Research On Consumer Preference For Coca Cola

By Anubhav Jain Chaitanya Attuluri Haqiqat Ali Sumit Sinha

About the Project

The overall purpose of this project is to gain a deeper understanding of different international and local factors affecting consumer preferences on a local market. Specifically, we want to explore the effect international well-recognized advertising campaigns have on consumers buying process. We also want to study whether or not there is a relationship between the factors influence on the choice of soft drinks.

Problem Discussion
Not

only can it be difficult to understand consumer behaviour and target groups needs on the domestic market, but for multi-national companies, this is an even greater struggle. Despite the fact that most of the consumers have certain things in common, their values and attitudes, as well as behaviour often differ. As a result, it is vital that international marketers understand these differences and adapt their marketing strategies accordingly.

Delimitations
We

have limited our research to the cola drink industry, rather than the entire soft-drink industry. Although we examine consumer perceptions on international brands marketing strategies, the focus of the investigation will be on Coca-Colas and Pepsis advertisement and sponsorship as well as their brands.

About Coca Cola

The

Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia.

Product Profile
Cola

: Coke, Thumsup Orange : Fanta Fruit Juice : Maaza Cloudy lemon : Limca Clear Lemon : Sprite

Research Objectives
To To To

study the consumers preferences for Coca Cola. know the reason to buy cola drinks. study the factors affecting the choice of a soft

drink and the relationship between them.

Research Hypotheses
H1:

Consumers explicitly prefer one brand but actually favor the taste of another. H2: Seeing as Coca-Cola and Pepsi seem to target different consumers through their advertisements and sponsorships, we believe that depending on a persons age, the choice of cola product differs, as well as their taste preference. More specifically, that the youngest age group particularly have a more positive attitude towards Pepsi on the whole, whereas the oldest age group are more positive towards Coca-Cola.

Research Methodology
Research

Type :

Seeing as the overall purpose of this project is to gain a deeper understanding of different factors affecting consumer preferences on a local market, the quantitative method will be applied, and thus a questionnaire (quantitative data) is prepared in accordance to our purpose. A deductive approach will be applied, which implies that the researcher begins with a theoretical or applied research problem and ends with empirical measurement and data analysis (Neuman 2003, p. 267)

Data Collection
We

decided to use a questionnaire as our main source of data collection (primary data), as our aim was to measure consumers understanding and experience of global advertising campaigns.

Sample Selection
The

population we chose to investigate in order to reach our purpose was the chosen local market; Thus we decided upon a combination of quota sampling and convenience sampling from this population. Sample Size is 150 but due to time limitation we have taken 50. Location : NIFT, Inorbit Mall.

Literature Review

A study of factors responsible for brand preference in fmcg sector.

Journal of ims vol 5 no.1, jan-june 2008

Colour

and flavour rule consumer preferences:

Study

Food Quality and Preference Volume 19, Issue 8, Pages 719-726 By Stephen Daniells, 07-Oct-2008

Taste

or health: A study on consumer acceptance of cola drinks

Beverly J. Tepper and Amy C. Trail Journal of Food Science and Technology, 15 September 1998

Data analysis

Q1. Do you drink cola soft drink?

Drink Cola
Yes, Very Frequently Some times Not at all

14% 32%

54%

Findings
According

to our empirical findings, 86 percent of

the respondents drank cola soft drinks.

How many glasses of cola do you drink per week?

Glases per week
25

20

15 Glases per week

10

0 1 1-3 4-6 7-9 10

Findings
According

to our empirical findings, 86 percent of

the respondents drank cola soft drinks. Out of this total, the majority (44 percent) drank a maximum

of three glasses per week, whereas only 14 percent

drank seven or more glasses per week.

Which cola brand do you prefer?

Sales
Neither 10% Both 9%
Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola 47% Pepsi 34%

Pepsi Neither Both

Findings
The

graph illustrates the distribution between the two brands, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, is as following: 47 percent (24 respondents) favoured Coca-Cola, while merely 34 percent (18 respondents) favoured Pepsi, and ten percent (5 respondents) favoured neither of the two brands and ten percent (5 respondents) favoured both the brands. Thus it was evident that Coca-Cola clearly dominated the respondents choice of brand.

Why do you prefer this product?

Respondents
25

20

15 Respondents 10

0 Brand Price Quality Circle of friends Advertising

Findings
The

chart illustrates the factors that affected the

respondents choice of brand, and the three factors that affected their choice of Coca-Cola the most in

were quality (44 percent), brand (34 percent),

and Circle of friends (10 percent).

What is your view on CocaCola as a brand?

Brand
Brand 27

16

1 Very good Good Neither Bad

0 Very Bad

Findings
It

is clearly stated that 54% people find coca cola

as a very good product and 32% people find coke as a good product, followed by 12% having

average opinion and 2 % doesnt like the product

What do you associate the brand Coca-Cola with?

Brand Association
25

20

15

Brand Association
10

0 Trendy Innovative Youthful Traditional Other

Findings
The

majority, nearly half of the sample (46

percent ), associated Coca-Cola first and foremost with Youthful association, but also associated it

with being trendy (22 percent), and with its

Innovative (16 percent).

Do you know what CocaCola advertises?

Knowledge of Ads

Yes 44% No 56%

Findings
Coca-Colas

advertising campaigns are known as

much as 44 percent of the respondents, and about more than half (56 percent) of the respondents did

not have knowledge of the advertisements of the

coca cola.

How much influence does the advertisement have on your choice of cola-product?
Influence of Ads
16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Influence of Ads

Very much

A lot

Neither

Little

Very Little

Findings
46%

people have a major influence from the

advertisement on their choice of cola where as 7% dont have any influence due to it. And 40%

people

have

somewhat

influence

from

advertisement.

Would you have preferred the advertisement in Local languages instead?

Ads In Local Language Yes No Neither

12% 36%

52%

Findings

When asked if the respondents would have preferred the language of the advertisements to be in local language rather than in English, as much as 52 percent answered no, with the motivations that CocaCola and Pepsi are world-renown brands and thus would loose their international status, as well as their catchy tones and thus become duller. Those that did wish to have the ads in local language (36 percent) had the motivation that the content of the ad would be easier to understand .

What do you think about the fact that companies sponsor different sports- and music events?
Respondents
25

20

15 Respondents 10

0 Very good Good Neither Bad Very bad

Findings

When investigating the respondents attitude towards companies use of different music- and sports events sponsorships. 42 percent of the respondents believed that it was good to sponsor different events in order to market oneself, and 30 percent believed it to be very good. Yet, as much as 20 percent of the respondents did not have an opinion whatsoever about the sponsoring of different sports- and music events.

What is your occupation?

Occupation
Student Working

20%

80%

What is your gender?

Gender
Male Female

43% 57%

What is your age?

Age
30 25

20

15

Age

10

0 16-20 21-35 36-60 Above 60

Research Findings

We found that some consumers, who associate a brand with advertisement as well as having actual knowledge about the brands ads, do indeed feel that their choice of product is to a large degree influenced by brand advertisement. When associating a brand with high quality, in this case the taste factor, it can be established that consumers essentially prefer the taste of a completely different product. The importance of the studied factors that affect consumers choice of product varies among different age groups

References

http://geoff.cox.free.fr/Docs/Text7.pdf 2006-04-10, 10.00 http://susning.nu/Pepsi 2006-04-12, 10.56 The Coca-Cola Company: www2.cocacola.com/investors/form_10K_2005.html 2006-04-12, 11.54 www.coke.com.au/about_advert.asp Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola_wars 2006-04-08, 13.46 http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi 2006-04-12, 11.01 http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-cola 2006-04-12, 11.00 www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2787854 2006-04-09, 9.06 www.geocities.com/colacentury/ 2006-04-08, 14.15 www.louisville.edu/~rljohn10/pepsi.html 2006-04-11, 16.50

THANK YOU