“A RESEARCH ON CONSUMER INFLUENCE BY REFERENCE

GROUP IN A COGNITIVE MEASUREMENT ABOUT OTOBI

FURNITURE”

1. Introduction:

Otobi began its long run journey in 1975 when painter & sculptor

Nitune Kundu set up a small workshop with an even smaller budget.

The only thing he was rich in was his passion, creativity & his gut

feelings. Over the years Otobi transformed in to a solid brand,

known for its superior quality furniture & choice of designs, with

operations across many cities.

Today Otobi, backed by world class business processes, is a name

that celebrates the creative genius of its founder, a brand that is

going beyond boundaries of imagination & a workplace that inspires

the finest designs.

Day by day Otobi is becoming a legacy in the history of Bangladeshi

furniture market and they are expanding their market over the

boundary of Bangladesh They are doing business now a days

globally the fact is there promise of world class furniture is being

kept in the market. Their full of innovative and modern product line

is enriching our home, office and so many places.

Though competitors are emerging in the market but the name

“Otobi: World class furniture” is still being kept and that is why

Otobi is holding the highest market share in the furniture industry.

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2. Objective of the study:

Broad objective

To make ourselves familiarize with customers attitudes and their

reference group and how they are influencing while buying products

from Otobi furniture’s.

Specific objective

The specific objectives of this research paper are:

To know about the attitude of the customers.

Who are their reference group in terms of Otobi.

How they are influencing them.

3. Literature review regarding reference group:

Reference group means a Group, class, or category of people to

which individuals believe they belong, whether or not they actually

do. Their relationship to their reference group may influence their

buying behaviour.

In 1902, in Human Nature and the Social Order, Cooley offered

discussions relating closely to the concepts of reference group

theory. Cooley discussed how individuals took on various mental or

psychological interpretations of themselves based on how

individuals thought others perceived them.

If we think about Cooley’s opinion we can find the similarities in our

daily buying behaviour. We always want to buy those things which

will be appreciated by our family members, friends, colleagues &

others to see our selves special & gorgeous in their eyes. We have

already found it on our research that most of the people buy

something on influence of the reference group & they also share

with us that most the time their decision about what to buy totally

change when family members, colleagues or friend suggest them to

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buy some another thing which they have used already & said some

positive words about that products. In case of Otobi furniture most

of the sample said they were influenced firstly by their family

members in case of buying furniture, some of them said friends &

colleagues were behind on their buying decision.

4. Methodology:

Basically our research design was based on qualitative research. We

have taken in depth interview and focus group discussion with our

respondents. We have also made a questionnaire for our

respondents to know who their reference group are and how they

influence them.

5. Data collection:

For conducting this research we went through some data collection

methods. For collecting primary and secondary sources we went

through the following procedure:

Secondary sources:

Secondary data was collected from different published sources like

newspaper, journal, and internet. The secondary data was

scrutinized after compiling from the sources.

Primary sources:

Primary data and information was collected through observing the

respondents behaviour, and by oral investigation. Majority of

information was collected in a structured questionnaire and

interview of the respondents.

6. Data analysis:

After collecting required data those data it was tabulated and it was

analyzed by different statistical tools such as average, percentage

and ratio analysis. It was fruitful for us while interpreting this data.

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This analysis was made with careful observation and while doing

this statistical analysis we used manual and automated tools for our

work.

Now let’s turn our attention towards the analysis part of our

research.

Research results that we found through our survey from

the respondents:

Users of Otobi furniture

1. Do you use the furniture of Otobi?

a) Yes b) No

Answer:

Explanation:

Yes 84

No        16

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Fig 1: Users of Otobi furniture

From our survey we can see that the user of Otobi furniture is 84%

where the opposite one the percentage of non user is 16%.

Satisfaction regarding Otobi

2. Are you satisfied with the furniture of Otobi?

a) Very satisfied b) Somewhat satisfied c) Neither satisfied or

dissatisfied

d) Somewhat dissatisfied e) Very dissatisfied

Answer:

Very satisfied 36

Somewhat satisfied

36

Neither satisfied or dissatisfied

24

Somewhat dissatisfied

4

Very dissatisfied 0

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Explanation:

From our conducted survey we can see that the satisfaction rate of

the respondents regarding Otobi is 36% very satisfied, 36% people

somewhat dissatisfied, neither satisfied or dissatisfied is 24% and

somewhat dissatisfied is 4%.

Preferences of the reference group

3. In case of buying Otobi furniture what kind of reference group do

prefer?

a) Opinion of the family b) Opinion of your peer group c) Opinion of

your work mate/working group d) Opinion of the virtual community e)

Opinion of any brand community

Answer:

Opinion of the family 36

Opinion of your peer group 36

Opinion of your work mate/working group

24

Opinion of the virtual community

4

Opinion of any brand community0

6

Fig 2: Satisfaction regarding Otobi

Explanation:

How many respondents will prefer the opinion of the reference

group? Here we can see that 36% will go with the family, 36% take

the opinion of their peer group, 24% from their colleague and 4%

from the virtual community.

Features of Otobi

4. What features do you like most about Otobi furniture’s?

a) Attractive and innovative design b) Reasonable price c)

Environment friendly

Answer:

Attractive and innovative design

52

Reasonable price 36

Environment friendly 12

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Fig 3: Preferences of the reference group

Fig 4: Features of Otobi

Explanation:

What features are likeable to the customer of Otobi? 52% likes their

attractive and innovative design, 36% prefer their reasonable price

and 12% voted for Otobi is environment friendly and that is why

they like it.

Usage of different category of products

5. Which category of product do you use of Otobi furniture’s?

a) Home Furniture b) Home appliances c) Home decor d) Office

furniture

Answer:

Home Furniture 72

Home

appliances

16

Home decor 0

Office furniture 12

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Explanation:

From our survey we can see that 72% respondents of ours uses the

home furniture of Otobi, 16% uses the home appliances and 12%

use the office furniture of Otobi.

Importance of Otobi’s innovativeness

6. Otobi always develop their product line with innovative and eco

friendly features. Do you think it’s important?

a) Extremely important b) Somewhat important c) Neither

important or unimportant d) Somewhat important e) Not at

all important

Answer:

Extremely

important

60%

Somewhat

important

28%

Neither important

or

unimportant

12%

Somewhat

important

0%

Not at all

important

0%

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Fig 5: Usage of different category of products

Explanation:

From our survey we can observe that respondents of 60% think that

Otobi’s product innovation is extremely important, 28% says it’s

somewhat important and 12% thinks that it is neither important nor

unimportant.

Continue the usage of Otobi products

7. How likely are you going to continue using the products of Otobi

furniture’s?

a) Definitely will continue b) Probably will continue c) Might or

might not continue d) Probably will not continue e) Definitely will

not continue

Answer:

Definitely will continue 40

Probably will continue 36

Might or might not

continue

20

Probably will not

continue

4

Definitely will not

continue

0

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Fig 6: Importance of Otobi’s innovativeness

Explanation:

From our conducted survey we can see that the 40% customer will

continue using the products of Otobi, 36% will probably continue it,

20% might or might not continue the products of Otobi and 4%

customers will not continue the products of Otobi.

Reference to others to buy Otobi products

8. Will you refer some one to buy Otobi products?

a) Definitely b) Probably c) Might or might not be d)

Probably will or not e) Definitely will or not

Answer:

Definitely 40

Probably 36

Might or might be not 20

Probably will or not 4

Definitely will or not 0

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Fig 7: Continue the usage of Otobi products

Explanation:

From the survey we can see that 36% consumers will be a reference

group and refer others to buy Otobi products, 24% will probably

suggest, 20% will might or might not be suggest someone, 12% will

probabably suggest and 8% will not suggest others to buy Otobi

products.

Ranking of Otobi

9. Please rank the following furniture’s company by placing ‘’1’’ the

one you like most, ‘’2’’ next to your second preference and continue.

a) Otobi furniture’s

b) Akhter furniture’s

c) Hatil furniture’s

d) Navana furniture’s

e) National furniture’s

Answer:

Otobi furniture’s 52

Akhter furniture’s 28

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Fig 8: Reference to others to buy Otobi products

Hatil furniture’s 12

Navana furniture’s 8

National

furniture’s

0

Explanation:

From our survey we can see that Otobi is the number one furniture

of Bangladesh 52% people thinks that. 28% customer thinks that

Akhtar is 2nd. 12% people think that Hatil is 3rd and 8% people thinks

that Navana is 4th.

7. Findings:

From our conducted survey we have found some of the findings.

Those are:

a) Many customers of Otobi are still not satisfied with the

products of Otobi furniture.

b) Family opinions of buying Otobi products are more than other

reference group.

c) Otobi has a good mindset among the customer though there

are other competitors in the market.

d) After the interview and survey we have found out that

customers of Otobi products expectation is high about Otobi.

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Fig 9: Ranking of Otobi

8. Recommendation:

It is great time we had working with such a practical customer

reference group related topic. On the basis of our research we have

some recommendation regarding Otobi. That is:

The product line of Otobi should be more structured and it

should improve their design more.

The longevity of Otobi products should be improved.

More innovative and environment products and advertisement

should be promoted.

It should maintain their market position carefully and

effectively because new competitors are emerging in

Bangladesh.

9. References:

The references we used to make our research are given below:

1. Interviewee

2. Questionnaire

3. Field survey

10. Bibliography:

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