Purchase intentions for ready to eat products

acquire intentions for progress to to feed in productsResearch school principal The research focuses on determining the consumer preferences and corrupt intentions for incase and ready to eat diet products. Moreover, we overly look into how and to what extent factors like relationship of social, demographics, psychographic/ life style, personalized and external media fascinates the secure decisionSynthesis and ApplicationConsumer decision- devising styles in short, shop styles like lifestyles, are a dramatic area of interest in consumer behaviour studies. Consumer election work ates vary according to the showcase of product winding, the measure and the people involved (Burns Gentry, 1990520). Although brand decision-making maps a fair amount of deliberation during consumer decision making, it does non represent the whole consumer decision-making process (Harrel, 1990739). (Alet C Erasmus, Elizabeth Boshoff and GG Rousseau, 2001)Consumers acquire decisions take place over a period of time. The boilers suit finishing during this decision process is to evaluate mingled(a) alternatives and choose the product that satisfies the consumer in an optimal way. Consumers decease influenced by several major factors date they make their decisions. These factors can be grouped as social, cultural, pscyhological, and personal factors( Kotler Armstrong, 1997 141). In addition, increase in the number and variety of goods, stores, and obtain malls, and the availability of multicomponent products and electronic purchasing capabilities take a shit broadened the sphere for consumer choice and led to complicated decision making. (Hafstrom et al., 1992).One or much specific shopping styles dimensions may influence consumer-shopping choices, and these influences are comparatively enduring (Sproles and Kendall, 1986).Broadly speaking, these are 3 types of approaches in perusing consumer decision-making stylesPsychographic/lifestyle approach, which ide ntifies hundreds of characteristics related to consumer behaviourConsumer typology approach, which classifies consumers into several typesConsumer characteristics approach, which focuses on different cognitive dimensions of consumer decision-making (Fan et al., 1998).Since ready to eat incase food has met a stiff resistance on health grounds, the decision maker in the family is besides an grave aspect. Prior research in this area has found that mothers make the purchasing decisions for monthly food expenditures of the family however, fathers carry out the act of purchasing. Promotional activities such as commercials, new product development efforts, packaging, determine distribution strategies all play a significant role in determining the person that makes the purchasing decision in the family (Elif Akagn Ergin, Handan -zdemir, Blent -zsamac, 2005)Sproles and Kendall (1986) developed a Consumer Style list (CSI) based on the assumption that consumer decision-making behaviour ca n be explained by eight central decision-making dimensions that influence a consumers decision making behaviour. The eight decision-making style dimensions were perfectionism/ gamy-quality consciousness, brand consciousness, novelty consciousness, price/value consciousness, unbidden/careless shoppers, recreational and hedonistic shopping consciousness, confused by over-choice shoppers, and habitual and brand/store fast(a) shoppers. Despite the eight-dimensional structure existence confirmed in the original study, there are indications that the eight-factor model does not hold good in real life. case food industry Consumer behaviourFavorable viands culture presented on a Nutrition Facts panel also led to more positive attitudes toward the product, nutrition, and corrupt intentions and reduced perceived disease risk. The effects of the nutrition in weeation on all dependent variables were more pronounced in the menu context than in the pack hop on context, even though the nutrie nt determine were identical. (John C. Kozup, Elizabeth H. Creyer, Scot Burton, 2003). Moreover, that social class is basically inferior to income as a correlate of buying behavior for the consumer encase goods. Perhaps few types of package foods not covered in this study would fix shown greater purchasing relationships with social class e.g., frozen shrimp and other types of cocktail snacks. (Myers, Stanton and Haug, 1971)These products tend to be criticized because-They typically are high in fat and calorie contentsThe reduced time cost and nutritional content associated with these foods is specifically blamed for obesitySometimes Genetically Modified Foods are usedSometimes an irradiation process is usedIf heat processing is used the vitamins are lostPreservatives are always usedPackaged food Indian marketIn developing countries like India, the preferences of the consumers clearly indicate their priority for cleanliness/ novelty of food products followed by price, quality, v ariety, packaging, and non-seasonal availability. The consumers preference of marketplace largely depends on the convenience in purchasing at the marketplace along with the availability of additional services, attraction for children, basic amenities and affordability (Jabir Ali, Sanjeev Kapoor, Janakiraman Moorthy, 2010)Consumer demand for detailed information regarding content and nutrition of encase food products is credibly to increase due to booming organized sell sector in India. at that place is awareness roughly different types of information on the food evaluates displayed on case food products, however, enjoyment of such information as one of the criteria while purchasing packaged food product is relatively low. Indian consumers assign very high importance to information virtually food ingredients and nutritional contents of the food. They also pee-pee very strong preference for brand and the smell of the product. This preference makes them purchase a packaged f ood item even though it may not meet their criteria of healthy food or may contain some harmful ingredients. Most lifestyle products such as breakfast cereals, readymade dressings etc. that would mostly be used by people who have relatively higher levels of income and education would pay more attention to various kinds of label information. Moreover, the awareness regarding label information is dependent on the consumers level of education, income and kind of occupation. (Sushil Kumar and Anuttera Pandit, 2005)Additionally, researchers have also shown that as convenience becomes the goal for households, with an increase in the number of urban population, functional women and income levels, RTE has become the fastest growing sub-segment in the packaged food category. However, in India home cooked food is the first choice. At the moment, regional and non-vegetarian cuisines are relatively under-serviced, with intentness on the vegetarian.RESEARCH METHODOLOGYThe Research Design chose n isExploratory Research Secondary info Articles, Journals , Depth Interviews, Focus Group newssConclusive Research Descriptive Survey and ObservationFirstly an alpha research was conducted to gain insights and understanding about consumer buying behavior and customer preferences vis a vis RTE food products. This was through with(p) through the review of academic literature and profundity interviews of retailers to identify relevant psychographic factors influencing customer purchase decisions.second descriptive research has been undertaken in order toProfile the heavy users( frequent shoppers) of RTE productsQuantitatively analyze the qualify population exhibiting certain behavior regarding customer preferencesUnderstand the degree of association of marketing variables with respect to packaged food productsMake suitable recommendations.Data leave be collected through structured questionnaires intentional for the consumers. Depth interviews will be conducted for Retailers in Kozhikode. These responses have been analyzed by various statistical methods.Pretesting Since our questionnaire has a majority of multiple choice questions there was a possibility of encountering order/position bias. This was done remote with by having various examine forms filled with orders of questions as well as choices changed and closingly the present form was frozen. The wording of certain questions was also changed after some rounds to pretesting making them more effective for understanding. For example interrogative sentence 9 in the questionnaire has been changed frome.g. Before Pretesting Q8. What influences your decision for the food products that you consume?After PretestingQ8. What influences your (as an individual) decision on choice of food products you purchase?Sampling techniqueSampling methods are classified as either prospectornon-luck. In probability examples, severally member of the population has a known non-zero probability of being selected. Probabi lity methods include random try out, systematic consume, and stratified consume. In non-probability sampling, members are selected from the population in some nonrandom manner. These include convenience sampling, judgment sampling, quota sampling, and snowball samplingRandom samplingis the purest form of probability sampling. Each member of the population has an equal and known chance of being selected.Systematic samplingis a lot used instead of random sampling. It is also called an Nth name selection technique. After the required example size has been calculated, every Nth record is selected from a list of population members.Stratified samplingis usually used probability method that is superior to random sampling because it reduces sampling error. A stratum is a subset of the population that share at least one common characteristic.Convenience samplingis used in exploratory research where the researcher is interested in getting an inexpensive approximation of the truth.Judgme nt samplingis a common non-probability method. The researcher selects the sample based on judgment. This is usually an extension of convenience sampling.Quota samplingis the non-probability equivalent of stratified sampling. Like stratified sampling, the researcher first identifies the stratums and their proportions as they are represented in the population. Then convenience or judgment sampling is used to select the required number of subjects from apiece stratum.Snowball samplingis a non-probability method used when the desired sample characteristic is rare. It may be extremely difficult or cost prohibitive to locate respondents in these situations. Snowball sampling relies on referrals from initial subjects to generate additional subjects.Sampling technique that we will use in our research will be the Convenient Sampling. The data will be collected through soliciting responses to the questionnaire designed for the study. The respondents will be contacted either in person or thro ugh e-mail.Sampling frame Sampling frame is the genuine set of units from which a sample has been drawn. In the ideal case, the sampling frame should coincide with the population of interest. For our research, the sampling frame that we will use consists of retail shops, groceries stores and malls. This sampling frame will ensure that the respondents chosen for the sketch are the actual consumers/customers of the ready to eat food. E-mail will also be used to as a medium of data gathering. Since the people who usually consume the ready to eat food belongs to the relatively unexampleder age group, the use of e-mail to invite the response will make sure that the glance is directed to the right target population.Sample size Thesample sizeof astatistical sampleis the number of observations that constitute it. A larger sample size leads to increasedprecisionin estimates of various properties of thepopulation. The sample size of 200 has been chosen for the survey.As according to centr al limit theorem, a sample of size of minimum 30 observations is required to perform statistical analysis. This sample was large enough to appropriate the data which could be further used for analysis and interpretation.Data Collection The data will be collected through the questionnaires. The questionnaires will be filled either through soliciting replies through e-mails or contacting respondents personally. thus the primary source of the data will be used in the analysis.Data AnalysisWe have designed our questionnaire such that the responses would give us nominal and interval data. We will be using the by-line techniques to analyze this dataUnivariate/ Bivariate AnalysisCorrelation and regressionMultivariate Techniques such as meet analysis, factor analysis (as applicable)ANNEXUREFOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION (FGD)IntroductionThe purpose of the discussion was to conduct appraising(prenominal) research to determine (in order of priority)Understand the perception of the target audience about Packaged congeal to eat foodIdentify the main factors that influence a buyer to buy the productsUnderstand the take of getting varieties in the ready to eat food materialIdentify the consumer preference of ready to eat food productsTarget AudienceAs per our understanding, ready to eat food would be generally prefer byMarried women who dont get time to cook foodYoung working professionals and college students who stay in flats as bachelorsWorking population who travel a lotFocus Group AttributesThere were 6 participants and discussion was moderated by a moderator. We selected participants from the PGP13 and PGP14 batches of IIM Kozhikode such that there were2 female students who got married and were working in front joining IIM K divided their past experiences2 students (1 male and 1 female) who joined as freshers shared their experiences as graduation students and also as MBA students2 students (both males) shared their experiences while they were working in jobs that i nvolved a lot of travelling, before joining IIM KSeating pattern was as shown in the take careP3P4P22 P- Focused Group participantsP5P6P1 M- ModeratorMBeginning the Focus Group DiscussionThe moderator welcomed the group with his conception and facilitated introduction of the group tooModerator gave an overview of the topic This is an attempt to know the preferences regarding Packaged Ready to Eat foods from the young bachelors, from working women as they have to take care of the food at home and manage time also and from college going students who have scarcity of time and also look for variety and different taste in the productsSubsequently the moderator set the ground rules. The moderator used predetermined questions and an assistant moderator took careful notes.Topics Discussed in the group inquire If ready to eat products are easily available in the market how many of you would like to purchase?Discussion The group members had different preferences. Some members were concern ed about the variety of products available and the price for the quantity. There was a small discussion around the usage of the pack and time factor. One member talked about how he started buying RTE as he stayed alone and this was very convenient to make and it gets ready in few minutes. It saves a lot of time and energy. Ranking was given to different attributes and the final rankings are as followsTasteTime saving activityEasier availabilityIncreased convenienceFood variety impairmentQuestion What kind of options should be present in packaged food that you would plan to purchase?Discussion Everyone was of the opinion that instant commingle and packaged snacks like pasta, vermicelli, noodles and ready to cook Indian curries are essential. The final ranking was as followsConfectionary (preferred across the group)Instant open and eat (preferred by young population)Instant concoction to cook like dosa powder, gulab jamun mix (preferred by female users)Frozen food like peas, sweet maize (used for quick preparation of food by married women)Question Are you brand loyal or would you be ready to switch to a different brand?Discussion The group was split surrounded by brand-loyal and non brand-loyal customers. Brand loyal customers specified major brands like MTR, Kelloggs, ITC when they went for buying RTE foods. And the non brand- loyal customers switched among products whichever they found the best in taste or always looked for a change or went for trials of new products. However, even the brand loyal customers showed inclination to change brand if variety and better taste is available in novelty products.Question Are you too particular about the cuisine in RTE foods?Discussion The group consensually came to a final result that it preferred different cuisines depending on the time of the day.1. Chinese- cup noodles, noodles, soups (evening snacks)2. Mexican- cornmeal (in the morning hours)3. Italian- Pasta, Bread4. Indian- gravy, ready mix (main course)Questi on Where do you usually shop for Ready to eat foods?Discussion People had different options for shopping since RTE foods are easily available in the market. They mentioned the following options available whichever was closer to their residenceRetail dischargeShopping mallsKirana storesConfectionary storesQuestion What influences your decision on choice of food you purchase?Discussion The group members were influenced by several factors while making a decision to buy a particular product from the various options available in the market of RTE foods. A list of influential factors which they specified is as followsAdvertisementsPrior usage experienceFriends/ neighborsRetailer on the shopQuestion Do you consider price as a major criterion to choose among the products available?Discussion Most of the group members said that price was not as important a criterion as taste and quality. Moreover the price range of these kinds of products was indoors range of Rs 50-100, it didnt play a ver y big role in buying decision process. deductionFrom the following inferences of the focus group discussion, we designed our questionnairePeople do take cuisine into consideration while purchasing packaged food.Taste was the most important criterion followed by ease in making and time consumed.Time was a major factor too as the target segment was young and working population and for them time is always scarce and critical.Word of mouth also played an important role in considering new products for consumption.Value for money in terms of quality and variety was considered to a certain extent before buying a packaged food product.QUESTIONNAIREQuestionnaire instructionsPlease effect all the questionsUnless specified, please select only one option as a response for each questionQuestionnaire designQ1. Do you buy ready-to-eat (Packaged) food?1 = Yes2 = NoQ2. In a typical week, how often do you buy packaged food?1 = Less than once2 = 1 to 3 times3 = 4 to 6 times4 = More than 6 timesQ3. Wh y do you buy packaged food? (More than one option can be chosen)1 = Convenience2 = Taste3 = Nutrition4 = Quality5= set6 = any other reason, please confine _______________Q4. Please indicate your food preference.1 = Vegetarian2 = Non-vegetarian3 = BothQ5. What cuisine do you prefer? (More than one option can be chosen)1= Indian2 = Chinese3 = Italian4 = Mexican5 = Others, please make up ones mind _______________Q6. Generally during which phase of week do you consume packaged food?1=Monday to Friday2=Saturday to sunlight= All daysQ7. From where do you buy processed food? (More than one option can be chosen)1=Retail outlet2=Shopping malls3=Kirana stores4=Confectionary stores,5=Others, please specify _______________Q8. What influences your (as an individual) decision on choice of food products you purchase? (More than one option can be chosen)1 = Children2 = Advertisements3 = Spouse4 = Friends5 = Retailer on the shop6 = OthersQ9. What is your age group?1 = 15 to 25 years2 = 25 to 35 y ears3 = 35 to 45 years4 = Above 45 yearsQ10. What is your occupation?1 = pupil2 = Public Service3 = Private Service4 = Self-employed5 = lady of the house6 = Other, please specify _______________Q11. Do you live with your family?1 = Yes2 = NoQ12. What is your monthly income (in Rs.)?1 = Below 150002 = 15000-250003 = 25000-350004 = Above 350005 = cannot discloseQ13. Usually, where do you consume packaged food?1 = Home2 = Workplace3 = Both4 = OtherQ14. On a scale of 5, how satisfied are you with the packaged food, where 1 is least satisfied and 5 is passing satisfied?1 2 3 4 5Q15. On a scale of 5, how plausibly are you to recommend packaged food to others, where 1 is least likely and 5 is highly likely?1 2 3 4 5DEPTH INTERVIEW OF RETAILERSWe plan to have depth interviews with 1-2 retails and ask them following questionsWhich category of food sells more?Which type of packaged food is preferred?Do you have refrigeration facilities?For how many years you have been in the retail busine ss?How many customers lecture your shop every day?Which is the peak hour of your business?What age group of customers visits your shop?Which type of customers prefers packaged food?Has the sales of packaged food changed over the last three years?