BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS

TERM PROJECT
MARKET RESEARCH
CONSUMER MIND MAPPING: TO UNDERSTAND THE FACTORS INVOLVED IN
THE CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS FOR DECORATIVE PAINTS

GROUP 7

Section E

Yogesh Goel 2009265

Sunny Kedia 2009290

Vikas Jain 2009284

Utkarsh Khanna 2009300

Sindhura D 2009272

Varun Somaiya 2009282

Sreeram R 2009275
Index of Contents

Phase 1

a) Problem to be studied
b) Background of the problem
c) Research Gap identified
d) Relevance of the study
e) Limitations of the study
f) Methodology Used
g) Sampling Plan
h) Hypothesis Drawn

Phase 2

a) Plan of Analysis
b) Actual Sample
c) Hypothesis 1and Analysis
d) Hypothesis 2and Analysis
e) Hypothesis 3and Analysis
f) Hypothesis 4and Analysis
g) Hypothesis 5and Analysis
h) Hypothesis 6and Analysis
i) Conclusions and Findings
j) Shortcomings of the research
Problem or Opportunity to be studied:
Consumer Mind Mapping: The decision making process in a consumer’s mind regarding
decorative paints.

 What determines a household’s decision to get their house painted?

 What determines their choice of the type and brand of paint to be used in their homes?

Background of the problem:

The paints industry in India has been growing at the rate of around 12% a year. But the per
capita consumption of paints in India is low at 1.25 kg as against 16 kg in Japan and 26 kg in
USA. This is reflective of the huge potential the industry has in coming years. The Indian
market has a colossal potential for use of paints even as a loss-preventive measure since India
is a tropical country. Severe corrosion occurs all around, especially in coastal areas. The
Central Electro Chemical Research Institute has estimated the loss due to corrosion at USD
100bn in mid 1990s. This has expanded considerably since. It is estimated that timely
application of paints can save as much as half of this enormous loss.

The paint industry in India is fragmented into over 80 players in the organized market alone.
The number of unorganised units is very large, close to 4000. The major players in the
decorative segment are Asian Paints, Kansai Nerolac (earlier Goodlass Nerolac), Berger
Paints, ICI, Jenson & Nicholson, Shalimar Paints and Garware paints. Each company has its
relative strength in one or the other types of paints: Asian Paints has the widest range; Kansai
Nerolac is strong in distempers; Berger Paints and ICI focus on emulsions; and Jenson &
Nicholson in enamel paints.

Asian Paints is the market leader with a 40% market share, followed by Kansai Nerolac at
around 20%, Berger at 19% and ICI at 12%. Other with significant share include Jenson &
Nicholson, Shalimar Paints.

Research gap identified from past research:

Companies carry out research (either themselves or through a market research firm) to
understand the behaviour of their consumers/customers. They do this to segment their target
markets, estimate their current and future market potential, and use it as a basis for
developing new products and strategies. This data can play an important role in a company’s
success, and is generally not shared by them.

As past research data related to our research objectives was not available freely (or
inexpensively), we are unable to identify research gaps, if any. But we would be using the
secondary data available about the industry and some key players as a basis of our research.
Relevance of our study:
The study carried out by us would be addressing 2 issues:

1) The decision to get the house painted.

As stated earlier, the per capita consumption of paints in India is very low compared to the
rest of the world. An understanding of what influences the decision of a household to paint
their house, can help the paint industry develop products and strategies that would increase
the frequency of getting the house painted (not all houses are painted regularly!), thereby
increasing the per capita consumption of paints in the country. Such an increase in the per
capita consumption of paints presents an immense opportunity for the paint companies to
increase their sales and thus profits, in absolute terms.

2) The type and brand of paint to be used.

With an understanding of why a customer chooses a particular type or brand of product,

companies can better position themselves to be the preferred choice of the customers. This
would help companies in improving their market share over their competitors.

Limitation of the study:

The major limitation of this study would be its geographical limitation. As the survey would
be carried out only among the residents of the city of Nagpur, extrapolating this data over the
entire country might lead to some errors.

Also the sample size for this research is 300-500 which might not be a large enough sample
to make important decisions

Non Extrapolation

As Nagpur is a tier II city, the data collected cannot be used for tier I cities. Nor would this
data be useful for understanding rural markets.

Also, due to supply chain constraints, some brands may be available more easily in Nagpur,
but may not be as readily available in other parts of the country, thereby creating a bias
towards it in our survey.
Random Sampling Error:
We intend to select sample of people randomly and thus in selecting a sample randomly
chances of random sampling error increase
Example:
The sample selected might only represent a certain strata of society and the results might thus
become biased

Sample Selection Error

Our Sampling plan is more judgemental and we intend to survey a sample size of 300-500 the
rationale of which is given in the sampling plan
However this sample might not be large enough to give accurate results
Due to this and the time and cost constraints involved, a random sampling error is expected in
the study

Research methodology to be used:

Research methods

1) Exploratory Research Objective:

The objective of the initial exploratory research was:

a) Understanding the paint industry dynamics

b) Understanding the customer preferences in choosing the product
c) Uncovering any special or industry specific traits or trends which might be of help
in the research

Exploratory Research Methodology:

Depth interviews – These interviews were conducted with dealers who sell
decorative paints.

It was done to search through the various facets of problem of decision making, and
identify the attributes which come into play while making a decision.

After obtaining this list of possible attributes, further research will be carried out to
find out the relative importance of each of these.

Sample Size: 10 dealers across Nagpur city which represents about 8.5% of the
population
2) Descriptive Research

Objective:

The objective of this descriptive research would be to do a obtain primary data

for quantitative analysis and thereby form objective conclusions which give a better
understanding of the customer decision process and the customer preferences
regarding decorative paints

Methodology:

Questionnaire

After obtaining a list of possible attributes, a questionnaire will be designed which

would encompass questions about customer preferences, their preferred method of
purchase, their reasons and frequency of getting their house painted.

A detailed questionnaire would provide us with enough data points to carry out
various quantitative analyses like Factor analysis, Cluster analysis, etc.

Sampling Plan

1) For factor analysis, different methodologies suggest different minimum sample

size. There is a consensus that any sample size less than 51 is inappropriate, but it
is generally accepted that a more appropriate sample size is 200 or more.
2) Because some data sets may be incomplete, or the answers given by respondents
may be biased, we have decided to take a larger sample size of around 300-500.
3) Our sampling technique would thus be more judgemental and also due to location
and time constraint involved this would be the most feasible sample that would
support the analysis and also factor in the constraints
Measurement Scales

1) Nominal Scale –
These will be used to indicate demographic features of the sample population like
income brackets.
This will help us in classifying our sample population into different categories,
and thus helping us identify the characteristics of each demographic.
2) Ordinal Scale
These scales would be used to indicate customer preferences among various
brands of paints available in the market.
This will be good indicator of customer preferences, brand recall of the
company/product.
3) Interval Scale –
These scales will be used when determining the time gap between two successive
paintings of the house.
With this we can then estimate the average time gap for getting the house painted,
or the average frequency of getting the house painted.
4) Ratio Scale –
Ratio scales will be used when the respondents will be asked to assign weights to
different characteristics of paints in terms of importance for them as a customer.
Ratio scales would also be used while getting data about the income and painting
expenditure of the household
This would give a comparative correlation of the two variables:
Example:
A certain household has an income of 2.0-3.0lacks and the painting expense per
year is 20,000 while another household has an income of 4.0Lacs and expenditure
of 40,000 then it would help us make certain conclusions about the similarity or
the difference between the income and expense ratio

Scaling:
We intend to use the Likert scale as much as possible due to its ease of use for
the respondents and the ease of data analysis that it provides
Apart from this we would also consider using Constant Sum Scaling however
other techniques might also be used
A Diagramatic Representation of the Entire Research Plan

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:

CONSUMER MIND MAPPING: DECISION MAKING

PROCESS AND CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR
THE PAINT PRODUCTS

INITIAL EXPLORATORY
RESEARCH

IN DEPTH INTERVIEWS
WITH THE DEALERS TO
UNCOVER THE
INDUSTRY DYNAMICS

Primary Data Collection using Descriptive

Technique of Questionnaire

Data Analysis using the techniques of Factor

Analysis and Cluster Analysis through SPSS

Drawing Objective Conclusions based on the

Data Analysis done above
Hypothesis Drawn for the Future Research

Our Exploratory research has given us the following facts and dynamics about the paint
consumption patterns:

 In the paint industry, the customer and consumer are different namely the interior
decorator and household

 The above trend is changing as consumers become more value conscious and select
their own products

 The decorative paints market has three major product categories

a. Distemper
b. Emulsion
c. Plastic paint

 In case of distemper, a house is repainted in approximately two years

 In case of Emulsion and Plastic paint this time gap is 5-6 years

 The important factors that consumers look for in paints is affordability and durability

 In the Nagpur market, Asian paints has the leadership in every sense

 Asian Paints is the Market Share leader

 It has the highest brand Recall

 It has the highest Brand loyalty and the brand has become synonymous to the word
paint much like Xerox has to photo copying

 To verify this, we also captured exact verbatim in the video

 Also, there is normally a seasonal demand during Diwali and during summer holidays
Based on the above analysis, possible hypothesis that we would draw are:

a) Affordability and Durability are the two most important characteristics while
choosing paint products

b) Consumers themselves prefer to select and buy the paint from the dealer

c) Distemper has a repaint cycle of 2 years

d) Emulsion and Plastic paints have a repaint cycle of 5-6years

e) Asian Paints is the preferred brand amongst the consumers

f) There is a seasonal demand for paint during Diwali and Summer holidays

g) There are certain internal and external factors that determine the household’s
decision to get the house painted. If yes, determine those factors
ANALYSIS

Sample Taken

The Sample size which was actually achieved was of 69 respondents

Plan of Analysis

We have done the analysis based on the hypothesis drawn and the findings received during
the survey

Hypothesis 1

Affordability and Durability are the most important characteristics which consumers
take into account while selecting the paint

Analysis

Respondents were asked why they selected a particular brand and type of paint and then we
analysed the data using descriptives

Y Ths Pnt

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Price 13 18.8 22.0 22.0

Durability 20 29.0 33.9 55.9

Quality 22 31.9 37.3 93.2

Others 4 5.8 6.8 100.0

Total 59 85.5 100.0

Missing System 10 14.5

Total 69 100.0

The analysis shows that Durability was the second most important factor after Quality for the
consumer decision making process
Hypothesis 2

Consumers themselves prefer to choose the paint they want to use

The respondents were asked what brand of paint do they prefer and what brand did the
contracter refer to them

This data was analysed using co relation technique

The following are the findings

Descriptive Statistics

Mean Std. Deviation N

Ur Brnd Prfrn 1.70 .994 63

Cntrctr's Prfrnc 1.57 .950 47

Correlations

Ur Brnd Prfrn Cntrctr's Prfrnc

Ur Brnd Prfrn Pearson Correlation 1 .328*

Sig. (2-tailed) .026

N 63 46

Cntrctr's Prfrnc Pearson Correlation .328* 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .026

N 46 47

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

It can be seen that the Corelation is significant since the desired significance level is 0.05 and
the achieved significance level is .026

However the Corelation coefficient is only .328 or 32.8% which shows that the correlation is
weak

This means that most of the consumers prefer top choose the type and brand of paint
themselves over the contractor’s recommendation
Hypothesis 3

Distemper has a repaint cycle of 2years and Emulsion has a repaint cycle of 5-6years

Respondents were asked the question that ”How long back did they get the house painted”?

However this data does not provide a significant idea about the repaint cycle

Also respondents were not asked any question regarding when they plan to get the house
painted next since it was found in the Exploratory research that Consumers normally don’t
have a plan for the same

To understand this decision better, however, consumers were asked “Reasons for getting the
House painted” and this has been analysed using Descriptives

Y Pntd

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid occasion 17 24.6 27.0 27.0

festival 14 20.3 22.2 49.2

worn out 25 36.2 39.7 88.9

others 7 10.1 11.1 100.0

Total 63 91.3 100.0

Missing System 6 8.7

Total 69 100.0
The analysis shows that 40% respondents get the house painted as and when they feel the
paint has worn out and 27% respondents get the house painted because of a special occasion
while 22% because of a festival

Hypothesis 4
Asian Paints is the Prefered brand of paint
Respondents were asked their brand preference and the brand the contractor recommended
This would give an idea about the Brand preferences of customers as well as consumers
incase both are different and otherwise

Hypothesis 5
Income level determines the amount of money to be spent on the painting work
Respondents were asked the income level of the household and the amount spent on the
painting work

These two variables have been analysed using correlation

The results of the above correlation are as below

Correlations

Mny Spnt Mnthly Income

Mny Spnt Pearson Correlation 1 .435**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 64 63

Mnthly Income Pearson Correlation .435** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 63 65

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The analysis clearly shows that the two variables are linearly correlated with a corelation
coefficient of 43.5% at a significance level of .000 which is 100% confidence level

Ur Brnd Prfrn

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Asian Paints 39 56.5 61.9 61.9

Berger 8 11.6 12.7 74.6

Nerolac 12 17.4 19.0 93.7

Others 4 5.8 6.3 100.0

Total 63 91.3 100.0

Missing System 6 8.7

Total 69 100.0
 Cntrctr's Prfrnc

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Asian Paints 32 46.4 68.1 68.1

Berger 6 8.7 12.8 80.9

Nerolac 6 8.7 12.8 93.6

Others 3 4.3 6.4 100.0

Total 47 68.1 100.0

Missing System 22 31.9

Total 69 100.0
The Analysis clearly shows that Asian Paints is the preferred brand amongst the Consumers
and the Contractors with 68.1% preference amongst Contractors and 61.9% Consumers
preferring Asain Paints

Hypothesis 6

There are certain internal and external factors that effect the consumer decision making
process and if yes determine those factors

For this, we do factor analysis

Respondents were asked to rate 7 factors Price, Quality, Recommendation, Popularity,

Washability, Past Experience and Colour Variety

A five point Likert scale is used for simplicity of the scale

The following are the results of the Factor Analysis

 KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .621

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 125.124

Df 21

Sig. .000

The KMO test of adequacy is validated since the value is .621 which is more than the desired value of
.6

Correlation Matrix

Imp Price Imp Populrt Imp Quality Imp Recco Imp Exp Imp Color Imp Wash

Correlation Imp Price 1.000 .197 -.214 -.008 -.138 -.202 -.289

Imp Populrt .197 1.000 .233 .167 .047 .075 .136

Imp Quality -.214 .233 1.000 .107 .188 .265 .150

Imp Recco -.008 .167 .107 1.000 .262 .564 .521

Imp Exp -.138 .047 .188 .262 1.000 .502 .334

Imp Color -.202 .075 .265 .564 .502 1.000 .789

Imp Wash -.289 .136 .150 .521 .334 .789 1.000

Sig. (1-tailed) Imp Price .061 .046 .474 .140 .056 .011

Imp Populrt .061 .033 .095 .358 .280 .144

Imp Quality .046 .033 .202 .070 .018 .121

Imp Recco .474 .095 .202 .019 .000 .000

Imp Exp .140 .358 .070 .019 .000 .004

Imp Color .056 .280 .018 .000 .000 .000

Imp Wash .011 .144 .121 .000 .004 .000

 Total Variance Explained

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Rotation Sums of Squared Loa

% of % of
Component Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total Variance Cumulative % Total Variance Cumulativ

1 2.718 38.834 38.834 2.718 38.834 38.834 2.550 36.422 36.422

2 1.239 17.700 56.534 1.239 17.700 56.534 1.248 17.831 54.253

3 1.072 15.319 71.853 1.072 15.319 71.853 1.232 17.600 71.853

4 .770 11.005 82.858

5 .587 8.384 91.242

6 .451 6.447 97.689

7 .162 2.311 100.000

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Component Matrixa

Component

1 2 3

Imp Price -.328 .721 -.375

Imp Populrt .207 .797 .331

Imp Quality .394 .094 .810

Imp Recco .697 .252 -.339

Imp Exp .613 -.083 .007

Imp Color .908 -.041 -.143

Imp Wash .853 -.062 -.174

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

a. 3 components extracted.

Rotated Component Matrixa

Component

1 2 3

Imp Price -.168 .818 -.264

Imp Populrt .117 .673 .566

Imp Quality .118 -.136 .887

Imp Recco .776 .244 -.040

Imp Exp .575 -.149 .170

Imp Color .904 -.107 .132

Imp Wash .862 -.114 .081

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

The Analysis shows that three factors have been extracted with the following components

Factor 1

Reccomendation, Past Experience, Colour Variety and Washability

These four variables combined could be clubbed in to a factor of overall paint experience

Factor 2

Price and Popularity

These two variables together in a factor show that consumers prefer a popular paint brand at
reasonable prices and thus the factor can be named as Value for Money
Factor 3

Popularity and Quality

These two variables combined give the factor of Brand Image

This indicated that even in a low involvement category like paints, consumers are conscious
of the brand they purchase and have a perception “better the brand, better the quality”

CONCLUSION

The research gives a fair idea about the consumer decision making process in the paint industry

The key findings for the research have been

a) Paint although is a Low involvement category, still consumers are Brand conscious and the
Brand image makes a difference in the buying decision
b) Consumers prefer value for money in the product they choose
c) Asian Paints is the preferred brand of paint amongst the consumers and contractors alike
d) Quality and Durability are more important than price in the decision making
e) The household income and the money spent on the painting work are linearly corelated

Shortcomings of the Research

The major shortcomings of the research are:

a) The sample size achieved is very small (69 households)

b) The research has been done in the city of Nagpur and the results might vary for a different
city due to the lifestyle and income levels. Hence the Extrapolation of the results to other
cities might be misleading
THANK YOU