STUDY ON CUSTOMER PREFERENCE AND SATISFACTION TOWARDS

PRISMATIC TECHNOLOGIES, PATIALA

INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
1.1 Meaning:-Marketing refers to the process of ascertaining consumer needs and supplying
various goods and services to the final consumers or users to satisfy those needs. Basically,
marketing is the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services
from producers to consumers or users.

Promotion is communication from sellers to buyers in the market as much as it tries to enter into
customers minds to form images (advertisement, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity) to
attract them to purchase the service.

1.2 Definition
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as an organizational function and set
of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing
customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

1.3 Scope of marketing:-The scope of marketing deals with the question, what is
marketed? According to Philip Kotler, marketing people are involved with ten types of entities.

1. Goods:
Physical goods constitute the major part of a countrys production and marketing effort.
Companies market billions of food products, and millions of cars, refrigerators, television and
machines.

2. Services:
As economies advance, a large proportion of their activities are focused on the production of
services. Services include the work of airlines, hotels, car rental firms, beauticians, software
programmers, management consultants, and so on. Many market offerings consist of a mix of
goods and services. For example, a restaurant offers both goods and services.

3. Events:
Marketers promote events. Events can be trade shows, company anniversaries, entertainment
award shows, local festivals, health camps, and so on.

4. Experiences:
Marketers create experiences by offering a mix of both goods and services. A product is
promoted not only by communicating features but also by giving unique and interesting
experiences to customers.

5. Persons:
Due to a rise in testimonial advertising, celebrity marketing has become a business. All popular
personalities such as film stars, TV artists, and sportspersons have agents and personal managers.
They also tie up with PR agencies for better marketing of oneself.

6. Organizations:
Organizations actively work to build image in the minds of their target public. The PR
department plays an active role in marketing an organizations image. Marketers of the services
need to build the corporate image, as exchange of services does not result in the ownership of
anything. The organizations goodwill promotes trust and reliability. The organizations image
also helps the companies in the smooth introduction of new products.

7. Places:
Cities, states, regions, and countries compete to attract tourists. Today, states and countries are
also marketing places to factories, companies, new residents, real estate agents, banks and
business associations. Place marketers are largely real estate agents and builders. They are using
mega events and exhibitions to market places.

8. Properties:
Properties can be categorized as real properties or financial properties. Real property is the
ownership of real estates, whereas financial property relates to stocks and bonds. Properties are
bought and sold through marketing. Marketing enhances the need of ownership and creates
possession utility. With improving income levels in the economy, people are seeking better ways
of saving money. Financial and real property marketing need to build trust and confidence at
higher levels.

9. Information:
Information can be produced and marketed as a product. Educational institutions, encyclopedias,
non-fiction books, specialized magazines and newspapers market information. The production,
packaging, and distribution of information is a major industry. Media revolution and increased
literacy levels have widened the scope of information marketing.
10. Idea:
Every market offering includes a basic idea. Products and services are used as platforms for
delivering some idea or benefit. Social marketers widely promote ideas.

1.4 Importance of marketing

a) Marketing helps business to keep pace with the changing tastes, fashions, preferences of the
customers. It works out primarily because ascertaining consumer needs and wants is a regular
phenomenon and improvement in existing products and introduction of new product keeps on
taking place. Marketing thus, contributes to providing better products and services to the
consumers and improve their standard of living.

(b) Marketing helps in making products available at all places and throughout the year. For eg:
We are able to get Kashmir shawls and Assam Tea all over India and get seasonal fruits like
apple and oranges round the year due to proper warehousing or proper packaging. Thus,
marketing creates time and place utilities.

(c) Marketing plays an important role in the development of the economy. Various functions and
sub-functions of marketing like advertising, personal selling, packaging, transportation, etc.
generate employment for a large number of people, and accelerate growth of business.

(d) Marketing helps the business in increasing its sales volume, generating revenue and ensuring
its success in the long run.

(e) Marketing also helps the business in meeting competition most effectively.
 INTRODUCTION
Consumer preferences is used primarily to mean to select an option that has the greatest
anticipated value among a number of options by the consumer in order to satisfy his/her needs or
desires. Preferences indicate choices among neutral or more valued options available. The
preference of the consumer is the result of their behaviour they show during searching,
purchasing and disposing the products.
2.1 Customer preferences:-Consumer preferences are defined as the subjective (individual)
tastes, as measured by utility, of various bundles of goods. They permit the consumer to rank
these bundles of goods according to
the levels of utility they give the consumer. The preferences are independent of income and
prices. Ability to purchase goods does not determine a consumer's likes or dislikes. In other
words, the consumer has different preferences over the different combinations of goods defined
by the set of commodity bundles. Consumer preferences are measured in terms of the level of
satisfaction the consumer obtains from consuming various combinations or bundles of goods.
The consumer's objective is to choose the bundle of goods which provides the greatest level of
satisfaction as they the consumer define it. But consumers are very much constrained in their
choices. These constraints are defined by the consumer's income, and the prices the consumer
pays for the goods. Consumer value is measured in terms of the relative utilities between goods
and these reflect the consumer's preferences.
The underlying foundation of demand, therefore, is a model of how consumers behave. The
individual consumer has a set of preferences and values whose determination are outside the
realm of economics. They are no doubt dependent upon culture, education, and individual tastes,
among a plethora of other factors. The measure of these values in this model for a particular
good is in terms of the real opportunity cost to the consumer who purchases and consumes the
good. If an individual purchases a particular good, then the opportunity cost of that purchase is
the forgone goods the consumer could have bought instead.
We develop a model in which we map or graphically derive consumer preferences. These are
measured in terms of the level of satisfaction the consumer obtains from consuming various
combinations or bundles of goods. The consumers objective is to choose the bundle of goods
which provides the greatest level of satisfaction as they the consumer define it. But consumers
are very much constrained in their choices. These constraints are defined by the consumers
income, and the prices the consumer pays for the goods.
We will formally present the model of consumer choice. As we go along, we will establish a
vocabulary in order to explain the model. Development of the model will be in three stages. After
a formal statement of the consumers objectives, we will map the consumers preferences.
Secondly, we present the consumers budget constraint; and lastly, combine the two in order to
examine the consumers choices of goods.

2.2 The theory of the consumer :-Consumer make decisions by allocating their scarce
income across all possible goods in order to obtain the greatest satisfaction. Formally, we say
that consumers maximize their utility subject to budget constraint. Utility is defined as the
satisfaction that a consumer derives from the consumption of a good. As noted above, utilitys
determinants are decided by a host of noneconomic factors. Consumer value is measured in
terms of the relative utilities between goods. These reflect the consumers preferences.
Theory of Consumer Preferences:-Consumer preferences are defined as the subjective
(individual) tastes, as measured by utility, of various bundles of goods. They permit the
consumer to rank these bundles of goods according to the levels of utility they give the
consumer. Note that preferences are independent of income and prices. Ability to purchase goods
does not determine a consumers likes or dislikes. One can have a preference for Porsches over
Fords but only have the financial means to drive a Ford. These preferences can be modeled and
mapped through the use of indifference curves. In order to graphically portray consumer
preferences, we need to define some terms. First, since we will be working in two dimensions (2-
d graphs), we assume a two good world. These could be any two goods. One common treatment
is to define one good, say food, and let the other good be a composite of all other goods. For
expository simplicity (making things easier for me), lets define the two goods as Good X and
Good Y. The axes of the graph then measure amounts of Good X on the horizontal, and amounts
of Good Y on the vertical. Each point in this Cartesian space then defines some combination of
goods X and Y. We call these combinations commodity bundles.
The goal of the theory of preferences is for the consumer to be able to rank these commodity
bundles according to the amount of utility obtained from them. In other words, the consumer has
different preferences over the different combinations of goods defined by the set of commodity.
 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
3.1Conceptual Definition:
Consumer Behavior: -(Kent Huffman 2007)Consumer behavior is defined as the behavior that
consumer display in searching for purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of product and
services that they expect will satisfy their needs. Consumer behavior focuses on how individuals
make decisions to spend their available resources (time, money, effort) on consumption related
items. This includes what they buy, why they buy it, when they buy it, where they buy it, how
often they buy it, how often they use it, how they evaluate it after the purchase and the impact of
such evaluation on future, and how they dispose of it. In another words, consumer behavior can
be define as the behavior of individuals in regards to acquiring, using, and disposing of products,
services, ideas or experiences. Consumer behavior also includes the acquisition and use of
information. Thus, communication with consumers and receiving feedback for them is a crucial
part of consumer behavior which is of great interest to marketers.
3.2 Customers and Consumers:
(Jennifer Aaker 1998) The term customer it typically used to refer to someone who
regularly purchases from a particular store or company. Thus, a person who shop sat we use
Shopping Mail or who uses Texaco gasoline is viewed as a customer of these firms. The term
Consumer more generally refers to anyone engaging in any of the activities used in our
definition of consumer behavior. Therefore, a customer is defined in terms of a specific firm
while a consumer is not. The traditional viewpoint has been to define consumers strictly in terms
of economic goods and services. This position holds that consumers are potential purchasers of
products and services offered for sale.
3.3 Marketing Strategy:
(Tanner Okun1990) Marketing strategy is conceptually very simple. It begins with an analysis
of the target market which includes company, conditions, competitors, and consumers. Next,
Market segmentation: This involves identifying product-related need sets, grouping customers
with similar need sets, describing each group and selecting an attractive segment to serve .The
marketing mix includes the product, price, communications distribution, and services provided to
the target market. The final stage Outcomes involves analysis of firms product position and
customer satisfaction resulting from implementation of the strategy.
3.4 Brand preference:
(Schmitt 1999) Brand preferences represent a fundamental step in understanding consumer
choices. A deeper understanding of such preference dynamics can help marketing mangers
better design marketing program and build a long term relationship with consumers. Despite the
existence of some studies investigating how brand preference is built and changed, most of them
focus on examining factors from consumer behavior perspective or advertising perspective.
3.5 Customer satisfaction:
(Kotler& Keller. 2009) Customers are always aiming to get maximum satisfaction from the
products or services that they buy. Winning in todays marketplace entails the need to build
customer relationship and not just building the products; building customer relationship means
delivering superior value over competitors to the target customers. Whether an organization
provides quality services or not will depend on the customers feedback on the satisfaction they
get from consuming the products, since higher levels of quality lead to higher levels of customer
satisfaction
3.6 Advertisement effectiveness:
(Rick Suttle 2009) Advertising effectiveness pertains to how well a company's advertising
accomplishes the intended. Small companies use many different statistics or metrics to measure
their advertising effectiveness. These measurements can be used for all types of advertising,
including television, radio, direct mail, Internet and even billboard advertising. A company's
advertising effectiveness usually increases over time with many messages or exposures. But
certain advertising objectives can be realized almost immediately.
3.7 Brand awareness:
(Aaker1999) Brand awareness is a Extent to which a brand is recognized by potential customers,
and is correctly associated with a particular product. Expressed usually as a percentage of target
market, brand awareness is the primary goal of advertising in the early months or years of
a product's introduction.
3.8 Celebrity endorsement:
(Friedman 1995) Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition by a large share of a
certain group of people. Whereas attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special
skills are just examples and specific common characteristics cannot be observed, it can be said
that within a corresponding social group celebrities generally differ from the social norm and
enjoy a high degree of public awareness. Last but not least, celebrities act as spokespeople in
advertising to promote products and services
3.9 Colour and flavour rule consumer preferences:
Donnelly (1995) said intensity of colour and the flavours are the key drivers behind consumer
acceptance of software. But packaging and labelling are not as important for winning over
consumers, according to findings published in the journal Food Quality and Preference, The
study involved consumers at different stages of development and highlights the importance of
adopting a sensory marketing approach, said the researchers from French research organisation
Adriant, the University of Rennes. Companies need to continuously innovate to maintain
market leadership, wrote the researchers. When the market is overloaded the challenge consists
in creating innovative products able to attract and satisfy consumers. This experiment showed
the feasibility of the proposed multi-sensory design method based on mixed qualitative and
quantitative approaches.
3.11 Sense of consumers:
Stephen Daniells (2008) said these four factors were identified for the formulation: four colour
intensities), three flavourings, two label types (soft versus hard), and two pack sizes (standard
versus oversize). By using both quantitative (hedonic testing) and qualitative (focus groups)
approaches, the researchers found that the main factors which drive consumer preference for
this concept are colour intensity and flavouring. Indeed, colour intensity accounted for 43% and
flavour 32% of the consumers overall liking. Pack size and label type are taken into account by
the consumer to a lesser extent, they added. This methodology of a qualitative screening
associated to a conjoint analysis on relevant sensory attributes has shown good performances to
fit consumers expectation: it has now to be reproduced, as every brand, concept and product is a
unique combination designed for a specific consumer group, concluded the researchers.
 NEED OF THE STUDY

Product and quality is an essential component to consider when attempting enhancing customer
satisfaction. Increasing customer satisfaction, by increasing customer value, is a key issue for
every firm. Customer value is the customer's perception of the attributes they want in the
product. Customer satisfaction is the customer's positive or negative feeling about the value that
was received .Thus if using a product yield the desired consequences, then the consumer
perceives high customer value. High customer value leads to customer satisfaction. Customer
satisfaction is an inevitable outcome of the product purchase and consumption experience
resulting from a comparison of what was expected and what is received.
In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is
seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.
Therefore, it is essential for businesses to effectively manage customer satisfaction. As many
software industry sectors mature, competitive advantage through providing taste and quality
products is an increasingly important weapon in business survival. The software manufacturers
have certainly not been exempted from increased competition or rising consumer expectations of
taste and quality product.
In this backdrop, a study on customer's preference and satisfaction towards websites in Patiala
District is the most important for the survival of the websites manufacturers. Such an analysis
will provide websites manufacturers, a quantitative estimate of level of satisfaction being
perceived by the customers. Therefore, in this study an attempt has been made to seek answer to
the research questions such as how are customers satisfied with website in the study area? And
what are the factors that affect the customer satisfaction in the study? Hence, in the present study,
an attempt has been made to analyze the customer preference and satisfaction towards website in
Patiala District of Punjab.

4.1 scope of the study

This study will throw light on the customer preference and satisfaction level towards the
Websites in Patiala District. The study is restricted to Patiala district of Punjab. This study will be
helpful to improve customer preference and satisfaction level with website in the study area and
act as a secondary data for further research.
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The preparation of the report included extensive study of the organization and market research,
which was the primary source of the report. I collected information from consumers by preparing
questionnaire.
5.1 Objectives of the study
Company felt the need to understand consumers buying pattern such as: occasions, quantity,
place of purchase and their perception related to taste, price, promotion, celebrities endorsement.
The main objectives of the study will be.
1. To identify the factors affect on consumer preference and consumption towards website.
2. To identify the customers buying pattern related to website.
3. To determine the factors influencing consumers choice of website.
4. To determine the consumers perception on the selection of website.
5.2 Research design
Descriptive research design::-Descriptive research design is a scientific method which involves
observing and describing the behavior of a subject without influencing it in any way. The
importance of descriptive research is:
To describe characteristics of a population or a phenomenon.
To determine the answers to who, what, when, where and how questions.
To analyze the segment and target markets.

Research Design Descriptive research

Research Method Survey method

Research Instrument Structured questionnaire

Sample size 100

Sample area Patiala (Punjab)

Sampling method Non-Probability/Convenience Sampling

Analytical tool Percentage analysis, Mean

5.3 Sampling Design:-Sample denotes only a part of the universe/ population. The sample
represented the population and is having the same characterizing as the population.

5.4 Sampling method:-This type of sampling technique gives no assurance that every
element has some specific change of being included. It is clear that for the non-probability
samples, there is no way of calculating the margin of error and the confidence level.

5.5 Data collection design:-A marketing researcher has to make a plan for collecting data
which may be primary data, secondary data or both.

5.6 Primary data:-The primary data was obtained by administering survey method, guided
by questionnaire to the consumers. The following type of questions, were asked in the
questionnaire
1. Rank questions.
2. Multiple choice questions.

5.7 Secondary data:-The secondary data was collected through various sources like
1. Secondary data was collected through internet related to company, competitors etc.
2. Review of articles being published on the topic in various magazines and newspapers

5.8 Questionnaire:-The best way to collect data is to personally administer the

questionnaires. The advantage of this method is, the data can be collected from the respondent
within short period of time. Any doubts that the respondent might have on any questions could
be clarified on the spot.

5.9 Analysis design:-The study had various satisfied tools for the analysis of data.
Percentage analysis and mean .

CONCLUSIONS:
 The Sampling activity was a good first step into the area of Marketing. A good
understanding of the market was accomplished as around 100 people were spoken. This even
helped in the polishing of communication skills, a must-have to survive and make it big in the
present world. It even gave a good understanding of behavior of consumers when placed in
different situations. It was a good opportunity to work on the skill of patience, as a large number
of customers. It helped in developing the kind of relations one needs to uphold in the corporate
world and it helped in building up the right attitude.

As all the points in the above mentioned paragraph, are the must-have skills for anyone in
the field of Marketing and Sales, the project period was a good experience and a good stepping
stone into the real business world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
6.1 Books

Philip Kotler and Kevin Keller, Marketing Management, Pearson Education, 14th edition
(2012).
Kahneman, American Psychologist. Pg: 58, 697 720. (2003)
Jackson, T, A report to the Consumer Behavior Research, (2005).
Cialdini, R. B. and Goldstein, N. J, Review of Consumer Behavior.Pg:55, 591 621.
(2004)
McKenzie-Mohr, D, American Psychologist. Pg: 55, 531 537 (2000)
Stephen Daniells, Software Quality and Preference, Vol 19, Issue 8, Pg: 719-726 (2008)
Beverly J. Tepper, Journal of website and Technology (1998)
Kent Huffman, Advertisement and Public Relation Research, (2007)
Tanner Okun, Consumer Behavior: Insight, (1990)
Schmitt, Advertisement Promotion, (1999)
Rick Suttle, Consumer Behavior and Managerial decision making, (2009)
Friedman, Marketing Management, (1995)

6.2 Websites:

www.manufacturingdrinks.com
www.inventors.about.com