© 2018 IJRAR January 2019, Volume 6, Issue 1 ... · incomplete and unanswered Questionnaire have...

© 2018 IJRAR January 2019, Volume 6, Issue 1 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138)

IJRAR19J1645 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 1332

“A Study of Consumer Preference towards Marketing

Mix of HUL Food Brands with special response to

Amravati district”

Dr. Gaurav Sureshrao Jayde

Shri Shivaji Arts & Commerce College Amravati

Researcher Scholar

Inside Ambagate, Budhawara raod, Amravati.444601

Abstract:

This study focus on the relationship between consumer buying behavior and purchase of HUL food brand

products and also to know the most important factor of marketing mix by which the consumer behavior

affects the food brands in Amravati district. For the current topic data was collected through questionnaires

based survey. Researcher took 450 respondents from various areas of Amravati district. It also measures the

problem of planning marketing mix in dynamic competitive markets. This study not only focus on

consumers needs and wants, theirs habits, taste, their likes and dislikes, but it also answer the questions like

what they buy? Why they buy? Where they buy?

Keywords: Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), marketing mix, food Brands.

INTRODUCTION

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company; its journey

began 75 years ago, in 1933, when the company was first incorporated. The company stirring the lives of

two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home & Personal Care Products and Foods &

Beverages and also one of the country's largest exporters. HUL's brands includes Lifebuoy, Lox, Surf Excel,

Rim, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond's, Sun silk, Clinic, Peps dent, Close-up, Lake, Brooke Bond, Kiss an,

Knur, Annapurna, Quality Wall's - are household names across the country and span many categories -

soaps, detergents, personal products, tea, coffee, branded staples, ice cream and culinary products. They are

manufactured in over 40 factories across India.

In 1931, HUL set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, followed by

Lever Brothers India Limited in the year 1933 and United Traders Limited in 1935. These three companies

merged to form Hindustan Unilever Limited in November 1956. In the year, 1958 the company was started

its Research Unit at Mumbai Factory namely The Hindustan Lever Research Centre (HLRC). HUL meets

every day needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good

and get more out of life. The notable thing in company's history is the company became the first foreign

subsidiary in India to offer equity to the Indian public.

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The company moves with the mission of 'add vitality to life' through its presence in over 20 distinct

categories in Home & Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages. HUL identified five key platforms

and have articulated goals, both short term, long-term goals, stretching to 2015, would work in areas of

health & nutrition, women empowerment on the social front, the economic agenda would be to enhance

livelihoods, and the environmental agenda would focus on water conservation and cutting green house gases.

The term "Marketing Mix" was coined in 1953 by Neil Borden in his American Marketing Association

presidential address. Marketing Mix is one of the major concepts in modern marketing that influences

consumer motives. They are often designed to influence consumer decision-making and lead to profitable

exchanges. Each element of marketing mix can affect consumers in many ways.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1990), Assess the topic “Current Standing of the 4P’s Marketing Mix

framework as the dominant marketing management”. In This study author highlights a realistic picture on

the current standing of an old and ongoing debate about the merits of the 4P’s marketing mix as a present

and future marketing management. The study reveals, the new concepts proposed should adequately deal

with new realities of marketing.

Dr. Sukhmani D. (2011) Role of Promotion Mix in Influencing Rural Consumers, International Journal of

Business & Information Technology, Volume1, No1, June, 110-118, concluded in their study that, changes

in lifestyle, rising incomes and a focus on value, are pushing up growth for different product categories in

the rural areas. Indications of larger disposable income and a perceptible shift in consumption priority in the

rural sector also appear to be favoring the F.M.C.G. organizations. But, in order to be successful,

organizations need to develop business models and marketing mix strategies that are developed in

accordance with this changed scenario in the rural markets of India.

Kulkarni, Dr. Hundal B., (2011), Role of Promotion Mix In Influencing Rural Consumers, Int. Jour. of

Business & Inf. Tech. Vol-1 No. 1 June 2011,pp-110-118, concluded in his study that, the rural market in

India is quite fascinating and challenging in spite of all the difficulties existing. The potential is enormous.

Even though, these markets have weaknesses, they also have tremendous opportunities which should be

availed by the marketers. It is well known that "Markets are created and not born". The market so created

should be tapped effectively.

Khoo Khay Hooi (2012), Carried out their study entitled “Customer loyalty, satisfaction and marketing mix:

Empirical evidence from Infant formula Industry”. The author done his study around the main objective, that

is to determine whether customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and marketing mix are inter-related. This

study uses the statistical tools of reliability analysis, multiple regression analysis and Pearson correlation.

Finally the study concluded that the brands’ marketing mix elements and customer satisfaction were

positively correlated to customer loyalty.




Wang Aimin and Sumayya Begum (2012), Undergone a study titled “Investigating the Impact of

Marketing Mix elements on tourist satisfaction”. The main object of this study is to examine the impact of

marketing mix elements on tourist satisfaction by adopting the statistical techniques, correlation and

regression. Further, the study reveals six, out of seven marketing mix elements such as Product, Price, Place,

Promotion, People, Process, Physical evidence have positive relation towards tourist satisfaction but the

Price imposed by authority is not satisfactory to the visitors.

Shukla Priteshkumar Y. in his research topic “An empirical study of selected customers on rural

marketing strategies of selected products of Hindustan Unilever Limited (H.U.L.) in Gujarat” studies that,

Rural Marketing Strategies of selected H.U.L. products and its influence on buying behavior of the selected

rural respondents from rural market in Gujarat State, examine the factors responsible for increasing

competitiveness among F.M.C.G. manufacturers for entry into the rural market segment of Gujarat State, the

impact of various factors affecting the rural consumer buying behavior, towards selected H.U.L. products in

rural areas of Gujarat State.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

For the present study the area of Amravati district was selected. The primary data for the present study was

used which was collected by questioner and by personal interview method. Researcher visited personally to

the selected area of Amravati district. 500 sample size was decided from the selected area of Amravati

district. Out of this 500 sample 450 are customers and 50 are officers of HUL. A researcher took six months

study period (July 2018 to December 2018) for present study. For the testing of hypothesis a researcher used

Simple percentage & Z test analysis.

HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

A Study on Consumer Preference towards Marketing Mix of HUL Food Brands with special reference to

Amravati district was organized around the fundamental hypothesis that

H0 The marketing mix strategy of Hindustan Unilever Limited regarding food Products do not affects the

behavior and demand of the consumers in the market of Amravati District.

H1 The marketing mix strategy of Hindustan Unilever Limited regarding food Products affects the behavior

and demand of the consumers in the market of Amravati District.

H0 Schemes and offers are helpful for development of the company; whether they are not useful for

consumers.

H1 Schemes and offers are helpful for development of the company; whether they are useful for consumers.




OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The study is carried out with the following objectives

To study the socio economic profile of the respondents

To determine influencing factor towards buying HUL food brands.

To measure the level of satisfaction towards the marketing mix factor of HUL food brands.

SAMPLING DESIGN

For the research topic a researcher select Convenient Sampling technique. In this Sampling technique the

population being interviewed or investigated which is selected neither by probability nor by judgment but by

convenience? This Sampling technique is often used for making pilot studies

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

Combination of Primary and Secondary methods of data collection has been used to arrive on a conclusion.

Secondary data have been collected from the books, journals, magazine and newspapers and with the help of

various online journal and web portal to conceptualize and make theoretical concepts for this particular

study.

Primary data have been collected with the help of structured and non disguised close ended questionnaire.

Initially questionnaire was drafted on the basis of past references used by prominent scholars in that field.

The questionnaire has been converted in to Marathi language for the better understanding of the questions by

the rural respondents and proper care has been taken during the translation so the meaning of the questions

should remain same, and the same has been tested too.

The questionnaire are divided into 3 sections as follows

In demographic profile personal information of the respondents have been taken such as gender, age,

educational qualification, occupation, total monthly income, number of family members, and monthly

budget for food products.

In second section questions have been divided in to four sections as per 4p’s of marketing mix, namely

Product, Price, Place and Promotion. In each section there are few questions related to the opinion of

respondents towards food products.

In the third section, few questions have been asked to respondents to know about the current products in

selected food product categories they are using, their frequency of purchase, there awareness about H.U.L.

Food products, and about their usage of H.U.L. Food products. Then the section has been divided in to two

section namely, H.U.L. users and H.U.L. non user section.




In H.U.L. users section, source of information of the products, satisfaction level with the Products, factor

affecting buying decisions, availability of the H.U.L. products, thinking About switch over, important factors

for switch over and most favorable promotional activities by the respondents have been asked to collect the

desired information. In last, H.U.L. non users section, same types of questions have been asked as in H.U.L.

users section from the respondents regarding the products they are using at the time of Survey.

The researcher has distributed questionnaires in the identified areas of the Amravati district. In each selected

village researcher visited personally and taken the Response from the respondents. In the second stage

incomplete and unanswered Questionnaire have been discarded by the researcher and finally considered 450

(customer) respondents as sample size for the purpose of data entry and analysis.

For collecting data of present study both primary and secondary data were used.

Data is also collected from 50 officers of the HUL Company. To know what is the role of marketing mix

strategy of HUL.

For collecting primary data survey method, personal interview, questionnaire method, and observation

method were used.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Table 1. Demographic Factors of the respondents

Sr. No. Demographic Factors Labels Frequency

Percentage

1. Gender Male 389 86.44

Female 61 13.56

2. Marital Married 373 82.89

status Unmarried 77 17.11

3. Age 00-20 49 10.89

(in years) 21-40 179 39.78

41-60 143 31.78

61 & above 79 17.56

4. Occupation Self employed 78 17.33

Salaried 101 22.44

Professional 38 08.44

Farmer 143 31.78

Worker 68 15.11

Retired 22 04.89




5. Monthly income 0000-15000 94 20.89

(Rs.) 16000-30000 112 24.89

31000-45000 92 20.44

46000-60000 68 15.11

61000-75000 61 13.56

76000- above 23 05.11

Source: Primary Data

Data in following table show that, consumers response to the marketing mix strategy of HUL. Out of 50

officers 41 respondents (officers) said Customers changes their buying behavior according to marketing

strategy of HUL, and remaining 9 respondents said Customers do not changes their buying behavior

according to marketing strategy of HUL.

Table 2. Customer changes his behavior according to marketing strategy of HUL or not

Opinion Numbers of respondents Percentage

Yes 41 82

No 09 18

Total 50 100


Graph 1. Customer changes his behavior according to marketing strategy of HUL or not

Data in following table represent, According to all respondent’s (officers) offers or schemes which are

provided by HUL to its customers are helpful for the company itself.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Yes No




Table 3. Offers or schemes provided by HUL useful for company or not


Yes 50 100

No 00 00

Total 50 100


Graph 2. Offers or schemes provided by HUL useful for company or not

Following table represent that, of all the 50 respondents (officers) they think that Offers and schemes

provided by the company are useful for customer

0

10

20

30

40

50

Yes No

No.

of

resp

on

den

t

Response




Table 4. Offers and schemes provided by the company are useful for customer or not


Yes 50 100

No 00 00

Total 50 100


Graph 3. Offers and schemes provided by the respondents are useful for customer or not

Table 5. Factors influencing buyer’s behavior

Factors influencing buyers behavior Numbers of respondents Percentage

Cost 82 18.22

Quality 43 09.56

Packing 13 02.89

Availability 42 09.33

Convenience of use 08 01.78

Children’s choice 38 08.44

Advertisement 49 10.89

Sales promotion activity 65 14.44

Brand 92 20.44

Other 18 04.00

Total 450 100


0

10

20

30

40

50

Yes No

No.

of

resp

on

dn

ets

Response




In above table it is shows that demand of 82 respondents is affected by cost which is the prime cause. 43

respondent’s demand influences by quality. Packing is 3rd factors which influence demand of 13

respondents. Due to availability 42 respondents influence their demand. Convenience of use is another factor

due to which 8 respondents put their demand. Children’s choice is another factor due to that 38 respondent

put their demand. 49 of all the respondents put their demand according to the advertisement. 65 respondent

of the entire respondent make their demand with sales promotion activity. Brand is the factor due to which

maximum means 92 respondents make their demand. And remaining 18 respondents make their demand

with other factor.

Graph 4. Factors influencing buyer’s behavior

Out of 450 respondents 317 are satisfied with the food product of HUL, whereas only 61 respondents are not

satisfied with the food product of HUL. And 72 respondents are neutral.

Table 6. Satisfaction of the respondents


Yes 317 70.44

No 61 13.56

Neutral 72 16.00

Total 450 100


Cost18%

Qaulity10%

Packing3%

Availability 9%

Convenient of use

2%

Childrens chioce

9%

Advertisement

11%Sales promotional

activity14%

Brand20%

Other4%




Graph 5. Satisfaction of the respondents

After asking reason for satisfaction out of 317 respondents 96 replays they are satisfy with quality of the

product of HUL. 48 are satisfied with packing of product. 135 are satisfied with availability of product.

There are 15 respondents who are satisfied with convenient to use of product. And remaining 23 respondents

are satisfied with other reason.

Table 7. Reason for satisfaction

Reason for satisfaction Numbers of respondents Percentage

Quality 96 30.28

Packing 48 15.14

Availability 135 42.58

Convenient of use 15 04.73

Other 23 07.26

Total 317 100


0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Yes No Neutral




Graph 6. Reason for satisfaction

There are 61 respondent who are dissatisfied with the products of HUL the reason for dissatisfaction are

inferior quality, loose packing, unavailability, not convenient to use and other the numbers of respondent are

for each reason is 5,11,6,8 and 31 as shown in following table

Table 8. Reason for dissatisfaction

Reason for dissatisfaction Numbers of respondent Percentage

Inferior quality 05 08.20

Loose packing 11 18.03

Unavailability 06 09.84

Not convenient to use 08 13.11

Other 31 50.82

Total 61 100


Graph 7. Reason for dissatisfaction

05

101520253035

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Quality Packing Availability Convenient

of use

Other




TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS

1. The marketing mix strategy of Hindustan Unilever Limited regarding food Products affects the


Ho = 𝝁 ≤ 𝟐𝟓

H1 = 𝝁 > 𝟐𝟓

Table value of Z test is 1.96 and the calculated value of Z test is 4.99 which is more than table value that is

why null hypothesis is rejected and alternative hypothesis is accepted which support to researchers statement

that The marketing mix strategy of Hindustan Unilever Limited regarding food Products affects the behavior

and demand of the consumers in the market of Amravati District.

2. Schemes and offers are helpful for development of the company; whether they are useful for

consumers.

It is proved from the table number 3 and 4 that the Schemes and offers are helpful for development of the

company; whether they are useful for consumers. As per data shows in table 3, all respondents said

offers or schemes which are provided by HUL to its customers are helpful for the company itself. And

the data of table number 4 show that, of all the respondents said that Offers and schemes provided by the

company are useful for customer. Hence researcher concludes that Schemes and offers are helpful for

development of the company; whether they are useful for consumers.

FINDING

1. Among 450 respondents 86% are male.

2. Among 450 respondents 83% are married.

3. Maximum 39.78% respondents are from the age group of 21 – 40.

4. Majority (22.44%) of the total respondents are salaried.

5. Maximum 24.89% of the total respondents are from the monthly income group Rs.16000- Rs.

30000.

6. The marketing mix strategy of Hindustan Unilever Limited regarding food Products affects the





7. Schemes and offers are helpful for development of the company; whether they are useful for

consumers.

8. Cost is the influencing factor towards buying HUL food brands.

9. 70.44% of the total respondents are satisfied from the food product of HUL. And the reason for

satisfaction is availably according to 42.58% of satisfied respondents.

CONCLUSION

On the basis of this study researcher concluded that except price all the other variables have significant

effect on HUL food brand consumer’s satisfaction. The highest of consumer’s awareness on marketing mix

of Hindustan Unilever Limited food brands was its product characteristics, followed by price, promotion,

and place. Among 4 P’s in Marketing Mix, ‘Product’ acts as the influencing factor among the consumers in

Amravati district, while purchasing food products in the market.

References

1. Borden. N.H., June 1964 “The concept of the Marketing Mix”, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 4.

2. Churchill, G.A Jr., 1979 “A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs”, Journal of

Marketing Research.

3. Eva Martinez, Teresa Montaner and Jose M. Pina, 2009. “Brand extension feedback: The role of

advertising”, Journal of Business Research.

4. Kent, R.A. 1986 “Faith in Four P’s: An Alternative”, Journal of Marketing management. Vol. 2 No. 2.

5. Van Waterschoot, W. and Van den Bulte, October 1992 “The 4P Classification of the Marketing Mix

Revisited”, Journal of Marketing, Vol.56.

6. M. Aarthi and A. Venkatasubramanian, July 2016 “A Study on Consumer Preference towards Marketing

Mix of HUL Food Brands”, International Journal of Advance Research in Computer Science and

Management Studies, Volume 4.

7. www.masterclassmanagement.com

8. www.netmba.com/marketing/mix

9. www.knowthis.com/principles-of-marketing

10. www.marketingdonut.co.uk

11. www.hul.co.in


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