PROJECT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

PHASE – I, II

SUBMITTED TO:
MR. ELDO G ZACHARIA

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

SAINTGITS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

SUBMITTED BY:
RIBIN VARUGHESE RAJAN

MBA (2018-20)
PHASE I
INTRODUCTION

KFC, also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is an American fast food restaurant chain
headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's
second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 22,621 locations
globally in 136 countries as of December 2018. The chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a
restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and WingStreet chains.

KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur who began selling fried
chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great Depression.
Sanders identified the potential of the restaurant franchising concept, and the first "Kentucky
Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Utah in 1952. KFC popularized chicken in the fast food
industry, diversifying the market by challenging the established dominance of the hamburger.
By branding himself as "Colonel Sanders", Harland became a prominent figure of American
cultural history, and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising to this day. However,
the company's rapid expansion overwhelmed the aging Sanders, and he sold it to a group of
investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey in 1964.

KFC was one of the first American fast food chains to expand internationally, opening outlets
in Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Jamaica by the mid-1960s. Throughout the
1970s and 1980s, it experienced mixed fortunes domestically, as it went through a series of
changes in corporate ownership with little or no experience in the restaurant business. In the
early 1970s, KFC was sold to the spirits distributor Heublein, which was taken over by the R.J.
Reynolds food and tobacco conglomerate; that company sold the chain to PepsiCo. The chain
continued to expand overseas, however, and in 1987, it became the first Western restaurant
chain to open in China. It has since expanded rapidly in China, which is now the company's
single largest market. PepsiCo spun off its restaurants division as Tricon Global Restaurants,
which later changed its name to Yum! Brands.

KFC's original product is pressure-fried chicken pieces, seasoned with Sanders' recipe of 11
herbs and spices. The constituents of the recipe represent a notable trade secret. Larger portions
of fried chicken are served in a cardboard "bucket", which has become a well-known feature
of the chain since it was first introduced by franchisee Pete Harman in 1957. Since the early
1990s, KFC has expanded its menu to offer other chicken products such as chicken fillet
sandwiches and wraps, as well as salads and side dishes such as French fries and coleslaw,
desserts, and soft drinks; the latter often supplied by PepsiCo. KFC is known for
its slogans "It's Finger Lickin' Good!", "Nobody does chicken like KFC" and "So good".

Factors influencing consumer buying pattern

(1) Cultural Factor:
Culture, subculture, and social class are particularly important influences on consumer buying
behavior.
Culture:
Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behavior. However it is
exposed to these broad cultural values: achievement and success, activity, efficiency and
practicality, progress, material comfort, individualism, freedom, external comfort,
humanitarianism, and youthfulness.
Different cultures have different beliefs: for some cultures Non -Veg is completely prohibited,
whereas chicken is the main food item. Different cultures permit different beliefs and norms.
This reflects the consumption patterns of an individual Culture is a very important factor from
the view of a marketer.
As KFC entered into international business, they studied each country’s culture, the norms
followed in each place, eg: in Bangladesh and all pork is not consumed, so they did not include
the pork food items in their menu.
Only adopt the culture but also the Religion as well. They offer Halal foods to the customers,
which is the symbol that they adopted the Muslim religion.

Subculture:
Each culture consists of smaller subcultures that provide more specific identification and
socialization for their members. Subcultures include nationalities, religions, racial groups, and
geographic regions.
Social class:
Social classes are relatively homogeneous and enduring divisions in a society. They are
hierarchically ordered and their members share similar values, interests, and behavior.
As we discuss earlier that KFC target all the class including the upper class, upper middle and
lower middle class etc. For middle classes they have launched a segment of products at cheaper
rates.
Social class is determined by
 Income
 Occupation
 Education
Balanced level of all three creates awareness of new products and income gives the purchasing
power. So, social class forms an important part of external influence on consumers buying
behaviour.
(2) Personal Factors
Cultural and social factors are just two of the four major factors that influence consumers’
buying behavior. The third factor is personal characteristics, including the buyer’s age, stage
in the life cycle, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle, personality, and self-concept.

Figure: Model of Consumer Behavior

Age and Stage in the Life Cycle:

People buy different goods and services over a lifetime.
Occupation and Economic Circumstances:
Occupation also influences a person’s consumption pattern. In addition, product choice is
greatly affected by a consumer’s economic circumstances:
 spendable income (level, stability, and time pattern),
 savings and assets (including the percentage that is liquid)
  debts
 borrowing power and
 attitude toward spending versus saving.
Lifestyle:
People from the same subculture, social class, and occupation may actually lead quite different
lifestyles.

 Actualizers
 Fulfilled
 Achievers
 Experiencers
 Believers
 Strivers
 Makers:
 Strugglers

As the internal factors are considered, the change is food pattern are affected by attitudes and
beliefs, but there is an important factor that has constantly changed many life’s of many people.
People are now oriented towards
 Principles
 Status
 Action
These are governed by income, education, intelligence, energy level etc.

Personality and Self-Concept

Each person has a distinct personality that influences buying behavior. Personality is usually
described in terms of such traits as self-confidence, dominance, autonomy, deference,
sociability, defensiveness, and adaptability.
Self-concept (or self-image) is related to personality. Marketers often try to develop brand
images that match the target market’s self-image. Consumer responses to brand images.
PHASE II
 (3) Social Factors
In addition to cultural factors, a consumer’s behavior is influenced by such social factors
as reference groups, family, and social roles and statuses.
Reference groups:
Consist of all of the groups that have a direct (face-to-face) or indirect influence on a person’s
attitudes or behavior.
Reference group is the one to which an individual refers. An individual adapts its self to the
group he is in. His consumption patterns, taste, beliefs, behavior etc changes according to the
group. Reference groups expose new behaviors and lifestyles, influence attitudes and
self-concept.
As the consumption pattern changes, person who was not fond of KFC may change according
to eating habits of his group members. Even an individual develops a taste of his referent group.
So the group has influenced people.
Membership groups:
Groups that have a direct influence, Some primary membership groups are family, friends,
neighbors, and co-workers, with whom individuals interact fairly continuously and informally.
Secondary groups:
Such as professional and trade-union groups, tend to be more formal and require less
continuous interaction.

Family
The family is the most important consumer-buying organization in society. The traditions
followed by family are carried forward in children. Family consuming non-vegetarian food
passes this attitude to their children also.
Many respondents told us that they are non-veg because of their family. So people developed
their interest of going to KFC because they are non vegetarians. Small children go to KFC with
their parent, which reflects that family plays an important role in decision making.

Roles and Statuses

A person participates in many groups, such as family, clubs, or organizations. The person’s
position in each group can be defined in terms of role and status. A role consists of the activities
that a person is expected to perform. Each role carries a status.
 (4) Psychological Factors
Psychological factors are the fourth major influence on consumer buying behavior (in addition
to cultural, social, and personal factors). In general, a person’s buying choices are influenced
by the psychological factors of motivation, perception, learning, beliefs, and attitudes.
Motivation:
For some, good food is one of the most important need because of this reason people like to try
and experiment with their taste. Any new food joint is first visited by people who are internally
motivated.

Perception:
A motivated person is ready to act, yet how that person actually acts is influenced by his or her
perception of the situation. Individuals can have different perceptions of the same object
because of three perceptual processes:
 selective attention,
 selective distortion, and
 selective retention.
The people perceived KFC of international standards and created a mindset that KFC would
serve food of good quality and taste.

Beliefs and Attitudes

Through doing and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes that, in turn, influence buying
behavior.

ATTITUDE FORMATION:
For years people in Bangladesh have followed the same Traditional food habits. Emphasis has
always been given on the nutrition content of the food. Our values and beliefs have been carried
forward from ages.

ATTITUDE CHANGE:
Now the emphasis is more on the taste than the Traditional nutrient values. With large no of
entrants in Bangladesh, the consumption pattern of people has completely changed.With
addition of good quality food in market, the mind set of people are changing and they accept
these fast food joints a good place to enjoy their meal.

LEARNING
Behavior that results from Repeated experience Thinking.
Over years people have learnt about KFC from their advertisements, their print media
promotions. As KFC’s tagline “finger licking good” has made people lean that it related to
good taste.
DRIVE: for good food
CUES: advertising symbols, established KFC as one of food leaders.
RESPONSE: purchasing products at KFC
REINFORCEMENT: repeat purchase.