FACTORS THAT

INFLUENCE CONSUMERS
PREFERENCE OF SOAP

NAME : SUKANY BHUNIA

COURSE : BBA ( H ) 6th SEM
ROLL NO : 23405019006

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The successful completion of any job would not be complete

with reference to the people who made it possible and those
whose constant guidance ensures success. I express my deep
gratitude to our dear director, for his support in the success of
this project and for giving me the opportunity to carry out this
research. It is with a sense of humility and deep gratitude to my
inner guide for this project, Mr. Supriya Biswas, Professor,
NSHM Knowledge Base, whose esteemed help, careful
supervision care, support, constant inspiration, valuable advice
and meticulous supervision throughout the project and to its
execution. I would also like to thank all the faculties and staff
for providing any form of support and guidance whenever
needed. I thank my parents, friends and sympathizers who
encouraged and supported me in undertaking this project.

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 DECLARATION

I, hereby declare that this Dissertation titled “FACTORS THAT

INFLUENCE CONSUMERS PREFERENCE OF SOAP” is the
result of the project work carried out by me under the guidance
of Mr. Supriya Biswas, Professor, NSHM Knowledge Campus,
Kolkata in partial fulfilment for the award of Bachelor’s in
Business Administration by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
University.
I also declare that this project is the outcome of my own efforts
and that it has not been submitted to any other university or
institute for award of any other degree or diploma or certificate.

Date: 24.05.2022. Sukanya Bhunia

Place: Kolkata Roll: 23405019006

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 CONTENT

No. Particulars
1. Abstract
2. Keywords
3. Introduction
4. Review of Literature

5. Objectives of the Study

6. Scope & Limitations of the

Study

7. Research Methodology

8. Data Analysis
9. Findings
10. Conclusion
11. Bibliography

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Abstract :
The selling situation in India has undergone huge change
since 1991 owing to the financial change. Post-
Liberalization, competition intense in each line of
business and market that forced brands to redefine their
norms of existence all told industries. Within the FMCG
business, particularly in bath soap sector there has been
severe competition among the MNCs, national and native
players. The rest room soaps may be divided into four
worth segments: Popular, economy, premium, and
carbolic soaps. At an equivalent time, penetration level of
bath soaps in urban areas is extremely high, however per
capita consumption levels stay low. During this situation,
it’s important for marketers to grasp the buyer behaviour
with regard to bath soaps, which can be terribly helpful in
adopting appropriate ways. This analysis paper tries to
research the whole loyalty, satisfaction, awareness, and
change behaviour of shoppers relating to soaps. It also
examines the factors controlling brand choices.
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KEYWORDS:
Customer Satisfaction, FMCG, Product attributes,
Bath Soaps, Brand Loyalty.

INTRODUCTION
Customer satisfaction may be a judgment created by the client. It’s
borne out of the comparison of pre purchase expectations with post
purchase analysis of the merchandise. If the perceived performance falls
in need of expectations it results in discontent. Satisfaction happens once
the perceived performance matches the expectations. If supposed
performance exceeds expectations it ends up in delighting the
purchasers. Client satisfaction may end up from quality connected
problems or non-quality problems (e.g., needs, equity, and perceptions).
Further, the extent of discontent depends on the gap between
expectations and performance. The larger the gap, the larger is that the
consumers’ discontent. Analysis has proved that client discontent
encompasses a larger psychological impact and a larger longevity than
satisfaction. This discontent could force the patron to discontinue the
employment, and once an identical want arises within the future he
could explore for another appropriate different. Several studies have
additionally shown that the prices of effort a replacement client are
dearer than retentive the present ones. Client satisfaction is additionally

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joined to inflated profit, loyalty and retention and repeat purchases. So,
it’s imperative for marketers to grasp the client satisfaction and its
connected ideas to work out the factors influencing shopper behaviour.
It’s a lot of necessary in FMCG sector particularly in bath soap business,
wherever customers have abundant alternative of product. The
competition between firms to draw in customers is additionally terribly
intense. Within the geographic area, the penetration level of bath soap is
already high. At identical time, customers are flooded with several offers
and promotional ways geared toward them. During this scenery, this
research makes an effort to analyse urban consumers’ personal
preferences, shopping for behaviour, and complete loyalty with
reference to rest room soaps.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
To have Associate in Nursing exhaustive understanding of
Indian shopper, and to investigate the factors influencing his
purchase choices, one has got to conduct studies in regard to his
setting, his demographic factors, culture, and level of exposure.
During this scenery, some necessary studies conducted within
the areas of shopper behaviour and perception in regard to non
consumer durables and FMCG in India are in short reviewed.
It’s seen that positive perspective of shopper towards advertising
of a selected complete is extremely helpful in getting that
complete (Dr. Dharam Sukh Dahiya, 1996). Customers
perceived that the knowledge received from WOM sources is
reliable and advantageous in creating the acquisition choices
(Prashant Mishra et al, 1996In the FMCG sector, the key
influencing factors in creating a buying deal call were quality
(D. P. S. Varma et al, 2003), value and convenience of product
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(Dr. Sarwade W. K. 2002), followed by their amount and
enticing packaging (Kuldeep Singh et al, 2003). Rising family
financial gain levels allow patrons to exercise a lot of alternative
in choice of FMCG from the price perception (Prof. S. A.
Telang et al, 2003). However, age and alternative demographic
variables even have their result on behavioural and
psychological feature patterns of the patron (D. P. S. Varma et
al, 2003). Urban customer’s most popular branded product (P.
Full general patron saint, 2007). Complete awareness and
complete usage are extremely related (Dr. A. Vinayaga
Moorthy, 2007).

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

The main objective of the study is to look at the
consumers’ shopping for habits and complete loyalty
towards bath soap product. The subsequent are the precise
objectives of the study.
 To spot the merchandise attributes that influence the
getting method.
 To assess the complete loyalty of customers with
relevancy varied levels of increment.
 To look at the complete shift behaviour of
respondents.
 To gauge the satisfaction level of customers with
reference to their gift bath soap complete.
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  To supply suggestions to FMCG f is to look at the
consumers’ shopping for habits and complete loyalty
towards bath soap product. The subsequent are the
precise objectives of the study.
 To spot the merchandise attributes that influence the
getting method.
 To assess the complete loyalty of customers with
relevancy varied levels of increment.
 To look at the complete shift behaviour of
respondents

SCOPE & LIMITATIONS OF THE

STUDY:
This study intends to look at the client satisfaction and
perception towards bath soap and also the influence of product
attributes on complete preferences and complete loyalty. It
additionally covers customers’ complete loyalty at completely
different levels of value increase/decrease from the current
value. The study has the subsequent limitations;
• The study is created by taking every attribute as freelance
of alternative attributes, thence their mutuality, if any is
neglected.

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 • Because the study is conducted in precisely Chennai, the
findings and suggestions of this empirical study might not
be represent.
• There may also be opportunities for expertise in mastering
the interpretation of information.
• Some discrepancies may occur due to random sample
technique used.
• Respondents did not give their specific opinions or
deliberately withheld certain data.

Research Methodology
This study is conducted with the help of primary information
collected from twenty respondents; Customers are very attracted
to the metropolis. Relevant information is collected from
respondents from completely different demographic and
financial benefit teams. Acceptable applied mathematical tools
such as averages, weighted averages, etc. Are used in data
analysis. To test the hypotheses, to validate the results of the
investigation, the investigation is carried out at a critical level of
five percent. The respondent refers to the demographic
characteristics of the respondent customers within the sample
profile analysis. Demographic factors such as age, education,
occupation, income, family size have an immediate effect on
product / choice. To establish the views of each male and female
client, a virtually equal number of respondents have been
assigned to the study. Based on being more mature, respondents

10
are classified into 5 categories viz. Below twenty years, 21-30
years, 31-40 years, 41-50 years and above fifty years. About
39% of the respondents are in the age group of 21-30 years. The
other 27% are in the 31-40 age group. About 16% are in the 41-
50 age group, followed by fifty years (13%) and under 20s (5%).
It is determined that the majority of respondents comprising
70% are either undergraduate or postgraduate. The remaining
27% are undergraduate academic background. It was further
determined that those personal workers comprised 38% of the
sample, followed by housewives (25 per cent) and government
employees (18 per cent). The rest are students, businessmen and
professionals. It was found that 43% of the respondents are
within the moderate financial benefit cluster (Rs. 10,001 to
20,000 / pm). At the same time, 31% is associated with a lower
financial gain cluster (below Rs. 10,000 / pm). The remaining
26% belong to the higher financial benefit class (above Rs.
20,000 / pm). It has been observed that about 63% of the
respondents have 3-4 members in their family. About 26% have
more than four members. The other eleven% have 2 or fewer
members. It has been determined that 62% of

the respondents spend Rs. Pays less than 100. The remaining
38% of respondents earn Rs. Pays on top of 100 / -. These bath
soap samples are distributed to the customers according to the
business, financial benefits and life cycle.

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 MARKETING MIX FACTORS &
BRAND PREFERENCE
At a significant level of 0.031 there is a statistically
significant relationship between the price factor and brand
choice. About 92% of respondents indicated that the price
level is moderate as per their assumptions about the price of
the respective brand. While 16% indicated that the price
level is high. But 50% of Lux customers felt the price level
was high, although Pears, Dettol, Lifebuoy, and Nature
Power customers never felt the price level was high in the
sample considered.

DATA ANALYSIS:

STATISTICAL TOOLS

The SPSS software was used for data analysis. Data are presented
in tabular form depending on the purpose of the study. Several
statistical tools for hypothesis testing and data presentation are
used. To test the equality of trademark usage rates of a product in
urban and rural areas, Ztest is used. The Ztest statistics are given as
follows:

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 Where, and represents the proportion used by urban and rural area
for a particular brand of a product, q1 = 1-p1, q2 = 1- p2 and n1,
n2 denote the total sample size taken for urban and rural area for a
given product.

DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF
CONSUMERS:

Table I Percentage distribution of the

customers according to sex, type of family,
age distribution, Income and occupation

Sex: 54 Occupation: 54
Female: 64.8% Student: 66.7%
Male: 35.2% Salaried: 16.7%
Self 9.3%
employed :
Other: 7.4%

Age: 54 Income: 54
13-20 9.3% Lower 58.7%
Income (0-2
13
 lac)
20-29 77.8% Middle 39.1%
income (2-8
lac)
30+ 13% Higher 5%
Income (8 lac
+)

Data from the present study show that 35.2% of males and 64.8%
of females are approximately equally represented in the study. The
age distribution of customers shows that up to 9.3% are aged 13-
20, 77.8% are aged 20-29 and 13% are aged 30+. In this study, we
found 66.7% are students , 16.7% are salaried, 9.3% are self
employed and others are 7.4%.In this study we found 58.7% are
lower Income person, 39.1% are middle income person and 5% are
higher Income person.

Table II. Percentage distribution of customers for

different brands of Soap according to first, second
and third preference.
Name of the Soap Customer Quality Customer
Preference (%) Preference (%)
Lux 25.9% Fragrance 16.7%
Dove 24.1% Good brand 9.3%
Pears 20.4% Good 9.3%
performance
Lifebuoy 11.1% Low price
Dettol 18.5% Above all 64.8%
Most often buy Customer Soap fragrance Customer
soap Preference Preference
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 Grocery store 74.1% Rose 37%
Online 14.8% Sandal 9.3%
Boutique/ local 5% Neutral 14.8%
shop
Other 5.6% Lemon 22.2%
Purpose Customer Purchase Customer
Preference Decision Preference
body fresh & 25.9% Very high 22.6%
fragranced
For cleaning 7.4% Very low 39.6%
To prevent 5% High 32.1%
dryness/ oiliness
All the above 66.7% Low 5%
Behaviour of urban respondents relax in terms of influencing
Absolute loyalty is analysed. For this purpose, the structured form
of 5
the purpose scale reflects the attitude of the respondents to the
sample
is working on the investigation. Information has been collected
from
respondents are tabulated, analysed, understood and given in 2
sections such as. Section A: Shopping for Habits, Section B:
Complete
Loyalty.

Section A: Shopping for Habits, Section B: Absolute Loyalty.

Section—
A: Shopping for Habits Purchasing habits are analysed in
terms of 5
Interconnected variables i.e.. a Purchase for purposes, b. No
optional
Place of business, c. Full specification, d. Purchase frequency,

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 a. A Impact of Shopping for Motives on Purchase {decision
Making| deciding| higher cognitive method} Process.

Companies advertise their product as a bundle of certain features.

And,
consumers see merchandise as a bundle of benefits. They fight to
evaluate the benefits of the benefits Good thing in every respect
attribute and assign important levels and create an idea about the
whole
After production, they take the acquisition call. During this scene,
the study proposes to evaluate customer perceptions on each
feature
and it is given importance. During this context, respondents are
asked
to rank diverse product features in terms of their impact on
shopping
for the call. Commercial features like special ingredients, effect
On skin and complexion, brand name, protection from heat and
cold,
price, name, retailer Recommendation, Announcement,
Completion
Ambassador, Convenience, Fragrance, Doctor’s Recommendation,
TFM of soap, freshness, protection from pimples etc. Are known.
This
Ranking is given in Table No. III

Table III

Product Attributes Weighted Score Rank

Unique Ingredients 376 1
Impact on Skin and 320 2

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 Complexion
Brand Name 122 3
Protection from Heat 56 6
and Cold
Price 96 4
Company Name 52 7
Retailer's Advice 4 14
Brand Ambassador 20 9
Advertising 8 12
Availability 6 13
Fragrance 44 8
Doctor's Advice / 16 11
TFM 16 11
Protection from 18 12
pimples
Freshness 62 5

Table No. 3: Product Attributes Influence on Bath soap purchase

Decision
It is observed that the specific ingredients of the selected soaps are
classified the primary main influencing feature in the purchasing
method. The effect on skin and colour and the brand comes second and
third followed by value and freshness in various ways.
b. Alternative of Place of Business
Consumers consider many factors to choose the store they choose buy
the product. These factors can embody the convenience of the chosen
person complete, access to knowledge, introduction and related data
shop, shop proximity, time pressure, store specific promotion, position
etc. By choosing the type of store, customers can get getting the required
product with either utilitarian cost (small the amount of effort) or the

17
Epicurean value (related to pleasure and enjoyment purchase for
processing). During this context, respondents are asked to call. Their
most popular outlet. 74.1% bought from wholesale grocery outlets. The
rest chose to close outlets.
c. Complete Specification
It is determined that Lux is that the most well-liked complete with 25.9
% users, followed by Dove with 24.1% users. About 20.4% of users
each absorption is pears and 11.4% with Lifebuoy. The rest of the brand
is used by many respondents.
d. Frequency of Purchase
The frequency of purchase will be indicated as time varies a the buyer
buys during the selected amount. It depends degree of purchase,
financial status, lifestyle, promotion scheme Etc. During this study, it
was determined that most respondents about 51.9% of people make a
purchase once a month. 33.3% shop whenever they need goods. About
7.4% buy once during the period. Buy the remaining 7% once a week.

Table No IV. Awareness of Brand

Awareness No of Percentage
Respondents (%)
Friends 54 13.2%
Online (Blogs / 54 11.13%
Articles)
Social media 54 30.2%
Tv/ Radio 54 37.7%
Print 54 5.7%

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The table above shows that 11.13 of the respondents
know about the bath Soap product through blogs, articles,
13.2% of respondents know about it through their friends,
30.2% of respondents were informed by their social
media and 37.7 of respondents knew through tv / radio
and 5.7% of respondents knew through print like
newspaper, magazines.

Section—B: complete Loyalty

Brand loyalty is analysed in terms of seven interconnected variables .
a. Full consciousness, b. The big picture, c. Value
sensitivity, d. The most popular complete solution
available, e. Gift usage Complete, f. Reason for complete
postponement, g. Perfect performance.

a. Full Consciousness:
Brand data based on full perception and full image. Full perception is
described as the consumer’s acknowledgment of the existence and the
convenience of a suit. Consumer interest generally depends on their
socioeconomic background, in particular educational attainment and
financial income for 58.7% of Customer feedback is at the top of the
scale.

b. The big picture:

Brand image is described as the consumer’s perception of a reflected
in his complete control of the associations in his memory. The
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 strength, preference and particularity of associations that facilitate the
construction top full image. A good finished image is very useful to
create comprehensive and strong equity. In this regard, a question was
raised for respondents to check their complete giveaway with
alternative competitors brand. The majority of respondents, 58.7%
felt that Their complete because the best. About 35% aforementioned,
it offers a smart price for the coin. Remaining 10% percent feels
almost similar to alternative brands. At the same time, most Among
the respondents considered their overall to be the most popular
because market leader in its category.
c. Value sensitivity:
At an increase of 58.7% (Low income ), 38.9% (Medium income )
and 5% of respondents (High income ) chose to continue at the same
consumption level. Approximately thirty-four percent of respondents
belonging to the low-income class were selected to reduce reduce
their consumption. Corresponding digits for between financial return
group and high financial return group are 23% and 13% respectively.
Another thirteen % (low income ), thirty% (Medium income ), ten
percent of respondents (High income ) identify switch to alternative
brands, while the most popular brands remain look for alternative
solutions. At the same time, at 4% increase, 1% (Low income ), 2%
three % (middle income ) and fifty four % (high income )
respondents chose to continue with the same level of consumption.
Another six % (Low income ), seven % (Medium income ) and
fifteen % (High Income ) needed to reduce their consumption. In
addition, about fifty-five % (low income ), fifty one % (average
Income ) and nineteen percent of respondents (High income ) want
change their brand. The remaining respondents will collect alternative
plans. In addition, identical information is being supported, a Chi-
square test is performed to detect variations, if any, among
Respondent’s happiness for financial gain groups is completely

20
 different in conditions of value sensitivity and total loyalty at different
levels of increase the value of the complete gift soap. The calculated
values are provided in Table V.

Table V
Price increase 10 per cent Price increase
Test Calc. Table Result
Value Value
Chi- 8.498 9.488 Accept
square [H.sub.01]

Price increase 20 per cent Price increase

Test Calc. Table Result
Value Value
Chi-square 24.827 12.592 Reject
[H.sub.02]

Price increase 40 per cent Price increase

Test Calc. Table Result
Value Value
Chi-square 35.557 12.592 Reject
[H.sub.03]

[H.sub.1]: No significant difference among respondents belonging to

different income groups at a price of 1% increase the current brand of
bath soap.

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 [H.sub.2]: No significant difference among respondents belonging to
different income groups compared to the 2% price increase the current
brand of bath soap

[H.sub.3]: No significant difference among respondents belonging to

different income groups compared to the price level of 4% increase
the current brand of bath soap.

From the top of the graph, it is determined that at ten percent

increments, the calculated chic are price is less than the table price. It
would therefore end up that there is no appreciable difference between
respondents’ happiness for different financial gain groups to Completed
1% increase in current bath soap. But, when {value | value | value} is
inflated to 2% or 4% of the current price, the happiness level of the
respondents is completely different | total other} financial gain groups
exhibit quite different behaviour.

d. The most popular complete solution is not available.

Store loyalty is seen as consumer patronage towards exit. He
advocates the positive view of consumers towards shop. Store
loyalty is affected by product offering and to the store and also the
method involved in the customer’s effort. Full fidelity is also an
important factor in shaping Buyer reviews of a selected store. The
former is the most popular not fully accessible in an obvious store,
customers can have 2 Selection; become completely identical in
another view, that is, show a lot total loyalty versus in-store loyalty or
getting it all look and feel the same, which means a lot of loyalty to
the store. As part of donation research we found that 78% of
respondents most often buy identical products completed from a

22
 different perspective. The remaining twenty-two percent are
purchased alternative marks are accessible within the same
appearance.
e. Gift usage Complete:
Brand loyalty also leads to exactly the same activity regularly for a
certain part of your time. We find that fifty-one percent Respondents
have been mined in a similar manner for more than four years
followed by 21% in less than a year. About seventeen percent is
operate it for 12 years, as well as the remaining 11% in 24 many
years.

f. Perfect performance:
Customer satisfaction can be a positive psychological trend that
Customers get when they are ready to meet perceived needs and
expectations with the item he experiences. It is a district of customer
expertise. This satisfaction translates into many facets such as the
value, quality, performance and potency of the goods.

Findings:
• The majority of respondents bought bath soap from super
organized grocery markets/shops followed by kirana
wholesale shops.
• lux is {most favourite | Most Fashionable | than beloved}
absolutely used by every man and girl to come in the ordinary
class. Dettol, dove, lifebuoy and pears after the most popular
brands.
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 • Majority of respondents' monthly purchases have ended
base. Another thirty-three percent bought once they needed it
goods.
• It was determined that almost all of the respondents most
commonly for complete purchase identical to another look,
when it is not accessible in a clear store. This shows complete
and powerful fidelity among the respondents.
• More than half of respondents know only 51 brands of bath
soap. Among others, the number of respondents was almost
equal know only 5 and more than 1 brands. Education level of
customers include a positive reference to all sensitive.
• Respondents were simply satisfied with their gift soaps
because the majority they just rate it as average or above
average. Many people have rated it big.

Conclusion :

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 Significant variations were determined among completely
different financial gain teams, especially, once the value of the
current complete will increase considerably. This could be
attributed to {the completely different| the various} lifestyles
adopted by different financial gain teams. Astonishingly
respondents gave least importance to advertisements of bath
soaps. Quality and value of recent completes impelled them to
brand shift. This has got to be fastidiously studied by the
marketers. Another area of concern is that many of them have
already rated their gifts know is satisfactory even though they
have been exploited in the same way complete for an extended
amount. From this perspective, FMCG companies must be
forced to explain their ways to please buyers. Arrive identical
times, because most of the respondents are doing exactly the
same completed in a long period of time, new entrants must
design proper plan to attract buyers from existing growth
potential night.

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25
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26
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27
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