A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

1. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

To know about consumers behavior towards Lakme products

To know preference of consumers towards Lakme.
To know market share of Lakme.

1
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

2. INTRODUCTION TO CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

2.1 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy
product. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It
attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It
studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in
an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from
groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.
Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer
playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Relationship marketing is an influential
asset for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true
meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A
greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management,
personalisation, customisation and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into
social choice and welfare functions.
Each method for vote counting is assumed as a social function but if Arrows possibility
theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function is achieved. Some specifications of
the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, monotonocity, unanimity, homogeneity
and weak and strong Pareto optimality. No social choice function meets these requirements in an
ordinal scale simultaneously. The most important characteristic of a social function is identification
of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation with the ranks. Marketing
provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind, the productive system is
considered from its beginning at the production level, to the end of the cycle, the consumer.
Belch and Belch define consumer behaviour as 'the process and activities people engage in
when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and
services so as to satisfy their needs and desires'.'

2
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

2.2 FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE CONSUMER BEAHVIOUR:

Internal influences
Consumer behaviour is influenced by: demographics, psychographics (lifestyle),
personality, motivation, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. consumer behaviour concern
with consumer need consumer actions in the direction of satisfying needs leads to his behaviour of
every individuals depend on thinking.
External influences
Consumer behaviour is influenced by: culture,sub-culture, locality, royalty, ethnicity,
family, social class, reference groups, lifestyle, and market mix factors
Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by or there are four factors.
The following are the certain factors which influence the consumer behavior:

01. Cultural Factor:Cultural factor divided into three sub factors (i) Culture (ii) Sub Culture (iii) Social Class
Culture:The set of basic values perceptions, wants, and behaviours learned by a member of society
from family and other important institutions. Culture is the most basic cause of a persons wants
and behaviour. Every group or society has a culture, and cultural influences on buying behaviour
may vary greatly from country to country.
Sub Culture :A group of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences and situations.
Each culture contains smaller sub cultures a group of people with shared value system based on
common life experiences and situations. Sub culture includes nationalities, religions, racial group
and geographic regions. Many sub culture make up important market segments and marketers
often design products.
Social Class:3
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

Almost every society has some form of social structure, social classes are societys relatively
permanent and ordered divisions whose members share similar values, interests and behaviour.

02. Social Factors:A consumers behaviour also is influenced by social factors, such as the (i) Groups (ii) Family
(iii) Roles and status
Groups :Two or more people who interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals.
A persons behaviour is influenced by many small groups. Groups that have a direct influence
and to which a person belongs are called membership groups. Some are primary groups includes
family, friends, neighbours and coworkers. Some are secondary groups, which are more formal and
have less regular interaction. These include organizations like religious groups, professional
association and trade unions.
Family:Family members can strongly influence buyer behaviour. The family is the most important
consumer buying organization society and it has been researched extensively. Marketers are
interested in the roles, and influence of the husband, wife and children on the purchase of different
products and services.
Roles and Status :A person belongs to many groups, family, clubs, organizations.
T he persons position in each group can be defined in terms of both role and status.

03. Personal Factors:4

B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

It includes
Age and life cycle stage (ii) Occupation (iii) Economic situation (iv) Life Style (v)
Personality and self concept.
Age and Life cycle Stage:People change the goods and services they buy over their lifetimes. Tastes in food, clothes,
furniture, and recreation are often age related. Buying is also shaped by the stage of the family life
cycle.
Occupation :A persons occupation affects the goods and services bought. Blue collar workers tend to buy
more rugged work clothes, whereas white-collar workers buy more business suits. A company can
even specialize in making products needed by a given occupational group. Thus, computer
software companies will design different products for brand managers, accountants, engineers,
lawyers, and doctors.
Economic situation :A persons economic situation will affect product choice
Life Style :Life Style is a persons Pattern of living, understanding these forces involves measuring
consumers major AIO dimensions. i.e. activities (Work, hobbies, shopping, support etc) interest
(Food, fashion, family recreation) and opinions (about themselves, Business, Products)
Personality and Self concept :Each persons distinct personality influence his or her buying behaviour. Personality refers to
the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to
ones own environment.

5
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

04. Psychological Factors:It includes these Factors.

(i)

Motivation (ii) Perception (iii) Learning (iv) Beliefs and attitudes

Motivation :Motive (drive) a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction of
the need
Perception :The process by which people select, Organize, and interpret information to form a
meaningful picture of the world.
Learning:Changes in an individuals behaviour arising from experience.
Beliefs and attitudes :Belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something
Attitude, a Persons consistently favourable or unfavourable evaluations, feelings, and
tendencies towards an object or idea.

6
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

3. INTRODUCTION TO HINDUSTAN UNILEVER PRIVATE

LIMITED
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) (BSE: HUL) is India's largest fast moving consumer
goods company, touching the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in
home & personal care products and food & beverages. They endow the company with a scale of
combined volumes of about 4 million tonnes and sales of over Rs. 13,000 crores. HUL is also
one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognised as a Golden Super Star Trading
House by the Government of India.
HUL was formed in 1933 as Lever Brothers India Limited and came into being in 1956
as Hindustan Lever Limited through a merger of Lever Brothers, Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co.
Ltd. and United Traders Ltd.. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India and has an employee strength
of over 15,000 employees and contributes for indirect employment of over 52,000 people. The
company was renamed in June 2007 to Hindustan Unilever Limited.
In 2007, Hindustan Unilever was rated as the most respected company in India for the
past 25 years by Businessworld, one of Indias leading business magazines . The rating was
based on a compilation of the magazine annual survey of Indias Most Reputed Companies over
the past 25 years. HUL is the market leader in Indian consumer products with presence in over
20 consumer categories such as soaps, tea, detergents and shampoos amongst others with over
700 million Indian consumers using its products. It has over 35 brands. Sixteen of HULs brands
featured in the ACNielsen Brand Equity list of 100 Most Trusted Brands Annual Survey (2008).
According to Brand Equity, HUL has the largest number of brands in the Most Trusted Brands
List. Its a company that has consistently had the largest number of brands in the Top 50 and in
the Top 10 (with 4 brands).
Hindustan Unilever's distribution covers over 1 million retails outlets across India
directly and its products are available in over 6.3 million outlets in India, i.e., nearly 80% of the
retail outlets in India. It has 39 factories in the country. Two out of three Indians use the
companys products and HUL products have the largest consumer reach being available in over
80 per cent of consumer homes across India.
7
B.N.N. The
COLLEGE,
BHIWANDI
Anglo-Dutch
company

Unilever owns a majority stake (52%) in Hindustan Unilever

Limited. HUL was one of the eight Indian companies to be featured on the Forbes list of Worlds

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

4. INDIAN COSMETICS MARKET LEAD BY LAKME

Having recorded impressive sales worth INR 264.1 billion in 2011, the Indian cosmetics market
has been forecast to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% through to 2015,
driven by a rise in purchasing power and growing fashion consciousness.
Rising beauty concerns among both men and women are propelling the Indian cosmetics
industry, which has witnessed strong growth in the last few years.
The country's cosmetic sector has, in fact, emerged as one of the markets to hold immense
growth potential. New product launches catering to consumers' growing requirements will fuel
growth in the industry, for which the future outlook seems exceptionally bright.
The Indian cosmetic industry would expand manifold in the coming years but Muslims are a
highly untapped consumer community to benefit from products due to religious constraints in
suspicion of mixing non Halal ingredients.

Indian Muslims have a 15% share in total consumer market according to their population
but keeping the constraint of their economic situation, it is assumed only 10% have a share in the
overall market. Most Muslim households have middle level expenditure back ground.
8% of the Muslim population only has the higher purchasing power parity while the majority
comes under the higher middle income group.

8
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

Global cosmetics brands are up against tough competition in the Indian market, as domestic
players have decades of consumer loyalty and knowledge of the market.
While LOreal may be sharpening its claws for the fight with the likes of the US Company
Revlon, there are local players willing to put up a good fight. India's Lakme is the current
market leader, with a 17.7% market share in cosmetics.

9
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

5.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The system of collecting data for research projects is known as research methodology. The
data may be collected for either theoretical or practical research for example management research
may be strategically conceptualized along with operational planning methods and change
management
Some important factors in research methodology include validity of research data, Ethics
and the reliability of measures most of your work is finished by the time you finish the analysis of
your data.
Formulating of research questions along with sampling weather probable or non probable is
followed by measurement that includes surveys and scaling. This is followed by research design,
which may be either experimental or quasi-experimental. The last two stages are data analysis and
finally writing the research paper, which is organized carefully into graphs and tables so that only
important relevant data is shown.
Research can be classified by purpose or by method. If we categorize it by purpose, it
would fall into two major categories: Basic Research and Applied Research, while in case of
method, it would be deductive research and inductive research.
1. BASIC RESEARCH
10
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

Also called Pure or fundamental Research, it is undertaken for increase in knowledge.

There is no direct benefit as it is a research for the sake of research. It is conducted to satisfy any
curiosity such as: (a) what makes things happen, (b) why society changes and (c) why social
relations are in a certain way. In fact, it is the source of most new theories, principles and ideas.
Basic research rarely helps anyone directly. It only stimulates new ways of thinking. The main
motivation is to expand man's knowledge. There is absolutely no commercial value to the
discoveries resulting from such research.

2. APPLIED RESEARCH
It is use of basic research or past theories, knowledge and methods for solving an existing
problem. It deals with practical problems. It is opposed to pure research which is not problemoriented but for the increase in knowledge which may or may not be used in future.
In the present world situation, more emphasis is being given to applied research to solve
problems arising out of overpopulation and scarcity of natural resources.
Applied research should not be treated the same as Research & Development(R&D) which
is involved in developing products demanded by the existing clients. Applied Research, on the
other hand, focuses on uncovering what needs are not being met and use that information in
designing products or services that would create their own demand.
TYPES OF RESEARCH
1. DESCRIPTIVE vs ANALYTICAL:
Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds. The major
purpose of descriptive research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. The main
characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables. In Analytical
research, on the other hand, the researcher has to use facts or information already available, and
analysis these to make a critical evaluation of the materials.

11
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

2. APPLIED vs FUNDAMENTAL:
Applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an
industrial/business organization, whereas fundamental research is mainly concerned with
generalizations and with the formulation of a theory. Applied research is to discover a solution for
some pressing practical problem. Whereas fundamental research is directed towards finding
information that has a broad base of applications.
3. QUANTITATIVE vs QUALITATIVE:
Quantitative research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount. It is applicable to
phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity. Qualitative research is concerned with
quantitative phenomena. It is especially important in the behavioral sciences where the aim is to
discover the underlying motives of human behavior.
4. CONCEPTUAL vs EMPERICAL
Conceptual research is that related to some abstract ideas or theory. It is generally used by
philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or to reinterpret existing ones. On the other
hand, empirical research relies on experience or observation alone, often without due regard for
system and theory. It is data based research, coming up with conclusions which are capable of
being verified by observation or experiment.
DATACOLLECTION
Facts, information systematically collected and formally presented for the purpose of
drawing inferences may be called data. Statistical information collected, compiled and preserved
for the purpose of establishing appropriate relationship between variables may also be included in
the data, whether statistically processed or not, play a vital role in the research and analysis
of various problems in all types of area of investigations. This is the rational of data collection in
research.
SOURCESOF DATACOLLECTION
1. PRIMARY SOURCE
2. SECONDARY SOURCE
12
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

3.
1. PRIMARYSOURCE
Primary source means first hand sources or original source at the hand of the researcher
that is not collected previously. For example, the various replies by the teacher from the students as
regards their assessment of teaching method constitute primary source of data. Primary data is
collected through principles sources of observation, surveys. Using primary sources,
researcher can collect precisely the information he wants. Primary data consist of Qualitative Data
and Quantitative Data.

2. SECONDARY SOURCES
Secondary data refers to information generally collected by persons other than researcher
for other purpose and not for the purpose involved in the given research project at work. As an
example, the annual accounts of a company form a primary data for that company for purpose of
presenting the companys financial status and performance. But to a researcher, it may form a
secondary data as it is used, perhaps in part, for some other purpose and is independent of research
investigation. The sources of secondary data consist of reports such as census reports, annual
reports and accounts of company reports of various government departments. Reserve bank of
India various reports, national sample survey report, UNO, UNICEF, WHOM, ILO, or World Bank
various reports compiled. In fact, books, journals, diaries, manuscripts, letter, etc. also form
secondary source of data. The main characteristics associated with such a data are that the data is
readily available. Also, the researcher does not have any control over this collection. The forms
and contents are shaped by those other than a particular researcher.
SURVEY DESIGN:
The study is a cross sectional study because the data were collected at a single point of
time. For the purpose of present study a related sample of population was selected on the basis of
convenience.
SAMPLE SIZE AND DESIGN:

13
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

A sample of 20 people was taken on the basis of convenience. The information is collected from
the womens of different sectors.
RESEARCH PERIOD:
Research work is only carried for 1 or 2 weeks.
RESEARCH INSTRUMENT:
This work is carried out through self-administered questionnaires. The questions included were
open ended and offered choices.

6.ANALYSIS
1. Which brand do you prefer?

Others; 20%
Lakme; 45%
Revlon; 15%
Garnier; 10%
Avon; 10%

The research shows Lakme has highest share in market i.e. 45%.

2. Are you brand conscious?

14
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

2nd Qtr; 25%

1st Qtr; 75%

The research shows majority of people are brand conscious.

3. Are you satisfied with the Lakme products you are using?

No; 20%

Yes; 80%

80%of consumers are satisfied with Lakme products they use.

4. Are you brand loyal?

15
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

No; 36%
Yes; 64%

Research shows 64% people are brand loyal while 36% of people switch to other products if
not satisfied.

5. Are the products of Lakme easily available in market?

No; 10%

Yes; 90%

Research shows Lakme products are easily available in the market.

6. Which factors influence you to buy Lakme products?

16
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

Chart Title

others; 10%
Influence of some groups;
Quality
20% ; 40%

Brand Name; 30%

Research shows that people prefer quality and brand name while they make purchase

7. CONCLUSION
The research shows that Lakme has captured a large market. It has a large market share. Since
the consumer buying behavior is the important factor to forecast the sales of any product in a
particular area, so the company should keep a close eye on market situation.
The market situation is changing, previously customers were price sensitivity but now-a-days
consumers are also quality conscious. Many substitutes are available in the market so the
company needs to have a track in competitors strategies. The company has good share in market
because of its brand name.

17
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

8. ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Which brand do you prefer?
Lakme
Avon
Garnier
Revlon
Oriflamme
Others
2. Are you brand conscious?
Yes
No
3. Are you satisfied with the Lakme products you are using?
Yes
No
18
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS LAKME

4. Are you brand loyal

Yes
No
5. Are the products of Lakme easily available in market?
Yes
No
6. Which factors influence you to buy Lakme products?
Quality
Brand name
Influence of some groups
Other

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Marketing Management Millennium Edition by Philip Kotler
2. Marketing Strategies & Plans by Micchael Vaz, Madhu Nair & Vijetha Shetty

WEBLIOGRAPHY
www.hul.co.in
www.scribd.com
www.lakmeindia.com

19
B.N.N. COLLEGE, BHIWANDI