APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE

 Appendix

Questionnaire
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS DAIRY PRODUCTS
IN CHITTOOR DISTRICT
Dear Respondent,
This academic survey is to investigate the various factors that
influence the consumer behaviour in buying dairy products with special
reference to Chittoor District. This is to invite you to spare your valuable time
to complete the questionnaire and return it back at your earliest convenience.
Please be assured that your responses and your personal information would
be kept confidential and anonymous. Please take time to fill out this
questionnaire as accurately as possible. Your responses would be of a great
contribution to this research. I deeply appreciate your kind cooperation.
- M. Soma Sekhara
(Researcher)

SECTION I PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

(Tick on appropriate one)
Name of the respondent: ___________________________
Age: ________ years Gender: Male / Female
Education: Illiterate / Primary / High / SSC / Graduation / Post graduation

Area of Residence: _______________(Street Name/ Area Name/ Pachayat)

City / Town: ______________________(Municipality / Mandal)
Monthly Income of the Family:
[ ] Up to Rs. 5000 [ ] Rs. 5,001 10,000 [ ] Rs.10,001 15,000
[ ] 15,001 20,000 [ ] above Rs. 20,000
Number of members in the family
Adults __________ Children (below 12 years) __________
Food Habit: Vegetarians / Non - vegetarians

284

SECTION II CONSUMER MOTIVATION

Importance of the purpose or need which motivate you to purchase dairy
products
(Please fill each purpose with appropriate variables)
1 Most unimportant, 2 unimportant,3 Neither important nor unimportant,
4 Important, 5 Most Important

Butter
Purpose / Need Milk Curd Ghee
Milk
a. Part of Regular Diet
b. Festivals and Religious
Ceremonies
c. Parties and Functions
d. Preparation of Sweets etc.
e. Medical Advise
f. Casually
g. As a matter of prestige
h. Influence of others

If you are not purchasing the dairy products, (please tick the appropriate
reason to do so).
Butter
De-motivator Milk Curd Ghee
Milk
a. Medical Advice (Health
Grounds)
b. No liking / taste
c. Feel it Costly
d. Not felt any need
e. On the advice of others

285

SECTION III CONSUMER PURCHASING PREFERENCES AND PATTERNS

Do you plan your purchasing of dairy products before actual shopping

(please tick)
All the Most of Few Very few
Product Never
times the times times times
a. Milk
b. Butter Milk
c. Curd
d. Ghee

Monthly Consumption Pattern

Purchased from
Preference
Dairy Products (Door Delivery, Company Outlet, Convenience
(Brand / Local /Own prepared)
Store)

Milk
Butter Milk
Curd
Ghee

Average Quantity of consumption of the dairy products per day or month

a. Milk __________ litres / day _______________ litres/month
b. Butter milk __________packets/day
_______________packets/month
c. Curd __________packets/day
_______________packets/month
d. Ghee __________gms/day
_______________kg/month

286

Quantity Preferences

While purchasing the dairy products, what is your preferred package

size?
(please tick)
a. Milk up to 200 ml / 500 ml / 1 ltr / 2 ltrs / above 2 ltrs
b. Butter Milk up to 200 ml / 500 ml / 1 ltr / 2 ltrs / above 2 ltrs
c. Curd up to 200 ml / 500 ml / 1 ltr / 2 ltrs / above 2 ltrs
d. Ghee up to 200 gms / 500 gms / 1 kg / 2 kg / above 2
kg

Store Selection

Importance of factors to select a particular store to purchase dairy products

(Please fill each factor with your level of importance)
1 Extremely unimportant 2 Quite unimportant 3 Neutral
4 Quite important 5 - Extremely important
Butter
Favourable Factor Milk Curd Ghee
Milk
a. Availability of superior quality
products
b. Reliable in dealings
c. Reasonable / competitive prices
d. Wide range of products / brands
available
e. Nearer to residence
f. Credit facility
g. Acceptance of bank credit cards
h. Good/Friendly salesmanship
i. Good environment inside the
store
j. More social prestige
k. Store belongs to known people
l. Availability of door delivery
facility
m. Scope of bargaining

287

Consumer Preference towards Organized / Unorganized Sector

Factors considered in purchasing dairy products from organized sector

(Please indicate your level of agreement)
a. Preferred taste
b. No fear of adulteration 1 Very low preference
2 Low preference
c. More hygienic preparation 3 Neutral
d. Easy availability 4 High Preference
5 Very high preference
e. Better quality
f. Clean and attractive packing
g. Effective advertising
h. Influence of others

Factors considered in purchasing dairy products from un-organized

sector
(Please indicate your level of agreement)
a. Low prices
b. Local availability 1 Very low preference
c. Non-availability of reputed brands 2 Low preference
3 Neutral
d. Available in required quantities 4 High Preference
e. Regular supply 5 Very high preference
f. Available on credit terms
g. Liked and recommended by others

288

 SECTION-IV INFLUENCING FACTORS

Indicate the importance of the following Attributes in your decision to

purchase dairy products
1 Most unimportant, 2 unimportant, 3 Neither important nor
unimportant, 4 Important, 5 Most Important
Dairy Products
Factors
Milk Butter Milk Curd Ghee
Quality 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5

Flavour 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5

Freshness 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5

Colour 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5

Taste 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5

Fat content 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5

Brand Image 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5

Reasonable
1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5
Price
Availability 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5

Convenience 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5

Advertisements
1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5
or offers
Retailers
1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5
Influence
Product Safety 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5
Hygienic and
Attractive 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5 1/2/3/4/5
packing
(Note: Circle your level of agreement appropriately)

289

SECTION-V IMPACT OF FAMILY AND PEER GROUPS
Age of the Family Head:
[ ] Up to 30 years [ ] 31 40 years [ ] 41 50 years [ ] above 51years
Family Roles
Initiator in the family to purchase the dairy products (please tick)
Wife Husband Children
Product Both Others
usually usually usually
a) Milk
b) Butter Milk
c) Curd
d) Ghee
Role dominance of the family members in the matters relating to purchasing
of dairy products (Please fill each product and activity with any of the variables)
W - Wife usually; H Husband usually; B Both; C Children usually; O Others

Brand Quantity Frequency Actual

Product
Selection decision decision shopping
a. Milk
b. Butter Milk
c. Curd
d. Ghee

Who makes buying decisions?

Who makes buying decision?
Dairy
Family Member
Products Age Education Occupation
(Father/Mother/Son/Daughter/others)

Milk
Butter
Milk
Curd
Ghee

290

 Role of peer group in the purchasing of dairy products

1 Very low 2 Low 3 Neither high nor low 4 High 5 Very high

Providing Initiation to Recommendation Recommendation

Products
market information purchase of brand of store
Milk
Butter milk
Curd
Ghee

*****

291

 PART I
PUBLISHED PAPERS IN REPUTED
INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS

S.NO TITILE ISSN

1 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS DAIRY 0975-3427
PRODUCTS IN ANDHRA PRADESH
2 A STUDY ON THE CONSUMER 2320-2939
PREFERENCES OF MILK PRODUCTS WITH
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CHITTOOR
DISTRICT
3 CONSUMER SATISFACTION: A STUDY 2319-1899
WITH REFERENCE TO MILK CONSUMERS
4 THE EFFECT OF MARKETING MIX IN 2312-3434
BUYING DECISION ON DAIRY PRODUCTS
AND MILK PREFERENCES
5 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR : 2322-0899
UNDERSTANDING THE RURAL AND
URBAN CONSUMERS
6 TREMENDOUS CHANGES IN SOCIAL 0975-3427
RESPONSIBILITY & MARKETING ETHICS
WITH THE EFFECT OF GLOBALIZATION
7 A STUDY ON FACTORS INFLUENCING 2320-9399
BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF RURAL
CONSUMERS IN FMCG PRODUCTS
8 THE ROLE OF MARKETING MANAGERIN 2321-3434
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SUCCESS
9 THE CATALYTIC ROLE OF NGOS: WOMEN 2320-9399
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
10 A STUDY RELATING TO THE DECISION- 2319-7285
MAKING PROCESS OF PURCHASING TWO-
WHEELERS IN RURAL AREA OF ANDHRA
PRADESH
11 A STUDY ON CONSUMER PERSEPTION ACCEPTER FOR
TOWARDS MARKETING OF MILK IN PUBLICATION
CHITTOOR, ANDHRA PRADESH
 PART II
PUBLISHED PAPERS IN REPUTED
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
S.NO TITILE ISBN
1 QUALITY OF WORK LIFE OF EMPLOYEES : AN 978-81-926045-0-3
HR STRATEGY

PART III
PUBLISHED PAPERS IN REPUTED
NATIONAL CONFERENCES
S.NO TITILE ISBN
1 INNOVATION & CREATIVITY IN INDIAN 978-81-922783-0-8
RURAL RETAIL MARKETING
2 QUALITY OF WORK LIFE ORGANIZATIONAL 978-93-81568-01-09
FACTORS IN CURRENT SCENARIO
3 INFLUENCE OF INTERNET & INFORMATION 978-81-234-1866-7
TECHNOLOGY ON WORK AND HRM
4 BRAND BUILDING CHALLENGES IN GLOBAL 978-81-921579-0-0
MARKETS
5 RURAL ENTERPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT 978-93-5051-574-4
IN ANDHRA PRADESH USING INNOVATION AS
A STRATEGIC TOOL
6 INNOVATIVE HR PRACTICES OF INDIAN 978-93-82163-21-3
COMPANIES

PART IV
PARTICIPATED IN NATIONAL SEMINARS & FDP
S.NO TITILE SPONSERED
1 STRATEGIC IMPLIMENTATIONS OF UNIVERSITY GRANTS
FDI IN RETAILING-2012 COMMISSION - UGC
2 GOOD GOVERNENCE ITS UNIVERSITY GRANTS
RELEVANCE AND IMPLICATIONS COMMISSION UGC
3 BUILDING HUMAN CAPITAL A ICSSR
4 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ISSUES UNIVERSITY GRANTS
AND CHALLENGES FOR 21ST CENTURY COMMISSION UGC
5 FDP ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEPT. OF SCIENCE &
DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGY, GOVT. OF INDIA
~esearchPublications
 I.A Compantlw Study on Socioeconomic Status of Women Entrepreneurs
In Rayahsoma and Kostha Andhra
2. A Day to Day F W ~ R.gtme X Bonefits a Novice Investor
3. A Utrrrtun Rovlow on Tnlning and Development
4. A Paper on Human Resource Accounting and Auditing
6. A Study on Customer Loyalty Towards Hlndustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd.,
at M u r , Andhra Prrdosh
6. A Wdy on Online Trade Vs Offline Trade
7. A Study on the Distrlbutlon Performance of Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB)

a -
Crmtlon of P 8 . t ~Power through Anthropmorphlsm A Literature Study
a ConauAwr Eehavlor: Towards Dalry Products I n Andhm Pradeeh J
. A study on Conrumor Pntuence of TeIevlsion Channels in Colmbatore city
1l.lmportanco of Social Yedla In Market Research
12. Effect of Trrnsformatlonal and Trmuctlonal Leadonhlp Styles on Certain
PerulvedJob Outcomrs
-
It.Olobal Supply Chain Yanag.ment A Slmpllfled Yodel
14. Human R e m u m I n t o m t i o n System
*
16. Influence of Yoga on Mental Health of IT Indurtrlal Employees
18. lntnprenrur tho k x t W.vr to Entroprenwr
17.A C o m p m U w Study on P w f w m n e e of ln61.n IPO Market
18. k r d e m b i p Tnnds a d Innovrtlv, IrMgomnt Pmctices and Efficiency:
A Study of 8up.nnnurt.d L r d m I n Hlgher Eduwtlon Institutu in lndla
la. W W t Torrkn: Changing S c m u i o i n Health C m S u t o r
20, kk.h h v l o u r of Indian Capital Yarkot: An Enpirlcal Study on Bombay Stock
Erchmnm lndla Limited and National Stock Exchang. Indla Limited
21. Price EfNclmty d Aulrn Emerging Capltal Yarkots
22. lnitlal Roturnr end Short Run Perfarmmw of Indian IPO'S
23.8trategic Yanagemont: Continuou8 Improvemnt Vs Breakthrough Innovation
24.8tr.u Management Among Qovrrnment and Prlvate Sector Bank Employees
U . T h Elhctr of Yacroeconomlc Variables on BSE Oil Stock Returns
2$.Tlo Ikl,al Social Networking 8 b 8 for Pro-Employment Icreenlng
27.A or A ~ n c l aPerformance
l Analysis in TPTC at Wllupuram
Z&Prm&&om C r o b k n of Cutflower In Tamil Nrdu
m.A Y.lla E n t n p n n e u r k l Attltudo among Technical Qraduates In an
*- r m l ~ ~ w c t

N.Aw.rl)
k ( r m n lndlan Stock and Commodity Market
kvMIon ot E-Taillng industry in India and its
ma-~ I ~ # e n among Teachers: A Case Study
=A
rI
-
c e
-
InotiMionr In I(mche~puram Tamlln
 Editorial Board

Chairman Dr. Raju Davis Pereppada~l

IIoly Grace Academy of Management Studies
Advisory Con~mittee
I . Dr. A Sukumaran Nair
Former Vice Chancellor
MG University

2. Dr. Raju Chandrashekhar

Former Vice Chancellor
International University
St.Kitts, Australia

3. Dr. Justin Paul

Faculty, Foster school oSBusiness
Washington University, USA

4. Dr. Sreekumar Nellickapilly

Asst. Professor, IIT, Chennai

Members

Dr.Sheela Srivastava, Director, Holy Grace Academy of Management Studies

Dr. K. H. Shahjahan, Dean, Corporate Kelations, Holy Grace Academy of Management Studies
Dr. Sujatha, Principal, Holy Grace Academy of Engineering
Dr. P. K. Ghosh, Holy Grace Academy of Management Studies
Prof. Sunny Jacob, Holy Grace Academy of Management Studies
Prof. Subakaran, Holy Grace Academy of Management studies
Prof. Fr. Benny, Holy Grace Academy of Management studies
Prof. Ranjeet Kumar, Holy Grace Academy of Management studies
Editor- in-Chief Dr. Sheela Srivastava,
Director, Holy Grace Academy of Management Studies
Executive Editor Prof. Jacob Mathew,
Holy Grace Academy of Management studies

Editorial Committee

Prof. Ranjan Varghese (Formerly XLRI)

Dr. Gopinathan Unnithan, Holy Grace Academy of Management Studies
Prof. Rekha Venugopalan, Holy Grace Academy of Management studies

Business Editor

Prof. Bijoy Parameswaran, Holy Grace Academy of Management studies

 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: TOWARDS
DAIRY PRODUCTS
IN ANDHRA PRADESH
M. SOMA St.KI1AKA
Research Schola~
Departmer~tof Business Managc~i~cnt
Sri Venkateswara University
Tirupati-5 17502. Andhra Pradustl
somumbaphd@~prnail.com

Dr. SARDAK CiIIGLOTH

Assoc~atcProfessor,
Department Busincss Management,
Sri Venkateswara llniversity,
Timpati-5 17502, Andhrri Pradcsh
drsardar(igmail.cotn

Abstract: The area of consumer behavior consists
of a diverse set of persons interested in narrating,
understanding or forecasting behavior by
consumers. Consumer behavior is the study of
when, why, how, and where people do or do not
buy a product. This study takes up the question of
buying behavior of customers and the reasons for
the preference of Milk products in a wide context.
It tries to identifying the existing market structure
for the product. This study tries to identify the
factors influencing the customers to buy milk
products, and to identify the consumer brand
preferences a s well as to analyze the purchase
behavior of customers in preferring their choice I
availability of milk products. The study concluded
with a number of findings and suggestions some of
which are: consumers Ape, Education and Income
level, consumers buying preferences and
consumers buying practices.
Key Words: - Consumer behavior, Consumer
Preferences, Consumer Buying practices, Milk
Products, Toned milk, Double Toned milk, Full
Crearu milk.
Introduction: Thc essence of the modern marketing
concept is that all clements of business should be
geared towards the satisfactic~n of consumer. This
requires a thorough understanding of consumer and
his purchasing motivations. Without such insights,
marketers will fail to segment markets effectively and
design strategies far an effective penetration into the
defined market segments. The adoption of the
consumer focus is in fact the real difference between
the traditional concept of selling and the modem
concept of marketing. Thus, cun.;umer is sovereign in
the present day marketing system.
The decision of thc consumer makes and
unmakes the marketers. Whrirvur wins thr
confidence of the consumer win., the day and
whoever loses it, is lost All the activities in
marketing are centered on the consumer only. In facl,
marketing starts with the consumer. and enas with the
consumer. The consutner is thc fulcrum or the pivot
upon which the business moves.
Top management rnust achieve the
integration of all the activities of marketing by using
the marketing mix elements namely product, price.
place or physical distribution and promotion illto a
singlc strategic plan based upon thc knowledge of
consumer actions and reactions. It is necessary to
dissect consumer needs, preferences, and othcr
related elements into separate compartments, isolate
thcrn and then make use of them, and satisfjhg them.
In short, the goal of a marketer should he to reach as
many numbers of consumers as possihle and satisfy
[hem. This goal can be achieved easily if the
marketer understands the behavior of the consumer at
the right time and i n the right scnse. Thus, consumer
behavior is one of the areas in marketing where
manufacturers, middlemen and other marketing
agencies should concentrate and should be conscious
and cautious.
The concept of consumer behavior:
Consumer behavior is simply a sub section
of the larger field of human bcliavic~r. Conyu~ner

Holy Grace Management Review Volume 6 No: 1 September, 2014

 behavior finds its bases in hio-psychn-sociological
factors. That is, biological dtives such as need for
food, water, sleep and warmth have influence upon
consumer. Psychological niotives like social
approval, self-esteem, sccurrty, status and knowledge
also have strong influence on consumers. Besides
these, consumers have to respond to sociological
forces like family, rcference group, social class and
culture. Hence, consunicr behavior can be expla~ned
in tcrms of potential influences of psycl~ologicaland
sociological and enviror~rnental factors, as well as
biological and physiolog~calphenomena.
Consumer bellavior is i~npulsivc. It is
neither emotional nor rational, but both. It is caused
or affected by learning and comnlunication.
Consumer behavior is viewed as a process of'
problem solving. 'lhis consumer's problcm solving
behavior is subject to group influence and occurs
under strong motivational circumstances. As per
William L Wilkie. consumcr behavior is "the
activities that people engage ir~ when selecting,
purchasing and using products and services s o as to
satisfy the needs and desires Such activities involve
mental and elnotional process, in addition to physical
actions". Schiffman and Kanuk state "consunier
behaviour is the behaviour that consuliiers display in
searching for, purchasing, ustng and evaluating
products, services and ideas which they expect will
satisfy their needs". llere. Schiffman and Kanuk have
llscd 'evaluation' in the context of re-purchase. If it is
first purchase. consumer's mind will first evaluate
and finally adopt or reject the product. Thus,
consutner behaviour involves all the acts of
individuals that involve buying and using products,
including the decision process that precede and
determine these acts. Although thc factors that
precede and determine consunicr hehaviour are a
combination of external and internal influences,
which interact constantly, it is helpful to analyze
them as separate elements.
The study of consumer behaviour is the
attempt to understand and predict tiurnan actions in
buying process. Consumer behaviour encompasses a
vast area including consumer motivation,
preferences, purchasing patterns, buying process,
shopping behaviour, etc. Thus, the study of consumer
preferences concentrates to answer the question,
"why, when, where. what and how do the consuniers
buy".
Importance of dairy industry
Dairy industry is having greater importance
in the economy due to its contribution to the
economy as well as to the rural poor by providing an
opportunity to uplift then1 by generating additional
income through it. Dairying has heen practiced as
Holy Grace Management Review Volume 6 No: 1 September, 2014
rural cottage industry siricc ages. lndia accounts for
onc-sixth of cattle and half (11' buffalo population of
thc world. Among 70 million rural households in
India in 2001, those operating up to two hectares
ti~rnr42 per cent of the households and 37 per cent
are landless. Those landless and small farmers have
53 per cent of the livestock In their possession and
produced 52 per cent ot' the milk. Howcver in the
production and per caplta ava~lab~lrty of milk lndia
stands in a vzr: lo\+ position. India's darr)ing is
today in a state of dynamic transition with raptd
development in milk production, processing and
marketing hy virtue of the efforts made by the
Ciovernnient of lndia under various programs for
benefiting the small rural milk producers and the
under-privileged urban consumers. The direct
contributjorl of dairying to the rural sector through
additional income and employment to the producer is
well recognized.
Indian dairy products:
In biblical times, the model home was in "a
land flowing with milk and hnnep". Today also a
common expression used with reference to nutrition
that "milk is the most nearl) perfect f o o d . Milk is
defined to be lacteal sccretion, in practical free from
colostrum's which is obtained by the complete
milking of one or more healthy cows. Generally, milk
is the secretion of the mammary glands of animals
that nurture their young.
Dairy products refer to the milk products
that are produced out of whole milk. The prevention
of food Adulteration (PFA) rules, 1955 ( as reformed
up to Jan 15,1991). define milk (da~ry)products as "
the products attained out of milk such as cream,
malai, curd, skimmed milk, chhana cheese, processed
cheese, ice cream, milk ice, condensed skimmed
rnilk, infant milk food, milk powder, khoa, ghee,
table butter and desi hurter".
The significance of milk and milk products
has been recognized in this country since Vedic
which is relating lo Vedas times (five thousand years
ago) and the diversity of ways in which rnilk is used
for the preparation of native products has developed
approximately as an art Recently these methods have
heen studied on scientific lines.
Till the year 1940, there was very little
brought out information on the method of preparation
and the use of dairy products in ltidia. Dr. W.
L. Davies got the credit for the first
publication and the first Director of dairy rcscarch
institute, Rangalore. Within a span of five and since
a half decades Davics book canir across, moderately
large research has been conducted at the National
Dairy Kesearch Institute and other places.
Statement of the problem
 The speed of human mind 1s hst because i t
has multi-dimensional perception. This multi-
dimensional perception makes human behaviour
Inu~ti-~noti~atedHIS likes and dislikes cliange in no
time. He is extremely happy to buy a product at one
mclment, hut at the anothcr moment he lnay suffer
kern cognitive dissonance. Tlius thc human
bctiavlour is unpredictable and because of i t t l ~ e
researchers hegin to get Into difficulties which are
bothrrso~nc and made the hehaviour of consumer
myopic. As the human behaviour is qo enonriously
varicd, so delicately complex and so ohscurely
motivated, the study of co~isurnerbct~aviourbecomes
so complicated and morc difficull. Further, consumer
hehaviour also changes over a period of time,
because of the change in income, occupation,
residence, education, age and st) forth.
Clnless consumer hehaviour I S thoroughly
understood from time to Lime. it would not be
possible for the marketers to design an appropriate
marketing mix to appeal and influence the varied
segmented consumers Thus, the study of consumer
behaviour hecomes essential for the marketers to
withstand the onslaughts from the competitors and
survive in the market. The cun~ulativeresult of all
these elemcnts is that the study of consumer
behav~ouremerges as one of the mqjor. challenges to
the present day marketers.
Need for the present study
The consumer motives, perceptions,
pretercnces, patterns of purchasing and influences
differ from product to product. So the marketers in
each type nf industry have to study consumer
behaviour according to their problems on hand. The
need for understanding the cunsumer behaviour in
dairy products, which are very essential for the
survival of human beings, is therefore important to
the decision makers, be they the marketers or
intellectuals interested in scientific research.
Review of literature
The rapid development of Indian dairy
industry. especially after the 1991 economic
libaali7.ation measures, forced the marketers to
conduct more research studies on consumer
hehaviour. But, in reality, from the research
viewpoint, consumer behaviour in dairy products is
an arca, which is quite new and relatively
unexplored. Though this industry has developed
adequately in India and many brands of different
dairy products are being marketed, the specific
studies on consumer behaviour in dairy product have
received little attention on the pan of the researchers.
Since the inception of the National Sample Survey
Organization (NSSO) in 1950, some studies relating
to consumption behaviour have appeared using the
Holy Grace Management Review Volume h No: 1 September, 2014
NSS data. There are some stud~csi l l 11.1.. I L ~ . I Itnadc ~
by Bosc (1960). Ciangull ( 1 4(i1J). K I J I I ~ ~' j Ii ~ c l R o y
(1960); Sinha (1966); Joncs (1971 ) . klclit,~nnJ Gupta
(1976); National Council of Aly~lli~l1 conc)~nic
Ilcsearch (1967 and 1970) 2nd ~ I I L * Natlonol
('ommission on Agriculture (1070)
Katnam and Spell~nan ( 1072) studletl
uonsumcr attitude relating to taste. acccptdhility and
ptsrsonal prcfercnces of 250 hcru~cl~clld\i n the
Hoi~olulumetropolitan area tbr t - q u l . ~ ~~ n ~ l kski~n ,
niilk and tillcd milk. I t was tounti tliclt acceptability
factors for skim milk and filled I I I I I ~ I-t*prt.scntcd
att~tudes that adversely affect ~rcgt~lar lnllk
consurnpllon through substitutio~~. Nutlitional value,
styllqh drink, societal factor and healtl~ciiniidcrations
werc found to be the main factor.; s~gniticantly
lbvor~ng the consumptions of rcgular milk.
Coniumption of filled milk, hnwcicr. tlcpcnd morc
on econoniic factors. income had a lo\* impact o n the
con\umpllon of skim milk.
Prabhakaran (1978) studied thc consumer
preferences for milk and milk products rn Madras
city. He found that quality, taste and llavor were the
important factors for pretkrring organized sector
products. It was also observed that thc preference of a
package size is positively related to the income of a
family
Anand (1979) anal>zed cntrsumers' opinion
,.
for milk and dairv ~roductsof Milk nlant. Arnbala
(Havana) on the basis of dala collected by personally
interviewing consumers. It was found that ci>nsumers
were satist%d with package and distribution of milk
products
Subash C. Mehta conducted another study to obtain
consumers' vicu of markctine in India. Hc selected a
sarnple of 350 consumers in Ahmadabad for the
purpose of the study. He obsemed that (i) consumers
do not view marketing as an anti-consumer actikity;
(ii) consumers indicate the prefcrence to buy
nationally known brands despite their hclicf that
advertising increascd the cost of the products; (iii)
cunsumers have a strong bias in fiivour of imported
products and their high price is rationallzed by the
consumers through perceived better quality; (iv)
consumers are not totally against thr opwztion of
foreign co~npaniesin India; (v) while departmental
stores are perceived as high priced but good service
stores, super markets have the imagc of reasonably
priced but poor service stores, (vi) the consumers
have widely recognized usefulness of the advertising
though there are apprehensions ahout the content of
advertising; and (vii) consumers generally perceive
an improvement in the quality of the products
available in thc market except for consumer durablcs
 where there are divided clpmions ahout their quality
and performance.
Most of' these studies. however, have mainly
been directed at estimating cxpcnditurc and income
elasticity's of certain dairk products. arid thr
qualitative aspect. of consumcr hchaviour has been
almost ignored. Also most of thcsc sludies have been
confined to broad cornmodity groups and little
attention has been paid towards ~tudyingconsumer
motives, preferences, selections and consumption
patterns with respect to dairy products. Further, there
is hardly any specitic study in recent years in
Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh on the
consumer behaviour in relation to dairy products.
Hence, a modest attempt is made in the present study
in this direction.
Objectives of the study:
P To understand the awareness level of
respondents regarding various brands of milk
available
i. To know the consumer motivating factors in
store selection for purchasing a milk product
P To identify the influencing factors in buying
dairy products.
Methodology
The Sample: The present study has been organized
on a sample of 400 households or families, It is a
residential and consumption unit which is considered
as respondent. It excludes institutions like students'
hostels, residential hostels, hospitals and prisons from
the purview of our study. To choose 400
respondents, first the area was restricted to the limits
of 4 districts (Rayalaseema Area) namely, Chittoor,
Kadapa, Anantapuram, and Kumool. Then a random
sampling has been adopted.
Data Collection: The data we collected frotn the
selected respondents through pre-tested
questionnaire, personal inlerviews and observation
techniques. The questionnaire was of structured in
multiple queslions covering different heads. To
develop a list of information items for framing the
questionnaire, s review was inade on existing
literature and some of the marketing consultants were
Analysis and interpretations
~ a b l ;I: ~ e m o g r a ~ hCharacteristics
ic of Respondents
Characteristics Respondents
1 18-40 1 172
L I
Total 1 400
1.5000-10000 I127
Holy Grace Management Review Volume 6 No:I September, 2014
approached. A preliminary draA ot'tlic qucztiun~rai~~
was propared and a pilot study wa3 contluctcd on 50
rehpondents. This helped in ~rnpro\.ing upon the
quality of questionnaire by including questions
relating to consumer awarcrlcss. pi-ctcrence\ and
conwrner satisfaction and also gavc an ~nd~catinn as
to thf k~ndof response that would hc to~thcomin~.
With sonic modifications, inclus1on3and excluslorlc a
final questionnaire was developed
Attempts were made to contact housewives
and get response to the questionnaire. In case it was
not possible to obtain a response ti-om the
hou.;ewives it was ensured that at least orlc other
n~ernherof the farnily has been interv~ewed.In casc
of' non-rcsponse or r~on-co-opcration fionr a
l~ouscholdchosen on random sampling, a substitute
household in the same area was adopted for
i~iterviewing
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF' THE STUDY
The consurner unit is taken to be a family or
household. The study has been conducted or1 the
assumption that consumer behaviour with respecl to
food products in general and the dairy products in
part~cular mostly depend on two variables, viz.,
Income of the family and the A ~ P of the family
members. William J. Stanton alsu opined. "(hnsumer
behaviour also changes over a period of time because
of the change in income and changc irr life cycle
stage (age) and other factors". ]'he samr opinion was
expressed by Philip Kotler and Gary Annstrong also.
So the aggregate income of the whole farnily and the
age of' the family head are the two variables
considered for the study purpose.
The following are the limitations:
1 . The study has not covered the critlre population of
consumers due to limited resources and limited time
at the disposal.
2. Correc~ness and accuracy In respect of data
pertaining to the study on consumers.
But every effort was rnade to extract correct
info~mation by putting cross check questions and
through informal discussion wliich provided the right
information useful to the study.
Percentage (%)
43
.-
100
1 31.75
 lncomr 10001-1 5000
Level

Total
..,. ..,.. -

(.7ourcc~:Ficld Sor~,c:,.)
"

15001-20000
A hove 20000

For the above table 1 tlcll~cti that out of 400

respondents 29 percent hellmg.: to 50 ycars agc, 28
108
78
87
400
27
19.5
2
I00
7- - ~--

ot Ks.5000-10000 pci ni~vltl~,27";, ~-csp~rr~dur~ta'

ht.lorlg 10 th~.Incnmc category of R \ 10001-1 5000,
pcrccnt respor~deri~sbelong 111 ;lho\c 50 years and 4.3 21 .7fi1).i,a~itl10.5";~ ~crllrindcnt\hclonp 10 thc inco~nc
percentages of respondents arc b c t ~ e c n18 yean to ~ R. 20000 and R I ]%I01-20000
catcxury o l ' n i o ~than
40 years age. In the incomc group out of 400 rcspccti\ cl)
respondents, 31.75% belong to he tncotnc category
Tahle: 2 C:onsumer Preferred Milk Products Available there. --
Product Respondents Percentage ('X,k
Tuned Milk - 264--
Double Toned Milk 73 I8 25
Full C'ram Milk 67 1 5 75
I Total 400 100
(Source: Fieid .Strn~t<c:,.)
In this above fable 2 shows out of 400 consumers, milk. and 15.75 respondents preferred fill1 cream
66% of the consumers preferred toned milk, 18.25 milk.
percentages of consumers preferred Double toned
Table: 3 Location

(Source: Field S
Most of the respondents (fable 3) prcfererrce
Manufacturers out lets, because the company out lets
are maintained hygienic environmet~t,out of the 400
consumers, 128 (32%) respondents preferred in
company nutlets only. 22% respondents preferred
Vendors, 19.25% respondents Kirana-shops, 15%
respondents super markets, and 11.75'Yi respondents
preference in General 1 Provision store.
Motivating factors of consumers in buying a milk
product from a particular store.
Table:
The below tablc 4 shows that out of thc 400
respondents are interviewed (table 4) 100 (25%) of
the respondents arc motivated by particular store for
door delivery facility, 95 respondents (23.75%) arc
motivated by Hygienic cnvironmcnt, 12.5% arc
motivated hy credit facility, 11.25% respondents are
motivated by Availability of products, and remaining
7.5% are motivated by store belong to knnw-people.

Holy Grace Management Review Volume 6 No:] September, 2014

 (Source: Field Suntey)
importance of product attributes which motivate
to purchase Milk Products.
l'hc below table 5 shows that respondents have given
fbr the importance of product attr~butes which
Table: 5 Importance of product attributes which motivate to purchase Milk Products.
I
Attribute I
No. o f
Freshness
Fat Contents
lnflucnce uf friends /
relatives
Total
I I
{Source: Fteld .T~lnq)~/
Findings of the study
I. Income, age and educational background of the
respondents
57 per cent of respondents are age from 41 years to
above 51 years. 58.75 per cent 01' respondents'
income level from Rs.10, 001 to Ks.15000 only. 54.5
per cent respondents Post graduates and under
graduates. And most of the respondents are aware of
the availability of products and more than one variety
of milk.
2. Consumer Preferences: It is evident from1 the
study that most (66 per cent) of the respondents
prefer toned milk whereas a small group of
respondents of 15.75per cent prefer full cream milk.
18.25 per crnt of the respondents prefer doubles
toned milk.
The largest numhcr of respondents accounting for
32.75per cent said that it is the 'Fat contents' that
influences the choice of n~ilkproduct. The smallest
number accounting for 11.25 per cent expressed that
it is the factor of 'easy availability' that is responsible
for the preference of a milk product.
3. Consumer Buying Practices: The majority of the
respondents 33 percent prefer Manufacturer outlets,
22 per cent prefer vendol- milk and 11.75 per cent
prefer General / Provision stores. And rest of the
respondents prefer Super markets, Kirana shops.
Holy Gracc Management Review Volumc 6 No: l Septernba, 2014
motivate to purchase milk products.32 75 '?a made
purcliasc due to fat cor~tentsof produc1.;0.75"!~ /,or
Ireshness. 24.5% for taste, and 12% nlatle purcl1ase
tbr ~ntluenceof fricnds and relatives
I Percentage (%) I
10.75
32.75
Suggestions: Consumers buy milk out of their
functional, inspirational values, benefits and the
psychological value delivered by the product. Most
consumer buying decisions are influenced by the
preferences they have about the product. The milk
product image is formed out of the knowledge the
consumers have about the perceived benefits the
product offers or the value it delivers or o111er aspects
of the products such as price, quality, availability,
accessibility, etc. So the manufacturers have to
produce the product with all the above requirements.
Illtimately, it i s the brand or firm which provides
bettel- services than competitors through and with the
help of the agents will attract more consurrler
accounts Service and satisfaction are not static
words. They are relative responses. Prompt supply,
regular supply, making availanle throughout,
providing value in the service rendered by agents, the
behavic~urof the agents, avoidance of adulteration
and supplying required quantities of milk are the
prime objectives of any milk agent which will
influence the success of the milk producers.
Conclusion: In India, milk is produced by masses
and therefore development in dairying would have
direct impact on the hves of millions of the rural
musses engaged in rearing dairy animals.
This study would contribute directly or ~ndirectlyto
the dairy finns to understand the consumers, thereby
increasing the consumption level of dairy products
which in turn reflect so many dairy farmers in India.
REFERENCES:
1. Albert M. Field and John, C. McDowell
(1992). Dairy Enterprises, J.A. Lippon C'ott
Company. New York
2. Aneja, R. P(1983). "A (:omprel~erlsive
Approach to Milk Marketing and the Role of
I.ong-Life Milk", Indian Dairy Man, Vol.
XXXII, No.9.
3. Bansil, P.C (1984) Agricultural Problems o f
India, Vikas Publishing House 17vt.L.td.,New
Delhi.
4. Cathy TayIor(2002) "i'on.sumer~ know
Native Brands.Hcst". i\d\\cck. Scpt. 17.
1990, p.31.
5 Chnningham. Kosc b1.(11/72). "Consumer
1.oyalty to Sturr and I3rand". tlarbal-d
Business Review, Vol 19, pp. 127-130.
0. David Loudotl, Alhert J Dclla B ~ t t a(1997).
C'onsumcr Bchaviour. Concepts and
Applications, Ncw York, McGraw Hill
Book Company.
7. Girdhari, G.D., Biradar, R. D. (1996).
"Dairy Plant Profit Judp~ngTechnique", The
12. Jacob Jacoby (1971). "l'crsonality and
Innovation Proneness". Jourrial of
Marketing Research. Vol X. pp 244-47.
13. Lcssing V. Parker ( 1973). .'Consumer Store
Images and Store Loqalties". Journal o f
Marketing, Vol. 37 pp.72-74.
14. Markin, R.J. (1993). The Psychology o f
Consumer Behavinur, Prentice Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Holy Grace Management Review Volume 6 No:] September, 2014
Indian Journal c ~ Ccrmmcrcc.
f \ (11 \ \ X \ ' .
I'art-3, No 132, Scptcmhcr.
8. Guha Thakurta. B. K (2003). C ~ I I ~ ~ I I I I ~ ~ I ~ ~ I ~
Patterns 111 Ind~a,Study of I n t c ~ - l < r g i ( ~ n ~ ~ l
Variations, Bombay, Tat:i M i ( ~ ~ n \ \ l i u l l
Publishing C'o. Ltd.
0 tlarry I.. lIc\i\ (1970). -I)IIIICII\IOII\ 01
Martial rolcs in I'onsun~cr L)c~.i>ic)r~
M;lki~ig". Journill o f MarLctirig K~~\carcI).
Vol. 7, May, pp.168-177.
10. Houard A, Jagadis11 N. Sllrtli (2001 ) l lic
I heor). of Buyer Beha\ iour. Ic\\ YOI.~.
John W ~ l c yant1 Sons
11. Indian Council of Agricultural IZc-,ear-ch
( 1997). Handbook of A1111iialIlu\halidrv,
New Drlhi
I5 I'hilip Kotlcr and Gary Arn~stronp(1999).
Principles o f Marketing. Nru Deltii,
Prcnticc - Hall o f India Pvt 1 td
16. Sch~ffman, L.G. Kaouk. I.1 (2001 )
Consumer Behaviour, New Delhi IJrmtice
Hall o f India Private L.imited.
 Help to Help Charitable Trust (R)
Acme lntellocb Reeoarch Center
- H2H
Acme Intellects International Journal - ~ = ~ ~ o b h r d ~
of Research in Management, kratbvo yanthu
Kutumbakamw- viahathla*-
The whole world is Social Sciences 8 Technology k t the nobk tho~ghts
one single family - R e f o m through Research come to dl from ail the
directions

It1 I "Bhagavad Gita a key source for Management thoughts-An analysis" by

Dr. Mcda Srinivasa Rao I
"A Study on Employee Engagement and its impact on Organization a t Bengaluru
City" by Prof. Veem Shuuty, Mr. Sunil M Rashinkor & Prof. Shashikiran L
"Managing Human resources a t the work place- A Case Study- Kuoni Travel Group
(India)" by Mr. K.N.Ldccsh Kumar
"A study on the Consumer Preferences of Milk products with special reference to
Chittoor District" by Mr. Soma Srkhara & Dr. Sardar 6ugloth
"KPTCLs PREDOMINANT ROLE I N INFRASTRUCTURE ENHANACEMENT AND
VALUE CREATION by A d h a T.S , Yeshwont Rao N d Sandhya C
" A Study on Competency mapping of the employees I n Textile Manufacturing
/I Companies with reference t o Bangalore city"
by Prof. Lakrhmi Narayma.K & Dr. K. 6ayathri Rddy
Far mon details Cogin into acmeintelktr.wg /
I
Send unail to ~shekharaaowd@emaiI.
com, editor. JournalrCPocmeintellcctr.wg
 -- Index - -

I ----- Description
Editor's Desk
-

-:I
--
Board of Intellects
Acknowledgement
About the Journal AI-IJRMSST
V ~ s ~ o&nMlsslon, Alm & Scope
Journal Thane&
-
---

G u ~ d ehnes for Authors

Current and Future Problems
Case Studies, Perspect~ves,Notes and Commentaries,
D~scusslon/BookRev~ewsiReformers1 Secret of success 1 Interv~ews
---
Peer Review Process, Subscription & Suhmisslon and Disclaimer
-- - - --
"Bhagavad G ~ t a key source for Management thoughts-An analysis" 16-20
by Dr Meda Snmvasa Rao - -- . -
-

-- Research
- Papers
---- -- ----
"A Study on Employe~Engagement and ~ t simpact on O r g a n ~ ~ a t ~atoBengaluru
n 21-3 I
C1ty"
by Prof Veena Shenoy, Mr Sunll M Rdsh~nka~ & Prof Shash~klranL
"Mdnaging Human resources at the work place- A Case Study- Kuon~Travel 32-70
Group (Ind~a)"by Mr K N Lokesh Kumar
on the Consumer Preferences of M ~ l kproducts w ~ t hspecla1 reference 10
Chlttoor Dlstnct" by Mr. Soma Sekhara & Dr. Sardar Gugloth
1-- "KPTCLs PREDOMINANT ROLE IN INFRASTRLJCTURE
1 ENHANACEMENTAND VALUE CREATION" I 1
I by Anuradha T.S ,Yeshwant Rao N & Sandhya C I I
" A Study on Competency n ~ a p p ~ of
n gthe ernpibyecs In Text~leManuficfunng h3-?jl
Companies with reference to Bangalore city"
Lakshmi Narayana.K & Dr. --K. Gayathri Rcddy -- -
For more details login into : http://acmeintcllects.org
Or Send email to : mshekharagowd@gmail.com or ed~torjoumals@]acmelntellectsore.

Prof. Shekhara Gowd Mitta, Founder & Managing Editor,

Acme Intellects International Journal of Research in Management- ISSN 2320-2939(Print),
ISSN 2320-2793(0nIine)
Acme Intellects Research Center- A Wing of Help to Help Charitable Trust
#3207, 1st Cross, Siddalingmapalya. Behind Police Quarters,Tunkur District, Karnataka State, India,
PIN- 572 103.
Ph : +91 8 16 2282899, Mob : +91 9916537999

"Aano bhadna krathavo yanthu vishwathahaU-"Letthe noble thoughts come to all from all direction:;'. IlaRr No.1
Acme IntellectsRe$earch Center: A wing of Help to Help Charitable Trust'
 -
Journal of Kescarch in Managcmcnl. Social Scienccs & Technniogy ISSN 2320 2939 (Prbni) 2320.2743 (Onllnc)
Acme lnlellects In~cn~ol~onal
Let vour k s h b c G l o b a l ~ c a ~ ~ ~ c orTruC-
~ a rReforma-
c h VoI- 6 No 6 AD, 2014

"A study on the Consumer Preferences of Milk products with special

reference to Chittoor District"
By Mr. Soma Sekhara In' & Dr. Sardar ~ ~ ~ 1 0 t h ' ~ '

Abstract

The area of consumer behaviour consists of a diversc set of persons interested in

narrating, understanding or forecasting behaviour by consumers. Consumer behaviour is the
study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy a product. This study takes up
the question of buying behaviour of customers and the reasons for the preference of Milk
products in a wide context. It tries to identifying the existing market structure for the product.
This study tries to identify the factors influencing the customers to buy milk products, and to
identify the consumer brand preferences as well as to analyze the purchase behaviour of
customers in preferring their choice 1 availability of milk products. The study concluded with
a number of findings and suggestions some of which are: consumers Age, Education and
Income level, consumers buying preferences and consumers buying practices.

Key Words: - Consumer behaviour, Consumer Preferences, Consumer Buying practices,

Milk Products, Toned milk, Double Toned milk, Full Cream milk
.~ -
l a l ~ rSoma
. Sekhara,
Research Scholar, Associate Professor,
Dcpt of MBA, Dept of MBA,
Sri Venkateswara University, Sri Venkateswara University,
Ti~upati-517502, Tirupati-5 17502,
Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Email: somumbaphd@gmail.com, Email: drsardar@gmail.com
Cell: 0988567261 6 Cell: 09440328486

1. ~ntroduction:
The essence of the modern marketing concept is that all elements of business should
be geared towards the satisfaction of consumer. This requires a thorough understanding of
consumer and his purchasing motivations. Without such insights, marketers will fail to
segment markets effectively and design strategies for an effective penetration into the defined
market segments. The adoption of the consumer focus is in fact the real difference between
the traditional concept of selling and the modern concept of marketing. Thus, consumer is
sovereign in the present day marketing system. The decision of the consumer makes and
unmakes the marketers. Whoever wins the confidence of the consumer wins the day and
whoever loses it, is lost. All the activities in marketing are centered around the consumer
only. In fact, marketing starts with the consumer and ends with the consumer. The consumer
is the fulcrum or the pivot upon which the business moves.

" A a n o b h a d r a a k r a t h a v ~y a n t h u v l s h w a t h a h a V - " L e tthe n o b l e thoughts come to all from a l l d ~ r e c t l o n s "Page No 40

Acme intellects Rercarch Center- A wing of Help to Help Charitable Truste
. .
 .lournal ul' Kcjea~chtn h2amgumenl. Swiol Scirnrrr & Icchnolog). ISSN 132(1- 2q'Y (l'nnl) 23211-2743 i O n l l n ~ j
A ~ m cIn~cllcclbInlc~nut~oiml
L c u ~ ~ . ~ ~ x ~ A~UU1w.w~h&h;.. h h i ~ ~ & ~ . I < ~ t h r I~I IuI I I L I ~ ~E$d%y~c!i
I \Id- 6 No t~ A p ~ 9 ! j

Top management must achieve the integration of all the activities of marketing by
using the marketing mix elements namely product, price, place or physical distribution and
promotion into a single strategic plan based upon the knowledge of consumer actions and
reactions. It is necessary to dissect consumer needs, preferences, and other related elements
into separatc compartments, isolatc them and then make use of them, and satisfying them. In
short, the goal of a marketer should be to reach as many numbers of consumers as possible
and satisfy them. This goal can be achieved easily if thc marketer understands the behaviour
of the consumer at the right time and in the right sense. Thus, consumer behaviour is one of
the areas in marketing where manufacturers, middlemen and other marketing agencies should
concentrate and should be conscious and cautious.

2. Thc Concept of Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour is simply a sub section of the larger field of human behaviour.
Consumer behaviour finds its bases in bio-psycho-sociological factors. That is, biological
drives such as need for food, water, sleep and wannth have influcncc upon consumer.
Psychological motives like social approval, self csteem, security, status and knowledge also
have strong influence on consumers. Besides these, consumers have to respond to
sociological forccs like family, reference g o u p , social class and culture. Hence, consumer
behaviour can be explained in terms of potential influences of psychological and sociological
and environmental factors, as well as biological and physiological phenomena.
Consumer behaviour is impulsive. It is neither emotional nor rational, but both. It is
caused or affected by learning and communication. Consumer bchaviour is viewed as a
process of problem solving. This consumer's problcm solving behaviour is subject to group
influence and occurs under strong motivational circumstances. As per William L Wilkie,
consumer behaviour is "the activities that people engage in when selecting, purchas~ngand
using products and services so as to satisfy the needs and desires. Such activities involve
mental and emotional process, in addition to physical actions". Schiffman and Kanuk state
"consumer behaviour is the behaviour that consumers display in searching for, purchasing.
using and evaluating products, services and ideas which they expect will satisfy their needs".
Here, ~chiffma; and Kanuk have used 'evaluation' in the context of re-purchase. If it is first
purchase, consumer's mind will first evaluate and finally adopt or reject the product. Thus,
consumer behaviour involves all the acts of individuals that involve buying and using
products, including the decision process that precede and determine these acts. Although the
factors that precede and determine consumer behaviour are a combination of external and
intenla1 influences, which interact constantly, it is helpful to analyse them as separate
elements.
The study of consumer behaviour is the attempt to understand and predict human
actions in buying process. Consumer behaviour encompasses a vast area including consumer
motivation, preferences, purchasing patterns, buying process, shopping behaviour, etc. Thus,
the study of consumer preferences concentrates to answer the question, "why, when, where,
what and how do the consumers buy".

"Aano bhadraa ltrathavo yanthu vishwathahat'-"Let the noble thoughts conle to all trom all directi~lns".Page No 4 1
Acme Intellects Research Center- A wing of Help to Help Charitable Trustm
 3. Importance o f Dairy Industry
Dairy industry is having greater importance in the economy due to its contribution to
the economy as well as to the rural poor by providing an opportunity to uplift them by
generating additional income through it. Dairying has been practiced as rural cottage industry
since ages. lndia accounts for one-sixth of cattle and half of buffalo population of the world.
Among 70 million rural households in India in 2001, those operating up to two hectares form
42 per cent of the households and 37 per cent are landless. Those landless and small farmers
have 53 per cent of the livestock in their possession and produced 52 per cent of the milk.
However in the production and per capita availability of milk lndia stands in a very low
position. India's dairying is today in a state of dynamic transition with rapid development in
milk production, processing and marketing by virtue of the efforts made by the Government
of lndia under various programs for benefiting the small rural milk producers and the under-
privileged urban consumers. The direct contribution of dairying to the rural sector through
additional income and employment to the producer is well recognized.

4. Statement of the Problem

The speed of human inind is fast because it has multi-dimensional pcrception. This
multi-dimensional perception makes human behaviour multi-motivated. Ilis likes and dislikes
change in no time. He is extremely happy to buy a product at one moment, but at the another
moment he may suffer from cognitive dissonance. Thus the human behaviour is
unpredictable and because of it the researchers begin to get into difficulties which are
bothersome and made the behaviour of consumer myopic. As the human bchaviour is so
enormously varied, so delicately complex and so obscurely motivated, the study of consumer
behaviour becomes so complicated and more difficult. Further, consumer behaviour also
changes over a period of time, because of the change in income, occupation, residence,
education, age and so forth.
Unless consumer behaviour is thoroughly understood from time to time, it would not
be possible for the marketers to design an appropriate marketing mix to appeal and influence
the varied segmented consumers. Thus, the study of consumer behaviour becomes essential
fbr the marketers to withstand the onslaughts from the competitors and survive in the market.
The cumulative result of all these elements is that the study of consumer behaviour emerges
as one of the major challenges to the present day marketers.

5. heed for the present study

The consumer motives, perceptions, preferences, patterns of purchasing and
influences differ fiom product to product. So the marketers in each type of industry have to
study consumer behaviour according to their problems on hand. The need for understanding
the consumer behaviour in dairy products, which are very essential for the survival of human
beings, is therefore important to the decision makers, be they the marketers or intellectuals
interested in scientific research.

"Aano bhadraa krathavo yanthu vishwathaha"-"Letthe noble thoughts come to all from all d~rect~ons"
Page No 42
Acme lptellects @essarch$enter- A wing of Help to Help Charitable Trusto
 6. Review of Literature
The rapid development of Indian dairy industry, especially after the 1091 economic
liberalization measures, forced the marketers to conduct more research studies on consumer
behaviour. But, in reality, from the research viewpoint, consumer behaviour in dairy products
is an area, which is quite new and relatively unexplored. Though this industry has developed
adequately in India and many brands of different dairy products are being marketed, the
specific studies on consumer behaviour in dairy product have received little attention on the
part of the researchers. Since the inception of the National Sample Survey (Jrganisation
(NSSO) in 1950, some studies relating to consumption behaviour have appeared using the
NSS data. There are some studies in this regard made by Bose (l9hO), Ganguli ( I 960); Rudra
and Roy (1960); Sinha (1966); Jones (1971); Mchta and Gupta (1976); National Council of
Applied Economic Research (1967 and 1970) and the National Commission on Agriculture
( 1976).

Indian Studies:
National Council of Applied Economic Research ( 1 967) conducted a survey to study
the effects of developm~nton household consumption. The income elasticity's of demand for
milk for non-developmental area (0.82) was higher than for the developmental area (0.62).
The consumption of milk and dairy products was found to increase sharply with income.
Ratnam and Spellman (1972) studied consumer attitude rclating to taste, acceptability
and personal preferences of 250 households in the Honolulu metropolitan area for regular
milk, skim milk and filled milk. It was found that acceptability factors for skim milk and
filled milk represented attitudes that adversely affect reylar milk consumption through
substitution. Nutritional value, stylish drink, societal factor and health considerations were
found to be the main factors significantly favouring the consumptions of reylar milk.
Consumption of filled milk, however, depend more on economic factors. Income had a low
impact on the consumption of skim milk.
Prabhakaran (1978) studied the consumer preferences for milk and milk products in
Madras city. Me found that quality, taste and flavour were the important factors for preferring
organised sector products. It was also observed that the preference of a package size is
positively related to the income of a family.
Anand (1979) analysed consumers' opinion for milk and dairy products of Milk plant,
Ambala (Haryana) on the basis of data collected by personally interviewing consumers. It
was found that consumers were satisfied with package and distribution of milk products.
Subash C. Mehta conducted another study to obtain consumers' view of tnarketing in
India. He selected a sample of 350 consumers in Ahmadabad for the purpose of the study. He
observed that (i) consumers do not view marketing as an anti-consumer activity; (ii)
consumers indicate the preference to buy nationally known brands despite their helief that
advertising increased the cost of the products; (iii) consumers have a strong bias in favour of
imported products and their high price is rationalized by the consumers through perceived
better quality: (iv) consumers are not totally against the operation of foreign companies in
India; (v) while departmental stores are perceived as high priced but good service stores,
super markets have the image of reasonably priced but poor service stores; (vi) the consumers
have widely recognized usefulness of the advertising though there are apprehensions ahout

"Aano bhadraa krathavo yanthu vlshwathahaU-"Letthe noble tl~oughtscome to all froni d l d~rect~c;r~s"
Page Nn 4 3
Acme Intellect$ Research Center- A wing of Help to Help Charit.ible Trust*
 -
Acme ln~ellcclsInltmatlonal Soumnl o l llcseurch in Managcmen~.Soc~alSci~mces& Tcchnolngv ISSN ?Z?l) 2'1.44 (Prin1)?3?0-?793 ( O n l ~ n r )
L.el vour R e s w & i d & b U c h - An Ulliinnle starch ol'Try!h- thruueh Reqarcl, VoI- t t NO LL.,~~IOI?
Retor~r~s

the content of advertising; and (vii) consumers generally perceive an improvement in the
quality of the products available in the market except for consumer durables whcre there are
divided opinions about their quality and performance.
Most of these studies, however, have mainly been directed at estimating expenditure
and income elasticity's of certain dairy products, and the qualitative aspect of consumer
behaviour has been almost ignored. Also most of these studies have been confincd to broad
commodity groups and little attention has been paid towards studying consunler motives,
preferences, selections and consumption patterns with respect to dairy products. Further,
there is hardly any specific study in recent years in Visakhapatnam district on the consumer
behaviour in relation to dairy products. Hence, a modest attempt is made in the preswlt study
in this direction.

7. Objectives of the Study

k To study the consumer preferen~esIn selecting a type of mllk from there
ava~lable
F To know the consumer motivating factorb In store 5clectlon for purchaqtng a
mllk product
w To find out the mottvdtlng factor5 of consumer In huylng d part~culmbrand of
mllk.

8. Methodology
The Sample
The present study has been organised on a sample of 400 households or families. It is
a residential and consumption unit which is considered as respondent. It cxcludcs institutions
like students' hostels, residential hostels, hospitals and prisons from the purview of our study.
In the present study two statistical tools were used. These are percentage method and
weighted average method to analyse the study findings.
To choose 400 respondents, first the area was restricted to the limits of 8
Municipalities namely, Madanapalli, Srikalahasti, Punganur, Palamaneru, Nagari, Puttur,
Chittoor and Tirupati city in Andllra pradesh. Then a random sampling has been adopted. To
give equal representation to entire district all thc seven municipalities' areas were considered.
Out of the total 256 divisions in 7 areas I00 divisions were selected on random sampling and
then from each of I00 divisions, 4 respondents (households or fanilies) were picked up on
random sampling.
Data Collection
The data we collected from the selected respondents through pre-tested questionnaire,
personal interviews and observation techniques. The questionnaire was of structurcd in
multiple questions covering .different heads. To develop a list of information items for
framing the questionnaire, a review was made on existing literature and some of the
marketing consultants were approached. A prelitninary draft of the questionnaire was
prepared and a pilot study was conducted on 50 respondents. This helped in improving upon
the quality of questionnaire by including questions relating to consumer awareness,
preferences and consumer satisfaction and also gave an indication as to the kind of response

"Aano bhadraa krathavo yanthu vishwathaha"-"Letthe noble thoughts come to all from all d~rections".Page No.44
Atme lntelkcts Research Center- A wing of Help to Help Charitable Truste
that would be forthcoming. With some modificat~ons, inclusions and exclusions a final
questionnaire was developed.
Attempts were made to contact housewives and get response to the qucstionna~re.In
case it was not posslble to obtain a response from the housewives it was cnsurcd that at least
one other member of the family has been interviewed. In case of non-response or nun co-
operation from a household chosen on random sampling, a substitute household in the same
area was adopted for interviewing.

9. Scope and limitations of the study

The consumer unit is taken to be a family or household. The study has been conducted
on the assumption that consumer behaviour with respect to food products in general and the
dairy products in particular mostly depend on two variables, viz., Income of the family and
the Age of thc family members. William J. Stanton also opined, "Consumer bchaviour also
changes over a period of time because of the change in income and change in life cycle stage
(agc) and other factors". The same opinion was expressed by Philip Kotler and Gary
Armstrong also. So the aggregate income of the whole family and the age of the fail~llilyhead
are the two variables cor.sidered for the study purpose.
We made a sample making the Chittoor District as the empirical base. Limitations of
time and resources accounted for the geogaphical concentrations to a singlc district. This
incidentally provides for a control with respect to:
a) The inequalities in the income, age and educational background of the respondcnts
b) The inequalities in the consumers awareness and exposure to the different types of
milk available in the study area
c) The availability and consumer awareness of different brands of milk available
d) Regional and cultural differences in natural and geographical endowments
It is not appropriate to state that this study is insulated from limitations. The following are
the limitations:
I) The study has not covered the entire population of consuiners due to limited resources
and limited time at the disposal.
2) Correctiless and accuracy in respect of data pertaining to the study on consumers.
But every effort was made to extract correct information by putting cross check
questions and through informal discussion which provided the right ipformation useful to the
study.

10. Validity of the study

Any study based on a consumer survey through a predesigncd questionnaire suffers
from the basic limitation of the possibility of difference between what is recorded and what is
truth, no matter how carefully the questionnaire has been designed and field study has been
conducted. This is because the consumers may not deliberately report their true preference
and, even if they want to da so, there are bound to be differences owing to well-known
problems of filters in com~iunicationprocess. Care was taken to minimize this error by
conducting interviews personally and spending a lot of time on establishing rapport with
respondents.

"Aano Lhadraa krathavo yanthu vrshwathahaW-"Let the noble thoughts come to ail froin all dlrect~ons"71:."! No 45
Acme Intellects Research Center- A wing of Help to kelp Charitable Trust'
 Acmc In1ellccts liltelnational Jbulnnl of Research in Manogancnt. Social Sc~cnccs& 1-ethnology lSSN 232.0 - 2939 (Pr~nl)2320.2793 (Unltnc)
L e w s e a r c h he GIQbal scorch- An Ultimale scarch of'l'rulh- Rcformslhrou~hK_eeadt.Vol- h No .h A u O l 4

This study relates to the Chittoor district. Therefore, although there is a possibility of
applicability of the conclusions of study for other areas, no such regional applicability beyond
the consumers of Chittoor district is assured.

1 I. Analysis and interpretations

Income, age and educational background of the respondents
Table: 1
I Description
1 8 ~ to30
s
1 fyndents I 1 O/'
16.25
1
31 yrs to 40
41 yrs to 50 116
Above 50vl.s I 1112
Total
I Rs.5000- 10000 3 1.75

1
Education Under a t e
High school
I~nGary
Illiterate
x-' 1 1
--p-/-izl ;;.75

(Source. Ficld Sitrvcy)

For the above fable I depicts that out of 400 respondents 29 percent belongs to 50
years age,28 percent respondents belongs to above 50 years and 43 percentage of respondents
are between 18 years to 40 years age. In the Income group out of 400 respondents, 3 1.75%
belongs to the income category of Rs.5000-10000 per month, 27% respondents are belongs t~
the income category of Rs.10001-15000, 21.75% and 19.5% respondents are belongs to the
income category of more.than Rs.20000 and Ks.15001-20000 respectively. In the educat~onal
back ground, out of 400 respondents, 30.75% post graduates, 23.75% under graduates, 17%
high school, 16.25% primary and 12.25 % respondents are Illtterates.

Consumer Preferred of Milk Products from their Availability

Table: 2
Product Respondents Percentage (%)

Double Toned Milk 18.25

Full Cram Milk 15.75
Total 400 100
(Source: Field Surve-v)

"Aano bhadraa krathavo yanthu v~shwathaha"-"Letthe noble thoughts come to all from all d ~ r e c t ~ o nPage
~ " N0.46
Acme Intellects R e r e ~ c h . C ~ f e A
r - wing of Help tp Help Charitable Trust*
 In this above table 2 shows out of 400 consumers, 66% of the consumers are preferred
to purchase toned milk, 18.25 percentages of consumers are preferred to buy Double toned
milk, and 15.75 respondents are preferred to purchase full cream milk.

Locations preferred by consumers to purchase Milk products

Table: 3
No. of / 1

.-
t-
Type of Stores
General 1 Provision
stores
Vendors
47

-
Manufacturers out
Super markets
p g & & h -o p s
Total
60

406
2
.A
15

100
"-2
-1
(Source: Field Sun1e-y)
Most of the respc~ndents(table 3) are givcn to preference for Manufacturers out lets,
because tlie company oul lets arc maintained hygienic environment, out of the 400
consumers, 128 (32%) respondents are preferred to purchase in company outlets only.22%
respondents preference givcn to Vendors, 19.25% respondents are Kirana-shops, 15%
respondents are super markets, and 1 1.75% respondents arc given preference to purchase in
General I Provision store.

Motivating factors of consumers in buying a milk product in a particular store

Table: 4- -- -- - - -
No. of Prrcentagc
Respondents (%)
45 11.25
b. Nearer to residency

.-
Total
L
400
(Source: Field Suwey)
Out of the 400 respondents interviewed (table 4) 100 (25%) of the respondents are
motivating by particular store for door delivery facility, 95 respondents (23.75%) are
motivated by purchase in Hygienic environment, 12.5% are motivated by credit facility, .
11.25% respondents are motivated by Availability of products, and remaining 7.5% are
motivated by store belongs to know-people.

"Aano bhadraa krathavo yanthu v~shwathaha"-"Letthe noble thol~~ht'i come to all from all directions" Pagr No.47
.Acme intellects Research Center- A wing of Help to Help Charitable Trust'
 Acme In~~llccts
Intcmnt~onaf.l(smalof Keseo!.ch in Msnagnnenl. Soc~alSc~er~ces
& Teclmologv ISSN 2320 - 201') (Pnnl) 2120.2703 ( O n l l n r ~
Let "our Kescarch be Global search- A11 Ulw-ch of Truth-"efwnslhrr,wh R t y q r s U N o . A p r X 4

Importance of product attributes which motivate to purchase Milk Products.

Table: 5
Attribute No. of
Respondents
a)Freshness
----- 123 30.75
b)Taste 98
c)Fat Contents 131 32.75
d) Influence of 48
friends / relatives
Total 400
(Source: Field Sun~cy)
The table 5 shows that respondents are given to importance of product attributes which
mottvate to purchase milk products.32.75 % made purchase due to fat contents of
product,30.75% for freshness, 24.5Oh for taste, and 12% made purchase for influence of
friends and relatives.

12. Finding of thc study

12.1. Income, age and educational background of the respondents

57 per cent of respondents are age from 41 years to above 51 years. 58.75 per cent of
respondents are income level froin Rs.10, 001 to Rs.15000 only. 54.5 per cent respondents
are Post graduates and under graduates and most of the respondents aware of the availability
of products and more than one variety of milk.
12.2. Consumer Preferences
It is evident from thc study that most (66 per cent) of respondents prefer toned milk
whereas a small group of respondents of 1 5.75per ccnt prefer full cream milk. 1 8.25 per cent
of respondents prefer doubles toned milk.
The largest number respondents accounting for 32.75per cent said that it is thc 'Fat
contents' that influences the choice of milk product. The smallest number accounting for
11.25 per cent expressed that it is the factor of 'easy availability' that is responsible for the
preference of a milk product.
12.3. Consumer Buying Practices
Knowing the buying behaviour of the milk consumers such as where the consumer
prefers to buy milk, the quantity of milk per day he buys, the frequency ,of purchase, tjming
of purchase, how much price they are willing to pay, in what mode they want to pay and what
the other products of the milk they are going to buy is very essentiql to the tndustry to supply
milk and to make products available accordingly in the market.
The majority o f the respondents 33 percent are prefer Manufacturer out lets, 22 per
cent prefer vendor milk and 11.75 per cent prefer General / Provision stores and rest of the
respondents prefers Super markets, Kirana shops.

"Aano bhadraa krathavo yanthu v1shwathaha"-"Letthe noble thoughts come to all from dl1 d ~ r e c t ~ o n sPage
' No 48
Acme ~ntellcctsRerearch Center- A wing of Help to Help Charitable Trustg
 13. Suggestions
Consumers buy milk out of their functional, insp~rationalvalues, benefits and the
psychological value delivered by the product. Most consumer buying decisions are i n f l u e ~ ~ ~ e c i
by the preferences they have about the product. The milk product image is formed out of thc
knowledge the consumers have about the perceived benefits the product offers or the valuc it
delivers or other aspects of the products such as price, quality, availability, accessibility, etc.
So the manufacturers have to produce the product with all the above requirements.
Though it is housewives, who many times influence the brand choice, place choice
and time choice of the purchase of milk, sometimes the husband or the male mcrnber of the
house is also involved in influencing the factors of brand, place, quantity and time. Hence the
producers of milk have to focus on the entire family.
Evolution of technology has hrought complexity to Industry and in the products. Milk
is also not exempted from this. Today there are many varieties of milk available in the markct
such toned milk, double toned milk. full cream milk and skimmed milk. The knowledge of
the awareness of these products is very much essential to thc consumers to take buying
decision on his own rather than depending on the seller. Due to this there is a need for the
producers to create a high level of awareness among the consumers about their products.
Awareness of the availability of diffcrent types of milk in the market place alone is
not sufficient for the consumer to make a hilying decision. The knowledge of the availability
of different brands in the market, their manufacturers and their image which influence the
huying decision is also essential to the consumer.
Like any marketing firm, dairy firms who market thc milk wlll have to spend a lot of
lnoney on various types of promotional activities and especially advertising to bring
awareness about their brands in the mind of consumer. For this proper sclection of channel
for communicating their brands is also very important.
Normally, milk will be made available through agents in the market in the morning
and in the evening. No doubt that it is the most convenient time to many of the consumers.
But this is not enough. In the urban areas where the use of packed milk sales is very high,
consumers expects that milk that they like should be available throighout the day to carry as
per their convenience. .
Ultimately, it is the brand or firm which provides better services than competilors
through and with the help of the agents will attract more consumer accounts. Service and
satisfaction are not static words. They are relative responses. Promptsupply. regular supply,
making available throughout, providing value in the service rendered by agents, the
hehaviour of the agents, avoidance of adulteration and supplying required quantities of milk
are the prime objectives of any milk agent which will influence the success of the milk
producers.

"Aano bhadraa krathavo yanthu v1shwathahd"'"Let the noble thoughts cone to all from all d~rrr!~ons"P a g No
~ 49
Acme Intellects Research Center- A wing nf Help to Help Chantable Trustm
 Acme In~ellecfsInlcmal~onal.loumnl of Resesrch in Managcmcnt, Snc~alSc~n~ccs
K Technnhgy ISSN 2320 ? q I c l ( P t ~ n l2) 3 2 0 ~ 2 7 u (l o n l ~ n c ~
L m r R e s e n r r h h 4 ~ s 4 ' ~ ~ hAn- -IJll~mate
dQ I ~ L ~ : .I<clonnslhroud~R , $ s ~ i l t c I ~ I6- Ne (7 A ~ > r ~ l ) I ~ . l

14. Conclusion:
Marketing is not a campaign; it's a commitment. And there's no more important
commitment than that which we make to our lifeblood - our customers trying to understand
the consumer's behavior in connection with a product has been called mapping the
customer's consumption system. The marketer's task is to devise marketing activities and
assemble fully integrated marketing programs to create, communicate, and deliver value for
consumers. Marketers are carefully defining customer segments and are listening to people,
as never before, many of them have realized that the key to success is building lifetime
relationships between brand and customers, and marketers who believe in this philosophy are
marketing an effort to keep in touch with their customers on a regular basis.

15. References:
I) Albert M. Field and John. C. McDowell (1992). Dairy Enletprisrs. J.B. Lippon Cort Ct,ml>any,Mew
Yorli
2) Ancia, R. P(1983). 'X Aomprehen.sivc Approdch ro Mrlk A4arketing rind thc Role cfLong-Life Mrik':
Indian Dair), Man. Val. XXXII, Nc8.Y.
3) Bunsil. P. C (1984) Agn'cullurul Problems o f lndiu, Vilius Puhlishrng Housc Pvt Lrd.. Ncw Delhi
4) Cathy Tnylor(2002) "Consumer.: know Nulive B m n d s , N ~ ~ sAdwcck,
~", Si-pr. 17. 1990, p.31.
51 Cunningham, Rase M. ( I 9 72). "Consumer Lqycrlw to Slow and Brand", Har~'ur-dBu.rines.s Review. Vol.
39, W . 127-136
6) David Loudon, Aiherl J. Della Bitta (1997) Conrumer Behaviour, Concepts and App1icarton.s. New
York. McGraw Hill Book Compan)~.
7) Girdhur-i, G.D., Biradar, R. D. (1996). "Dainj Plant Profit Judging Te~hnrque",The Indiun Journrrl of
Commercr, Vol XXXV,Yurt-3, No.132, September.
8) Guhu Thakurto, A. K (2003). Consumption Purrcrns in Indiu, Siudv oJ Inrer-Regiorrcll l'ar;ations, Bom-
hay. Tala Mr~GruwhillPublishing Co. Lld.
Y) I-larr?, L. Dcvis (1970). "Dimensions o f Martial roles In Consumer Decision Making", Journal qf
Marketing Research, Val. 7. Mav pp. 168-1 77. .
10) Howard A, Jagadish N. Sheth (2001). The Theory qfBuver Behuldour, N ~ wYork, Juhr? U'rlcv and Sons.
11) Indian Council oj'Agrrcu11uralResearch (1997). Handbook ofAnima1 Husband?, Nctv Drlhi.
12) Jacob Jacoby (1971). "Personali{y and Innovation Pron~ness",Jou~nulcf'Markeltng Rc.ceurch, Vol. 8,
pp. 244-47.
13) Lessing V. Parker (I Y73). "Consumer S ~ o r eImages and Slore Lovalties .Iournal o f Murkering. Vol "

3 7 pp. 72-74
14) Markin. R.J. (1 993). The Psychology of Consumer Behaviour, P~,t~nricc.fIc~ll,Englewclod flcfi,N.J.
15) Philip Kotler and G a b Armstrong (1999). Principles of Marketing, NPH'Delhi. Prentir.~,- Hull of ln-
dia Pvr. Lld.
16) Schiffman. L.G. Kanuk, ~ . i (2001).
. Consumer Brhaviour, Mew Dclhi: Prenticr F?all q f Indiu Private
Limited.
17) Singh, S.P. and Paul L. KelLv. . (19RU. Amul An Experiment in Rural Ecunomic Dr8velopment. Mac-
Millan Co., New Delhi.
18) Stanfon. W.J. (1 991). Fundamenfals qfMarketing, New York, McGraw Hill lnc
19) Tucker W.T. (1 996) "The Development o f Brand Loyalty ", Journal r!f'Murketlng Research. Vol. I ,
pp.32-3.7.
20) Vikaya Sasrn), R.K.,(1980). "A Case study of Con.~umer'sOpinion sunrev ?/Dairy Products': Indran
Journal of Marketing", Vol. pp. 9-12,

"Aano bhadraa krathavo yanthu vlshwathaham-"Letthe noble thoughts come to all from all directions". Page No 50
Acme Intellects Research Center- A wing of Help to Help Charitable Trustm
 Journal of
RESEARCH, EXTENSION AND
DEVELOPMENT

Vol.1 No.3 November 2012

CONTENTS

Auxiliary Nurse Midwives in the Primary Health

Care of Rural Elderly
M . Bhaskaraiah and K. Munlgaiah
Hydro Power Development in Himachal Pradesh
Ajay Kumar
Environment, Human Rights and Sustainable
Development
S. Ka2aivani
Effect of Selected Yogic Practices on Emotional
Maturity of College of Education Students
Dr. N . Kurnar
Data Base Management System for Children with
Specific Learning Disability
A.P. Senthil Kumar
Problems of Married Working Women: A
Comparison among Nurses and Teachers
Dr. Kalyani Kenneth \
Right to Information from a Human Right
Perspective
V . Sekar
Corruption and Human Rights-The Linkage
Haans J Freddy
Consumer Satisfaction: A study with Reference to 132 J
Milk Consumers
Dr. Sardar Gugloth and
Margani Soma Sekharn
Construction of Sacred Space: The Spatial 140
Dimensions of the Kherai Altar
Dr. Madhurima Goswami
Social Exclusion and Youth Participation 147
Mohammed Fazil. L and Dr. Allah Baksh. S
Discrimination Faced by Widows 154
Dr. K. Nagaraju
Emerging Dimensions in Time-Management: 159
Latest Tools and Techniques
Dr. Ramesh Kumar Chatunledi
Self Help Groups and Women Empowerment: 164
Myth and Reality
Dr. M. Jeyaseelan
Paradigm Shift on Labour and Employment in 170
Plantation Sector: An Indian Scenario
Dr. P.G. Balasubramanian and
Dr. R. Kathiravan
Socio-Economicand Health Status of Elderly 176
Dr. S, S. Vijayanchaliand
Dr. E. Arumuga Gandhi
 JRED, Vol.1, No.3, Nov. 2012, ISSN: 2319-1899

CONSUMER SATISFACTION: A STUDY WITH

REFERENCE TO MILK CONSUMERS
Dr. Sardar Gugloth' and Margani Soma Sekhara"
ABSTRACT
In today's competitive market, consumer plays vital role in the
marketing. Hence, the marketers hme to understand the real needs, u~ants,
beliefs and attitudes of the consumers towards their products and services. Milk
is an essential commodity required on a daily basis, and serves as a multiple
product for direct consumers and multiple inputs for industrial users,
respectively, in the preparation offood and suwet items. Severalfactors influence
the consumers in buying the milk and milk products. Based on the experience, it
u7a.9 realized that there upas need for an organized dairy. The objective of modem
marketing is to make projts through satis&ng consumer needs and zuants. This
paper analyzes the consumer's satisfaction in relation to pasteurized and
unpasteurized milk in Tirupati city, Andhra Pradesh and the level of
satisfaction in tenns of quality, price, taste and mailability of milk etc. It also
discusses the production of milk and state-wise per capita mailability in India.

INTRODUCTION
India is the world's second largest producer of food next to
chaina, and has the potential of being the biggest with the food and
agricultural sector. The total food production in India is likely to double
in the next ten years and there is an opportunity for large investment in
food and food processing technologies, skills and equipment, especially
in the areas of canning, dairy and food processing, fruits & vegitables,
fishers, Milk & Milk products. India happens to be the highest producer
of milk in the world. India is the largest and one of the most economical
milk producers in the world with an estimated production of 105 MT. It
is the most important sector of the Indian economy particularly in
poverty alleviation and employment generation. This sector contributes
close to one-fourth of India's National income and total work force
engaged in agriculture is about 60%. At global level, milk has been
identified as an integral part of f w d for centuries. The success of White
revolution in India has largely been written by millions of small holders.
About 70 million dairy farmers produce more than 50% of the milk in the
country. MiU( and milk products are one of the important components of
the Indian food industry. Consumption of milk and milk products is
deeply rooted in our tradition and it is an essential item during rituals,
festivals and auspicious events. The annual milk production is presently
92 million tones, contributing around Rs. 1000 Billions to the GDP
providing assured and remunerative employment around the year to 60
Million families. The dairy animals make a substantial contribution to

Associate Professor & Resewch Scholar*., Sri Venkateswara University,

Tirupati, Andhra hadesh
 JRED, Vol.1, No.3, Nov. 2012, ISSN: 2319-1899

household food security by providing income, quality food, energy,

fertilizer and assets in over majority of the rural households in India. The
Animal Husbandry is the single largest contributor under the agriculture
sector, which provides a remunerative employment around the year at a
very small investment. The dairy animals make a substantial
contribution to household food security by providing income, quality
food, energy, fertilizer and assets over majority of the rural households
in India. India contributes almost 65% of the total world buffalo milk.
With the advent of modem technology India has risen from an
insignificant amount of 200,000 litres per day (Ipd) of milk in 1951, to 20
million litres per day in 2010. The country is home to almost 400 dairy
plants. The following would be helpful in understanding an overview of
the Indian dairy sector:
The country is the largest milk producer all over the world, around
100 million MT.
Milch animals (45%indigenous cattle, 55 % buffaloes, and 10%cross
bred ccws).
Immensely low productivity, around 1000 kg/year (world average
2038 kg/ year).
Large no. of unproductive animals, low genetic potency, poor
nutrition and lack of services are the main factors for the low
productivity.
There are -different regions-developed, average, below average
(eastern states of Orissa, Bihar and NE region) in the dairy industry.
Marketing is an art of attracting and retaining new and current
customers respectively. This is possible only when the producers and
sellers are able to fully satisfy the customers continuously. The
consumers are said to be satisfied when the actual results exceed their
expectations; otherwise they are said to be dissatisfied. Therefore,
satisfaction is the feeling of pleasure or disappointment resulting from
comparing a products perceived performance in relation to his/her
expectation (Banumathy and Kalaivani, 2006).
Scope of the Study
The study helps to know who the customers are, what they
want, how they use and react to the product. The needs and wants of the
customer are carefully studied by conducting surveys on consumer
satisfaction. The study helps to gain information about the consumer's
satisfaction level of towards quality, price, availability of milk, and
consumption level of milk. The aim of the research is that the study will
help to gain knowledge on the issues such as the factors influencing the
customer preference towards milk, the satisfaction of the respondents
with their pasteurized and unpasteurized milk and to know the opinions
and ideas of the consumers about the milk. Hence, an attempt has been
made to analyze consumer satisfaction with reference to milk consumers
in Tirupati city, Andhra Pradesh with the objectives to ananalyze state-wise
milk production and per capita availability in India; to study the level of
 JRED, Vol.1, No.3, Nov. 2012, ISSN:2319-1899

consumer satisfaction towards milk consumption; to know the general

information on milk consumers; and to offer suggestions to the
marketers.
Methodology
The study was based on both Primary and Secondary sources of
data. The primary data was collected from the consumers of both prefer
pasteurized and unpasteurized milk in Tirupati city. The questionnaires
were prepared and administered to 210 consumers of milk to collect the
required information. 105 respondents preferred pasteurized milk and
105 respondents preferred unpasteurized milk consumers by selecting
210 consumers randomly from each as sample for the study. The
co1Iected data were analysed and the generalizations achieved through
the study has been discussed in this paper.
DATA ANALYSIS
The state-wise production of milk (2010-2011)and per capita
availability in India during 2009-10 is presented in Table 1. It reveals that
total production of milk was high in Uttar Pradesh and less in Delhi as
compared to other states of India. However, the per capita availability
was highest in Punjab and lowest in Delhi of all. Andhra Pradesh stands
in 2* in total milk production and stands 7" in per capita availability of
milk among the states of India.
Table 1:State-wise Milk Production in India

December, 2011.
 JRED, Vol.1, No.3, Nov. 2012, ISSN: 2319-1899

Survey Organization, Ministry of Statistics dr Programme Irnplen~e~~tation,

and Go1
(*NA:Not Avalable)
Table 2 presents the monthly per capita consumption
expenditure on various board groups of items during from 2004-2010. In
the year of Jan 2004-June 2004 the expenditure on milk and milk
products in Rural and urban was Rs.47.60; Rs.82.98 respectively and also
total expenditure of household both non-food and food items in Rural
and Urban was Rs.564.70; Rs. 1040.16. In the year of July 2009 and June
2010 the expenditure on milk and milk product increased in rural and
urban was Rs80.55; Rs.137.01 and also total expenditure of household
both non-food and food items in Rural and Urban was Rs.1053.64;
Rs.1984.46 respectively.
Table 3: Age-wise classification of Respondents
N o of Consumers
Age Total
Pasteurized Unpasteurized
Below 30 31 (29.52) 26 (24.76) 57 (27.14)
31-40 35 (33.34) 29 (27.62) 64 (30.47)
41-50 22 (20.95) 27 (25.7'2) 49 (3.34)
Above 50 17 (16.19) 23 (21.90) 40 (19.05)
Total 10.5 (100) 10s (100) UO (100)
Table 3 presents that in the study area the highest percentage of
pasteurized and un pasteurized milk consumers are in the age group of
31-40 years and below 30 years respectively, whereas the lowest
percentage of pasteurized and un pasteurized milk consumers are above
40 years old.
Table 4 reveals that a large number of consumers of both
pasteurized and unpasteurized Milk are graduates and a small number
of consumers of both types of milk are Post graduates holders. And
among post graduates is 12.38% of pasteurized milk consumers and
20.95%of unpasteurized milk consumers.
 JRED, Vol.1, No.3, Nov. 2012, ISSN: 2319-1899

Table 4: Education Status of the Respondents

Table 5: Income level of the Respondents

Income
No of Consumers
Pasteurized Total
Unpasteurized
Less than 15,000 27 (25.71) 27 (25.71) 54 (25.71)
15,001-20,000 39 (37.14) 41 (39.04) SO (30.09)
20,001-25,000 21 (20) 21 (20) 42 (20.00)
Above 25,000 18 (17.14) 16 (1523) 34 (16.19)
Total lo5 (100) lo5 (100) 210 (100)
It is clear from Table 5 that the monthly income of 37.14%
pasteurized and 39.04% of un pasteurized milk consumer's is between
Rs.15,Wl-20,000, whereas the monthly income of 17.14% of pasteurized
and 15.23% of unpasteurized milk consumers is above Rs.25, 000, which
constitutes that highest and lowest percentage of consumers based on
the monthly income in the area of study.
Table 6: Quantum of Milk Consumption by Respondents
No of Consumers
Quantity Mi'k Total
Pasteurized Unpasteurized
Half liter 31 (29.52) 34 (32.38) 65 (30.95)
One liter 34 (32.38) 38 (36.19) 72 (34.28)
One and half liter 26 (24.76) 21 (20) 47 (22.38)
Two-liter 14 (13.34) 12 (11.42) 26 (12.38)
Total 105 (100) 105 (100) 210 (100)
Tabk 6 reveals that 32.38% of pasteurized milk consumers and
36.19%of unpasteurized milk consumers consume on average one litre
per day in the study area. They constitute the highest percentage of
consumer among the sample respondents. Similarly, 13.54% of
pasteurized and 11.42% of unpasteurized milk consumers consumes
average two litres per day that constitute the lowest percentage of
consumers among the sample respondents.
Table 7: Satisfaction Level towards Quality of Milk
 JRED, Vol.1, No.3, Nov. 2012. ISSN: 2319-1899

Table 7 reveals that the level of satisfaction with quality of milk

is highly and satisfies with 35.23%;29.52% of consumers, average with
22.38% of consumers and low with 12.85% of milk consumers in the
study area. Further, the level of satisfaction for quality is highly with a
high percentage of unpasteurized milk consumers 39% and a low
percentage of unpasteurized milk consumers 9.5%. And the level of
satisfaction for quality is highly with a high percentage of pasteurized
milk consumers 31.42% and a low percentage of pasteurized milk
consumers 16.19%.This signifies that the satisfaction Ievel for quality is
high with more of unpasteurized milk consumers and less of pasteurized
milk consumers in the study area. In other words, the level of
satisfaction is high with more of unpasteurized milk consumers as
compared to pasteurized milk consumers.
Table 8: Satisfaction Level towards Price of Milk
Level of Satisfaction No of Consumers
Total
Pasteurized Unpasteurized
: Highly satisfy 20 (19.04)
26 (24.76)
27 (25.71)
31 (29.52)
47 (22.38)
57 (27.14)
Satisfy
Average satisfy 36 (34.28) 29 (27.61) 65 (30.95)
Low satisfy 23 (21.90) 18 (17.14) 41 (19.52)
Total 105 (100) 105 (100) 210 (100)
Table 8 reveals that the level of satisfaction for price of milk is
high with 22.38% of consumers, average with 30.95% consumers and low
with 19.52% of milk consumers in the study area. Further the level of
satisfaction is high for price with high percentage of unpasteurized
25.71%. And low percentage of unpasteurized milk consumer's 17.14%.
The level of satisfaction is high for price with high percentage of
pasteurized 19.04%.And low percentage of pasteurized milk co~~sumer's
21.90%.This signifies that the satisfaction level of price is high with more
number of unpasteurized and less numbers of pasteurized milk
consumers in the study. Besides, the level of satisfaction is average with
34.28% of pasteurized and 27.61% of unpasteurized miIk consumers.
Table 9: Satisfaction Level towards Taste of Milk

Table 9 presents that the satisfaction level for taste is high for
32.38%. average for 30% and low for 7.14% of milk consumers in the
study area. Moreover, the level of satisfaction is high with high
percentage of unpasteurized milk consumers 32.38% and a low
percentage of unpasteurized milk consumers 7.61%. The level of
satisfaction is high with high percentage of pasteurized milk consumers
 JRED, Vol.1, No.3, Nov. 2012, ISSN: 2319-1899

27.61% and a low percentage of pasteurized rnilk consumers 6.67%.

Besides, the level of satisfaction is average with 34.28% of pasteurized
milk consumers and 25.71% of unpasteurized milk consumers.
Table 10: Satisfaction Level towards Availability of Milk
Level of No of Consumers
satisfaction Pasteurized Total
Unpasteurized
Highly satisfy 39 (37.14) 36 (34.28) 75 (35.71)
Satisfy 35 (33.34) 32 (30.47) 67 (31.90)
Average satisfy 21 (20) 24 (22.85) 45 (21.42)
Low satisfy 16 (15.23) 7 (6.67) 23 (10.95)
Total 105 (100) 105 (100) 210 (100)
I t is revealed from Table 10 that the level of satisfaction for
timely supply of milk is high for 35.71%,average for 21.42% and low for
10.95% of consumers in the study area. It also reveals that the satisfaction
level is high with more of pasteurized miIk consumers 37.14%, due to
supply at the right times as compared with unpasteurized milk
consumers 34.28%. This signifies that the supply network of
unpasteurized milk suppliers is not compatible with the supply network
of pasteurized milk suppliers in the city.-
SUGGESTIONS
The quality of milk of pasteurized rnilk is not as per the expectations
of consumers as compared quality of unpasteurized milk. Hence;
pasteurized milk suppliers
- - should improve the quality of milk at the
earliest possible.
The majority of pasteurized milk consumers expressed their
dissatisfaction towards the taste of milk. Therefore improvement in
the taste of milk is the urgent requirement.
The suppliers of unpasteurized milk generally sell at a lower rate as
compared to the pasteurized milk suppliers in the Tirupati city.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to reduce the price by taking the
advantage of economies of scale.
Presently half a litre is the lowest quantity of milk given by all
suppliers of pasteurized and unpasteurized milk in the study area.
Therefore, introduction of 250ml and 750ml size pockets can help to
increase the market share by attracting the lowest segments and
some other segments of markets.
The satisfaction level of majority of unpasteurized milk consumers is
low with supply of milk in the study area. Therefore; it is suggested
- - - network by forming a voluntary association
to improve the supply
of milk suppliers.
0 Market research is to be conduct to find the demand for milk and to
explore the marketing potentialities.
 JRED,VoLl, No.3, Nov. 2012, ISSN: 2319-1899

CONCLUSION
The effectiveness of marketing management depends on
effectiveness in consumer satisfaction, as it is the main objective of
marketing management. The marketing management must adopt
appropriate techniques to collect information on consumer's satisfaction
t i - a d o p t appropriate marketing strategies to keep abreast of the
competition. Therefore, marketing management of pasteurized milk
suppliers must go for a regular consumer satisfaction survey to adopt an
appropriate marketing strategy at the right time to enhance their
effectiveness in satisfying the consumers of milk.

REFERENCES:

Bedi, MS. (1987), "Dairy Development Marketing and Economic

Growth Deep and Deep Publication, New Delhi.
Bennett, Peter D, and H. Kassarjian (1998), 'Consumer Behaviour',
Prentice-Hall of India Ltd., 5thedition, New Delhi.
Clerk, L.H. (1958), 'Consumer Behaviour: Research on Consumer
Reactions', Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York.
Gerald Linda (1999), 'New Research work on Consumer
Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction Model', Marketing Nms, Sep. 19.
J.D.Power (2000), "A survey in India on customer's satisfaction with
technical aspects of the car" Journal of marketing research Vo1.8,
pp 92-98.
Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (2002), "Consumer Markets and
Consumer buyer behavior", Principles of Marketing, Person
Education Pvt. Ltd., 9th edition, Delhi.
Robert B. Woodruff, Ernest R. Cadotte and Roger Jenkins (3993),
"Modeling Consumer Satisfaction Process using Experience -
Based Norms", Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. XX, August,
pp. 296-304.
Rangappa, K.S., and Acharya, K. (19M), "Modem Dairy product",
Eurasia Publishing House, New Delhi.
Sharwani N.U.K. and Saif Siddique (2002), "Consumers attitude towards
Pasteurized Milk in Ghonda and Majpur Villages of Villages of
East Delhi", Indian Journal of Commerce, Vol, 55, No.4 (Oct-Dec).
Subramanian, G. et a1 (1982), Consumer Goods Marketing in
Vishakhapatnam, Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi.
Sukurnar.D, (1982) "Outline of Dairy Technology", Oxford University
Press, Delhi.