A Critical Analysis of “Consumer Behaviour” with Focus on the Soft Drink Industry

Name:                   Chandra Mohan Upadhyay (2007 – 2009)

Title:                    A Critical Analysis of “Consumer Behaviour” with Focus on the Soft Drink Industry (Case Study: Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd.) 

Summary 

This project aims to find out the various factors influencing the consumer behaviour while making a purchase of a fruit drink in Delhi. Background talks about various factors that have led us to undertake this study and how and to whom this report will benefit. Objectives talks of types of data the research project will generate and how these data is relevant. Research approach gives a non technical description of the data collection method, measurement instrument, sample and analytical techniques.

The beverage market in India is worth 2074.67 Million INR. Though the major portion of the market is still dominated by the carbonated soft drinks there is major shift towards the Juice segment. There was a growth of 31.52% in the Juice segment from 2007 to 2008. As a result of this phenomenal growth, a lot of competition has entered the market. A number of new brands have flooded the market.

Soft Drinks were common preference among all the individuals before juices were being introduced, with the changing lifestyle and income levels, people are shifting their consumption patterns and have therefore become more health conscious thus leading to increase in demand of juices.

Due to these changes in the Fruit drink market there is a need to identify and 

evaluate consumer behaviour. This study aims to determine the factors influencing the consumer behaviour while buying Parle Agro’s product Frooti; Appy Fizz in New Delhi.

I also need to study the factors that are now driving the consumer’s consumption pattern. Also, due to the increase in the competition there is a need to determine the awareness levels for the various brands in fruit juice market amongst the consumers.

The study of the consumer preference not only focuses on how and why consumers make buying decision, but also focuses on how and why consumers make choice of the fruit juice they buy and their evaluation of these products after use. So for success of Parle Agro or its product Frooti & Appy Fizz it is very necessary to depart its concentration towards consumer preference.

All marketing starts with the consumer. So consumer is a very important person to a marketer. Consumer decides what to purchase, for whom to purchase, why to purchase, from where to purchase, and how much to purchase. In order to become a successful marketer, he must know the liking or disliking of the customers. He must also know the time and the quantity of goods and services, a consumer may purchase, so that he may store the goods or provide the services according to the likings of the consumers. Gone are the days when the concept of market was let the buyer’s beware or when the market was mainly the seller’s market. Now the whole concept of consumer’s sovereignty prevails. The manufacturers produce and the sellers sell whatever the consumer likes. In this sense, “consumer is the supreme in the market”.

Suggestion

• Frooti can go for Salman Khan as a brand ambassador as he is very popular in India and symbolizes good health. (Punch line can be something like “After gym, have a Frooti”) Along with him, Frooti should also go for a famous cartoon.
• Character like Scooby Doo or Pokémon to target the kids and both of them should feature together in the advertisement.
• The survey shows that parties/celebrations are the places where these drinks are consumed mostly. Parle Agro must try to increase the sales by creating and focusing on more utilities so that their product is used more frequently.
• As it is seen that people consider canned juices to be healthy with preservatives. This shows that awareness level of the people is low and needs to be corrected. Therefore, various methods like campaigns by government, help by media, etc can be taken to change this.

 Conclusion

• By taking some initiatives, Frooti can compete with the fruit juice segment comprising of Real and Tropicana, and can maintain its position as a market leader in the NCSD category.
• The consumers response to the new packaging (PET bottle and 65 ml Tetra pack) of Frooti is positive as shown in the survey.
• A majority of the respondents consume soft drinks and fruit juices at the time of parties & celebrations.
• Most of the respondents consume soft drinks because of its taste and price.
• Most of the respondents consume fruit juices because it is healthy.
• Most of the respondents were of the strong view that advertisements affect their purchases and the rest were not at all affected by the advertisements.

Limitations

• The study was confined to some areas of New Delhi only.
• Chances of some biasness could not be eliminated.
• A Samples size of 100 has been use due to time limitations.
• The corporate office of Parle Agro is situated in Mumbai and so I could not gather information from there.
• I could not find the reason why Frooti was not introduced in other flavours like orange, pineapple etc on all India basis (I sent an E-Mail to the company but didn’t get any reply). 
  

---

The above article is a summary extract from the dissertation projects of the MBA and BBA students of Skyline College. Skyline, situated in Delhi and Gurgaon (NCR) is a premier institute providing management education specialising in MBA and BBA degrees and specialist courses for travel and tourism as well as mass communication.