CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Impact of Reference Group influence on purchase of Detergent

Powders in Tier II and Tier III cities
SUBMITTED BY: Group 1
Manuj - P212B051
Navpreet Kaur - P212A027
Sanya Arora - P212B058
Saurav Basu - P212A051
Stuti Singh - P212A064
 Table of Contents

Serial No. Title Page No.

1 Executive Summary 2
2 Introduction 2
3 Literature Review 3
4 Research Methodology 5
5 Analysis and Findings 7
6 Conclusion and 11
Recommendation
7 Appendix 12
8 References 18

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 Executive Summary

There is a wide array of factors that tend to play a role in defining consumer behaviour when
purchasing house hold items. One of the major factors affecting consumer buying behaviour is
Values. This report aims to look at the different values factors to understand the possible
impact. Cultural Values are well debated and sometimes challenging to be defined in a certain
way, especially in a vast and diverse country like India. The report would look to try and find
evidence that different values like Other-oriented values, Environment-oriented values, and
Self-oriented values have an impact on the purchase of Detergent Powder.
The selected segment for the study is population living in Tier 2 cities of India above the age of
16. To determine their values across different categories; questions have been put forward,
masking the intent of determining this trait. Each question carries weight and importance in
determining the attribute being examined for a particular value; in the end, based on the
questions different analysis and references have been drawn.

Based on the findings, it is evident that consumer behaviour is widely dependent on the various
values individuals. Defining values through a certain framework is a major challenge in a vast
country like India but through our research we have inferred those values driving the buying
behaviour in detergents are mainly related to three major factors that are Value for Money,
Brand Affiliation and Aesthetics. Discount also act as a major trigger for choosing a particular
brand for buying detergents. In Tier 2 cities the buying decision for a category like detergent
powders is majorly female driven. Major sales for detergent powders are through Kirana shops
and Supermarkets. Surf Excel has turned out to be the brand that is the largest consumable
detergent powder across all income categories.

Introduction
Consumer behavior is a complex subject that delves into trying to understand the various
driving forces behind what makes a customer behave the way they do. This is true for any
product or service; there are internal and external factors that help shape a customer's mindset
that eventually leads to purchasing a product or service.

In this regard, detergent powders are believed to help your clothes last longer. When you use a
detergent powder like Surf Excel Easy Wash, the insoluble salts that may remain on your
garments are removed. After washing, your garments will not have any stains or blemishes on
them. This extends the life of your clothing.

The advent of new cultures in India has seen a shift in how a consumer buys detergent. With
brands understanding, the youth segment while having low income would still readily spend on
premium or sub premium detergent category. The older generation, as well have had shifts in
their perception of this asset. The advent of COVID-19 had seen a rise in people buying

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detergent powders as the focus of the demographic has switched to the cleanliness of things
purchased from outside sources.

Literature Review
Values are a person's or society's beliefs that affirm what is desirable. Some of the research
shows that values prove to be one of the major contributors in the explanation of consumer
behavior. The Values structure of consumer has a high influence on the buying behavior of a
consumer. Values are perhaps one of the major contributors among other constructs like
attitude, degree of deliberation, product attributes, product classifications and life styles.
Understanding cultural beliefs and variations in behavior can be understood through the
understanding values embraced by different cultures. Values are transformations and cognitive
representations of needs. In the earlier days the value research was influenced by theoretical
and operational aspects. According to Consumer researcher’s values exist in a hierarchical,
interconnected structure i.e., all values are important and linked together but some values are
more important than others. 
There are behaviors that will enhance the achievement of certain values whereas similarly
consumers are motivated to avoid those behaviors which are perceived to block the attainment
of certain value states.

The Value Structure that people have can be divided into various groups like cultural values,
family values, individual values. Cultural values are important factors as cultural backgrounds
influence people’s behavior which in turn influence buying behavior of consumers, hence it is
one of important aspects for marketing. Family has really strong influence On Consumer
Behavior. Human behavior is largely learnt and hence Family plays an important role in value
structure of a person. This value structure then extends in the buying behavior of people and
hence largely affect consumption patterns. On the individual front there are many personal
factors such as stage of life, age, occupation, Income, education, living standards. This a
common observation that at different ages and stages of life the consumer behavior is different
and consumers have different needs, desires and values. Furthermore, the economic situation
factors like the education, occupation, lifestyle, and personality influence the items in which the
consumers are interested in and what buying patterns they have at the moment.

There are boundaries set by culture on ones’ behavior which are called norms, these are the
rules that lie down or prohibit certain behaviors in specific situations. They are derived from
values, or vividly held beliefs that uphold what is desirable. Violation of norms consequences to
sanctions, or penalties ranging from mild social disapproval to banishment from the group. The
values give rise to norms and associated sanctions, which in turn influence consumption
patterns.
As Cultures are not static, typically evolving and changing slowly over time, hence the values.
The marketing managers hence need to understand the existing cultural values and the
emerging cultural values of the societies they serve.

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A valuable proposition towards further understanding consumer behavior is to identify and
appreciate the various value structure consumers have and how these values re evolving with
time. Understanding these values can help marketers to understand the preferences that
persuade and direct the consumer towards buying the products they buy.

According to current buying behaviors there are three broad forms of cultural values— other-
oriented, environment-oriented, and self-oriented. These categories of values have most impact
on consumer behavior.

Other-oriented values are a reflection of society’s view of the appropriate relationships

between individuals and groups within that society. Marketers closely study these relationships
as these relationships have a major influence on buying behaviors and marketing practice.
Consumers look toward others for guidance in purchase, hence responding favorably based on
the other oriented values.

Environment-oriented values prescribe a society’s relationship to its economic and technical as

well as its physical environment. Marketing for different environments is done based on their
current state hence marketing Mangers will develop a very different marketing program for a
society that stressed a problem-solving, performance-oriented, risk-taking approach to its
environment than for a fatalistic, security and status-oriented society.

Self-oriented values reflect the objectives and approaches to life that the individual members
of society find desirable. These values have strongest implications for marketing. For example,
acceptance and use of credit is very much determined by a society’s position on the value of
postponed versus immediate gratification.

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While there are theories on how various other dimensions of values affect consumer behavior,
as a marketer, it is essential to understand that there is never a single model that is correct or
can predict with a high range of accuracy what a consumer's behavior would be. However, the
combination of various models helps understand what the drivers might be and help position
products and services better to allow consumers at different social levels to relate to them.

Research Methodology
After collecting primary data through surveys and a thorough understanding of the subject
material, the distribution was done based on 3 components: -

1. Component 1: Aesthetics
2. Component 2: Value for Money
3. Component 3: Brand Affiliation

The attributes used to determine the above components were decided as follows:

1. Price–A fairly straightforward question to try and gauge the disposable income available
to the respondent.
2. Fragrance – This attribute helps in identifying the class which believes that the
detergent powders must be created not only to provide a pleasant odor to the
detergent, but also to give the washed garments a sense of "cleanliness".

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 3. Packaging – This attribute assists in identifying segments which are more concerned
with the aesthetics of the product. Important ingredient lists, safety information, and
dosing directions are also included on the packaging labels which people identify.
4. Brand – This would allow the report to consider the effect of brands and which one
occupies more space in consumers' minds. Brands tend to represent a consumer's
perception of social rank as well. They act as aspirational qualities, and the fact that they
could afford a brand would make them feel part of the social status the brand positions
itself in.
5. Discounts and Offers – These dimensions would help the report understand if the
purchase of detergent powder was just due to discounts and offers which wouldn't be a
fair indication of high disposable income.
6. Celebrity Advertisement – The intention behind this attribute is to test the respondent's
independence in making decisions behind the purchase of detergents. It also raises
awareness, trust, and familiarity, all of which are essential factors in the purchasing
decision.

The above attributes were collated into a questionnaire and circulated amongst the target
audience. The responses would be formulated by assigning scales to the above-mentioned
attributes on a scale of 1 to 7 with 1 being strongly disagree and 7 being strongly agree.

In addition to the above attributes, we also targeted the mentioned attributes by assigning
weights to them: -

Dimension Weight (1-6)

Brand 1

Price 2

Discounts and offers 3

Fragrance 4

Packaging 5

Celebrity Advertisement 6

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 Analysis and Findings
1. Using SPSS to filter out the 3 most important components of Consumer
behaviour towards buying detergent powder:

In this test we have done factor analysis to reduce unnecessary data and group related
variables into a similar group to reduce complexity.

We are studying how the consumer behaviour is dependent on various variables like Price,
Packaging, and Fragrance, Discount and offers and Brand value while buying detergents.

KMO and Bartlett's Test–With this test we have measured the proportion of variance among
variables that may be of common variance. The lower the variation, the more suited our data is
for factor analysis. As the value we got here is 0.569, the variables are suited for factor analysis.
(Sample is adequate)

Total Variance explained-From the below given total variance table we can see only 3 variables
out of 6 are important and our analysis can be limited to these three contributing factors as
total variance explained is 69.04%.

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Rotated Component matrix- From component matrix we saw that multiple variables
correspond to multiple components. These were not useful so we needed to eliminate this
cross loading and establish a 1 to 1 correlation. This is performed with the help of rotated
component matrix.

This tables gives us the idea that every variable is highly correlated since every variance is
higher than 0.50.

Component 1: Aesthetics

Celebrity Influence, Packaging, Fragrance is highly correlated to Component.

These people are more sensitive to the aesthetics of the detergents

Component 2: Value for Money

Discount and Offers, Price are highly correlated to Component 2.

These people are more prices sensitive.

Component 3: Brand Affiliation

Brand Value is correlated to Component 3.

This segment of people looks for Brand awareness.

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 2. Using Tableau to draw conclusions from the pool of data gathered through
market survey:

Below are the snippets from the Tableau visualization for studying the importance of brand,
medium of purchase, quantity purchased and price for the consumer.

 Studying the preference of brand based on Monthly household income:

The data shows that 59.26% of the people belonging to the income group of “above Rs.55,000”
prefers Surf excel as their most preferred brand. The consumer preference for the brand is not
just limited to a particular income group segment but most of the respondents have opted to
go with surf excel indicating it the most demanded brand in detergent powders.

 Studying the preference of brand based on consumer age group:

The data shows that out of the 51 respondents who have opted for Surf excel, 28 belongs to the
age group 26-35 and 13 belongs to the age group of 16-25, indicating that a large number of
young people prefers Surf excel over any other brand. The 2nd most preferred brand is Tide in
the age group of 26-35.

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  Studying the medium of purchase preferred by tier 2 and tier 3 people:

Out of the total 100 respondents belonging to tier 2 and tier 3 cities, 43 prefers to purchase
from a Supermarket or a hypermarket whereas 40 people prefer to purchase from Kirana stores
near to their homes. Due to less awareness about online grocery platforms in these cities,
people are less inclined towards online mode of purchase and therefore only 16 respondents
have opted for the same.

 Studying the quantity of detergent powder purchased based on the marital

status:

As reflected in the above graph, Single people prefer to purchase more of smaller quantities of
detergent powder like 500gm and 1kg whereas married people prefer to purchase in higher
quantities like 3kgs or 4kgs. This also indicates the type of packaging which both the group of
people prefers to purchase.

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 Conclusion and Recommendation
Based on the above findings, it is evident that consumer behavior is widely dependent on the
various values individuals have ranging from self-oriented, environmental values and other
oriented values. Cultural values are well debated and sometimes challenging to be defined in a
certain way especially in a vast country like India but through our research we have inferred
those values driving the buying behavior in detergents are mainly related to the Value for
Money, Brand Affiliation and Aesthetics.

Discount offers are one of the major triggers for choosing a particular brand for buying
detergents. In Tier 2 cities the buying decision for a category like detergent powders is female
driven. Major sales happen through Kirana shops and Supermarkets. Surf Excel turned out to be
the largest consumable detergent powder across all income categories.

The recommendations are as follows: -

1. Since the detergent buying decision is female driven, brands should focus on women
centric advertisements for detergent powders.
2. Brands should produce ph balanced powders as they are skin friendly.
3. Educate the consumers from Tier 2 cities to segregate the washing powders based on
the type of washing machine used.
4. Tier 2 and 3 people are price sensitive and brand conscious. Therefore, positioning
should be done keeping in mind the same.

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Appendix

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 References
The self, attitudes and values. 2022. Values influence consumer behavior. [online] Available at:
<Values influence consumer behavior | The self, attitudes and values (wordpress.com)>[1]

Gutman, J. and Vinson, D., 2022. Value Structures and Consumer Behavior. [online]
Acrwebsite.org. Available at: <https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/9225/volumes/v06/NA-
06> [2]

Linkedin.com. 2022. Does Culture Influence Our Consumer Behavior? If so, How? [online]
Available at: <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140908174823-354556068-does-culture-
influence-our-consumer-behavior-if-so-how> [3]

Mothersbaugh, D.L., & Hawkins, D.I. (2016) Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy,
13/e. NY: McGraw-Hill Education [4]

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