III.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
The aim of this research is to study the consumers attitude and perception towards Global Desi,
as an ethnic-wear retail brand and what motivated the consumers towards the brand through a
consumer survey and analyzing the results thereafter.

MAJOR FINDINGS
The questionnaire was a generalized survey conducted to analyze consumers attitude and
perception towards Global Desi, as an ethnic-wear retail brand and what motivated the
consumers towards the brand. Through our findings we conclude that Project Eve being a new
concept has a lot of prospects in the industry. If it develops and implements proper marketing
strategies it can develop a strong customer base and brand image. Women’s preferences are
sometimes affected by their age and a different marketing mix should be used for targeting
women belonging to different age groups.

IV. INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH UNDERTAKEN

Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior is very complex and is determined to a large extent by social and psychological
factors. Consumer behavior can be defined as those acts of individuals directly involved in obtaining,
using and disposing of economic goods and services. The relevance and importance of understanding
consumer behavior is rooted in the modern marketing. The needs of not even two consumers are the
same. Therefore, they buy only those products and services, which satisfy their wants and desires. To
survive in the market, a firm has to be constantly innovating and understand the latest consumer needs
and tastes it will be extremely useful in exploiting marketing opportunities and in meeting the challenges
that the Indian market offers. A study of consumer behavior is significant for regulating consumption of
goods and thereby maintaining economic stability.

The complexity of the behavior, however, varies with the nature of the product and the need, which it is
required to satisfy. The study of consumer behavior is the study of how individuals make decisions to
spend their available resources on consumption of related items.

1 Attitudes
Attitude is commonly viewed as one of the important variables that intervene between the marketing
mix and consumer behaviour. Attitudes exist because they serve some function for the individual. These

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functions depend on the underlying motives of the individual, meaning that attitudes are based on the
motivational pattern supporting attitudes.

There are four primary functions of attitudes; utilitarian, ego-defensive, value-expressive and knowledge
function. The utilitarian function explains attitudes towards a product based on if they result in pain or
pleasure. The value-expressive function involves attitudes that an individual form due to how the
product describes the individual as a person. The ego-defensive function concerns attitudes that a
person form to protect oneself from internal feelings or external threats. The fourth function, the
knowledge function, affects attitudes an individual form due to need, structure or meaning. Attitude is
an enduring approach that is being build up through experiences. Consumers have different attitudes
towards a broad selection of attitude objects, from consumption-related behaviours (such as how much
a person dislikes or enjoys shopping for clothes) to more product-specific behaviours (such as shopping
at H&M rather than Global Desi).

The attitude is affected by what a person thinks or knows about something (cognition), how strongly
the person takes position for or against the object (affection), and finally the intention to act regarding
the object (behaviour). Those three units of an attitude are all important and can be explained through a
hierarchy of effects.

The ABC model of attitudes stresses the link between knowing, feeling and doing. Each hierarchy in the
model describes the sequence of steps that arises when forming an attitude, and explains the impact of
the three components. The standard learning hierarchy involves a process that often results in consumer
loyalty, and presumes that the consumer is very engaged in making buying decisions. Most attitudes are
constructed through this process. When a consumer forms an attitude via the low-involvement
hierarchy of effects, he or she acts on the basis of limited knowledge and does not have preference for
one specific brand (for instance products such as underwear). Generally fashion is a high-involvement
product and brands are therefore important to many consumers. The experiential hierarchy of effects
regards consumer acts consisting of emotional reactions. This perspective emphasizes that attitudes are
influenced by attributes, such as advertising and package design. Since fashion is emotional and not
always rational, it can also fall under the experiential hierarchy.

2. Values
Values are basic beliefs that motivate or direct the consumer behaviour. Research shows that an
individuals’ general values influence specific clothing decisions. The term consumer value is usually

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connected to consumers’ experiences. Value is being defined as an interactive partiality experience, and
distinguishes a person’s experience of interacting with an object or event. Enjoyable experiences in a
store reflect different types of hedonic values. These values are defined as consumer behaviour that
regards the emotional and fantasy aspect of consumers’ interactions with products. Comparing to its
utilitarian counterpart, the hedonic shopping value is more personal and associated with playfulness and
fun. For instance, it is fairly common that people shop for both utilitarian and hedonic grounds, as well
as a positive mood can come from consumers following either type of shopping. A reason for consumers
to go shopping can also be the possibility to socialize with their friends. An individual’s set of values is
very important regarding consumption activities. Many purchases are made because consumers think
that purchasing products will result in reaching value-related goals.

3. Motivations
Motivations are the processes that start, maintain and aim behaviour. Theories about motivation can
explain why we act and why we do certain things rather than others, together with a need that the
consumer wants to satisfy. This need can be both utilitarian and hedonic. The end state that the
consumer has the intention to reach, is the goal. How urgent the consumer wants to reduce the need
depends on whether the need is hedonic or utilitarian; this is called the consumer’s drive. One indication
of a need is a person’s want, which is created by a combination of cultural and personal factors.

There are several reasons why people wear clothes. A fundamental motive is related to the function of
clothing. Furthermore, most researchers agree on four main motivations for buying fashion today;
modesty, immodesty, protection, and adornment. The modesty theory means that a person wears
clothes to cover private parts of the body. The immodesty theory involves the reason to draw attention
to parts of the body; women’s fashion both arouses and covers. The protection theory has the purpose
of protecting people from elements such as insects and weather, to work as a barrier between the
environment and the body. The adornment theory, which is an aesthetic expression and personal
decoration, can be the most common function of clothing. Adornment influences a person’s identity and
raises the self-esteem.

Maslow’s classification system for motivation is widely cited. According to Maslow, motives are
organized in a hierarchy and it is only when lower level needs are satisfied that higher level needs
become important.

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4. Decision-making
The consumer can be seen as a chooser engaged in an active process. The consumer starts with a goal
and then begins taking in information. He or she actively processes and interpret that information in
order to select alternatives. When consumers choose they are influenced by if the product meets their
needs, its social value and the products ability to arouse interest and meaning among others. The
consumer choice is affected by different variables and has sometimes been described as schizophrenic.
This description is partly an image of the complexity of people’s behaviour as consumers. Choice has
increased over the years due to the growth of product ranges.

When consumers are involved with the product the decision-making process is more complex. In this
type of decision-making, consumers seek information and evaluate different brands more thorough than
in other types of decision-making situations. Clothes are associated with ones ego and the process of
choosing them can therefore be of a complex character. The complex decision-making process has
several phases. First a need arousal initiates the process then the consumer starts her information
seeking process and brand evaluation. The consumer will then buy the brand that is most likely to satisfy
their desired benefits

Brand Personality
Aaker (1996) defines brand personality as the set of human characteristics associated with a given
brand; consumers usually interact with brands as if they were people, especially when the brands are
attached to such meaningful products as clothes. In dealing with people, ‘personality’ is the various ways
I which different individuals will be expected to behave give certain circumstances. (Feldwick, 2002). In
general, if a brand does not have a humanity symbol and the meaning, then this brand will lose its
personality. Brand personality is the brand of human performance and an important part of brand
identity, it has a unique brand of personalised features and characteristics, and it can bring a powerful
brand association and rich connotation of the brand. A brand personality is developed to enhance the
appeal of a brand to consumers (Gelder, 2003). VanAuken (2002) proposes that each brand should
choose a target group with certain personality traits based upon the brand’s aspirations and its
customers’ current perceptions of the brand. The product-related characteristics are possibly primary
drivers of a brand personality (Aaker, 1996), and the attributes of the product will always be influenced
by the brand’s personality. The main reason for using brand personality, is that it can help people by
increasing their understanding of people’s perceptions and attitudes to the brand, compared to
differentiating brand identity, guiding the communication effort and creating brand equity (Aaker,
1996).

Global Desi
“Free spirited, vibrant and delightful, Global Desi is a boho-chic fashion brand, inspired by India’s colors
and chaos. Created in smooth western styles, every outfit in every collection tells you to go ahead and
wear the vibe.”

Global Desi is an India-inspired young, colourful, boho-chic brand with global appeal. Any woman
wherever in the world she may be – who loves, lives and breathes the vibrancy of Indian prints and
influences will find a little bit of herself in this label. The Global Desi collection is predominantly India-
inspired and delves deep into our rich heritage of colours, textures and prints to combine them to create

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international appeal. Launched in 2007, the brand is currently available at 146 exclusive brand outlets
and 402 multi-brand stores across the country. Global Desi opened its first outlet in Mauritius in 2013.
Global Desi, the India inspired colourful boho chic brand was created as Dongre felt she needed a
strong ethnic wear brand to fight in the market. In less than four functional years, Global Desi is
retailed through over 180 points of sale, which includes 45 exclusive stores and 73 other established
shop-in-shops like Lifestyle, Kapsons, Pantaloons, Central and Shoppers Stop to name a few. It has
robust plans to provide stylish clothes at value prices and to expand aggressively by reaching 100
exclusive stores in the next two years and also by increasing their visibility at shop-in-stores.

PEOPLE INVOLVED - Urban Women between the age of 18 to 45.

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 V. ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

CUSTOMER SURVEY ANALYSIS

Qualitative analysis through graphs and pie-charts

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 1
How often do you buy from Global Desi?

Graph 1

OBSERVATION
As per the survey trends we see that a majority of women i.e. 45.5% buy yearly from global desi
whereas only 5.4% buys monthly.

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 2
For what occasions do you generally buy from Global Desi?

Graph 2

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OBSERVATION

As per the survey trends we see that the women prefer to buy casual wear over festive wear from
global desi as only 20% of the women buys festive wear from global desi whereas 80% prefers to
buys casual wear.

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RESPONSE TO QUESTION 3
How do you find the pricing of Global Desi?

Graph 3

OBSERVATION

From the survey conducted we analyze that 80% of women find global desi moderately
expensive whereas only 7.3% finds it affordable.

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 4
What factors motivates you to shop from Global Desi? (you can select more than one options)

Table 4

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OBSERVATION

As per the survey trends we see that the major driving factors that motivates women to buy
from global desi are vibrant colors and prints (87.3%), discounts and promotions (52.7%),
quality of merchandise (43.6%) whereas the least motivating factor is the price of the
merchandise (1.8%).

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 5
Are you satisfied with the exchange and return policy at Global Desi?

Graph 5

OBSERVATION

As per the survey trends we see a majority of customers i.e. 80% are satisfied with the exchange
and return policy at global desi whereas only 20% are dissatisfied.

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RESPONSE TO QUESTION 6
On the scale of 1 to 5 rate your overall shopping experience at Global Desi

Table 6

OBSERVATION

As per the survey trends majority of the customers are satisfied with their overall shopping
experience at global desi.

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RESPONSE TO QUESTION 7
Was the staff at Global Desi able to provide able to provide you with required assistance?

Graph 7

OBSERVATION

As per the survey trends a majority of the customers i.e. 89.1% are satisfied with staff
assistance at global desi whereas only 10.9% of the customers are dissatisfied.

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 8
On a scale of 1 to 5 rate the visual display and layout of the store?

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Table 8

OBSERVATION

As per the survey trends majority of the customers are happy and satisfied with the visual
merchandising and store layout of global desi.

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 9
Would you purchase from a similar brand offering similar quality at a less price?

Graph 9

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OBSERVATION

As per the survey trends we analyze that global desi has very low brand loyalty as 92.7% of its
customers will be ready to purchase from a similar brand offering similar quality at a less price.

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 10
Would you recommend your friends and family to shop from Global Desi?

Graph 10

OBSERVATION

As per the survey trends majority of the customers are willing to recommend the brand to their
friends and families.

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 VI. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS

➢ Expensive pricing: The customers perceive the prices of the products offered by the brand
expensive as compared to the competitors.
➢ Preferred casual wear: Customers go to global desi to look for casual wears more rather than
festive wear. This shows that they perceive the brand to be more inclined towards casual wear
than festive wear.
➢ Motivating Factors: the major motivating factors that drives the customers towards the brand
are its vibrant colors and prints and discounts and promotions offered by the brand.
Price is the lest motivating factor for the customers to buy the brand. This shows that the
customers perceive the prices of the brand a little higher and they are only willing to make their
purchases during sale seasons.
➢ Staff and exchange policy. The customers are satisfied with the return and exchange policy of
the brand and the assistance provided by the staff at the stores.
➢ Less brand Loyalty: As per the survey trends glob al desi has a very low brand loyalty since the
customers are ready to shift to a brand that offers a similar quality at a lesser price.
➢ Effective Word of Mouth: global desi is doing well with their word of mouth promotion as seen
through the survey, its customers are willing to recommend the brand to their family and
friends.

RECOMMENDATIONS

➢ Two different range: Global desi can offer two different ranges to their customers. first can be
an affordable range for the customers who perceive the prices a little higher and the second can
be a premium range offering exclusive pieces.
➢ Focus on festive collection: global desi presents itself as a brand offering festive wear to the
customers. However, majority of its customers perceive it as a casual wear brand. The brand
should come up with an exclusive festive wear collection offering limited pieces of each design
to provide a sense of exclusivity to the customers.
➢ Improve brand loyalty: The brand should focus on improving brand loyalty through various
loyalty programs:
1. birthday/ anniversary discounts: they can offer special discounts on their customers
birthday and anniversary.
2. Special event for members: the brand can launch special interactive events for their loyal
customers in which they can offer special discounts and free gifts to their loyal customers.
➢ Personal Stylist: the brand can offer the service of a personal stylist to its customers visiting the
store, suggesting them the look that would suit the customers the best. This would give a
competitive edge to the brand and would help in attracting new customer and retaining the
existing ones.

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 ➢ Trial Lounges: The brand has a very traditional and conventional layout of the store. It can focus
on offering trail lounges to its customers instead of regular cubicle trial rooms.

VII. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

• Type of Study: Descriptive Research

Intent of Study: The aim of this research is to study the consumers attitude and perception
towards Global Desi, as an ethnic-wear retail brand and what motivated the consumers towards
the brand through a consumer survey and then undertake a research to analyze them and suggest
solutions for any problem identified.

Definition of Population: Urban Women between the age of 18 to 45.

• Definition of Sampled unit: 55

• Data Collection Method:

Primary data –
• A customer questionnaire was formulated to study the consumers perception towards Global
Desi.
Secondary data
• The secondary data was collected through the official site of Global Desi

VIII. ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS

RESEARCH ASSUMPTIONS
We assume all the below mentioned conditions to be constant throughout the research period.
• The customer is influenced by the marketing strategies adopted by the brand.

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• Income of the consumer remains constant throughout the research period.
• There is no change in the taste and preferences of the consumer.
• The value of money remains constant throughout the research period.
• The consumer is rational and well informed.
• The economic and political environment stays constant.

LIMITATIONS
• SAMPLE SIZE LIMITATION
Due to the Reluctance of the customers to respond to the questionnaire and the time constraint
to conduct the survey, we could conduct the survey only on a limited number of samples.

The sample size i.e. 54 respondents, is quite small in respect to the total population and a sample
size that is generally small reduces the power of the study and may increase the margin of error
which might render the study meaningless.

• OTHER LIMITATIONS
Language barrier prevailed and Personal biases on the part of the consumers.
The researcher may or may not have the suitable aptitude to conduct an effective sampling process.
Sometimes there is personal preference, which is unavoidable.

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 IX. REFERENCES

Secondary research
https://www.globaldesi.in/company-profiles/

https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/61694/Arla%20Kytola%20-
%20Final%20thesis.pdf?sequence=1

https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

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