explained the consumers favo urable attitude towards their favourite celebrity endorsed product. They observed that marketers should not ignore the fact that celebrities are mere human beings, if they can bring positive attitude from buyers, they can at times tarnish the image of the brand because of their involvement in some bad controversy. Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational and cultural image that can be associated with the company or the product. Celebrities are the people who have recogn ition in the societ y and are the experts of their respective field. With the help of celebrit y endorsing the brand, instant awareness, easy recall, knowledge about the brand, value and the image of the brand is created, highlighted and refreshed by the celebrit y, credibility and trust can be created. They found that the known products, names and more exposed products were bought more than the others. All buyers wanted to buy the products which were more acceptable, highl y recognizable and reputed. They even found that compared to any other type of endorsers, goods endorsed by famous people had higher

degree of recognition and recall. Celebrit y created positive feelings and connected the customer to the brand. A proper match should be there in the celebrity and the brand.They concluded by positing that the high cost invol ved in the celebrit y endorsement is justified endorsement is justified applied under the right circumstances. The celebrities along cannot ensure the success of the brand, its the combination of several factors and elements that influence the mind of the consumers. References A n n K r i s , ( 2 0 0 9 ) , B r a n d R e c o g n i t i o n w i l l C h a n g e C u s t o m e r P e r c e p t i o n , http://www.articlesbase.com/branding-articles/brand-recognition-will-change-customerperception-1125386.html Dabur India, http://www.dabur.com/About%20Dabur Grewal Dhruv, Monroe Kent B & Krishnan R. (1996), The E f f e c t s o f P r i c e C o m p a r i s o n Advertising on Buyers Perception of Acquisition Value and Transaction Value,