MARKETING RESEARCH

ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

On

REEBOK SHOES

Submitted to:Prof. Amit Goyal

Submitted By:

Mahima JindalMohit Bajaj

SS1(Batch:10-12)

1

MARKETING RESEARCH

Acknowledgement

This acknowledgement is a humble attempt to thank all

those who were directly involved in the completion of this

project and were of immense help to us. We thank our

faculty and teachers, without whose guidance,

encouragement and inspiration the completion of this

project would not have been possible.

We are deeply indebted to our project guide Prof. Amit

Goyal who infused confidence and boosted our morale

to take this project as a challenge. We also express our

indebtedness to IIPM, who provided us with library and

Internet facility. IIPM provided us with all the text, in the

form of books and magazines that was required for the

completion of our project.

2

MARKETING RESEARCH

CONTENTS

1. Executive Summary 4

2. Introduction 5

3. Objectives 6

4. Methodology 7

5. Consumer Buying Behaviour Model 8

6. Buying Decision Process 14

7. Findings and Analysis 16

8. Recommendations 26

9. Annexure

Sample Questionnaire 27

3

MARKETING RESEARCH

Respondents List 30

10. Bibliography 32

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This study attempts to analyze consumer’s behavior, attitudes, and buying patterns

towards REEBOK SHOES.

For the project, we as a team undertook quantitative research to find out:

Consumer’s income level and spending capacity on shoes

Change in consumer’s buying behaviour towards shoes with respect to season and occasion

Brand recall

Factors influencing the buying process for shoes

Effect of Buying forces on consumers for purchase of shoes.

Do consumers prefer Reebok to other shoe brands and its comparison with other

shoe brands

Number of respondents using Reebok shoes and their satisfaction levels

4

MARKETING RESEARCH

For the purpose of this research, both primary as well as secondary data collection tools

were used. A survey was conducted among 75 respondents, out of which 50 were taken

into account on the basis of complete information provided by them, to find out their

buying behaviour towards shoes, and in particular toward sport shoes.

On the basis of the responses given by the respondents, the team gave various

recommendations, which will help Reebok widen its reach, improve itself, and thus

increase its sales.

INTRODUCTION

In 1958, the Foster family introduced the name REEBOK and continued to grow faster because of

its reputation for quality and innovative designs. Reebok revolutionized sports shoes market in

the 70’s throughout the world. Today, Reebok is the leading global sports wear brand name. They

operate from Boston, Massachusetts.

The history of Reebok is very interesting. Mr. Joseph William Foster, a member of the local

running club “Bolton Primrose Harriers” wanted a pair of spiked running shoes for jogging. The

same Foster started writing the success story in 1985, when he made one sport shoes for himself.

Foster created the first ‘Foster’ running shoes and it became famous as the news started spreading

among the athletes.

Now after a decade, a quarter of the world's population and a fast-growing economy, India is

rapidly turning into one of the busiest market centers in the world. Footwear market has the

potential to provide stimulus in initiating the development of the Indian economy, which also

affects the Indian culture and the lifestyle. Leading brands of the world see a good market

5

MARKETING RESEARCH

potential in the country. But it requires a vast study of people across the world to find out whether

a market has the potential of growth (i.e. there are consumers ready to purchase the product which

suits their needs), and most importantly what drives them to choose a particular brand out of a

plethora of brands which exist in the market.

OBJECTIVES

The project was undertaken keeping the following objectives in mind:

To study and analyze various factors affecting the buying BEHAVIOR of the consumer

while purchasing REEBOK shoes.

To find out the reasons of consumer buying preference of REEBOK over other brands

To compare various attributes of REEBOK and other brands

6

MARKETING RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

Prior to undertaking this research, a review of the literature was conducted to identify and

develop the initial research questions and subsequent hypotheses have been identified. The goals

of a literature review were as follows:

1. To demonstrate a Similarity with a body of knowledge and establish Credibility.

2. To show the path of prior research and how a current project is linked to it.

3. To integrate and summarize what is known in the area.

The primary focus of this research is a quantitative study. Quantitative research uses structured

questions with predetermined responses and a large number of respondents to quantify the

response to a particular research problem. This research quantifies consumer response toward the

strategy, attitude change toward the brand and purchase intention.

7

MARKETING RESEARCH

Data Collection Methods

The data collection methods used for quantitative research include experiments, surveys, content

analysis and existing statistics. Given the nature of the research question, this requires both

measurements of consumer response as well as comparison. A combination of the remaining two

methods, survey and observation, was proposed. Surveys lend themselves to collecting data from

a large group of people and then summarizing the results in a quantifiable form.

Survey Administration

The survey instrument was self-administered and the respondents were made aware that

participation was voluntary.

The surveys were distributed to 84 respondent and 50 out them were taken in account on the basis

of complete information being provided by respondents.

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR MODEL

Consumer decision to buy a product or a service is the result of interplay of many forces or

stimuli. Marketing stimuli for a product includes locating target markets and segmentations of

markets as per customer needs. The marketing and environmental stimuli enter the buyer’s mind

through cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. When these factors come in contact

with buyer, the buyer’s decision initiates and the marketer needs to have correctly read the

buyer’s conscious/unconscious BEHAVIOR to stimulate positive response.

8

MARKETING RESEARCH

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

9

Locate target Market.

Segment as per customer needs.

Marketing andother stimuli Desired Product Appropriate Price Right Place Relevant promotion

External Environment Economic Technological Political Cultural

Buyers Decision Process

Needs Recognition

Information Search

Evaluation of Alternatives

Total Set Awareness SetConsideration

SetChoice Set Decision

Purchase Intention

Attitude Unanticipatedof others Situational Factors

Purchase Decision

Post Purchase BEHAVIOR

Buyers Characterstics

Cultural Desired product Sub-Culture Social classSocial Reference Groups Family Roles and status.Personal Age and life cycle stage Occupation Economic Circumstances Life-style Personality & self-conceptPsychological Motivation Perception Learning Belief Attitudes

MARKETING RESEARCH

The field of consumer behavior studies how individuals, groups and organizations select, buy, use

and dispose off goods, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy their needs and desires. They may

respond to influences that change their mind at the last minute. Marketing and environmental

stimuli enter the buyers’ consciousness. Buyers’ characteristics and decision processes lead to

certain purchase decisions.

Consumers buying behavior is influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological

factors.

10

High Low Involvement InvolvementSignificant Consumer Buying Variety-seekingDifferences BEHAVIOR BEHAVIORBetween (Computer) (Toothpaste)Brands Dissonance HabitualFor Difference Reducing BuyingBetween BEHAVIOR BEHAVIORBrands (Carpet) (Salt)

MARKETING RESEARCH

Cultural factors

Cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence. Culture is the fundamental determinant

of a person’s wants and behavior. Each culture consists of smaller sub cultures that provide more

specific identification and socialization for their members.

Subculture includes: Nationalities, religions, racial gaps & geographic regions. When

subcultures grow large and affluent enough, companies often design specialized marketing

programs to serve them. Such programs are known as diversity marketing.

Social Class: Homogeneous & enduring divisions, hierarchically ordered, members share

common values. They have many characteristics.

Those within each class tend to behave more alike than persons from two different social

classes.

Persons are perceived as occupying, inferior or superior positions according to social

class.

Social class is indicated by a cluster of variables for ex: occupation, income, wealth

rather than a single variable.

Individuals can move up or down the social class ladder during their lifetime.

Social Factors

Consumers’ behavior is influenced by social factors such as reference groups, family, social roles

and statuses.

Reference Groups: all groups that have a direct (membership groups) or indirect influence on

attitudes or behavior. Groups having a direct influence on a person are called membership

groups. Some membership groups are primary groups such as family, friends, neighbors with

whom the person interacts informally. People also belong to secondary groups such as religious,

professional groups, which tend to be more formal. People are also influenced by groups to which

they don not belong to.

11

MARKETING RESEARCH

Aspiration groups: are those a person hopes to join.

Dissociate group: are those whose values or behavior an individual rejects.

Family: It is the most important consumer buying organization in the society and family

members constitute the most influential primary reference group.

Family of orientation – consists of parents & siblings. From parents, a person acquires towards

religion, politics and a sense of personal ambition, and self-worth.

Family of procreation – consists of spouse & children. It has a more direct influence on

everyday buying behavior.

Role and Statuses: The person’s position in each group can be defined in terms of role and

status. A role consists of activities a person is expected to perform. Each role carries a status.

People choose product that communicate their role and status in society. Marketers must be aware

of the status-symbol potential of products and brands.

Personal Factors

Consumer is influenced by age and life cycle stages, occupation, economic circumstances,

lifestyle and personality.

Age and Lifecycle stages: Persons age is an important decider of hid needs. Like small child

requires milk powder, toys, games, and education facility, whereas young adults requires trendy

clothes, transportation etc. Similarly consumption BEHAVIOR also is influenced by specific

stages of family life-cycle.

Occupation: The occupation of a person decides his consumption pattern. For e.g. a teacher

would buy simple clothes, means of communication, paper etc. while a company executive would

buys expensive clothes, club membership etc.

Economic conditions: Economic capacity of a customer to buy a product depends on his income,

savings, assets, borrowing power etc.

12

MARKETING RESEARCH

Life style: The customers coming from different cultures, social class, occupations bear different

life styles. These life styles are identified by various activities, interests, opinions, and

demographics.

Personality and Self Concept: Personality is consistent and enduring, but it can change with

time and abrupt events. So the psychological characteristics of a person manifest his Behaviour in

terms of individual differences (high or low sociable person).

Psychological Factors

The Psychology involves four major processes like motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs

and attitudes.

Motivation: It refers to the way which urges, drives, desires, aspirations, striving or needs direct,

control or explains the BEHAVIOR of human being.

Perception: It is the process by which we become aware of changes through the senses of sight,

hearing, smell, touch and taste. Therefore consumer perceptions about the product price make the

consumer bound to accept or reject the product.

Learning: It is a process by which knowledge and experience acquired form the purchases,

consumption, use is applied to the future BEHAVIOR. For e.g. A TV purchased from SONY

would help teach the customer that DVD by SONY would also be better.

Beliefs and Attitude: Belief is a descriptive thought that an individual customer has about

product, service, idea or practice. An attitude is pre-disposed Behaviour which is enduring and

consistent.

13

MARKETING RESEARCH

BUYING DECISION PROCESS

1. PROBLEM RECOGNITION

The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem or need by gathering information

from a number of consumers, marketers can identify the most frequent stimuli that spark an

interest in a product category.

2. INFORMATION SEARCH

Consumer information sources fall into four groups:

Personal sources: Family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances

Commercial sources: Advertising, salespersons, dealers, packaging, displays

Public sources: Mass media, consumer -rating organizations

Experimental sources: Handling, examining, using the product

3. EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES

There are several decision evaluation processes; first the consumer is trying to satisfy a need.

Second, the consumer is looking for certain benefits from the product solution. Third, the

consumer sees each product as a bundle of attributes with varying abilities for delivering the

benefits sought to satisfy this need.

4. PURCHASE DECISION

However, two factors can intervene between the purchase intention and the purchase decision.

The first factor is the attitude of others. The second factor is unanticipated situational factors that

may erupt to change the purchase intention. A consumer’s decision to modify, postpone, or avoid

a purchase decision is heavily influenced by perceived risk.

14

MARKETING RESEARCH

5. POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOR

Marketers must monitor post purchase satisfaction, post purchase actions and post purchase

product uses.

POST PURCHASE SATISFACTION: the importance of post purchase satisfaction

suggests that product claims must truthfully represent the product’s likely performance.

POST PURCHASE ACTIONS: satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product will

influence consumer’s subsequent behavior. If the consumer is satisfied, he or she will exhibit a

higher probability of purchasing the product again. Dissatisfied customers may abandon or return

the product.

POST PURCHASE USE AND DISPOSAL: Marketers should also monitor how buyers

use and dispose of the product. If consumers store the product in a closet, the product is probably

not very satisfying. If they sell or trade the product, new-product sales will be depressed.

Consumers may also find new uses for the product.

15

MARKETING RESEARCH

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

Demography of respondents

Demographic Profile

36%

38%

6%

20%

students professionals businessmen others

Analysis: It was observed that the majority of the respondents for our study, consist of

professional from various fields like engineers, software professionals, working executive etc.

who effectively form 38% of our database. While 36% were students from various fields. Others

constitute designers and athletes etc. the further study is carried on the buying behavior of the

above mentioned categories of consumer, which shows that our consumer is well educated and is

very well informed about the product- Reebok shoes.

16

MARKETING RESEARCH

Consumer’s income level and spending capacity on shoes

spending power

0

107

00

0

11

5

21

0

0

12

0

0

4

4

0

1

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

 Less then Rs.1000

 Rs. 1000-3000

 Rs. 3000-6000

 More then Rs. 6000

 None

spen

din

g l

imit

no: of people

student

professional

businessmen

others

others 0 4 4 0 1

businessmen 0 0 1 2 0

professional 0 11 5 2 1

student 0 10 7 0 0

 Less then Rs.1000

 Rs. 1000-3000  Rs. 3000-6000 More then Rs.

6000 None

Analysis: In the survey conducted, a direct relation between the income level and the spending capacity

was observed. Also it was found that students were spending in the range of Rs 1000 – Rs 3000 as

compared to the working class professionals who were ready to spend between Rs 3000 – Rs 6000, since

they have higher spending power because of higher income levels.

17

MARKETING RESEARCH

Effect of shopping season on consumer’s buying behaviour for

shoes

63

38

3

a.occasions b.festivals c.anytime d.travel/vacations

SHOPPING SEASON

Series1

Analysis: Amongst the students and the professionals, it was found that the consumer buying Behaviour

does not change with respect to the seasons and occasion as most of the consumer would like to buy their

shoes as and when need arises, whereas the businessman generally do their shoes shopping during

traveling or on special occasion’s.

18

MARKETING RESEARCH

Brand Recollection

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

BRAND RECOLLECTION

Series1 17 11 0 2 17 3

a.  Adidas b.      Nike c.       Caterpillar d.      Fila e.       Reebok f.        Others

Analysis: When asked about reconciling a sports shoes brand about 70% of the respondent were able to

recall REEBOK or ADDIDAS were as rest were able to remember NIKE and FILA brands. This was due

to the fact that REEBOK has brand ambassador like RAHUL DRAVID and YUVRAJ SINGH.

19

MARKETING RESEARCH

Factor influencing the buying process for shoes

Consumer Parameters

20%

16%

48%

4%12%

a.       Style

b.      Brand Name

c.       Comfort

d.      Price

e.       Durability

Analysis: Among the various factors like social, psychological, personal and cultural factors it was

observed that the consumer give more preference to his personal choice and psychological factors like

50% of the people consider comfort and they generally do not consider durability as an important aspect

because they believe that it comes along with the brand. Also the social factor like style was second most

important factor behind the consumer buying motives.

20

MARKETING RESEARCH

Factor influencing the buying process for other shoe brands

OTHERS

20%

10%

30%

10%

30%

STYLE PRICE COMFORTBRAND DURABILITY

21

MARKETING RESEARCH

Reebok

30%

10%

30%

20%

10%

STYLE PRICE COMFORT BRAND DURABILITY

Factor influencing the buying process for other shoe brands

Comparison with other brands

Analysis: In response to the question about giving, out of 100 point to the various factors

affecting their buying BEHAVIOR between REEBOK and OTHERS following was observed:

OTHERS REEBOKa.        Style ____20____ ___30_____b.        Price ____10____ ___10_____c.        Comfort _____30___ ___30_____d.        Brand ____10____ ___20_____e. Durability _____30___ ___10____

This further shows that the consumer look for style in the REEBOK more in comparison to the other

brands hence, gave their 30 points to Reebok whereas 20 points to other brands. It was seen that the

comfort remains at equal place even while choosing a competitive brand.

22

MARKETING RESEARCH

Effect of Buying forces on consumers for purchase of shoes

INFLUENCING FACTOR

6%14%

8%

12%60%

a. Family b. Friends

c. Brand Ambassadors d. Peers/Colleagues

e. Personal Choice

Analysis: It was observed that consumer is forced by no factors like peer pressure, family and friends and

some time people would like to buy a product because it is being endorsed by their favorite celebrity. It

was observed that beside the personal choice of the respondent, the pressure from the friends plays an

important buying force for the students, while the peer and college in case of the professional and the

least pursuing factor is family which was seen in case of the respondents belonging to age group 35 years

and above.

23

MARKETING RESEARCH

No of respondents buying REEBOK shoes

BOUGHT REEBOK?

76%

24%

Yes No

Analysis: This question was asked to know the market capture by the REEBOK and the time period of

association of the customers with REEBOK. It was deduced that more than 75% of the respondents were

using the REEBOK shoes and were mainly associated with it for a period of 1 year or more. While the

remaining respondents were using either the NIKE or ADDIDAS brand shoes.

24

MARKETING RESEARCH

Customer satisfaction for REEBOK shoes

SATISFACTION

28%

30%

22%

4%

16%

a. Very Satisfied b. Satisfactory c. Ok d. Poor e. not applied

Analysis: Because of the quality product offered by the REEBOK about 60% of the respondents were

either very satisfied or satisfied, while 10% did not gave any response as they were not using the

REEBOK shoes.

25

MARKETING RESEARCH

RECOMMENDATIONS

On analyzing the feed back from customers we would recommend following things:

The demographics show that the major customer base of Reebok is limited to

Professionals and Students. So our recommendation would be to promote their product

for the masses as a whole. Like the advertisement which shows 50 CENTS, influences a

college student but it has less effect on a business man. So to add business man and

others to there existing consumer base they can advertise showing a business tycoon

using Reebok shoes in his/her leisure time or such other promotional activity.

As we know India is a land of diversities and we have ‘n’ numbers of festivals in a year,

as from the data it has been proved that people buy shoes anytime in a year; so what

Reebok can do is promote their product relating to any of the Indian festival. This would

have an emotional factor attached to it and would help in making customers buy the

product.

The data shows that consumers are not really concerned about price and durability. So

what they must do is stress more on styling and comfort, which is expected on a higher

level out of Reebok. Consumers say that they are not satisfied with the comfort level of

the shoes.

On analyzing some sports personality we came to know that they are not happy with the

sports shoes, because they require some special characteristics in sports shoes. They say

the area disposition of the shoes should be more, which in turn would give higher grip.

This is not provided by any of the brands in the market. So REEBOK can bank on this

opportunity. We know the sportsmen market in India is on a lower end, so we

recommend that they can give customized options to the sports person through internet

where consumer can give required specifications and get their product accustomed to

their personal needs.

26

MARKETING RESEARCH

SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE

Name: Age: Sex: M FProfession: Phone:

1) Income level: (Per year)a. Below Rs. 50000b. Rs. 50000-100000c. Rs. 100000-300000d. Rs. 300000-500000e. More then Rs. 500000

2) How much do you spend on footwear in a year?a. Less then Rs.1000b. Rs. 1000-3000c. Rs. 3000-6000d. More then Rs. 6000e. None

3) When you think of sports shoes, which of the following brands come to your minds first.

a. Adidasb. Nikec. Caterpillard. Filae. Reebokf. Others

4) Have you ever bought Reebok shoes?

27

MARKETING RESEARCH

Yes No

5) If no then which other brand do you buy?

6) How many pairs of shoes do you have?a. 1b. 1-3c. 3-5d. More then 5

7) How many of them are sports shoes?

8) How long have you been using it?a. 2 monthsb. 4 monthsc. 6 monthsd. Year

9) Which of the following you consider most while purchasing footwear?

a. Styleb. Brand Namec. Comfortd. Pricee. Durability

10) Which of the following influences the most to your buying procedure?

a. Family b. Friends c. Brand Ambassadors d. Peers/Colleagues

f. Personal Choice

28

MARKETING RESEARCH

11) Kindly give in terms of % (weightage) the qualities you look for in a sport shoes OTHERS REEBOK

a. Style ________ ________b. Price ________ ________c. Comfort ________ ________d. Brand ________ ________e. Durability ________ ________

12) What time of the year do you do your shoes-shopping?a. Occasionsb. Festivalsc. Anytimed. Travel/Vacations

13) Your experience with Reebok shoesa. Very Satisfiedb. Satisfactoryc. Okd. Poore. Very Poor

29

MARKETING RESEARCH

RESPONDENTS LIST

Respondents’ Name Profession

Age Gender

Antriksh Student 12 MShreesh Saxena College student 19 MAditya Agarwal Medical student 19 MPriya Job 20 FAbhijeet Engineer 20 MSandeep Model 20 MShashank Gupta Student 20 MVidhi Student 21 FSandeep Kumar Student 21 MVarun Student 21 MPankaj Redhu Working Executive 21 MNikhil Service 21 MPuneet Chopra Sales Manager(Reebok) 21 MMitesh Student 21 MManoj Software Engineer 22 MSandeep Singh Executive engineer 22 MVijender software Engineer 22 MRaghav Bhatia Database Administrator 22 MAnshul Student 22 MLopa Working Executive 23 FSaurabh Sharda Student 23 MRajinder Kumar Student 23 MSamarth Student 23 MSanchit Student 23 MGaurav Mittal Software Engineer 23 MHarish Student 23 MAbhinav Student 23 MShruti Designer 24 FYamuna Corporate 24 F

30

MARKETING RESEARCH

Rachita Private 24 FDeepanshi Designer 25 FGur Simran Singh Executive 25 FHoney Student 25 FManoj Vollala Engineer 25 M

Irfan Corporate Trainer 25 MSanket kapoor Student 25 MS.K.Jindal Business 25 MKunal Service 25 MVineet Arora Senior Trainer 26 MJoginder Singh Software Engineer 26 MPavel Somvat Engineer 26 MGagan Business 26 M

Suraj SharmaAdmin(E-fund entertaintment mumbai) 27 M

Vikram Singh Business 27 MAvneesh Sharma Professional 27 MRavi Inder Singh Software analyst 28 MDeepak Agarwal Retired 35 MDr. Rohit Medical 43 MK.L.Patil Service 52 M

31

MARKETING RESEARCH

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRIMARY SOURCES

1. Consumer Survey

SECONDARY SOURCES

1. WEBSITE:

www.marketing.about.com

www.answers.com

www.google.com

www.store.reebok.com

2. REFERENCE LIST:

“Kotler Philip” - Marketing management

“Chabra T.N” - Marketing Management

“Gupta S.P “and “Gupta M.P” - Business Statistics

“R.Kumar” - Research Methodology

“Solomon” – Consumer Behavior

32