Application Exercise

(Sub Group Component)

Applicati on involving using the strategy of impulse buying in retail
setti ng to promote a category of impulse buy item. It includes concepts
covering impulsive buying, point of purchase and personality aspects

Submitted By – Group 10

Ashok Katta (1011159)

Neha Rani (1011186)

Nitin Awasthi (1011187)

Table of Contents
Gum Industry in India 2
Major brands in the gum category 3
Wrigley’s Orbit 3
Perfetti Van Melle’s Happydent 3
Wrigley’s Boomer 3

Centre Fresh 3

Centre Fruit 3

Big Babool 3
Gum category Analysis and linkages to focus chapters 4
Issues Identified with Impulse purchase in Gum category 6

Issue One 6
Issue Two 6
Issue Three 7
Issue Four 7
Articles Selected to address the Issues 8

Article One 8
Article Two 8
Article Three 9
Article Four 9
Article Five 10
Article Six 10
Article Seven 11
Article Eight 11
How the Selected Articles address the Issues 12

Issue One 12
Issue Two 12
Issue Three 13
Issue Four 14
How Boomer brand be benefited with the issues Identified 15

Process employed by the group 16

Names of our group members and their contribution 17

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References 18

Gum industry in Indiai

The gum segment is considered to be the fastest growing segment of the
confectionary industry with CAGR of approximately 9% for past few years. It is said
to relieve stress, help in weight management, increase alertness and focus. These are
some of the many factors that helped in the increase in demand for gum in all the age
groups. Value sales of gum are set to increase by almost 13% in 2010 to reach over
Rs. 10 billion. Functional gum is expected to continue growing the fastest in 2010, by
27% in value terms, due to a small base.
With increasing health concern, consumers are shifting toward low calorie products
and thus the demand for sugar free gum and in turn the complete chewing gum
industry is growing. Manufacturers are focusing on penetrating smaller towns and
cities with gum, particularly bubble gum. Consumption is also supported by several
other factors such as the expected economic improvement with impulse purchases
driven by both adults and children consuming gum.
The consumer base for functional gum is still relatively small at around 5% of retail
gum volumes in 2010 because the average retail price of functional gum is still much
higher than other gum products. Manufacturers of the functional gum are actively
focusing on advertisements to educate the consumers about its dental benefits.
The major contributor in the sales of gums is bubble gum, strawberry flavor being the
most favorite one. Other fruity flavors such as apple and blueberry were also popular
among bubble gum consumers, while mint, menthol, and honey and lemon were more
popular in chewing gum. Other popular flavors are spearmint and peppermint.
Different flavors make gum an attractive buy for both children (fruity flavor) and
adults (mint flavors).
The target market for bubble gum and Chewing gum is different. Bubble gum is
mainly consumed by children and chewing gum(majorly the functional gum like
Happy dent and Orbit) is mainly consumed by adults. The pricing is also such that it
makes an impulsive purchase for its target segment i.e. bubble gum is usually priced
at Rs. 1 making it affordable to children, whereas chewing gum is usually priced at Rs
5 thus affordable to adults. Minimal price increases despite more innovation.
Perfetti Van Melle India and Wrigley India are the dominating manufacturers of gums
and have a combined share of 91% in the Indian market. The reasons behind the
success of these companies are that have strong distribution networks and are very
active in advertising and promoting their brands as gum usually being an impulse
purchase product is majorly impacted by the advertisements and the image they hold
in the mind of the consumer.

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Major brands
Firstly we would discuss the gums that are positioned as functional gums. Functional
gums are those which imparts some practical function along with the usual enjoyment
provided by the traditional chewing gum, thus enticing the consumers (mainly adults)
to pick these gums over the traditional one at the time of making a impulse purchase
when mostly all the products are available to choose from.
Wrigley’s Orbitii: Orbit is positioned as a functional gum that leaves a smooth and
refreshing flavor. It is a sugar free gum that leaves the consumer’s mouth with a ‘just
brushed clean feeling’. Orbit gum has also received the American Dental
Association's Seal of Acceptance. It is also said in the advertisements to delivers a
whitening benefit with a great taste. More on the functional benefit front, Orbit
White gum can help remove stains and whiten teeth, and give a brilliant smile that the
consumer would want to show the world. Orbit White is proven to remove stains and
whiten teeth by chewing two pieces after meals or drinking wine, soda or other teeth
staining products.
Perfetti Van Melle’s Happydent: Happydent chewing gum is Perfetti Van Melle's
offering in functional gums category. Happydent White contains baking Soda which
helps in maintaining natural whiteness; therefore it was positioned as “good for teeth”
gum. Although throughout the advertisements are made such that consumers relate the
gum with good humor as well.
Other Chewing Gumsiii
Wrigley’s Boomer: Boomer is positioned as a pure kids brand targeting kids aged 10-
15 years. It focuses on the fantasy hero who helps the kids who land up in the midst of
villains. This brand is positioned as a friendly companion for the child consumers.
Center Fresh: Center Fresh entered in the Indian market with Rs1.5 per unit but due to
excessive price based competition the price was later reduced to Rs1. The brand also
associated itself with cricket which gave a real push to the brand in the market. The
brand tries to relate itself with freshness as an attribute in the advertisements. It was
also the first liquid filled chewing gum in India.
Center Fruit: Center Fruit was launched in the year 2006 as India’s first ever fruit-
flavored liquid-filled gum. It was launched with 2 tantalizing flavors – Tutti Fruity
and Grape. Initially, it rode on the strong equity of Center Fresh but over the years,
the brand has carved a niche for itself and is one of the fastest growing brands.
Center Fruit is positioned on irresistibility and has been making tongues wag with its
unique fruit flavors, a splash of liquid bursting in the mouth and an everlasting
essence of your favorite fruits.
Big Babol: Big Babol was launched in India in 1994, since then it has become one of
the biggest bubble gum brands in India. Over the years it has become a favorite
amongst the kids in the country. It is a brand which is known to have very yummy
taste and consumer can blow bubbles out of it, and also bubblegum does not sticks. It

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has been positioned on the fact that how you can use big bubbles to your advantage
and make Big Babol “Bade Kaam ki Cheez”.

Analysis of the gum category, linking it to the impulse purchase behavior of the
consumers and the strategy of impulse buying in a retail setting
Indian gum industry is primarily a mono pack market but presently a lot of brands are
providing multi unit packs as well at affordable rates. Also the unorganized retail
outlets in India like the paan shops and kirana outlets result in a bulk of gum sales.
Given the clutter in the market, the only way to create brand salience is through
innovative advertising. Creativity in packaging as well as communication and
promotion is also very important for the impulse purchase.

In the gum category, a series of conventional and non conventional branding

techniques and media innovations have been utilized to promote the company
products in India. ‘Point of purchase’ promotional material has been used tactically
like attractive displays that are designed to catch the shopper’s eye particularly at the
paying counter (checkout counter). Counter displays, floor stand displays are also
filled with chewing gums to make the impulse purchase possible.

There are a lot of varieties available in the gum category to choose from like
functional gum, chewing gums that are related with freshness, bubble gums and center
filled gums. The positioning for these gums is also different. The multi unit packs are
usually targeted at adults and single unit packs at children. Usually a much lesser
emotional connect is created between a chewing gum and consumer. Consumers for
the gum category may not find it necessary to have lot of information about the
product. They may want to try variety and thus at many a times go impulsively for a
completely new brand that they may not have tried before. The first time buyer of a
gum makes an impression through the advertisement or the brand at the time of
purchase through the retail environment. Thus it is important for the various brands to
launch variety and keep the excitement high by the advertising communication.

Consumer moods are also important in decision making. If retailers wish to promote
impulse buying, they should create an environment where consumers can be relieved
of their negative perceptions of impulse. Retailers may stress the relative rationality of
impulse buying in their advertising efforts. The same can be related to the functional
chewing gum where consumer can think of relying on these gums for the whiteness of
the teeth after smoke or can regulate the ph of the mouth after some indulgence
consumption. Similarly, they may stress the non-economic rewards of impulse
buying.

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Additionally, retailers can make the environment more complex, further straining
consumers' abilities to process information accurately. Such techniques as stocking
more merchandise, creating stimulating atmospherics, and increasing information may
be useful to stimulate impulse buying. Retailers can make impulse purchasing more
risk-free, through convenient return policies, or increase enablers such as credit and
store hours (Rook and Fisher, 1995).

Moreover, consumer can feel better about their impulse buying, by relieving
their negative evaluations of impulse. Consumers can be made to recognize that
heuristics and impulse are not bad, but implicitly involve a trade-off between
rapid, hedonically satisfying purchases and less affective, but more thoughtful
planned purchases. Once consumers recognize that products are more than
commodities and that they are buying to please their hedonistic desires as well
as their physical desires, they will feel more comfortable with the impulse buying
decisioniv.

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Issues identified with Impulse purchase in the gum category
Issue 1: Is positioning the chewing gum as an impulse purchase product beneficial for
the manufacturers in Indian scenario, where most of the purchase in the supermarkets
are done by housewives and budgeting is extremely important. What are the factors
on the consumer side that affect the impulse purchase?
Impulse purchase is generally considered ‘unplanned buying’. We would like to
understand here whether the normative evaluations act to moderate the individual’s
impulsive traits and thus reduce the consumer impulse buying behavior even for a
category like chewing gum where the prices are low.
We would also like to understand what kind of impact negative normative evaluations
have on the purchase behavior. Individual behavioral traits seems to moderates the
negative norms prevalent against impulse buying, thus reducing or eliminating
negative feelings or conflict over impulse purchases. Thus, consumers still view
impulse buying as "bad", but feel unable to control their impulsive tendencies, an
inherent behavioral trait. This we can very well relate to the purchase of chewing gum
as in spite of not budgeting for chewing gum during the pre purchase phase the house
wives might not consider it harmful to give in to the urge of having a chewing gum or
to the wishes of her child to have a gum.

Issue 2: What are the factors on the retailer side that affect the impulse purchase
decisions of the consumers of the various age groups in the current scenario in India
Retailing is the final step in the distribution of a product and connects the final
product to the consumer. With increase in the number of malls in India, there are lots
of individuals who visit stores with almost no purchase intention. In such a scenario
what can be a retailer’s role in invoking the impulse purchase decision.
It is evident that some types of items are more subject to impulse purchase than
others. Here we would like to understand if the way the products are displayed in the
store is related to the purchase decision of the different individuals. Retailers adopt
various methods to entice consumers into impulse purchase of chewing gums, by
attractive displays etc.

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Issue 3: Does the changing environment like the online buys and culture have an
impact on the impulse purchase done by the consumer.
In India there is a growth of e-commerce, web buys and purchase on television
shopping channels which gives a lot easier access to impulse purchase opportunities.
But impulse purchase of a very low priced item like gums is not evident on these. So
here can we say that this kind of changing environment does not have any impact on
the purchase of non durables. In the web based environment where the search for the
products is very easy with the search mechanisms and the consumer enjoyment tends
to increase with the positively challenging environment, do consumers get attracted to
impulse purchase of much expensive items just to satisfy instant urge to buy.
We also want to understand do cultural factors moderate aspects of consumer’s
impulsive buying behavior. Do consumers behave differently in the same retail
environment if the underlying cultures that the consumers have come from are
different?
Issue 4: Is it possible to create brand personalities for impulse purchase products. Do
consumers relate with these personalities at the time of purchase.
Consumers tend to assign human characteristics to the products they purchase. Brand
personality tends to serve a symbolic or self-expressive function as against a
utilitarian function. However the symbolic notions may have been built around the
functional aspects. Brand personality creation and transfer depends on the way
consumers process advertising. We want to understand how advertisers try and create
brand personalities in the gum category and how consumers perceive them.
The gum market is divided in to sugarless and non sugarless gums. Sugarless gums
seem to appeal to young professional people who have interest in the product benefits
as they focus on the breath freshening properties. But most of the gum ads still focus
on humor and innovation where we would like to understand how the brand
personalities are perceived in the chewing gum market and what role do they play
when consumer is making a purchase

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Articles selected to address the issues identified
Issue 1: Is positioning the chewing gum as an impulse purchase product beneficial for
the manufacturers in Indian scenario, where most of the purchase in the supermarkets
are done by housewives and budgeting is extremely important. What are the factors
on the consumer side that affect the impulse purchase?
Article One
The Significance of Impulse buying today
Stern Hawkins, Journal of marketing (pre 1986), Apr 1962; 26, 000002;
ABI/INFORM complete
According to the paper, an increasing number of consumer purchases are made
without advance planning. Impulse buying is classified into four broad classifications.
1. Pure impulse buying: This is novelty or escape purchase which breaks the
normal buying pattern. It accounts for less number of impulse purchases as
preplanning of shopping tends to eliminate the whimsy and impulsive nature
in shopping (especially housewives who consider budgeting extremely
important).
2. Reminder impulse buying: The key factor here that which invokes the
impulsive purchase here is the remembered prior experience with the product.
3. Suggestion impulse buying: This happens when consumer sees a product for
the first time and visualizes a need for it. Product quality, function and the like
are evaluated at the point of sale.
4. Planned impulsive buying: It occurs when the consumer enters the store with
some specific purchases in mind with the intention to make other purchases
dependent on price, coupons etc.
The factors which influence the impulse buying are money, time, physical effort and
mental effort. When the act of impulse purchase requires a heavy expenditure of these
resources, then the buying becomes difficult and the purchase is subjected to more
thoughtful consideration and planning.
The nine factors according to the paper that encourage the impulse purchase are Low
Price, Marginal need for item, Mass distribution, Self service, Mass advertising,
Prominent store display, Short product life, Small size or light weight and Ease of
storage.
Article Two
Normative Influences on Impulse buying behavior
Dennis W Rook, Robert J Fisher, University of southern California, LA
According to the paper, when impulse buying is more virtuously motivated, it is likely
to have more positive normative evaluations. Consumer’s normative evaluations have
the potential to influence their buying behavior. The probability of a consumer going

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for an impulse purchase depends on the degree of the impulsive trait tendencies as
well as their normative judgments.
Normative evaluations are the consumer judgments about the appropriateness of
making an impulse purchase in a particular buying situation. According to the paper,
the relationship between the buying impulsiveness trait and the actual act of buying
impulsively are moderated by consumer’s normative evaluations of making an
impulse purchase. Impulsive buyers reject making an impulse purchase when negative
normative evaluations reach a critical level.

Issue 2: What are the factors on the retailer side that affect the impulse purchase
decisions of the consumers of the various age groups in the current scenario in India
Article Three
Factors affecting impulse buying behavior in the malls – special reference to Noida
city
Indian Journal of commerce and management studies. Ms Rekha Saraswat
The reading focuses on the various retail formats, the prominent one being ‘the
shopping malls’ which is an arrangement of retail stores and providing the right mix
of shopping, food courts and entertainment. The study also elucidates the relationship
between impulse buying behavior and visual merchandising. This increases the
desirability of the product and encourages the consumers buying behavior. The study
also reveals that there is a pivotal relationship between the impulse buying behavior
and in-store displays and promotional signage. When consumers are exposed to the
visual stimuli they are more likely to make purchase on impulse. In-store browsing
has a positive impact on consumer’s positive feelings and impulse buying urges.
Most of the consumers feel that availability of all the brands at one place is extremely
important. Along with the quality and variety also plays important role. Prices do not
play a very important role when quality is offered by the retailer. Impulse buying is
considered as an inherent individual trait, rather than a response to inexpensive
product offering. It involves a hedonic and affective component and this behavior
stems from the desire to satisfy multiple needs that underlie many types of buying
behavior.
Article four
Pester power: Snack foods displayed at supermarket checkouts in Melbourne,
Australia
Helen Dixon, Maree Scully and Kristiina Parkinson
The reading suggests that the practice of placing merchandising confectionary at
checkouts places a pressure on parents to purchase through the effects of ‘Pester
power’. The study also reveals that most of the colorfully packaged chocolate and
candy bars that appeal to children are stored in the lower portions of the display, while
mints, luxury chocolates, chewing gums are place in the mid top levels.

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Supermarkets place the confectionary items at the checkout areas because of their
high profitability and potential to provoke impulse purchase. The content and
positioning of items in their permanent displays at checkouts suggest that retailers
deliberately target children in the knowledge that ‘pester power’ may persuade
parents to impulse buy for their children as they pass through the checkouts.

Issue 3: Does the changing environment like the online buys and culture have an
impact on the impulse purchase done by the consumer.
Article five
Consumer behavior in web based commerce: An empirical study
Marios koufaris, Ajit Kambil, and Priscilla Ann LaBarbera
According to the article in business to consumer e-commerce there have been two
major changes 1. Consumer has transformed in to computer user, 2. Physical stores
have been transformed into a phenomenon called websites. Results of the empirical
results have suggested that traditional marketing promotions are not always successful
in an online commerce. Convenience and control are at the priority for the consumer
as benefits from the online shopping.
The paper also explores how the level of perceived control and shopping enjoyment
affect the behavior of online consumers. It also helps us in understanding how
individual consumer factors (need specificity, customer tenure and product
involvement) and web store factors (search mechanisms used, positive challenges)
influence consumer attitudes and behavior on web. There are three key emotional
variables, pleasure (shopping enjoyment), dominance (perceived control felt by
consumer) and arousal(physical sensation like jittery, sluggish and relaxed) that
determine the behavior. Article suggests that on web, conditions are such that
consumer tends to save time, she ends up making more unplanned purchases. Money
availability is equally important online as offline. Web buys also cannot provide full
experience like listening to mood enhancing music, touching the product, smelling
and tasting the product.
On web though it is possible to target more specific consumer, which can lead to more
efficient marketing promotions that may increase unplanned purchase. Small
marketing promotions don’t have major impact on sales. The web store factors that
play a role on web buys are Search mechanisms, the technology used by search
engines
Article Six
The influence of culture on Consumer impulsive buying behavior
Jacqueline J. Kacen, Department of business administration; University of Illinois
Julie Anne Lee
Department of marketing, University of Hawaai-Manoa

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Paper suggests that the growth of e-commerce and the increasing consumer
orientation of many societies around the world offer expanding occasions for impulse
purchase. Paper suggests that cultural factors significantly influence consumer’s
impulsive buying behavior. Specifically, the theory of individualism and collectivism
also help us to gain complete understand of impulsive buying phenomenon. Paper
argues that women value their possessions for functional and instrumental reasons
whereas men have more personal, independent identity reasons for their purchases.
An individual’s impulsive behavior tendencies are also dependant on the demographic
characteristics such as age. This relationship is non-monotonic like impulse buying
increases between 18-39years and decreases later on.
The paper also suggests that younger individuals have lesser control on their impulse
buying than the older individuals. Impulsiveness is also dependent on the emotional
arousal. People who are more collectivist are motivated by norms and duties imposed
by the in-group and try to emphasize their collectedness with the in-group.
Individualist are motivated by their own preferences, needs and personal goals. In
collectivist cultures emphasis is on the control and moderation of emotions consumer
from cultures suppress the emotional component of impulse buying.

Issue 4: Is it possible to create brand personalities for impulse purchase products. Do

consumers relate with these personalities at the time of purchase.
Article Seven
Emotionally effects of brand personality maker attributes on purchase intentions
By Gianluigi Guido, Alessandro M. Peluso, Mariarosaria Provenzano and Lucia Leo,
University of Cambridge, UK
The paper suggests a five factor model by Digman and Golberg in which infinite set
of attributes describing human personality may be reduced to only five traits: i.e.,
Agreeableness, Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism/Emotional
stability, Introversion/Extroversion. The noteworthy thing is that this insight into
social psychology can also be extended into brand personality via markers (attributes)
which elicit more prominently than others one out of the Big Five factors. At the same
time these markers must also be vivid i.e. be able to elicit emotions.
It is the degree of vividness of attributes that determines whether the consumers’
purchase intentions will be influenced or not. A stimulus can be called vivid if it
arouses emotions, is concrete and imagery provoking and is proximate in a temporal,
sensory or spatial way.
This study shows that that only those marker attributes of the Big Five factors of
brand personality with higher levels of positive (or negative) emotionality are capable
of influencing positively (or negatively) consumers’ purchase intention. The ability of
emotional marker attributes to influence, either directly or indirectly, consumers’
purchase intention was found strictly dependent upon the value of their emotionality.
Hence emotionality is the main component of vividness.
This finding will help marketers understand which are the marker attributes that, by
eliciting positive emotions in consumers, can persuade them to buy their products,

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thus reducing risk factors connected to expensive advertising campaigns and being
more efficient in today’s increasingly cluttered advertising environment
Article Eight
An examination of brand personality through methodological triangulation
Freling, Traci H, Marketing, University of Texas at Arlington; Forbes, Lukas P.
Journal of Brand Management 13.2 (Nov 2005): 148-162

The paper suggests that (1) brand personality is connected to man brand associations
in consumer memory and accessed through spreading activation; and (2) consumers
embrace brands with strong, positive personalities because of a natural human
tendency to anthropomorphize nonhuman objects. The paper also presents the
theoretical and empirical evidence to learn about how brand personality develops and
operates, why it occurs, and the difference brand personality makes in terms of
consumer perceptions and preferences.
The paper suggests two theories as the foundation to understand the brand
personalities.
An associative memory explanation: To understand how brand personality works.
Associative memory formulations view semantic memory as an interrelated body of
knowledge comprised of nodes and links. A node could be comprised of the brand,
the product category in which the brand competes, the specific product attributes of
the brand, images from recent advertising for the brand and/or past product
experiences with the brand. Related nodes are connected by links, which represent
associations of varying strength. This entire collection - nodes connected to other
nodes by links - makes up the associative network. If the nodes comprising the
network are strongly related, the spreading activation that occurs should be extensive
and allow access to much brand information.

An anthropomorphic explanation: Why brand personality occurs. It is a natural human

tendency called anthropomorphism to attribute the human characteristics to
nonhuman things and events (unconscious tendency of thought). Marketers may
exploit the human tendency to anthropomorphize and deliberately shape the
development of a brand's personality so that it becomes associated with a set of
desirable characteristics.

How the articles addresses the issues identified in the category

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Issue 1: Is positioning the chewing gum as an impulse purchase product beneficial for
the manufacturers in Indian scenario, where most of the purchase in the supermarkets
are done by housewives and budgeting is extremely important. What are the factors
on the consumer side that affect the impulse purchase?
The article helps us in understanding that gums purchase can be considered as

 ‘Pure impulse buying’ as it can be an escape purchase which breaks the

normal buying pattern. This can be rare for housewives in India as they have
strong habit of budgeting and thus this habit restricts them from indulging in
pure impulsive buys.
 ‘Reminder Impulse buying’ as consumer tends to buy gums impulsively when
they see it in the store, recalls an advertisement etc. Consumer in this case
would buy a brand that they have prior experience with.
The various factors that play an important role in the impulse purchase of gum are

 Money: As gums are affordable, not very high priced the consumers have
tendency to make the purchase.
 Mental and Physical effort: As mental and physical effort is usually very less
in looking for gum as they are easily visible and available at the counters,
more impulse purchase is possible.
The negative normative judgments are usually not there or if there are very little,
because of the low price (affordability) , the functional benefits associated with the
gums and taste. The second article helps us in understanding that when judged
positively, consumers are likely to act on their buying impulses and not restrict the
urge to buy.

Issue 2: What are the factors on the retailer side that affect the impulse purchase
decisions of the consumers of the various age groups in the current scenario in India.
Retail stores are the places where buyer buys products whether it is a planned
purchase or an unplanned one. The articles helps us in understanding that a buyer in a
shopping store might not be specifically shopping for chewing gums but these items if
displayed at prominent places will certainly attract buyer’s attention and trigger
impulse purchase.
The articles help us in understanding that the way product is placed (place and
packaging) in a store plays an important role in invoking the impulse purchase.
Retail stores should strategically place gums in prime sites such as checkout, as then it
will be more accessible and frequently purchased on impulse. Also the advertisement
and promotional activity at the entrance and checkout play an important role in the
impulse purchase. The tendency for stores to merchandise impulse products at the
point of purchase is very advantageous and profitable. Thus various brands of gums
show creativity in the packaging as well as communication and promotions. Along
with advertising availability of the product is also important. The companies also need
to work towards developing the brand and take the excitement among the consumers
forward.

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Issue 3: Does the changing environment like the online buys and culture have an
impact on the impulse purchase done by the consumer.
In the physical world consumer end up making impulse purchase because of the in-
store promotion that act as a reminder or suggestion. Such purchases provide
significant amount of profit to the manufacturers. In the physical world these
purchases are determined by the availability of time and money for shopping,
enjoyment of experience, level of impulse buying intention and exposure to
promotions. Consumers seeking to make purchase on web should have developed the
basic skills of doing so. Using a website to buy a gum which is bought to satisfy the
instant urge cannot be very much beneficial as the time taken between the order and
delivery for a non-durable item might not be liked by the consumer. Along with the
gums that are targeted towards the kids, might not also benefit from these kinds of
purchases as children might not have the necessary skill to order as well as money.
Second paper helps us in understanding that culture plays a very important role in the
impulse buying behavior which is the reason that chewing gums advertisements are
targeted towards younger individuals and kids as it is difficult for them to control
themselves against impulsive purchase. India has a collectivist culture where
consumer tries to conform herself to the in-group but the younger generation tries to
be independent (moving towards westernization and individualism) and thus the in-
store promotions and advertisements of gum target towards these people to increase
impulse purchase.
Issue 4: Is it possible to create brand personalities for impulse purchase products. Do
consumers relate with these personalities at the time of purchase.
Based on the paper we can understand that gum brands focus on ‘openness to
experience’, which is the experientially oriented degree of tolerance for new ideas and
new ways of doing things. Functional gums also focus on ‘conscientiousness’ where
the goal oriented activity is given preference. The consumer can relate emotionally to
these gums as they promise whiteness and freshness of breath. An advertisement
stimulus will elicit positive emotions when the familiarity (that is the degree of
involvement of personal affections in the perception process) and hedonic relevance is
present.
It is possible to create brand personalities for impulse purchase products like gums for
example orbit has a positive and upbeat brand personality which is established
through its quirky and intelligent advertisements. It also emphasizes on fresh
sensation. This is true for happy dent as well as it is also positioned as a functional
gum and the innovation in the advertisements make consumers relate it as fun loving.
Usually the other sugar gums like boomer and center fresh are positioned for kids
where the kids relate the brand with some superhero and thus the advertisements
focus on a fantasy hero who help the kid. These brands are usually positioned as
friendly companion for children. Colorful packaging and colorful gum also helps in
attracting kids.

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How can Boomer brand be benefitted from the issues identified?
Boomer is currently positioned as a pure kid’s brand. The brand, in its initial years
after launch, had effectively made use of its brand elements like the Boomer Hero and
the famous jingle "Boom Boom Boomer". This brand was positioned as a friendly
companion for children. But currently the positioning seems to be confused.
The ads of Boomer seem to be a little absurd as it shows a fantasy hero who helps the
kid who land up in the middle of villains or some problem. The earlier promotional
offers like tattoos and stickers with the gum attracted children but now the brand is
not doing very well. The packaging also is not very attractive as compared to the other
brands present on the market. Moreover, as the brand is targeted towards children,
promotional offers matter more than the brand namev.
Boomer hero focuses on the ‘making bubble’ property of the chewing gum, but this
property doesn’t seem to in well association with the various variants like bubble gum
and jelly, bubble gum and chocolate combination and bubble gum and éclairs. It also
poses a problem that it gets harder and harder on chewing which children might not
like. For an impulse purchase of this product by the children, availability of the gum,
in-store promotions and correct shelf space is very important.
We suggest the following recommendations for the brand:

 As boomer is positioned for children from age group 10-15 years, in-store
advertisements should be there like the boomer hero images or balloons in the
shape of boomer hero should be displayed to attract kids.

 Some promotional offers like colorful tattoos also attract children so these can
be given to children in the peak hours

 Boomer should also focus on the packaging of the product as the paper
packaging seem to stick to the gum and thus deforming the product which
does not attract children when they are choosing at the counter among all the
available options

Availability of the product is very important for an impulse purchase, thus most of the
variants should be available at the checkout counter and within the reach of the
children.

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The Process employed by the group

 We have considered the product categories like Ice Creams, Biscuits, Branded
Blades, and Chewing Gums under impulsive purchase. We have narrowed
down to chewing gums after much discussion among ourselves.

 Gathered information regarding the Chewing Gum category from various

sources and shortlisted main points for the report. Assigned various brands
among ourselves to study their positioning, Point of Purchase and personality
aspects.

 Each one of us have gone through some research papers, noted down the
issues they addressed and we have shortlisted four issues among them that are
appropriate to our chosen product category.

 Based on the understanding of issues and the positioning and strategy of

various gum brands, identification of a brand that was doing well but currently
in problem. Suggesting recommendations that might help the brand in revival.

 We have then divided the work among ourselves like the industry analysis of
the chosen category and its linkages to our chapters, summaries of the selected
papers, and how they addressing the four issues identified in our Gum
category.

Name of the Group Members and their Contributions: -

 Ashok Katta (1011159) – Industry Analysis of the Gum category (includes

study on various brands), and the identification of the first issue
presented in the report and the papers addressing that issue.
 Neha Rani (1011186) – Linkages of the chosen category with our topic of
impulsive purchase, identification of second and fourth issues in our
report and the papers addressing those issues.
 Nitin Awasthi (1011187) – Identification of the third issue and the papers
related in addressing that issue and the recommendations of the brand
benefit from the issues.

16
i
References

http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/Portal/ResultsList.aspx
To understand the chewing gum industry.

ii
http://www.wrigley.com/global/brands/orbit.aspx
iii
http://www.indiamart.com/perfetti-vanmelle/products.html
iv
Impulsiveness
Angela Hausman: Assistant Professor of Marketing, Division of Management/Marketing, Lewis
College of Business, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia, USA

v
http://marketingpractice.blogspot.com/2007/06/boomer-boom-boom-boomer.html