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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
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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
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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
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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
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(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
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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. 9.00am to 12 noon
ii. 12 noon to 3.00pm
iii. 3.00pm to 6.00pm
iv. 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.