DESIGN OF THE STUDY FOR MBA MAJOR PROJECT WORK

CUSTOMER PREFERENCE TOWARDS THANIMA COCONUT OIL

A STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERNCE TO MAJOR SUPERMARKETS IN THRISSUR CITY SUBMITTED BY RESMI MOHAN MBA 4th SEMESTER

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF DR. J.NIRUBARANI, MBA.,M.Phil.,Ph.D Head of the Department of Management studies

RVS Institution of Management Studies

Coimbatore 641402

CHAPTER 1 DESIGN OF THE STUDY Introduction

Marketing is the process used by an organization to develop an overall product market strategy. Modern marketing concept lies in the fact that the business should be directed towards the satisfaction of the consumers. Now the consumer has become the key factor that determines the success or failure of any organization. A satisfied customer is the biggest asset of the organization. The success or failure of the product in the market often depends on the ability of the markets to correctly perceive and predict the dynamic nature of the consumers. So modern marketing requires a thorough understanding of consumer behavior and buying motivations. Consumer behavior reflects the totality of consumer decision with respect to acquisition, consumption, and disposition of goods, services, time and ideas by decision -making units. It also include whether, why, when, were, how, how much and how often and how long consumer will use or dispose of an offering. To understand the consumers are not early jobs as his behavior is mostly unique and unpredictable. This has made the terms to step in to the shoes of the consumers and understand from the point of view selection and purchase of products and services. Marketers need to identify the end-users of the product, services and frame marketing plans than considering the wholesalers and retailers who actually are the intermediaries in the process of purchase. Marketers therefore should consider the consumers and then develop their plans of action. Here lies the essence of marketing. Consumer is the king and all actions should start with this notion in mind. Sterling Coconut Oils & Cakes (P) Ltd. Thrissur, popularly known as Thanima is a private enterprise. Thanima was established with an objective to produce, supply and export fresh and pure coconut oil. The company strictly follows the quality standards prescribed by AGMARK and ISO 9001:2000 Certification to take on the challenges of globalization and international quality standards. Thanima focused on a stable and reasonable return to their produce by integrating the activities of production, processing and marketing. They converted coconut, into value added

products like copra and coconut oil and marketed it. There is better satisfaction emphasis is that better the marketing, better the return to the company to consumers. Coconut oil is extracted from the kernel or meat of matured coconut harvested from the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera). It has various applications in food, medicine, and industry. What make coconut oil different from most of other dietary oils are the basic building blocks or fatty acids making up the oil. Being one of the healthiest oils on earth, it is used to treat a wide variety of health problems. Coconut oil improves immune system and energy level, stabilize blood sugar, improve thyroid function and it tastes great, too.

Statement of the problem

In todays competitive environment companies are realizing that marketing is not only the voice of the company but also tool with which information feedback can be collected from the consumers for the marketers. It is important to recognize why and how individuals make their consumption decisions, Thanima is facing stiff competition from other major brands such as KPL Shudhi oil, Kera etc. Hence in order to adopt new marketing techniques for increasing sale it is desirable to study the preference of customers towards coconut oil. The changing food habits and consumer preference of Keralities have opened a new opportunity for the marketing of coconut oil in the Kerala state. People may not think much about branded coconut oil vs. unbranded one as they are not aware of it or they feel that its of high price. But once they experience the quality of the branded product, they will be converted. There are many advantages the branded coconut oil have over unbranded one good quality, better packing, healthier, avoiding refined carbohydrates, increased keeping quality and consuming whole foods etc. The household consumers of Kerala are not only health conscious but also price sensitive. The propensity among the consumers to shift from the consumption of coconut oil to other edible oils is high when coconut oil price rise above the price of other edible oils. Being a product of Kerala itself, Sterling Coconut Oil Cakes & Mills (P) Ltd., have the responsibility to take adequate measures to sustain and promote the

household consumption of coconut oil. The study explored the product related attributes (fragrance, flavor, durability etc) and market related attributes (price, size, package, availability, etc) of coconut oil in order to provide adequate insight for taking future decisions by Thanima. However the marketing of coconut oil in the state still remains less studied. Some case studies are mentioned here. Price behavior of major edible oils consumed in the households of Kerala and promotional strategies of Coconut Development Board. The study found that there are fluctuations in the prices of coconut oil, palm oil, and sunflower oil. Due to various external factors like changes in the world production and demand of these oils, changes in the climatic conditions in the producing countries and internal factors namely import duty charged by the government, production of oil seeds etc. Consumers preference towards branded coconut oil. The study has

identified that the consumers give more importance to the quality of coconut oil, which is the main reason why they prefer branded one. Brand awareness among the consumer were also found fairly high, but limited to the geographical availability level.

Objectives
To study the customer preference towards Thanima coconut oil To examine the factors influencing customer preference

Methodology
Sample design The supermarkets in Thrissur City area can be grouped as: (i). Small and medium Super Markets having floor area of less than 2000 square feet; and

(ii) Large Super Markets having floor area of more than 3000 square feet. There are total 60 super markets in Thrissur District (Source http://www.thrissurkerala.com/). Out of this, 10 supermarkets are coming in the group of large/major supermarkets. This study was carried out in all these 10 major supermarkets in the Thrissur City area. Data collection Both primary and secondary data were collected for the study. Primary data Primary data for the study was collected through interview with the help of prestructued schedule. Data on family details, income, education status, coconut oil consumption, purchase pattern of oil, etc. were collected. Observations made Socioeconomic profile of respondents Expenditure pattern Brand awareness Impact of Thanimas promotional efforts on consumers demand. Quality, Price of coconut oil Brand loyalty and switching Product attributes. Currently used brand Reference groups like, friends, peers, relatives, etc. Segmentation of consumers into each income group Purpose wise use of the coconut oil

Study area and sampling procedure

For the purpose of study, all major supermarkets (10 numbers) were identified from Thrissur City area. The service time of the supermarkets was divided into four time zones as follows: i. ii. iii. iv. 9.00am to 12 noon 12 noon to 3.00pm 3.00pm to 6.00pm 6.00pm to 9.00pm

Five customers from each time zone, that is, total 20 customers, were identified from each super market and collected data. The sample size comprised of 20 respondents each from the 10 supermarkets constituting a total of 200 respondents. Secondary data The secondary data was collected from the published sources such as reports, journals, periodicals, Internet and other Medias.