CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1
 1. INTRODUCTION
This study is conducted to determine „BRAND AWARENESS OF MERIIBOY
ICE CREAM”. The organization selected for the purpose is “MILKY FOOD
INDUSTRIES”, Trivandrum.
The consumer market is flooded by several brands in the same category. The result
is intense competition among the brands based on price. The times of increasing margin
selling low quality products are bygone. Manufactures realized the importance of „quality”
in differentiating their brand among many in the same category. Brand managers
worldwide began focusing on „quality‟ of their products as their major selling point to
charge a premium price for their brands. Recent studies shows that „product quality‟ alone
cannot sustain a competitive advantage for any brand in long run to gain a premium price.
It‟s in this context that this study finds its use, to study about the determinants of customers
willingness to pay a premium price for a product.
Most of the studies that seek to understand the underlying factors of customer‟s
willingness to pay a premium price focus on product related factors alone. One exception
is a qualitative, explorative and conceptual study by Anselmsson et al.(2007), which
suggests that customers willingness to pay for food brands is determined by five
dimensions: Awareness, perceived quality, loyalty, uniqueness and non-product-related
brand associations including associations to corporate social responsibility(CSR), social
image and origin.
Meriiboy Ice Cream, though not a national brand, is one of the biggest in south
India especially in Kerala, and an emerging brand in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The
present study can be described as an attempt to systematically and empirically evaluate
which image dimensions in previous literature that specifically determines customer‟s
willingness to pay a price premium for Mariiboy Ice Cream. Origin of the product has not
been used because the present study examines only one products in the previous
researches. Also, specific to the product under consideration, a new factor has been added-
Natural Label.

2
Conceptual Framework: Price Premium and Customer Based Brand Equity
There are many different ways to define brand equity but most authors seem to
agree with Farquhar‟s (1989) early definition of brand equity as “the value endowed by the
brand to the product”. The concept of brand equity has a explicit focus on extracting the
tangible economic value from brands, which makes it particularly relevant for anyone
interested in how brands compete for price premiums. Keller (1993) defines customer-
based brand equity as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to
the marketing of the brand. This is also the focus of the project study, given the aim of
understanding why customers want to pay more or less for Meriiboy Ice Cream. According
to Aaker (1996, p.107), “price premium may be the best single measure of brand equity
available”.

Brand Image and Brand Strength

Brand image (or sometimes brand knowledge or brand description) has been
defined as any information linked to the brand in the customer memory (Keller, 1993),
meaning the associations and beliefs that the customer has regarding the brand. Brand
strength, in contrast, is most often described as a global evaluation or an intention to
behave, such as an intention to buy or pay for a brand (see Netemeyer et al., 2004).
In the present study, brand image for consumer packaged food is conceptualized in six
brand dimensions that are all hypothesized to influence brand strength in terms of the
willingness to pay a price premium: awareness, uniqueness, perceived quality and positive
associations with CSR, social image and natural label also.

Brand Strength and Price Premium

A brand obtains a price premium when the sum that customers are willing to pay
for products from the brand is higher than the sum they are willing to pay for similar
products from other relevant brands (Aaker, 1996). Conceptually, several writers describe
price premiums as the most useful indicator of brand equity (Blackston, 1995; Aaker,
1996; Sethuraman, 2000). It should be noted that price premium in this project study deals
with a willingness to pay, which does not necessarily reflect real prices, just like other
researches conducted on price premium. Also, price premium is a relative measure, which

3
means that it is relevant for all brands (even for low-cost brands, for which customers can
be willing to pay more for one brand than for another).

Brand Image and Price Premium

Brand Image for Mariiboy Ice Cream is conceptualized in 6 elements. The
following is an understanding of all these 6 elements and how do they lead to customer‟s
willingness to pay a price premium.

Awareness and Premium Price

Brand awareness is reflected in the customers ability to identify the brand under
different circumstances (Keller,1993), including brand recognition and brand opinion
(Aaker, 1996). According to Aaker (1996), awareness is viewed as one of the most
important pillars for building brand equity. It is considered to be of particular importance
in low involvement product categories (Keller, 1993; Ritson, 2003), such as groceries in
general, even if that might not be attributed to all consumer groups. In several studies,
brand awareness has been found to influence customer‟s response to brands positively
(Anselmsson et al., 2007; Cobb-Wahlgren et al., 1995; Yoo and Donthu, 2001; Washburn
and plank, 2002). Consequently, we assume that brand awareness is of importance for
customers willingness to pay a price premium for a food brand:
H1: Perceived awareness will have a positive impact on customer willingness to pay a
price premium.

Quality and Premium Price

In most brand equity modelks, perceived quality is a core element (Lassae et al.,
1995; Aaker, 1996). Moreover, in the food marketing literature, perceived quality is a
salient concept (see Richardson et al., 1994; Oude Ophuis and Van Trijp, 1995; Acebro‟n
and Dopico, 2000) and both Anselmsson et al. (2007) and kalogeras et al. (2009) propose it
to be a determinant of price premium. As with customer based brand equity, and in
contrast to objective quality, perceived quality is a subjective mental notion that exists in
customers minds and differs from objective quality by having a higher degree of
abstraction (Zeithaml, 1988; Keller, 1993; Aaker, 1996). Empirical studies have confirmed

4
the positive relationship between perceived quality and price premium (Netemeyer et al.,
2004 Sethuraman (2000):
H3: Perceived quality will have a positive impact on customer‟s willingness to pay a price
premium.

CSR and Premium Price

Anselmsson et al. (2007) proposes that when consumers perceive that a food brand
company cares for the society, the environment and/or its employees, the willingness to
pay a price premium for that brand is heightened (see also Anselmsson and Johansson,
2007). Such a proposition is supported by empirical observations of price premiums for
most brands with CSR commitments. Thus,
H3: Perceived CSR will have a impact on customer willingness to pay a price premium.

Social Image and Premium Price

Brand provides customers with means to express themselves, their ideal selves or
specific dimensions of themselves (see Belk, 1988; Ball and Tasaki, 1992). This idea
seems to be supported by empirical work, suggesting that social image is indeed relevant
and influences customer response in a variety of categories, not only capital and shopping
goods (Lassar et al., 1995), but also chemical technical grocery products (Martin and
Brown, 1990). Social image has alkso been shown to be a price premium driver for food
brands, according to exploratory work btAnselmsson et al. (2007) and Tikkanen and
Va”a”riskoski (2010). Thus the study considers social image as a determinant to price
premium.

Natural Label and Premium Price

Products labeled as natural are often considered to be healthier and more appealing,
environmentally friendly and humane compared to their counterparts that are unlabelled
(Rozin 2005; Abrams and others 2010; Parasidid and others 2015). Indeed, the vast
majority of those consumers who demonstrate a preference for natural-labeled products
continue to do so even when presented with information confirming the equivalent
healthfulness of foods labeled artificial (Rozin and others 2004). This same reaction is also

5
seen when products labeled as natural and artificial are specified to be chemically identical
(Rozin and others 2004). These findings were interpreted to suggest that a substantial part
of the motivation for preferring natural-labeled products is due to moral or aesthetic
rationale as opposed to superior health or sensory properties (Rozin and others 2004).
Meriiboy uses „100% natural colors and flavors‟, thus the study seeks to examine the role
of this natural label in influencing customer‟s willingness to pay more.
H5: Perceived „natural label‟ will have a positive impact on customer‟s willingness to pay
a price premium.

Uniqueness and Premium Price

Uniqueness, meaning “to what degree customers feel that the brand differs from
competing brands” (Netemeyer et al., 2004, p.211), is one of the most central cornerstones
in the marketing literature, and is closely related to concepts such as differentiation and
unique selling proposition. Also, in brand equity theory, uniqueness if fundamental, as the
degree of uniqueness in a brand‟s associations, together with the favorability and strength
of those associations, determines its equity (Keller, 1993). The link between uniqueness
and price premium has been studied empirically before. This study seeks to understand
uniqueness as a factor affecting customer‟s willingness to a higher price for Meriiboy Ice
Cream.
H6: perceived uniqueness will have a positive impact on customer‟s willingness to pay a
price premium.

6
1.1 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

The average ice cream consumption of the world is 2.3 liters per annum. With ice
cream treats becoming a part of Indian culture, Indian ice cream market is rapidly growing
globally. Indian customers are visiting ice cream parlors frequently, helping to fuel greater
interest in packaged offerings in the country. The current Ice Cream market of India is
worth Rs.3000 Cr, including the unorganized sector. According to PHD Chamber of
Commerce With its growing institutional sales coupled with youngsters spending habits on
it as well as increasing disposable income of middle and lower middle class Indians in the
recent times, which has developed its penchant for the frozen product, the size of the ice
cream industry is likely to jump at about Rs.7000 crore by 2018. The branded market has a
host of home-grown and international players, namely, Amul, Kwality Walls, Mother
Dairy, Vadilal, Cream Bell, and Baskin-Robbins etc.
The project undertaken considers 6 factors that have been proven to influence customers‟
willingness to pay a premium price through previous studies. They are awareness, quality,
CSR, social image, natural label and uniqueness, drawn mainly from the customer based
brand equity model. The study will open eyes to which among these factors really drive the
customer minds to pay a higher price for meriiboy Ice Cream.
The study is more of an exploratory in nature. The methodology used for collecting the
primary data was survey method using a structured questionnaire and secondary data from
the websites, journals, books, newspaper articles etc.

7
 1.2 OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY

 To study the effect of Awareness on customers‟ willingness to pay a premium

price.

 To study the effect of Quality on customers‟ willingness to pay a premium price.

 To study the effect of CSR on customers‟ willingness to pay a premium price.

 To study the effect of Social image on customers‟ willingness to pay a premium
price.

 To study the effect of Natural Labels on customers‟ willingness to pay a premium
price.

 To study the effect of Uniqueness on customers‟ willingness to pay a premium
price.


1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Wealth maximization is the ultimate aim of any business entity. Financial gain is
one of the major sources of the business, and then comes the brand image and brand
strength. Meriiboy Ice Cream is one of the prominent players in the manufacturing and
selling of Ice Creams in South India. Though not in the branded segment, Meriiboy enjoys
a unique brand position in the market. The study is to examine the brand image about
Meriiboy among the customers, and various aspects of the brand that mark their
willingness to pay a premium price. The hypotheses used are:
H 1: Perceived awareness will have a positive impact on customers‟ willingness to pay a
price premium.
H 2: Perceived quality will have a positive impact on customers‟ willingness to pay a price
premium.
H 3: Perceived CSR will have a positive impact on customers‟ willingness to pay a price
premium.
H 4: Perceived social image will have a positive impact on customers‟ willingness to pay a
price premium.

8
H 5: Perceived „natural label‟ will have a positive impact on customers‟ willingness to pay
a price premium.
H 6: Perceived uniqueness will have a positive impact on customers‟ willingness to pay a
price premium.

1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design is the arrangement of condition for collection and analysis of
data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in
procedure. In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure with in which research is
conducted. The design adopted for the study is descriptive research design and explanatory
research design. Descriptive study is concerned with describing the characteristics of a
particular individual or of a group or phenomenon; it just says what is what and give as
actual picture of reality.

SAMPLING DESIGN

 POPULATION OF THE SAMPLE

Sampling population for the study is all ice cream consumers. The sampling frame
consists of the ice cream customers in Kerala.

1.6 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

1. Lack of co-operation of the respondents.

2. In some cases the respondents might have given false answer in order to
maintain their image.
3. Lack of available data, due to the busy schedule of the managers and executives
it was hard to get accurate information from them.

9
1.7 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

1.Corinna Hempel, Ulrich Hamm 2016 A study on Brand Image and

Customers‟Willingness to pay a Price Premium for Meriiboy Ice Cream: This paper
gives a deeper insight into consumer preferences for different food products of varying
place of origin (i.e. local, Germany, neighbouring country, non-EU country) and
production practices (i.e. organic vs. non-organic). Consumer surveys combined with
choice experiments were conducted with 641 consumers in eight German regions. Mixed
logit models were estimated to draw conclusions on consumers‟ preferences for different
product attributes. The Stimulus-Organism-Response model was applied to theoretically
frame the key findings. Results reveal that consumers prefer locally produced food to
organic food. However, conclusions on consumers‟ preferences should not be
generalized as they vary depending on product type and consumers‟ place of residence.

2. Natalia Maehle , Nina Iversen , Leif Hem , CeleOtnes 2015 They stated that
toidentify the relative importance of four main attributes of food products for consumer‟s
choice. These are price, taste, environmental friendliness and healthfulness, tested across
hedonic and utilitarian food products (milk and ice-cream). The weighting of attributes
involved in food choices is a complex phenomenon, as consumers must consider
contradictory requirements when making their choices. Consumers‟ decision-making
processes might also be influenced by food category.

3. Ghose S. &Lowengart, O. J Market Anal 2013 Consumer choice and preferencefor

brand categories: In this study, we explore how the entrance of new international brands
affects market dynamics in a market where national, international and private brands are
present. The entire focus of the present research is to understand the phenomena of
consumer choice and preference in the backdrop of such a market. We model consumer
choice in the context of these different categories of brands by using a multinomial
discrete choice model. The estimated model provides us with several diagnostic findings
of managerial interest especially with respect to what kinds of

10
product attributes differentially affect choice probabilities of different categories of
brands – the international, the national and the private.

4. Ghosh, P., Tripathi, V. 2010 Customer expectations of store attributes: A study

oforganized retail outlets in India: The phenomenal growth of retail in India is reflected
in the rapid increase in number of supermarkets, departmental stores and hypermarkets
in the country. However, this un presented growth trend has been challenged by the
shadow of the current economic slowdown, which has raised a fear of dip in
consumption and slowdown of growth for Indian organized retailers. At a time when
consumer spending is on decline, success will lie with those retailers that can drive
customer loyalty by responding to the demands of the discerning consumer. This study is
an attempt to address issues related to store attributes and their relevance in the store
selection process. Eleven variables (store attributes) have been identified in this article
based on theory and judgment. Factor analysis has yielded three factors: Convenience &
Merchandise Mix,Store Atmospherics and Services.

5. JannekeBlijlevens ,0 Marielle E. H. Creusen, and Jan P. L. Schoormans 2009

How Consumers Perceive Product Appearance : The phenomenal growth of retail in
India is reflected in the rapid increase in number of supermarkets, departmental stores
and hypermarkets in the country. However, this unprecented growth trend has been
challenged by the shadow of the current economic slowdown, which has raised a fear of
dip in consumption and slowdown of growth for Indian organized retailers. At a time
when consumer spending is on decline, success will lie with those retailers that can drive
customer loyalty by responding to the demands of the discerning consumer. This study is
an attempt to address issues related to store attributes and their relevance in the store
selection process. Eleven variables (store attributes) have been identified in this article
based on theory and judgment. Factor analysis has yielded three factors: Convenience &
Merchandise Mix, Store Atmospherics and Services.

11
1.8 CHAPTERIZATION

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Industry Profile
Chapter 3 Company Profile
Chapter 4 Data Analysis and Interpretation
Chapter 5 Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion
Bibliography and References

12
 CHAPTER 2
INDUSTRY PROFILE

13
 2. INDUSTRY PROFILE

THE EVOLUTION OF ICE CREAM

Ice-cream's origins are known to reach back as far as the second century B.C.,
although no specific date of origin or inventor has been undisputedly credited with its
discovery. We know that Alexander the Great enjoyed snow and ice flavored with honey
and nectar. Biblical references also show that King Solomon was fond of iced drinks
during harvesting. During the Roman Empire, Nero Claudius Caesar (A.D. 54-86)
frequently sent runners into the mountains for snow, which was then flavored with fruits
and juices.
Over a thousand years later, Marco Polo returned to Italy from the Far East with
a recipe that closely resembled what is now called sherbet. Historians estimate that this
recipe evolved into ice cream sometime in the 16th century. England seems to have
discovered ice cream at the same time, or perhaps even earlier than the Italians. "Cream
Ice," as it was called, appeared regularly at the table of Charles I during the 17th century.
France was introduced to similar frozen desserts in 1553 by the Italian Catherine de
Medici when she became the wife of Henry II of France. It wasn't until 1660 that ice
cream was made available to the general public. The Sicilian Procopius introduced a
recipe blending milk, cream, butter and eggs at Café Procure, the first café in Paris.

2.1 GLOBAL SCENARIO

The annual world trade in milk products (excluding intra-EU) amounts to 33million
tons, valued at US$ 10 billion. Barely 6 to 7% of the world milk Production is traded
internationally. The bulk of the world dairy trade is in Cheese, Butter and Powders. A
growing shift towards cheese is expected in the near future. Two dynamic products with a
substantial projected growth in the coming years are yoghurt and dessert.

14
 The international dairy trade is dominated by four players - EU, New Zealand,
Australia and USA - which together account for 85% of all exports. New Zealand and
Australia export as much as 80 and 50% of their milk production respectively. The Asia-
Pacific region has been and will remain a net milk importer in the foreseeable future. It
accounts for the bulk of milk powder imports and half of the imports of condensed and
evaporated milk. In contrast, most cheese imports go from developing countries to
developed countries such as Japan and the United States.
The dairy industry is regulated in most countries through various ways. Imports are
commonly restricted, and exports frequently subsidized. High dairy price supports in many
countries are put in place to stimulate production to the extent that subsidies for exports are
necessitated to maintain domestic dairy programs.
In the United Kingdom, all the milk produced by farmers is procured by the
cooperatives. Private dairies are required to buy their milk requirement from cooperatives.
New Zealand has no private sector dairy plants. As many as 90 Percent of dairies in the
erstwhile West Germany and 100 percent in Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden are in the
cooperative sector.
In the United States, 70 per cent of the dairy industry is cooperative. Dairy
programs are subject to more Government participation or regulation than most other
domestic agricultural industries in the USA. There are also Federal Milk Marketing Orders
and movement barriers in the USA for “orderly marketing control, which is associated
with stabilizing fluid milk prices, providing secure and dependable markets for individual
dairy farmers, primarily for the fluid market and improving the balance of market power
between farmers and handlers.
In the emerging liberalized global scenario, trade-distorting agricultural policies have
been the focus of the GATT multilateral trade negotiations. With the liberalization of
agricultural trade under the new GATT regime, the heavy subsidies prevalent in the dairy
sector in the countries of the EU as well as in the USA will have to be brought down in the
next few years. The competitive advantages of the Indian dairy industry are then
considered to be substantial.

15
 With substantial and continued investment in building up milk production, India
can emerge as a major exporter of dairy products and technologies in the next few
decades.

2.2 INDIAN SCENARIO

Ice cream industry occupies important place in India. It is one of the consumer goods
industries its products is important popular diet. India is an agriculture-based country
because of the large number of cattle and large milk production most of the dairy and ice-
cream industries has developed and India is well ranked in the world. Ice cream industry
has brought magnificent change in the rural economy. It provides employment to the
marginal farmers. Today the competition in ice-cream of players like Amul, Kwalitywalls,
and Vadilal etc. as ice cream has been a regular edible item the consumption of ice cream
is more. In 1983 when Indian Government Issued a control in which the certain price level
was fixed. It has an important role in employment generation and reducing the migration of
villagers towards the town and cities for live hood.
India has one of the largest livestock populations in the world. Fifty percent of the
buffaloes and twenty percent of the cattle in the world are found in India, most of which
are milk cows and buffaloes. Dairy development in India has been acknowledged the
world over as one of modern India‟s most successful developmental program. Today, India
is the largest milk producing country in the world. Milk and milk products is rated as one
of the most promising sectors which deserves appreciation in a big way. When the world
milk production registered a negative growth of2 percent, India performed much better
with 4 percent growth. The total milk production is over 72 million tons and the demand
for milk is estimated at around 80 million tons.
By 2005, the value of Indian dairy produce is expected to be Rs. 1,000,000
million. In the last six years foreign investment in this sector stood at Rs. 3600 million
which is about one fourth of the total investment made in this sector. Manufacture of
casein and lactose, largely being imported presently, has good scope. The milk surplus
states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra,

16
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The manufacturing of milk products is
concentrated in these milk surplus States.

LIVESTOCK POPULATION: India is rich in its livestock wealth. It accounts for

nearly15.8% of the world cattle population, more than half of the world buffalo population.
As per the 1992 Livestock census of Ministry of Agriculture, highest cattle population was
reported in Madhya Pradesh (28.68 million nos.) followed by Uttar Pradesh (25.63
million‟s.) Bihar (22.15 million nos.) Maharashtra (17.44 million nos.) and West Bengal
(17.45 million nos.). According to livestock census the highest population of buffaloes is
reported in U.P. (20.08 million nos.) followed by A.P. (9.15 million nos.), M.P. (7.97
million nos.) and Rajasthan (7.74 million no‟s).

PRODUCTION OF MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS: The milk production was

almoststagnant between 1947 to 1970 with an annual growth rate of merely one percent
which has since registered a vigorous growth of over 4.5% per annum after the year 1970.
The major milk producing states are UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, M.P, Maharashtra and
Gujarat. Numbers of milk products manufacturing Plants have come up in these states for
Processing of milk.

PRESENT STATUS: The Indian dairy industry achieved substantial growth during the8th
Five Year Plan, achieving an annual output of over 60 million tones of milk. This not only
places our industry second in the world after the United States, but represents sustained
growth in real availability of milk and milk products for our burgeoning population. Most
important, dairying has become an important secondary source of income for millions of
rural families. Improved genetic material achieved primarily through cross breeding of
cattle and upgrading of the national buffalo herd has played a significant role in increasing
the productivity. Gradual extension of improved husbandry practices; increase in
consumption of balanced concentrates made possible, in part, through innovations in the
field of nutrition; expanded area under fodder; greater access to veterinary care; and
advances in the fight against endemic and epidemic cattle diseases have also contributed to
increased production and productivity.

17
 About three quarters of the milk produced is consumed at the household level. Of
the milk supplied to the market, about 9-11 percent is processed in over 275 dairy plants
and 83 milk product factories operated by cooperative, private dairy processors, and
government milk schemes in the organized sector. Milk channeled through Operation
Flood cooperatives are generally processed in dairy plants located in the rural areas and
then transported into cities and towns. Operation Flood Milk productions account for about
10% of total milk production or 40% of the marketed output. The balance (about 90% of
total production) is handled by the private traders and processors. About 45% of milk
production is consumed as fluid milk. About 35% is processed into butter or ghee; about
7% is processed into Paneer (cottage cheese) and other cheeses, about 4% is converted into
milk powder; and the balance is used for other products such as Dahi (yoghurt) and sweet
meats. In recent years, there has been an increasing ice cream production as foreign
companies have invested in India.

2.4 FUTURE MARKETS

South East Asia, Russia and Africa will be the emerging market for Indian dairy
products. In the immediate future, there is prospect of an additional demand of over 3
million tons of milk products in the ASEAN region alone. The EU dairy exports will
become limited by GATT agreements, while Australia-New Zealand does not have
adequate production capacity. Equally significant is the rise of Russia as the world‟s
biggest dairy importer although by far the biggest milk.
Producer in Europe, the Russian output has declined by more than 25 percent in the
past five years. The shortfall in milk production is estimated to be 13 million tons a year.
These major deficits in milk availability offer an opportunity for India to fill this vacuum
and to become leading dairy exporting nations.

18
 CHAPTER 3
COMPANY PROFILE

19
 3. COMPANY PROFILE

3.1COMPANY DETAILS
Following table shows that the brief details about the Milky food industries
TABLE NO 1
Name of the company MERIIBOY ICE CREAM (MILKY
FOOD INDUSTRIES), TRIVANDRUM

Year of incorporation 2010

Place

District Trivandrum

State Kerala

Country India

Type of organization Partnership organization

Nature of organization Partnership firm

Nature of product Manufactured

No. of employees 150

Production capacity 6000 litres

Exporting products to Karnataka , Tamilnadu

Company website www.meriiboy.com

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3.2 PARTNERS OF THE COMPANY

o A. V Thomas
o K,M Joseph
o E.V Joseph
o Daisy Devassy
o Mini Varghese

3.3 YEAR OF INCORPORATION

The company started its function as a partnership enterprise on 2003.

3.4 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

Meriiboy is a division of Cousins Group, a business venture founded in 1990, by 5

closely-knit families. Over the years, the group has developed diverse interests from plastic
modeling to ice cream and more. The first ice cream factory unit was set up in 2003 at
Kalady with a capacity of 600L a day. Today, the group holds four advanced units
manufacturing over 5 million litres every year.
In 2006Cousins Group started the second ice cream factory in Kinfra Food
Processing Park, Calicut, catering to Northern Kerala. In 2010 the third factory
commissioned at Trivandrum as a part of market expansion the fourth factory inaugurated
at Kannur and reaches production capacity of8 million litre/annum. In 2013 Meriiboy
becomes a major player in Kerala. Awarded ISO 22000: 2005 certifications by BUREAU
VERITAS for Kalady factory. Distribution network spreads across 1200 dealers and 400
distributors in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Establishes own retail outlets in Lulu &
Oberon malls in Ernakulum, Vega Land, Food Mall at Revenue Tower, R P Mall at
Calicut, Bakker junction at Kottayam.
Meriiboy is one of the largest producers of fresh ice cream, based in South India.
The brand is known across Kerala and in the emerging markets of Tamil Nadu and

21
 Karnataka for its original freshness and unmatched quality. The brand pays great attention
to quality at every level, from the sourcing of fresh raw materials to testing, manufacturing,
packaging and the finished product. Made with state-of-the-art production techniques and a
comprehensive hygiene policy, every Meriiboy product is nothing less than world class. To
ensure this, Tetra Pak Hoyer, Denmark has been involved as consultants and quality
advisors.

3.5 VISION STATEMENT

The Milky food industry (Meriiboy Ice cream Company) has a great vision of
becoming a leader of fast moving consumer goods and products. Its vision is to provide
total customer satisfaction through continuous improvement in production process and
services.

3.6 MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the company is to deliver high quality food products that set
themselves apart from others in taste and value.

3.7 QUALITY POLICY

Meriiboy ice cream provides quality policies mainly on the following areas:
 They periodically check the quality in production of ice creams.

 Packaging process also include quality procedures such as inspection of packages.

 They also provide quality protection on handling such as refrigerator vans for their
products while marketing.

In process
o The procedures are processes adopted – adhering to HACCP standards.
o Most modern machines imported from Italy & Europe.

22
 o Procedures like disinfection.
o Fully automated plants to avoid human involvement in manufacturing.
o Each batch tested for quality.
o In house laboratory with trained microbiologists and chemists.
o Dynamic printing of batch number to trace manufacturing details of a particular
product.

In Packaging
o Paper packaging done with white ITC food grade cartons.
o Packaging workers are inspected before they engage in packaging.
o Packaging materials supplied by reliable suppliers.

In Handling
o Refrigerated vans for transportation.
o Well trained distributers and dealers.
o Well maintained cold chain facilities- less breakdowns.

3.8 OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPANY

o Quality
They mainly focus on quality. They use pure milk collected from nearby
PDDP centers for ice cream production.
o Profit maximization
MERIIBOY Ice Cream Company is looking forward to maximize its profit
through its quality products.
o Cost minimization
Minimizing the cost is the best way to maximize profit. They are using cost
minimization techniques and are implementing it to their production.

23
 o More employment
As a part of the expansion of the company more employment opportunities
are provided by the company.
o Time delivery
The company is strict in timely delivery and feedback of the products
provided to various dealers.
o Proper utilization of resources
The resources available to the company were utilized in the effective way in
order to avoid wastage and increasing cost.
o Provide service to society
Moreover the company provides finance to charitable institutions on yearly
basis.

3.9 VALUES OF THE COMPANY

o High quality products

Maintaining good quality with purity raw materials in production is one of
the values which MERIIBOY Company focused on its production.
o Customer orientation
The company and management give high weightage on feedback of their
customers.
o Good relation between management& workers
There exists a formal and informal relationship between management and
workers in the organization. Employee grievances are handled by the management
with due care.

24
3.10 QUALITY CERTIFICATION

 
ISO 22000-2005 Certification
ISO 22000:2005 specifies requirements for a food safety management system where an
organization in the food chain needs to demonstrate its ability to control food safety
hazards in order to ensure that food is safe at the time of human consumption.

 
ISO 22000:2005 specifies requirements to enable an organization
To plan, implement, operate, maintain and update a food safety management system
aimed at providing products that, according to their intended use, are safe for the
consumer.
To demonstrate compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory food safety
requirements.
To evaluate and assess customer requirements and demonstrate conformity with those
mutually agreed customer requirements that relate to food safety, in order to enhance
customer satisfaction.
To effectively communicate food safety issues to their suppliers, customers and
relevant interested parties in the food chain,
To ensure that the organization conforms to its stated food safety
policy, To demonstrate such conformity to relevant interested parties,
To seek certification or registration of its food safety management system by an
external organization, or make a self-assessment or self-declaration of conformity to ISO
22000:2005.

3.11 OWNERSHIP STATUS

Partnership firm - The members of the board of directors of the company

areclosely related family members.

25
 3.12 PRODUCTS OF THE COMPANY

o ICE CREAMS
Ice cream (derived from earlier iced cream or cream ice) is a frozen dessert usually
made from dairy products, such as milk and cream and often combined with fruits or other
ingredients and flavors. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other
sweeteners. In some cases, artificial flavorings and colorings are used in addition to, or
instead of, the natural ingredients. The mixture of chosen ingredients is stirred slowly
while cooling, in order to incorporate air and to prevent large ice crystals from forming.
The result is smoothly textured semi-solid foam that is malleable and can be scooped.
Meriiboy ice creams are available at various flavors‟ like Vanilla, Strawberry, Orange,
Pineapple, Coffee, Lemon Delight, Guava, Pista, Alphonso Mango, Butterscotch, Spanish
Delight, Chocolate, Black Currant etc.

o SUNDAE
The sundae is a sweet ice cream dessert. It typically consists of one or more scoops
of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup, and in some cases other toppings including
sprinkles, whipped cream, maraschino cherries, or other fruits.
In Meriiboy Sundae is available at Chocolate, Strawberry and Pista flavours.

o CASSATA
The different varieties of Cassatas available in Meriiboy are Cassata King, Cassata
Queen, Cassata Prince and Cassata Kid.

o BARS
An ice cream bar is a frozen dessert on a stick or a candy bar that has ice cream in it.
The coating is usually a thin layer of chocolate used to prevent the melting and dripping of
ice cream. Flavors available at Meriiboy are:
 Chocolate

 Mango

 Strawberry

26
 o CONFETTI
Flavors:
 Chocolate

 Mango

 Strawberry

 Pista

o MILK LOLLY
Milk lolly is a special item produced by Meriiboy Ice Cream Company. It is the mix of
various ingredients like milk powder, emulsifier, flavors etc. milk lolly is available at
various flavors like Vanilla, Strawberry, Pineapple, Mango etc.

o KULFI
Kulfi is a popular frozen dairy dessert from the Indian Subcontinent. It is often
described as "traditional Indian Subcontinent ice cream”. As popularly understood, Kulfi
has similarities to ice cream in appearance and taste; however it is denser and creamier. It
comes in various flavors like Mango and Cardamom. Meriiboy ice cream company
produces cardamom flavoredKulfi.

3.13 RAW MATERIALS

The major raw materials used by Meriiboy are:

 Milk

 Butter

 SMP Milk powder

 Sugar

 Fresh fruits

27
3.14 PROMOTION STRATEGY

Promotion is the method used to spread the word about the product or service to
customers, stakeholders and the broader public. In Meriiboy ice cream company
advertisements is the widely used promotional strategy. They use media like television,
radio, newspaper, magazines etc.

3.15 PRICING STRATEGY

A business can use a variety of pricing strategies when selling a product or service.
The Price can be set to maximize profitability for each unit sold or from the market overall.
It can be used to defend an existing market from new entrants, to increase market share
within a market or to enter a new market.
Businesses may benefit from lowering or raising prices, depending on the needs
and behaviors of customers and clients in the particular market. Finding the right pricing
strategy is an important element in running a successful business.
The pricing strategy adopted by Meriiboy Ice Cream Company was cot plus pricing
and market oriented pricing.

3.16 COST PLUS PRICING

Cost-plus pricing is a pricing strategy companies use to maximize their rates of

return. Firms may accomplish their objective of profit maximization by increasing their
production until marginal revenue equals marginal cost and then charging a price which is
determined by the demand curve. However, in practice, most firms use either value-
basedpricing or cost-plus pricing which is also known as mark-up pricing. (Cost + mark-up
= selling price).There are several variations of cost-plus pricing, but the most common
method is to calculate the cost of the product then add a percentage of the cost as mark-up.
This approach sets prices covering the cost of production and provides enough profit

28
margins for the firm to reach its target rate of return. It also provides a way for companies
to calculate how much profit they will make.

3.17 MARKET ORIENTED PRICING

Setting a price based upon analysis and research compiled from the target market.
This means that marketers will set prices depending on the results from the research. For
instance if the competitors are pricing their products at a lower price, then it's up to them to
either price their goods at an above price or below, depending on what the company wants
to achieve.

3.18 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The consumer market is flooded by several brands in the same category. The result
is intense competition among the brands based on price. The times of increasing margin
selling low quality products are bygone. Manufactures realized the importance of „quality”
in differentiating their brand among many in the same category. Brand managers
worldwide began focusing on „quality‟ of their products as their major selling point to
charge a premium price for their brands. Recent studies shows that „product quality‟ alone
cannot sustain a competitive advantage for any brand in long run to gain a premium price.
It‟s in this context that this study finds its use, to study about the determinants of customers
willingness to pay a premium price for a product.
Most of the studies that seek to understand the underlying factors of customers
willingness to pay a premium price focuses on product related factors alone. One exception
is a qualitative, explorative and conceptual study by Anselmsson et al.(2007), which
suggests that customers willingness to pay for food brands is determined by five
dimensions: Awareness, perceived quality, loyalty, uniqueness and non-product-related
brand associations including associations to corporate social responsibility(CSR), social
image and origin.

29
 Meriiboy Ice Cream, though not a national brand, is one of the biggest in south
India especially in Kerala, and an emerging brand in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The
present study can be described as an attempt to systematically and empirically evaluate
which image dimensions in previous literature that specifically determines customers
willingness to pay a price premium for Mariiboy Ice Cream. Origin of the product has not
been used because the present study examines only one products in the previous
researches. Also, specific to the product under consideration, a new factor has been added-
Natural Label.

3.19 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:

 Price Premium and Customer Based Brand Equity

There are many different ways to define brand equity but most authors seem to agree
with Farquhar‟s (1989) early definition of brand equity as “the value endowed by the brand
to the product”. The concept of brand equity has a explicit focus on extracting the tangible
economic value from brands, which makes it particularly relevant for anyone interested in
how brands compete for price premiums. Keller (1993) defines customer-based brand
equity as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing
of the brand. This is also the focus of the project study, given the aim of understanding
why customers want to pay more or less for Meriiboy Ice Cream. According to Aaker
(1996,p.107), “price premium may be the best single measure of brand equity available”.

 Brand Image and Brand Strength

Brand image (or sometimes brand knowledge or brand description) has been defined as
any information linked to the brand in the customer memory (Keller, 1993), meaning the
associations and beliefs that the customer has regarding the brand. Brand strength, in
contrast, is most often described as a global evaluation or an intention to behave, such as
an intention to buy or pay for a brand (see Netemeyer et al., 2004).
In the present study, brand image for consumer packaged food is conceptualized in six
brand dimensions that are all hypothesized to influence brand strength in terms of the

30
willingness to pay a price premium: awareness, uniqueness, perceived quality and positive
associations with CSR, social image and natural label also.

 Brand Strength and Price Premium

A brand obtains a price premium when the sum that customers are willing to pay for
products from the brand is higher than the sum they are willing to pay for similar products
from other relevant brands (Aaker, 1996). Conceptually, several writers describe price
premiums as the most useful indicator of brand equity (Blackston, 1995; Aaker, 1996;
Sethuraman, 2000). It should be noted that price premium in this project study deals with a
willingness to pay, which does not necessarily reflect real prices, just like other researchers
conducted on price premium. Also, price premium is a relative measure, which means that
it is relevant for all brands (even for low-cost brands, for which customers can be willing
to pay more for one brand than for another).

 Brand Image and Price Premium

Brand Image for Mariiboy Ice Cream is conceptualized in 6 elements. The following is
an understanding of all these 6 elements and how do they lead to customer‟s willingness to
pay a price premium.

 Awareness and Premium Price

Brand awareness is reflected in the customers ability to identify the brand under
different circumstances (Keller,1993), including brand recognition and brand opinion
(Aaker, 1996). According to Aaker (1996), awareness is viewed as one of the most
important pillars for building brand equity. It is considered to be of particular importance
in low involvement product categories (Keller, 1993; Ritson, 2003), such as groceries in
general, even if that might not be attributed to all consumer groups. In several studies,
brand awareness has been found to influence customers response to brands positively
(Anselmsson et al., 2007; Cobb-Wahlgren et al., 1995; Yoo and Donthu, 2001; Washburn
and plank, 2002). Consequently, we assume that brand awareness is of importance for
customer‟s willingness to pay a price premium for a food brand:

31
H1: Perceived awareness will have a positive impact on customer willingness to pay a
price premium.

 Quality and Premium Price

In most brand equity modelks, perceived quality is a core element (Lassae et al., 1995;
Aaker, 1996). Moreover, in the food marketing literature, perceived quality is a salient
concept (see Richardson et al., 1994; Oude Ophuis and Van Trijp, 1995; Acebro‟n and
Dopico, 2000) and both Anselmsson et al. (2007) and kalogeras et al. (2009) propose it to
be a determinant of price premium. As with customer based brand equity, and in contrast
to objective quality, perceived quality is a subjective mental notion that exists in customers
minds and differs from objective quality by having a higher degree of abstraction
(Zeithaml, 1988; Keller, 1993; Aaker, 1996). Empirical studies have confirmed the
positive relationship between perceived quality and price premium (Netemeyer et al., 2004
Sethuraman (2000):
H3: Perceived quality will have a positive impact on customer‟s willingness to pay a price
premium.

 CSR and Premium Price

Anselmsson et al. (2007) proposes that when consumers perceive that a food brand
company cares for the society, the environment and/or its employees, the willingness to
pay a price premium for that brand is heightened (see also Anselmsson and Johansson,
2007). Such a proposition is supported by empirical observations of price premiums for
most brands with CSR commitments. Thus,
H3: Perceived CSR will have a impact on customer willingness to pay a price premium.

 Social Image and Premium Price

Brand provide customers with means to express themselves, their ideal selves or
specific dimensions of themselves (see Belk, 1988; Ball and Tasaki, 1992). This idea
seems to be supported by empirical work, suggesting that social image is indeed relevant
and influences customer response in a variety of categories, not only capital and shopping
goods (Lassar et al., 1995), but also chemical technical grocery products (Martin and

32
Brown, 1990). Social image has alkso been shown to be a price premium driver for food
brands, according to exploratory work btAnselmsson et al. (2007) and Tikkanen and
Va”a”riskoski (2010). Thus the study considers social image as a determinant to price
premium.

 Natural Label and Premium Price

Products labeled as natural are often considered to be healthier and more appealing,
environmentally friendly and humane compared to their counterparts that are unlabelled
(Rozin 2005; Abrams and others 2010; Parasidid and others 2015). Indeed, the vast
majority of those consumers who demonstrate a preference for natural-labeled products
continue to do so even when presented with information confirming the equivalent
healthfulness of foods labeled artificial (Rozin and others 2004). This same reaction is also
seen when products labeled as natural and artificial are specified to be chemically identical
(Rozin and others 2004). These findings were interpreted to suggest that a substantial part
of the motivation for preferring natural-labeled products is due to moral or aesthetic
rationale as opposed to superior health or sensory properties (Rozin and others 2004).
Meriiboy uses „100% natural colours and flavours‟, thus the study seeks to examine the
role of this natural label in influencing customer‟s willingness to pay more.
H5: Perceived „natural label‟ will have a positive impact on customer‟s willingness to pay
a price premium.

 Uniqueness and Premium Price

Uniqueness, meaning “to what degree customers feel that the brand differs from
competing brands” (Netemeyer et al., 2004, p.211), is one of the most central cornerstones
in the marketing literature, and is closely related to concepts such as differentiation and
unique selling proposition. Also, in brand equity theory, uniqueness if fundamental, as the
degree of uniqueness in a brand‟s associations, together with the favorability and strength
of those associations, determines its equity (Keller, 1993). The link between uniqueness
and price premium has been studied empirically before. This study seeks to understand
uniqueness as a factor affecting customer‟s willingness to a higher price for Meriiboy Ice
Cream

33
3.20 CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Awareness

Quality

CSR

Premium Price

Social Image

Natural Label

Uniqueness

Fig.1 Research model

The model describes the effect of the factors like Awareness, Quality, CSR, Social Image,
Natural Label, and Uniqueness on customers‟ willingness to pay a Price Premium for
Meriiboy Ice Cream.

34
3.21 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Definition of consumer behavior

Consumer behavior referred to „the study of the processes involved when
individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or
experiences to satisfy needs and desires‟ (Solomon, 2006). If the company can understand
consumer behaviour well, they will able to develop good business. For instance, they must
understand the way to satisfy the consumers‟ needs, gain more knowledge and data about
customers. So they could define the market and identify threats or opportunities to a brand
easier (Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel, 2006).

CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS

Consumer decision process model

The consumer decision process model illustrated a roadmap of consumers‟ minds
that the marketers and managers could use to help and guide product mix, communication
as well as sales strategy.
The model captured the activities which would occur when decisions are made in a
schematic format. It also showed how different internal and external forces would interact
and affect consumers‟ thinking, evaluation, and acts. Furthermore, it could help people to
solve the problems which lead them to make a purchase and consume the products
(Blackwell, et al. 2006). Thus, culture, social class, personal factors, group association,
celebrities and celebrity endorsement advertising were some of the examples of external
forces. For the internal forces, it included own attitudes, personality, perceptions, self-
concepts, emotions, knowledge, value and lifestyle.
Meanwhile, the steps of consumer decision process included, problem recognition,
information search, evaluation of alternatives, and product choice. After that were
consumption, post purchase evaluation and divestment. As shown in the figure

35
 Need recognition

Information search

Pre-Purchase Evaluation
of Alternatives

Purchase

Consumption

Post-Consumption
Evaluation

Divestment

Fig 2
Consumer decision model

36
NEED RECOGNITION
First of all, significant differences were existed between the current state of affairs
and the ideal state. So consumers recognized there was a need to find the product or
service which could deliver some benefits (Blackwell, et al. 2006). For instance, the
product or service had the ability to fill consumers‟ needs or to solve the problems which
was worth more than the cost of buying it. On the other hand, opportunity recognition
could be occurred when consumers were exposed to different or better quality products
(Solomon, 2006).
In fact, need recognition could occur naturally or induce by marketers‟ efforts. The
marketers created primary and secondary demand for the consumers. Primary demand
referred to the consumer was encouraged to use a product or service regardless of the
brand which they chose. Secondary demand referred to the marketer persuaded the
consumer to use specific brand of product (Solomon, 2006). For example, when consumers
were exposed to the advertisement which the celebrity endorser wear the latest fashion and
look beautifully, it might enlarge the difference between consumers‟ current state and ideal
state. Then a need was created. As a result, they would like to make a purchase on the
apparel products which featured in the advertisement which endorsed by the celebrity.

INFORMATION SEARCH
After the consumers recognized a need was existed, they needed to acquire
sufficient information to resolve it. So the process of information search was necessary for
them to survey on their environment to collect appropriate data to make a reasonable
decision. Information could be searched internally or externally. Internal search of
information referred to scan and retrieve the decision-relevant knowledge which stored in
our memory, such as experience. External search referred to the information was collected
from the external environment. Consumers were able to gather information from the source
which was non-marketer-dominated and marketer-dominated. Non-marketer-dominated
source was simply come from word-of moth, which was considered as an objective source.
For instance, it included family, friends, opinion leaders, reference group, consumer
reports and government and industry reports. On the other hand, marketer-dominated
source was anything that the marketers did for the purpose of persuasion, which included

37
advertisement in fashion magazines, catalogs, books and newspaper, salespeople, fashion
show, web-site and window and in-store displays (Blackwell, et al. 2006). Besides, the
intensity of information research depended on the risk which consumer perceived, such as
the cost of wrong choice.
Furthermore, celebrity was one of the common information sources for consumers.
It is because celebrity acted as a reference group for the consumers, which could influence
individual‟s evaluations, aspirations, or behavior (Park and V. Parker, 1977).
Consumers might imitate the behaviors of their admired celebrities in order to
enhance self-esteem through identification with certain desirable images (Alsmadi, 2006).
So celebrity endorsement was one of the persuasive sources of information which might
affect consumers‟ purchase decision.

PRE-PURCHASE EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES

After the search process, there would be possible amounts of alternative options
which generated by the consumers. They believed the selected products or brands were
able to resolve their needs. Because of limited resources, consumers had to narrow down
their choices by assessing some standards. They might use pre-existing evaluations, prior
purchase or consumption experience which stored in memory to assess the selected options
that could provide the greatest satisfaction with the purchase and consumption. They could
also rely on the experiences or impressions gained second-hand. Moreover, they could
construct new evaluation standards based on the information they search in the previous
process. Although different consumers had different standards in the evaluation process,
the decision rule was usually based on appropriate to personal style, economy, aesthetics,
quality, other-people-directed, country of origin and so on. For example, the consumer was
totally enthralled by the celebrity which endorsed in the advertisement. Then the consumer
would evaluate the products based on the celebrity endorser.

38
PURCHASE
After narrowed down the product choices, consumers could purchase the products
by choosing a specific retailer and in-store choice. Meanwhile, consumers must decide
whether, where, what, when and how they buy. Usually, they would like to choose a store
which the image matched with their personality and purchase characteristics. Their past
experience was able to influence their store choice too. Even in the stage of purchasing,
consumer‟s purchase intention still could be influenced by several factors. For example, in-
store promotions, discounts, persuasion of salespeople, failure to find the product in a store
or lack of financial resources. As a result, if consumers saw an in- store advertisement with
their admired celebrity, it could reinforce their purchase intention.

CONSUMPTION
After the consumer purchased and owned the product, consumption would be
occurred. Consumption was the process of utilizing the purchased product or service to
satisfy the needs of consumer. However, it did not guarantee consumers‟ needs could be
satisfied. It is because positive and negative feeling could be resulted from consumption.
Positive feeling resulted in positive reinforcement, which occurred when consumer
received positive outcome from product usage. Besides, negative reinforcement could
occur when consumption helps to avoid negative outcomes. On the contrary, negative
feeling resulted in punishment, which referred to consumption lead to negative outcomes.
As a result, it was a key for the companies to enhance positive feeling while
eliminate negative feeling. So a pleasant and positive experience could be created.

POST-CONSUMPTION EVALUVATION
Consumption was an important determinant of the level of satisfaction. Consumer
was satisfied by the product, if their expectation was matched by the perceive performance.
On the contrary, consumers felt dissatisfaction if their experiences and performance fell
short of expectations. In other words, customer satisfaction was very important because it
might affect whether consumers would remain loyal and repeat buying the product or not.
So the company must ensure the product performance by creating positive consumption
feeling to the consumers. Furthermore, satisfaction was an important determinate factor for

39
shaping word-of-mouth and word-of-mouse communication. As a result, consumers could
communicate with others about their consumption experiences, no matter positive or
negative. Finally, it might affect the purchase decisions of the others. In sum, companies
must try their hardest to meet and exceed consumer‟s expectations.

DIVESTMENT
At the end, consumers would dispose the product after its useful life. Normally,
there were three types of divestment, which included disposal, remarketing and recycling.
Since the fashion trend was always changing, so disposal of apparel items were commonly
found. Besides, there were some celebrities in Hong Kong who engaged in the business of
selling second-hand clothes. Many consumers, especially the young people were adored to
these clothes. It is because the clothes were from their favourite celebrities, the price was
attractive and to support environmental protection.

GENDER
Definitions of gender
Gender referred to the physical attributes that differentiate males and females
(Phang and De Run, 2007).Every society had their own set of expectations about the
appropriate behaviours for males and females (Solomon, 2006). People were well-trained
by the social norm since they were very young. They tended to behave according to their
genders, which included the way they acted, spoke and dressed. However it did not
determine male and female will follow the characteristics which are stereotypically
associated with their gender. In the society, there were gender differences which the
marketers had to further investigate.
In addition, it was a common demographic variable, which existed in almost all the
researches but only casual mentioned in the respondents‟ personal profile. In other words,
it seldom fully utilized in the research which related to celebrity endorsement. As a result,
it provided a room for the research to focus on the possible gender differences among the
perception and selection of celebrity endorsers.

40
Characteristics of Male
Males were more likely to make emotional buying base on partially digested
information (Elliott, 2006). They did not need to acquire a lot of information or details
when making a purchase decision. Besides, males viewed shopping as purchase-driven
activities. They would go shopping only when there was a need. According to the research
done by a famous global research agency, Millward Brown (2011), males were easily to be
appealed by humour, distinctive creative styles, and sexual imagery in the advertisement.
Besides, they preferred the marketing message which was straight to the point rather than
complicated. It was also found that colors and pictures in the advertisement could grab
male‟s attentions. Meanwhile, in Germany, males liked the women which featured in the
advertisement than female did (Millward Brown, 2011).

Characteristics of female
Females tended to be more sensitive and careful to details of the information. So
they preferred detailed advertisements in order to get a clear message. They also favoured
objectives over subjective claims but it would be better if the marketer were able to
combine the emotional and rational factors (Elliott, 2006). Furthermore, they enjoyed the
advertisements which featured with children or a slice of life. Besides, female hated the
advertisements for being sexist or erotic (Millward Brown, 2011).
Some researchers investigated females were far more influenced by the experts and
expert advertising than males (Aronson, 1972). Besides women were more fashion
conscious and bigger spenders in fashion than males (Goldsmith, Freidan, and Kilsheimer,
1993).Furthermore, women had been shown to score higher on the opinion leadership and
fashion innovativeness than males (Stith and Goldsmith, 1989). On the other hand, women
were more likely to go shopping and usually exhibited positive attitude towards shopping.
But male hated shopping. (Alreck and Settle, 2001; Falk and Campbell, 1997).
In addition, women viewed shopping as enjoyment which could satisfy their needs
at the same time, especially went for fashion shopping (Falk and Campbell, 1997). As the
purchase behaviour of females was totally different from males, so the possible differences
among genders were a critical factor to marketers as well this research.

41
STORE ATTRIBUTES
Considerable research has been directed towards store attributes and customer
loyalty in western countries (Carpenter and Moore, 2006). However, limited attention has
been paid to this issue in developing countries. Consumers‟ perception of store attributes
influenced by retail formats, type of products, cultural value, shopping intention and
customer base (Paulins and Geistfeld, 2003). Bearden (1977) states that store atmosphere,
location, parking facilities, and friendliness of store people are the salient factors that
influence consumer store patronage. As a result store attributes such as service offering,
activities, facilities and convenience have major influence on customer satisfaction and
loyalty (Chang and Tu, 2005).

PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES
Consumer preferences of product attributes vary according to product nature and
socioeconomic nature of consumer (Uusitalo, 2001). Product attributes are often
continuous in nature (Vishwanathan and Childers, 1999). The attributes model proposed by
Gwin and Gwin (2003) posits that consumer choice is based on maximising utility from
the product attributes subject to budget constraints. Choice theory suggests that,
consumers‟ decision making process depends on certain basic product attributes
(Vishwanathan and Childers, 1999). The basic product attributes used in previous studies
are quality, price, variety, assortment and value of the products (Gwin and Gwin, 2003).
Sinha and Banerjee‟s (2004) study in India indicate that store convenience and customer
services positively influence consumers store choices, whilst, entertainment, parking and
ambience facilities had a negative influence on consumer choice. Indian consumers were
also found to be price sensitive and quality conscious (Tuli and Mookerjee, 2004). Choo,
Jung and Pysarchik (2004) note that Indian consumers‟ attitude towards new products are
changing significantly and this can increase their intention to shop in new retail formats
such as supermarkets. Thus, product attributes such as quality, price, and availability of
new products are important constructs within the Indian context.

42
STORE CHOICES
To capture store choice, it is essential that, both the store attributes as well as the
shopper attributes are captured.
In the study conducted by Kau and Ehrenberg (1984); Uncles and Hammond
(1995); PopkowskiLeszczyc and Timmermans (1997) found that the problem comes from
the fact that in the existing studies on store choice, the relationship between store choice
and the shopper attributes are very weak. An analysis of the store switching behaviour by
Galata, et.al, (1999), revealed modest levels of inter-format switching, but a large extent of
intra-format switching, their study further found that when shoppers switch they choose a
store of the same format. This again indicates that, the choice is at two levels, the format
and then the store.
Substantiating this, Bhatnagar and Ratchford (2004) found that consumers evaluate
a group of stores on a set of attributes and then, depending upon their individual
preferences, patronize the best store. It has generally been seen that all the stores in the
choice set are in the same formats. This indicates that the first choice for the shopper is that
of the format and store is the subsequent choice Sinha and Banerjee (2004), discovered
different drivers of store choice for different merchandise categories such as grocery,
durables, pharmacy, apparel. The importance given to store attributes varies from market
to market even for the same store format and the same merchandise categories.

INFLUENCE OF 4 P’S
Besides marketing –mix, there are other factors are important for retailers. Product:
Wood (2004), Longenecker et al. (2006), and Manning and Reece (2007) suggest that
customers perceive the product‟s value based on its benefits which, in turn, is influenced
by the product„s performance, features, quality, warranties, packaging and labelling. Jung
and Pysarchik (2004) note that Indian consumers„ attitude towards new products are
changing significantly and this can increase their intention to shop in new retail formats
such as supermarkets. Thus, product attributes such as quality, price, and availability of
new products are important constructs within the Indian context.
Vishwanathan and Childers (1999) proved that the Choice theory suggests that,
consumers„ decision making process depends on certain basic product attributes. Uusitalo

43
(2001) found Consumer preferences of product attributes vary according to product nature
and socioeconomic nature of consumer. The attributes model proposed by Gwin and Gwin
(2003) posits that consumer choice is based on maximising utility from the product
attributes subject to budget constraints.
According to Gwin and Gwin (2003) the basic product attributes used in previous
studies are quality, price, variety, assortment and value of the products. Price: Price is one
of the easily noticeable attributes (Arnold, Oum and Tigert, 1983, Bell, Ho and Tang,
2001; and Freymann, 2002 ;) and considerable work exists, on how, the price of store
offerings, affects the store choice. Litz& Stewart1(1998) shown that smaller retailers often
charge higher prices for their products as they could be restricted by less financial
resources, resulting in higher purchasing costs, as they cannot afford to buy in bulk,
whereas franchise prices may be lower because of higher volume purchases. Du Plessis
and Rosseau (1999) explain that price„s effect on consumer behavior is more direct and
immediate and that consumers„ perception of price, whether high, low or fair, could have a
strong influence on their purchase intentions and, ultimately, their satisfaction. Place/
location Huff, 1964; Craig, Ghosh, and McLafferty 1984, and Brown ,1989, found store
location plays an important role in the store choice.
Meyer and Eagle (1982) found in the store choice literature gives primacy to the
store location and believes that the consumers are influenced by the travel costs of
shopping. Fotheringham (1988) found while brand choice is independent of the location
aspect, and is not affected by it; the store choice is very much influenced by location.
Ghosh and Craig (2001) suggest that retailers can capture a larger share of potential
customers by choosing a better location than their competitors. Hawkins and
Mothersbaugh (2010) support this view by explaining that a store„s location plays an
important role in consumer store choice as consumers would generally choose a store that
is located closest to them when all other things (for example price, product variety, brand
names) offered by competing stores are equal.

44
PROMOTIONS
Fam&Merrilees (1998) opined that Promotion includes advertisements, sales
presentations and exhibits that could influence consumers„ perceptions of a retail store, as
consumers are made aware of the products and services businesses sell through their
promotional activities. Pride & Ferrell (2010) have given other aspects under marketers„
control that could also influence consumers„ perceptions of a retailer or store include a
store„s image and related store image attributes (for example accessibility to the store,
parking facilities offered, credit card facilities, displays, lighting, cleanliness), quality of
supporting services provided and whether a personal relationship exists with the store
owner or employees. STORE IMAGE Store image, as one of the determinants of store
choice, is largely based on store attributes, which can gain a selective advantage for
retailers in the minds of consumers. Coupled with such consumer characteristics as
shopping orientation, store attributes help retailers to predict which shopping outlets
people will prefer.

STORE IMAGE
Concept of store image Martineau (1958) was the first writer to introduce store
image concept. He described store image as ―the way in which the store is defined in the
shoppers mind, partly by its functional qualities and partly by an aura of the psychological
attributes‖. In Martineau„s words, ―regardless of the ability to pay, all shoppers seek
stores whose total image is acceptable and appealing to them individually‖. He states that
the store‟s personality draws shoppers to one store rather than another. Martineau says that
not only should retailers be concerned with value and quality of merchandise, but also with
a wide range of other factors. All of these factors are expected to play a critical role in the
success or failure of stores. Importance of store image Hildebrandt (1988) said, ―The
major success factor in the retail industry is store image and measurement model of store
image that conceptualize the perception of store image attribute such as price level is used
to forecast marketing performance as a business success measure.
Wedel (1991) mentioned that the consideration of store image made an important role
in the development of marketing strategies for shoppers„ loyalty of both individual and chain
stores and shopping centers. Research on store image has undoubtedly acted to inform

45
retailers on the positioning strategies for their outlets, enabling them to differentiate their
stores in terms of their products, their prices, or the services they offer (Wortzel, 1987;
Birtwistle, Clarke and Freathy,1999).
In the context of the retail sector the overall image is termed as store attributes or
store image. These store attributes are basically the marketing mix of the retailer
(Morschett et al 2005; Ghosh 1990). Store image is also recognized as being an important
antecedent of store satisfaction and loyalty. Store loyalty is built by satisfaction and this
satisfaction, in its turn, is built by store image (Bloemer and Ruyter1998).
Varley, (2005) opined that consumers use store image as an evaluative criterion in
the decision-making process of selecting a retail outlet (Store attributes refer to the
underlying components of a store image dimension like merchandise, physical facilities,
services, atmospherics and so on). Store image has been found to be linked to store loyalty
and patronage decisions (Assael, 1992; Wong and Yu, 2003). Measurement of store image
Research on store image has yielded a large number of attributes (Martineau, 1958; James
et al, 1976; Peter and Olson, 1990). Multi-attribute model In their effort to understand how
consumers make store choice decisions given a set of store attribute preferences,
researchers have emphasized the extent to which consumer attaches importance to
attributes of individual stores. This interest is grounded in the traditional multi-attribute
model set forth by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) depicting the relationship between belief,
attitudes and behaviour. They posit that a person‟s attitude toward a given object is a
summation of beliefs about the object‟s attributes weighted by the evaluation of the
importance of these attributes. Within this model, beliefs involve perceptions of the
object‟s attributes. In addition to beliefs about an object‟s attributes, this model accounts
for the importance assigned to an attribute. Thus, attitude can vary substantially by how
important attributes are to a consumer. Applied to the retail situation, the multi-attribute
model indicates that a consumer‟s attitude toward a retail store is a function of (a) the
degree of importance attached by the consumer to various store attributes, and (b) the
consumer‟s perception of the degree to which a retail store possesses each attribute.

46
CONSUMER PERCEPTION
Engel et al. (1995) found that if consumer‟s perceptions of the store attributes are
positive, then they may decide to purchase from the store. On the other hand, if consumer‟s
perceptions of the store attributes are negative, then they are unlikely to shop in the store. The
role of store atmospherics, store ambience and store environment has also been studied as a
part of store attributes. Every retailer must examine for which special area he can gain
competence and which experience area has the largest profiling potential (Weinberg, 1992;
Kroeber-Riel, 1984), but it has been verified that the appraisal of both internal "atmospheric"
elements, such as design, lighting and temperature, and external elements, such as parking
facilities, accessibility, can affect consumers attraction to a shopping facility, influences a
consumer's desire to remain longer in an outlet (Babin and attaway, 2000; Bitner, 1992;
Wakefield and Baker, 1998) and a consumer‟s in-store shopping behaviour (Tai Fung, 1997).
Additionally this experience value of the shopping outlet contributes to the subjective quality
of life of consumers (see Weinberg, 1992). Lindquist (1974) has proved that apart from the
components of the marketing mix, store image attributes include components such as customer
service, parking 8facilities, security, credit card facilities and the relationship of the client with
the store owner and/or the employees. According to him store image consists of a combination
of tangible (or functional) and intangible (or psychological) factors that consumers perceive to
be found in retail stores. Bearden (1977) states that store atmosphere, location, parking
facilities, and friendliness of store people are the salient factors that influence consumer store
patronage Gripsrud and Horvetak (1986) opined that consumers tend to base their patronage
decisions on the shopping complex rather than on individual stores. Hansen and Deutscher
(1978) used a base of 485 consumers in Ohio and examined the relative importance of the
various aspects of retail image to different consumer segments. They made comparison of
d8ifferent attributes across departmental and grocery stores to indicate congruence and
concluded that the same attributes are important across different types of stores.
Heinemann (1989) has tried to identify major differentiation factors for retailers by
conducting an empirical analysis. It was based on key performance factors such as
assortment, service, price, communications policy, layout and design. One performance
factor has emerged as the most important and effective one, the design of a shopping
outlet. Kahn and Schmittlein (1989) found that store choice is dependent on the timing of
shopping trips, with consumers visiting smaller local store for short ―fill-in‖ trips and

47
larger store for regular shopping trips. Engel, Blackwell and Miniard (1990) found that
purchasers distinguished acceptable stores from unacceptable stores in the process of
comparing their evaluation standards with perceived image attributes and mentioned that
“store image is a variable that consumers depend on in their choice of stores‖. Arnold et al
(1983) used consumer cross-shopping data to study food store choice in developed
countries. They found that the following were important food store choice determinants:
1. Location
2. Assortment
3. Price
4. Fast Check-Out
5. Friendly & Courteous Service
6. Weekly Specials; and
7. Pleasant Shopping Environment

A study by Cassill et al. (1993) found that consumers chose to patronise individual
department stores for clothing purchases when a combination of factors present: the
stocking of particular brands; the presence of national and own-branded products; and
where garments offered functional value rather than fashion appeal in their study on the
segmentation of retail markets based on store image.

STORE IMAGE COMPONENTS

Barich& Srinivasan (1993) selected 6 store image components - product variety,
product quality, store attractiveness, reasonable prices, convenience, and customer service
Arnold, Handerman and Tigert (1996) surveyed low-priced department store shoppers in
five different cities in the US and Canada. They found that a store which was identified as
being the best on the performative attributes such as location, convenience, price and
assortment of merchandise was more likely to be patronized by customers. The study also
revealed that a store identified as having a strong community reputation not only directly
affected store choice, but also moderated the effect of location, price and assortment
attributes. Lee and Johnson (1997) found that customer expectations of store attributes also
differ according to store type. They observed that customers did not expect much customer

48
service at discount stores while they expected extensive service from specialty stores. In an
effort to determine how consumers organize their shopping trips when faced with an
increasingly enlarged set of retail formats, Bell and Lattin (1998) has shown that there
exists a logical relationship between a household's shopping behavior and store
preferences. Leung and Oppewal (1999) had conducted research on the roles of store and
brand names in consumers„ choice of a retail outlet and concluded that a high-quality
brand or high-quality store is sufficient to attract the customer to a retail store. The study
also revealed that store names have a larger impact on store choice than the brand names of
the products that these stores have on offer. According to Moye (2000), consumers engage
in a comparison process in their minds to determine whether their evaluation of the relative
importance of store attributes aligns with their perceptions of these attributes. If the two
factors match, then the consumer chooses the store. Consumer compares the importance of
store attributes with the store image (i.e. overall perception) to determine acceptable and
unacceptable stores.
Popkowski-Leszczyc and Timmermans (2001) found that consumers tended to choose
a variety of stores and overall preferred to shop at specialty stores. Furthermore, consumers
were increasingly likely to select a single store when prices were lower, parking costs were
less, better assortments were offered, travel time was reduced and checkout lanes were
shorter. Baker, Parasuraman, Grewal, and Voss (2002) studied how store environment cues
influence consumers' store choice decision criteria, such as perceived merchandise value
and shopping experience. Paulins and Geistfeld (2003) opined that consumers„ perception
of store attributes influenced by retail formats, type of products, cultural value, shopping
intention and customer base. Paulins and Geistfeld (2003) showed that apparel store
preference is affected by type of clothing desired in stock, outside store preference,
shopping hours and store advertising. Accordingly, consumer„s perceptions of store
attributes were found to vary by store type. Lindquist and Sirgy (2003)suggested that
psychological attributes are a little more difficult to identify and compare across outlets.
They inc-lude such objective considerations as a sense of belonging, a feeling of warmth,
or friendliness, or a feeling of excitement. Consumers form an outlet image based
simultaneously on functional and psychological attributes. According to Levy and Weitz
(2003), the store satisfaction is a post consumption evaluation. However, previous research

49
suggests that the merchandise or product type & other environmental factors influence the
customer evaluation of the store image (Sinha, Banerjee, and Uniyal, 2002).
In a study to determine predictors of store choice in the Indian market, Sinha and
Banerjee (2004) find the following factors determining store choice: Proximity;
Merchandise; Ambience; Service; & Patronized store. Sinha and Banerjee add that for
grocery stores the most important factors are: Proximity; Visiting for many years &
Relationship with retailer. In a study in Germany Morschett et al. (2005) extracted the
following factors:
o Quality of Performance (store design, orderliness, service, quality of assortment)
o Scope of Offers (OSS & variety)
o Price Level (Price)

Chang and Tu (2005) found store attributes such as service offering, activities,
facilities and convenience have major influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Hedrick et al (2005) propose that store environment and store atmospherics can influence
customer's expectations on the retail salesperson. They conducted a study on sales people
and store atmosphere, and identified that customer's perceptions of a salesperson's
attributes and relationship building behaviors„ were important drivers of customer
satisfaction. In retail, intentions are usually determined by a willingness to stay in the store,
willingness to repurchase, willingness to purchase more in the future and willingness to
recommend the store to others. Kaul (2005) made a study on which store attributes are
appealing for self-image of consumers and their impact on in-store satisfaction and
patronage intentions. She concluded that service expressiveness value is distinct from the
performance value obtained from service delivery. Consumers satisfied with service
quality are most likely to become and remain loyal. He further observes that a store having
modern equipment, good and clean physical facilities and ease in transactions would be
able to yield satisfaction and patronage intentions. Tripathi and Sinha (2006) have studied
retail store choice not from the perspective of an individual but of the family. They argue
that it is mostly the family and not the individual who is the consumer of the retail
offering.

50
 Visser et al (2006) studied the importance of apparel store image attributes as
perceived by female consumers by means of eight focus groups. Results indicated that
merchandise and clientele were perceived as the most important dimensions, followed by
service; physical facilities were the least important. Yildirim et al (2007) did a study
focusing on determining the effects of a store window type (flat or arcade) on consumers
“perception of store windows (promotion, merchandise and fashion) and shopping attitudes
(intentions for store entry and purchase) in the context of retail outlets. To test the
assumption that there are relationships between various types of store windows and
consumers “perception of store windows and shopping attitudes, they conducted a study
based upon digital pictures of two types of store windows hypothetically located in a big
store. Results revealed that consumers seem to have a more positive perception of flat
windows than arcade windows with respect to promotion, merchandise and fashion.
Carpenter and Moore (2006) in their study examined store attributes (e.g. price
competitiveness, product selection, and atmosphere) as drivers of format choice. In a study
exploring the key factors influencing customer preferences as applied to the concept of
―Amul Preferred Outlets‖ (which are franchisee run food retail outlets) Rao & Kapoor
(2006) identified 14 variables to study the store choice criteria. These 14 factors were
subject to data reduction through factor analysis that identified three factors namely:
Convenience; Snacks Joint and Value added services. Min (2006) found that eleven store
attributes are perceived important by shoppers in the US.
1. Quality of products
2. Special Products
3. Variety of merchandise
4. Competitive prices
5. Fast Check-out
6. Cleanliness
7. Proximity
8. Store hours
9. General services
10. Employee courtesy
11. Ease of payment

51
 Sondhi and Singhvi (2006), found the following factors-through Principle
Component Analysis (PCA)-to be important determinants of apparel store choice:
1. Quality judgment - quality of merchandise, touch & feel;
2. Available range- depth and width of merchandise, availability of merchandise;
3. Customization- convenience in locating desired product, alteration facility
4. Value for time- shopping time, speed and quality
5. Customer care- personal attention, recommendation based on personal preference.
To sum up, based on the literature the common attributes used by most of the
researchers in their studies are:
o Merchandise quality
o Merchandise range
o Level of services
o Facilities
o Layout
o Atmosphere
o Location
o Quality of display
o General reputation o Image
o Prices

3.4 REVIEW ON RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study population is the customer of Trivandrum District. The sample size
taken for the study was 240, where 44.2% of Male and 55.8% of Female. The total
population of this district is 3279860. Here I took 0.067% of the total population. The
sampling technique used is exploratory research, investigation in to a problem or situation
which provides insight to the researcher. This research is meant to provide details were
small amount of information exist.

52
 CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

53
4.1 TOOL FOR DATA ANALYSIS
SPSS 21.0 for windows was used for data analysis.

4.2 SAMPLING PROFILE

The total numbers of responses were 240. The demographic profile of the sample
is presented in the tables and graphs below respectively. The frequency analysis was done
using IBM SPSS data editor 21.

4.2.1 GENDER

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent

Female 134 55.8 55.8 55.8

Male 106 44.2 44.2 100.0
Total 240 100.0 100.0

Table 2 . Gender

PERCENT

FEMALE
MALE

Fig 3. Count of Gender

54
From the above table and graph, it‟s understood that, out of 240 respondents, 134 were
females i.e. 55.8% of the respondents were females.
Secondary, its understood that, out of 240 respondents, 106 were males, i.e. 44.2% of the
respondents were male.
4.2.2 AGE

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Below 20 years 38 15.83
20-25 years 144 60
25-30 years 28 11.6
30-35 years 16 6.6
Above 35 years 14 5.8
Total 240 100

Table 3. Age

AGE

5.8
6.6 15.83

Below 20
11.6
20-25 years
25-30 years
30-35 years
Above 35 years

60

Fig 4. Count of Age

55
From the above graph, means age of the respondents is 20-25. The range of the
respondents is from below 20 to above 35 years.

4.3 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

The table given below gives the mean and standard deviation of the variables studied.
Table 4. Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Awr1 240 1.00 5.00 3.6000 1.01371
Awr2 240 1.00 5.00 3.5333 1.01399
Awr3 240 1.00 5.00 3.4958 1.10910
Q1 240 3.00 5.00 4.6625 .49119
Q2 240 2.00 5.00 4.4208 .58751
Q3 240 1.00 5.00 3.6333 1.07410
CSR1 240 1.00 5.00 3.6333 1.0016
CSR2 240 1.00 5.00 3.529 .99567
CSR3 240 1.00 5.00 3.4333 1.08080
Soc1 240 2.00 5.00 3.6333 .87679
Soc2 240 1.00 5.00 3.6417 .84631
Soc3 240 2.00 5.00 3.8125 .83481
Nat1 240 2.00 5.00 3.9583 .85223
Nat2 240 2.00 5.00 4.1500 .78319
Nat3 240 2.00 5.00 4.1250 .76604
UNI1 240 1 5 3.71 .975
UNI2 240 1 5 3.62 .978
UNI3 240 1 5 3.54 .997
UNI4 240 1 5 3.51 .981
PP1 240 2.00 5.00 3.5333 1.00570
PP2 240 1.00 5.00 3.1083 1.11134
Valid 240
N(listwise)

56
4.4 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF SCALE

Cronbach‟s α is used as an estimate of the reliability by researchers. As arule of

thumb, a reliability of 0.70 or higher is required to establish the validity of the scale.
To calculate scale reliability IBM SPSS Data editor 20 was used. The overall reliability of
the
Table 5. Reliability Statistics
Cronbach‟s α N of items
.937 21

The overall reliability Cronbach‟s α (For a total of 21 items) is 0.937.

4.5 CORRELATION

The bivariate Pearson Correlation produces a sample correlation coefficient, r,

which measures the strength and direction of linear relationships between pairs of
continuous variables. The bivariate Pearson correlation indicates whether a statistically
significant linear relationship exist between two continuous variables, the strength of a
linear relationship (i.e., how close the relationship is to being a perfectly straight line and
the direction of a linear relationship (increasing or decreasing).
4.5.1 Correlation between Awareness and Price Premium
Table .6 Correlations
Awareness Price Premium
Awareness Pearson Correlation 1 .626**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240
Pearson Correlation .626** 1
Price Premium Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

57
4.5.2 Correlation between Quality and Price Premium
Table .7Correlations
Price Premium Quality
Pearson Correlation 1 .451**
Price Premium Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240
Pearson Correlation .451** 1
Quality Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

4.5.3 Correlation between CSR and Price Premium

Table .8 Correlations
Price Premium CSR
Pearson Correlation 1 .451**
Price Premium Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240
Pearson Correlation .620** 1
CSR Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

58
4.5.4 Correlation between Social Image and Price Premium

Table 9. Correlation
Price Premium Social Image
Pearson Correlation 1 .595**
Price Premium Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240
Pearson Correlation .595** 1
CSR Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

4.5.5 Correlation between Natural Label and Price Premium

Table 10. Correlation

Price Premium Natural Label
Pearson Correlation 1 .576**
Price Premium Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240
Pearson Correlation .576** 1
CSR Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

59
4.5.6 Correlation between Uniqueness and Price Premium

Table .11 Correlations

Price Premium Uniqueness
Pearson Correlation 1 .594**
Price Premium Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240
Pearson Correlation .594** 1
CSR Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 240 240

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

4.6 R SQUARED AND ADJUSTED R SQUARED VALUE

The R Squared, adjusted R squared value is shown in the table below.

Table .12 Model Summaries

Model R R Square Adjusted Std. Error of
R Square the Estimate
a
1 .734 .538 .526 .67856

a. Predictors: (Constant), Uniqueness, Quality, CSR, Natural Label, Social Image,

Awareness.

R-squared is a statistical measure of how close the data are to the fitted regression line. It is
also known as the coefficient of determination, or the coefficient of multiple determination
for multiple regression. 0% indicates that the model explains none of the variability of the
response data around its mean.
The adjusted R-squared is a modified version of R-squared that has been adjusted for thr
number of predictors in the model

60
4.7 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE

The F value measures 42.25 which mean that the independent variables are related
to the dependant variable price premium. An F value closer to zero indicates that the
mentioned independent variables don‟t affect the dependant variable at all.

Table13. ANOVA
Model Sum of Df Mean F Sig.
Square Square
b
Regression 125.011 6 45.250 45.250 .000
1 Residual 107.284 233 .460
Total 232.296 239

a. Dependent Variable: Price Premium

b. Predictors: (Constant), Uniqueness, Quality, CSR, Natural Label, Social Image,
Awareness.
c.
4.8 REGRESSION ANALYSIS

Table .14 Coefficients

Model Unstandardized Standardized T Sig.
Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) -1.294 .358 -3.614 .000
Awareness .162 .125 .156 1.296 .196
Quality .190 .095 .109 2.014 .045
CSR .142 .130 .133 1.090 .277
Social Image .176 .094 .130 1.884 .061
Natural Label .214 .095 .148 2.247 .026
Uniqueness .339 .079 .246 4.268 .000

61
 a. Dependent Variable: Price Premium
From the table it‟s understood that Quality, Natural Label and Uniqueness of Meriiboy
Ice Cream are significant and effects the customers‟ willingness to pay a premium price for
the brand. On the other hand, Awareness, CSR, and social Image, do not have any
significant impact on customers‟ willingness to pay a premium price as seen from the
significant values.

62
 CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

63
5.1 FINDINGS:

1. 52% of respondents were aware about the brand through television advertisement
and 28% of them were aware through Point of purchase display.
2. 73% of respondents are occasional users of Meriiboy ice cream others are monthly
or weekly users of Meriiboy ice cream.
3. 74% of respondents are getting the same benefits given in the advertisement 27%
of respondents not getting same benefits given in the advertisement.
4. 70% of respondents are highly aware about the brand ambassador of Meriiboy ice
cream, 30% have no awareness regarding the brand ambassador.
5. 18%of respondents have special interest towards the brand Meriiboy ice cream
after ManjuWarrier being the brand ambassador. 82% have no special interest
towards the brand after ManjuWarrier being the brand ambassador.
6. Public relation activities of company created a good position among 81% of
respondents, 19% of respondents have not such opinion.
7. 48% of respondents will change their purchase decision if any negative publicity or
rumors arises, 52% are not affected by the negative publicity and rumors.
8. 38% of respondents have fair opinion regarding promotion of Meriiboy ice cream
through social media, 28% have poor opinion regarding promotion of Meriiboy ice
cream through social media, only 18% have good opinion regarding promotion
through social media.
9. 76% of respondents are feeling to purchase Meriiboy ice cream because of the
point of display, 24% are not influenced to buy the product by display kept in store.
10. 17% of respondents feel that the personal selling activities of Meriiboy ice cream as
excellent, 47% of respondents have good opinion regarding personal selling
activities of Meriiboy ice cream.
11. 97% of respondent‟s have not availed offers of Meriiboy ice cream; only 3% are
availed offers of Meriiboy ice cream.
12. From the above chart 32% are choose the brand because of promotional mix, 31%

are buy this brand because of taste of the product, 19% of respondents buy this
brand because of Quality, 14% of respondents buy this brand because of the brand

64
 image , 1% of respondents buying the brand because of the price , 1% of
respondents buying reason are other factors

13. 30% of respondents induced to purchase the product because of woman as medium
of promotion, 70% of people have no special interest towards the brand because of
woman as medium of promotion.
14. 94% of respondents have agreed Meriiboy ice cream penetrate the market because
of their quality and marketing strategy, others are disagree with the statement.
15. Promotion through radio and magazine needs improvement according to 31% of
respondents, 29% of respondents have the opinion that Meriiboy ice cream should
improve publicity and public relation activities.
16. Since calculated Value is higher than table value, the null hypothesis is rejected.
There is significance relation between promotional mix and Purchase decision of
Meriiboy Ice Cream.

65
 5.2 SUGGESTIONS:

1. Meriiboy Ice Cream enjoys a very unique position in the customer perceptions as it‟s
evident in the significance value. The brand shall never compromise on this factor, it
may further study what factors make up the „uniqueness‟ of the brand.
2. Furthermore, Meriiboy‟s marketing campaign and branding strategy to position itself
as 100% natural shows very strong positive impacts on the consumers. Now any
news or a small remark against the natural label would ruin the entire brand image.
Naturalness has been so deep rooted in the customer minds that the brand has to take
extra measures to fulfill customer expectations.
rd
3. Quality, the 3 most significant factor from the results obtained is one of the core
values of Meriiboy. Today, every single brand focuses on quality; it‟s no more a
competitive edge but a minimum requirement. Yet, Meriiboy‟s quality feature is
highlighted in the analysis meaning that among all the competitor brands, Meriiboy
offers premium quality.
4. When it comes to CSR it is noted that, though CSR is positively correlated to
consumers‟ willingness to pay a premium price, it is not significant enough to
establish the relationship. Meriiboy, like any other company would be doing a good
number of CSR activities. Procuring milk from the local farmers at decent prices is
an encouragement to cattle farming and employing a considerable number of people
from its place of origin are commendable. The brand may commit do more CSR
activities and make them visible to the public will definitely increase the brand
image.
5. Social image is yet another factor that shows positive correlation but not a significant
one on customers „willingness to pay a premium price. Price premium mostly
generates from a very rich brand image. Meriiboy is equivalent to quality and
naturalness but social image can further strengthen the image such that, when
Meriiboy plan to go for premium pricing like its international competitors like BR in
the future. Promotions of naturalness can be combined with the representation of
high class customers relishing the brand can be done to achieve this.

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5.3 CONCLUSION

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of brand image and

customers‟ willingness for Meriiboy ice cream. This study helps to know that
advertisement and public relation activities effective to increase awareness level among the
customers, celebrity endorsement helps in make awareness in the mind of customers and it
will influence the purchase decision of customers. This study describes the effect of the
factors like awareness, quality, CSR, Social Label, and Uniqueness on customers‟
willingness to pay a price premium for meriiboy ice cream. According to the study, the
Perceived quality, natural label and Uniqueness of the product will have a positive impact
to pay a price premium. The study provides certain improvements were the company
required to increase their brand image/brand value.
This study gives an in-depth analysis of the brand image and customers‟
willingness, the factors such as awareness, quality, CSR, Social Label, and Uniqueness.
This study helps to identify the factors that influenced to the customers to pay a price
premium for meriiboy ice cream.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Books

1. John Anselmsson, NiklasBondesson, Ulf Johansson, (2014) “Brand image and

customers‟ willingness to pay a price premium for food brands”, Journal of Product
& Brand Management, Vol. 23 Issue: 2, pp.90-102, doi: 10.1108/JPBM-10-2013-
0414.
2. “PUSH Integrated Communication Pvt Ltd”. Pushintcom,com, Web. 5 June 2017.
3. “Home | Meriiboy”. Meriiboy.com.N.p., 2017. Web. 10 May 2017.
4. “A study of India‟s Ice Cream Market 2016- Research And Markets”.
Researchandmarkets.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 19 May 2017.
5. “Global & Country Specific IndepthMaret Analysis.” India Ice Cream
MarketForecast to Grow at CAGR 17% till 2021. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2017.
6. Das, Sohini. “Brand play to the ice cream stands” Business Standard. Business-
Standards, 04 May 2016. Web. 13 June 2017.
7. Kishore, P. “Rain or Shine, Ice cream is hot.” Onmanorama. N.P., 15 June 2015.
Web. 13 June 2017.

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ANNEXURE

69
 QUESTIONNAIRE
“A STUDY ON BRAND AWARENESS OF MERIIBOY AT MILKY
FOOD INDUSTRIES”

Dear sir/madam,
The questionnaire is a part of a project work entitled “a study on brand awareness of
Meriiboy at Milky Food Industries and customers” conducted by ArunRadhakrishnan
for the completion of master business administration in marketing. Please complete all the
parts of this questionnaire in accordance with your experience. I assure that all of your
information acquired from this questionnaire will confidentially kept and will be used for
academic purpose only. Thank you in advance for your kindly cooperation.

Name:

Age:
a) Below 15 b) 15-35 c) 35-55 d)Above 55

Gender:
a)Male b)Female

Educational qualification:
a) SSLC or below b) Plus two c) Degree or above d) PG or above

Annual Income:
a) Below 100000 b) 100000 – 300000
c)300000 – 500000 d) Above 500000

Occupation:
a) Students b)Professional

1. Do you like ice cream?

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a) Yes b)No

2. Are you aware about Meriiboy ice cream?

a) Yes b) No

3. How do you come to know more about the brand Meriiboy?

a) Advertisement b) From sales persons
c) Friends & Relatives d) Point of purchase display
e) Public relation/ publicity

4. Do you buy Meriiboy ice cream?

a) Yes b) No

5. How often you would like to have Meriiboy ice cream?

a) Once in a day b) Once in a week
c) Once in a month d) Occasionally

6. Is Meriiboy ice cream have a high standard of quality?

a) Yes b) No

7. Does Meriiboy ice cream have a consistent quality?

a) Yes b) No

8. Is Meriiboy ice cream environment friendly?

a) Yes b) No

9. Is Meriiboy ice cream healthy?

a) Yes b) No

10. Do you have any special interest to the brand after Manju Warrier being the brand
ambassador?
a) Yes b) No

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11. Have any publicity/ public relation activities of Meriiboy ice cream created a good position
in your mind?
a) Yes b) No

12. Will your purchase decision be influenced if any negative publicity or rumours are raised in
future?
a) Yes b) No

13. Have you seen any events and sponsorship programs of Meriiboy?
a) Yes b) No

14. What is your opinion regarding events and sponsorship programs of Meriiboy?
a) Excellent b) Good
c) Fair d) Poor
e) Very poor

15. Have you ever purchased Meriiboy ice cream from their own outlet?
a) Yes b) No

16. What is your opinion regarding the promotion of Meriiboy through social media?

a) Excellent b) Good
c) Fair d) Poor
e) Very poor

17. What is your opinion regarding the display of Meriiboy kept in store?

a) Excellent b) Good
c) Fair d) Poor
e) Very poor

18. Will the display kept in store influence you to buy the product?
a) Yes b) No

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19. What is opinion regarding personal selling activities of Meriiboy?

a) Excellent b) Good
c) Fair d) Poor
e) Very poor

20. Have you availed any offers of Meriiboy?

a) Yes b) No

21. Which are the factors influenced you most, to choose the brand Meriiboy?
a) Quality b) Promotional mix
c) Brand image d) Taste
e) Price f) Other factors

22. Usually ice cream brands are using women as its medium of promotion. Is it a temptation for
you to buy the brand?
a) Yes b) No

23. “Meriiboy penetrated into the market very fast only because of their marketing strategies and
quality.” Do you agree with the statement?
a) Agree b) Disagree

24. Do you recommend Meriiboy ice cream to others?

a) Yes b) No

25. Which promotional mix needs to be improved?

a) Radio/magazines b) TV advertisement
c) New media d) Event Marketing
e) Publicity/public relation f) Personal selling

26. Would you continue to buy Meriiboy ice cream in future?

a) Yes b) No

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