Word Of Mouth

Université Des MascareignesThe Effectiveness of Word-of-Mouth on Consumer Buying Behaviour: a Case Study of

J.Kalachand

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE-INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................3

1.0 Introduction...............................................................................................................................3

1.1 Company background...............................................................................................................3

1.2 Research Questions....................................................................................................................4

1.3 Research Objectives...................................................................................................................4

1.4 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4

1.5 Summary of the project.............................................................................................................5

CHAPTER TWO- LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................................................6

2.0 Introduction...............................................................................................................................6

2.1 Marketing...................................................................................................................................6

2.2 Marketing...................................................................................................................................7

2.3 Marketing Communications.....................................................................................................8

2.4 Marketing Integrated Communication Strategies...................................................................8

2.4.1 Push and Pull Strategy..........................................................................................................8

2.4.2 Promotion.............................................................................................................................9

2.4.3 Types of Promotion............................................................................................................10

2.5 Word of Mouth........................................................................................................................11

2.6 Consumer Behaviour...............................................................................................................12

2.7 Consumer Buying Behaviour..................................................................................................12

2.8 Viral Marketing.......................................................................................................................14

2.9 Conclusion................................................................................................................................15

CHAPTER THREE- METHODOLOGY........................................................................................16

3.0 Introduction.............................................................................................................................16

3.1 The Research Design...............................................................................................................16

3.1.1 Types of Research...............................................................................................................16

3.1.2 Sampling.............................................................................................................................17

3.1.3 The research Instrument......................................................................................................18

3.2 Administration of questionnaires...........................................................................................19

3.3 Limitations of the study...........................................................................................................20

Pazal Natasha, Polydor Marie Joyce & Rheedaye Poojha Page 1


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3.4 Elimination of Bias..................................................................................................................20

3.5 Conclusion................................................................................................................................20

CHAPTER FOUR- FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS.........................................................................21

4.0 Introduction.............................................................................................................................21

4.1 Analysis 1..................................................................................................................................21

4.2 Analysis 2..................................................................................................................................22

4.3 Analysis 3..................................................................................................................................23

4.4 Analysis 4..................................................................................................................................24

4.5 Analysis 5..................................................................................................................................25

4.6 Conclusion................................................................................................................................25

CHAPTER FIVE- CONCLUSION..................................................................................................26

5.0 Introduction.............................................................................................................................26

5.1 Conclusion................................................................................................................................26

CHAPTER SIX- RECOMMENTATION........................................................................................27

6.0 Introduction.............................................................................................................................27

6.1 Recommendation.....................................................................................................................27

References..........................................................................................................................................29

Appendices



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CHAPTER ONE-INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Word of mouth is also known as WOM Marketing. Nowadays, word of mouth is becoming

an important marketing tactic. Word of mouth both negative and positive can have a

profound impact on consumer behaviour. If utilized correctly, it can go a long way to

promote products or service and build a perception created through this method can persist

for a long time and adversely effect to the marketing. Therefore the effect of word of mouth

can be harsh as well as beneficial (Solomon, 1996).

Consumer behaviour is a relatively young field of study. The first textbooks on consumer

behaviour were written in the 1960s. The field of consumer behaviour explores why people

make certain purchasing decisions, what products and services they buy, where they buy

them, how they use them, the frequency with which they purchase them, and the consumer

decision process in action. One of the important means of spreading information is word of

mouth.

1.1 Company background

In April 1967, Mr. Jayramdas Kalachand suffered a stroke. His son, Mr. Ramesh Kalachand,

then aged only 17, steeped in to manage the business. In December 1968, J. Kalachand & Co

Ltd. was formed.

In 1976, a rise in the export price of sugar caused an improvement in the purchasing power of

Mauritians as salaries went up by 30-40%. This was beneficial to business and Kalachand

Building (Lord Kitchener St.) was erected and opened at Port Louis, the capital, in November

1977. It was, in fact, the biggest shop at that time in Port Louis. In 1985, the founding father

of the Company died.

Mr. Ramesh Kalachand was later joined by his brother, Mr. Ashok Kalachand (the Financial

Director) and Mr. Gilbert Chavry (the Executive Director). The fourth generation is already

in place as, few years back, Mr. Ravi Kalachand, the Managing Director’s son joined the



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business and has recently been nominated as an Executive Director of the Company. Recently

Mr. Aakash Kalachand, the Finance Director’s son in turn came on board. Both hold the post

of Executive Directors of the Company.

To date, J. Kalachand & Co. Ltd. possesses a network of 25 sales outlets representing a

formidable distributive force at the service of our suppliers and of our customers alike.

J.Kalachand & Co Ltd., today, is a Company, which employs a workforce of more than 680

persons to ensure the smooth running of its activities with at least 17% of them in after-sales

service.

1.2 Research Questions

Can Word Of Mouth be considered as a communication tool?

Does Word Of Mouth have any impact on Consumer Buying Behaviour?

Do customers give more importance to negative or positive Word Of Mouth?

1.3 Research Objectives

The purpose of the research is to study the impact of word of mouth on Consumer Buying

Behaviour at J.Kalachand. The research aims to answer the following research questions:

To examine word of mouth marketing impact on individuals buying decision.

To get the first-hand knowledge about other’s ideas and opinions have power to

change anyone perception about using products.

To check whether consumers give more importance to negative word of mouth rather

than positive.

1.4 ConclusionIn this chapter we identified the research questions and research objectives, describe the company history and describe the two main component of the study.



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1.5 Summary of the project

This study is to understand the value and assess the factors influencing consumer buying

behaviour. It consists of the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Overview of the topic and organisation background

Chapter 2: Literature Review

This chapter contains important research material gathered from what scholars think of the

research topic.

Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter defines all the methods, procedures and techniques used to gather and analyse

information for the study.

Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis

In this chapter all the graph, charts and tables for the analysis and findings of the

questionnaire are represented

Chapter 5: Conclusion

In this chapter there is the main discussion on word of mouth as per our study throughout the

whole study.

Chapter 6: Recommendation

This chapter shows all the strategies that J.Kalachand can use in the future.



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CHAPTER TWO- LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

Behaviour is the response to the stimulus presented by the environment, individual as a

consumer shows different behaviour under different circumstances and at different points of

time. Due to the changing patterns of consumer behaviour, it is always a challenge for

companies to identify the taste and preferences of customers.

Consumer behaviour has always been of great interest to marketers. The knowledge of

consumer behaviour helps marketers to understand how much consumers think, feel and

select from alternatives like products, brands and the like and how the consumers are

influenced by their environment, the reference groups, family, and the salespersons and so

on.

This chapter will provide an overview of the explanation of the term consumer behaviour,

word of mouth, promotional mix and most importantly consumer’s reaction to word of mouth

towards their purchase at J.Kalachand.

2.1 Marketing

Marketing is present everywhere. Formally or informally, people and organizations engage in

a huge number of activities that could be called marketing. Good marketing has become an

increasingly vital ingredient for business success. Marketing deals with identifying and

meeting human and social needs. One of the shortest definitions of marketing is "meeting

needs profitably."

Philip Kotler (1994) defines marketing as “the science and art of exploring, creating, and

delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit”. The American Marketing

Association (1994) offers the following formal definition: Marketing is an organizational

function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to

customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and

its stake holders.



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2.2 Marketing

One traditional description of marketing activities is in terms of the marketing mix, which has

been defined as the set of marketing tools the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives.

McCarthy (1992) classified these tools into four broad groups, which he called the four Ps of

marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

Once a company has decided on its positioning strategy, it is ready to begin

planning the details of the marketing mix. The marketing mix consists of everything the

Organization can do to influence the demand for its product or service. The

marketing mix consists of four elements are:

Product or service — the features, designs, brands and packaging offered, along with

post-purchase benefits such as warranties and return policies.

Price — the amounts of money consumers have to pay to obtain the product or servic

e, including the list price, discount allowances and payment methods.

Place — the distribution activity of a company that make the product or service availa

ble through specific stores and non-store outlets to target consumers.

Promotion — the advertising, sales promotion, public relations and sales efforts desig

ned to build awareness of and demand for the product or service.

An effective marketing strategy blends all the marketing mix elements into a coordinated

program designed to achieve the company’s marketing objectives.

2.3 Marketing Communications

Marketing communication is defined as “a collective term for all the various types of planned

messages used to build a brand-advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct

marketing, personal selling, packaging, events and sponsorship, customer service and product



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placement” (Ouwersloot & Duncan, 2008, p. 8). In fact, the marketing communications

functions help build a brand by connecting a company with its customers and influencing the

information processing activities of stakeholders (Blythe, 2006; Ouwersloot & Duncan,

2008).

According to Kotler and Keller (1994), "Marketing communications are the means by which

firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind consumers - directly or indirectly - about the

products and brands that they sell." Marketing communications are messages and related

media used to communicate with a market. Marketing communications is the "promotion"

part of the "marketing mix" or the "four Ps": price, place, promotion, and product. It can also

refer to the strategy used by a company or individual to reach their target market through

various types of communication.

2.4 Marketing Integrated Communication Strategies

2.4.1 Push and Pull Strategy

There are three main strategies when it comes to marketing communication plan, and they are

the three P’s; push, pull and profile. Promotional strategies to get a product or service to the

market can be roughly divided into two separate parts.

Kotler and Keller says that a push strategy uses the manufacturer’s sales force, trade

promotion money, and other means to induce intermediaries to carry, promote, and sell the

product to end users. It is about pushing your products to them with as little advertising as

possible. An example of this would be direct selling and exhibitions where a great deal of

personal selling is involved

Kotler and Keller further stated that a pull strategy uses advertising, promotion and other

forms of communication to persuade consumers to demand the product from intermediaries.

In other words, it is more costly as to encourage customer to demand more free samples and

coupons are givens and competitions are also organized. This is a good strategy if product

demand is high, customers use the brand as part of their purchase decision, or you can

differentiate your product based on emotional feelings


http://www.simplydigitalmarketing.com/writing-a-digital-marketing-communications-plan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_(economics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message


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2.4.2 Promotion

Promotion is a tool that is used by the retailers or manufacturers to invite consumers and

purchase more or tries a service or product. The result of the sales promotion is the used of

high quantity stock, inviting many new customers and more increase in sales. Chandon,

Wansink, and Laurent (2000) indicated that sales promotion may be attractive for highly

promotion prone consumers for reasons beyond price savings. Many consumers switch

brands so that they could receive greater deals that imitate and strengthen their smart buyer

self-perception, and these consumers are favourably promotion prone, these consumers make

an attempt to try a new product or service that have been promoted.. Sales promotion means

any activity that is utilize by the producer to encourage retailer, wholesaler as well as make

customers to purchase a brand and increase sales force to aggressively sell it. The term sale

promotion refers to several types of selling incentives and methods indented to yield

immediate sales effects (Totten & Block, 1994).

2.4.3 Types of PromotionA successful product or service means nothing unless the benefit of such a service can be

communicated clearly to the target market. An organization’s promotional mix strategy can

consist of:

Types of Explanation



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Promotion

Advertising Any non-personal paid form of communication using any form of mass media.

Public

Relations

Involves developing positive relationships with the organization media public.

The art of good public relations is not only to obtain favorable publicity within

the media, but it is also involves being able to handle successfully negative

attention.

Sales

Promotion

Commonly used to obtain an increase in sales short term. Could involve using

money off coupons or special offers.

Personal

Selling

Selling a product service one to one

Direct Mail Is the sending of publicity material to a named person within an organization

Direct mail allows an organization to use their resources more effectively by

allowing them to send publicity material to a named person within their target

segment. By personalizing advertising, response rates increase thus increasing

the chance of improving sales. Listed below are links to organization who's

business involves direct mail.

Internet

Marketing

Promoting and selling your services online using various forms of online

marketing techniques such as banner advertisements, videos or social media.

Sponsorship Where you pay an organization to use your brand or logo. This organization

usually has a high profile so that you know that your brand will be seen by a

large audience. Most common use of sponsorship is with sporting events. The

2012 Olympics being held in London is being sponsored by a number of

organizations such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola as the event will attract a

worldwide audience that will run into hundreds of millions.

(http://www.learnmarketing.net/promotion.htm )

2.5 Word of Mouth

In today’s competitive environment, delivering high-quality service is vital to achieve a

sustainable competitive advantage. Many researchers have indicated that customers’

satisfaction leads to their sharing experiences with others (vanHaaften, 2011; Zairi, 2000;

Zeqiri, 2011).


http://www.learnmarketing.net/promotion.htm


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Defining word of mouth precisely however has proven difficult (Carl, 2006; Nyilasy, 2005).

Arndt (1967, p. 291) defines it as ‘face-to-face communication about a brand, product or

service between people who are perceived as not having connections to a commercial entity’.

Moreover, the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (2009) defined word-of-mouth

(WOM) as “the passing of information from person to person by oral communication.” It is

the sharing of information through telephone calls, text messages, social media or face-to-

face communication. WOM or the voice of the customer (Grffin and Hauser 1993) is one of

the most effective tools for generating sales and future cash flows. Organizations widely use

WOM-based strategies such as buzz marketing and viral marketing. Research shows that

WOM is a low cost, trustworthy way of communication in acquiring and retaining customers

(Villanueva et al. 2008).

Figure 1: Word Of Mouth strategy (Word of Mouth Marketing Strategy (CBC-2010))

2.6 Consumer Behaviour

To better understand the choice of brand from consumers’ perspective it is important to have

an idea of the consumers’ behaviour and their view of brands Uggla (2001) explains two

different types of consumer behaviour. The consumers who have cognitive behavior are

rational and logical consumers and while the experience oriented consumers have more

emotional motives for buying a product. In other words, cognitive behaviour buyers think



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well before purchasing a product. They will look at all the opportunities and advantages that

the product can bring to them. Compared to those to act emotionally without calculating

much they just buy the product as they have a crush on it.

2.7 Consumer Buying Behaviour

A consumer’s buying behaviour is influenced by factors such as cultural, social, age, personal

and psychological and personality. Consumer behaviour is the study “of the processes

involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services,

ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires” (Solomon 1995, 7). Engel, et al. (1986, 5)

define consumer behaviour as “those acts of individuals directly involved in obtaining, using,

and disposing of economic goods and services, including the decision processes that precede

and determine these acts”.



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(Framework of consumer decision-making (pride et al 1997))

Figure 2: Buyer Decision Process

It is important to be familiar with the theories about consumer buying behaviour when

making a research about choice of brand. According to Soderlund (2001), the consumer

buying behaviour depends on which intentions, attitudes, preferences, effort to commitment

and way of identifying the consumers have.

As seen in the ‘buying decision process model’ above, consumers normally go through five

stages of their life before deciding whether to purchase or not. Consumers do not pass

through all these stages at every purchase. In routine purchases, that is, for low involvement

products, consumers usually skip some stages. In a small purchase, for example every day

commodities, such as washing machine powder, information search and evaluation of

alternatives are often skipped. However, the figure shows all the considerations consumers

take when facing a new complex purchase situation.

Consumer buying behaviour differs much depending on what kind of product the consumer

will purchase. There is a big difference in involvement when buying compared to toothpaste.

Kotler et al., (1999) have made a buying behaviour model with four different buyer

behaviours.



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Figure 3: Four Types of Buyer Behaviour (Kotler et al. 1999, p251)

Consumer buying behaviour differs much depending on what kind of product the consumer

will purchase. There is a big difference in involvement when buying a car compared to

toothpaste. A car is a high involvement product. It is expensive and information should be

gathered whereas when purchasing toothpaste, information is not gathered.

2.8 Viral Marketing

Viral Marketing is very powerful way of promoting any complex and unusual products. It is

the most effective when promoting experiential, complex and unusual products. These

criteria does not met with the given most packaged goods on products, benefit will be given

by marketers. Marketing by word of mouth could have effect on consumers and their buying

decisions. The study examines the impact. Further, examine to know that how word of mouth

can manipulate with consumers decision.

There are many literatures discussing word of mouth and respondent interest in products is

the most important influencing factor. Main three concerns of researchers who investigate the

phenomenon are exposed by word of mouth communication:

i) The kind and frequency of word of mouth behaviour,

ii) Impact of word of mouth on product evaluation and

iii) The effect of word of mouth on social relationship.

All articles have been studied. The thought of understanding consumers buying behaviour is

mutual in marketing (Solomon., 1993; Wilkie, 1994; Engel, Blackwell, & Miniard, 1995;

Assael, 1992; Loudon & Della Bitta, 1993; Kotler, 1997).

Telephone interviews were conducted with one hundred fifty people of Metropolitan County

in the northeast area of the United States. Result showed that retailers had some qualities that

were more likely to be circulated by consumers. More they also found that the customers’

class describes Market Mavens (person who have information about much products and

location retailers than do other customers). They created methods for retailers to propagate

information to “market mavens” (like sending free samples of products). Spangenberg &



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Giese (1997) were less involved in the frequency and types of word of mouth communication

and, instead, concentrated on the effects of word of mouth behaviour on product evaluation.

At a large Midwestern University an experiment was conducted using undergraduate students

attending and introductory marketing course.

2.9 Conclusion

This chapter illustrates the theories of past research who has considered the term Word Of

Mouth, Marketing, viral marketing and Consumer Buying Behaviour in a successful

company. The next chapter will be Research Methodology.

CHAPTER THREE-METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction

Methodology can be defined as the overall approach that the research process will take. The

purpose of this chapter is to present the procedures, methods and techniques adopted in the

research work. Research work most often than not is appraised based on the quality and

accurateness of the analysis and information it provides at the end. However, this is

dependent on the nature of data collected during the research. As a result, this chapter looked

at how data were gathered for the research. The methodology enlightened on the sampling

techniques and primary research

3.1 The Research Design



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A descriptive survey research design was chosen to investigate the impact of word of mouth

on consumer buying behaviour at J.Kalachand. More specifically it addressed the following

research question: the effectiveness of word of mouth on consumer buying behaviour: a case

study of J.Kalachand

3.1.1 Types of Research

Data collection in a research is the stage where the necessary data useful according to the

purposes and objectives of the research are gathered from the field. The ways for gathering

these data is what is termed data collection methods. The main source of data used for the

research work was primary sources. The methods used in collecting primary data include

questionnaire, and observations. The study made use of primary data at the chapter four,

which is the analysis stage.

3.1.1.1 Primary Research

Primary Research is the process of gathering information directly from individuals who have

access to it. It is often undertaken after the researcher has gained some insight into the issue

by reviewing secondary research or by analysing previously collected primary data. For our

study primary research was used by means of questionnaires.

3.1.2 Sampling

A process used in statistical analysis in which a predetermined number of observations will

be taken from a larger population. The methodology used to sample from a larger population

will depend on the type of analysis being performed, but will include simple random

sampling, systematic sampling and observational sampling. The sample should be a

representation of the general population.



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The basic concern in terms of sampling was the representativeness of concepts rather than the

statistical representativeness. In order to achieve such a requirement, what Strauss and Corbin

(1990) refer to as “theoretical sampling” was adopted. This means that the sample included

only as many respondents as was needed to “saturate” the categories being studied.

According to this principle, respondents were included in the sample in asmuch as the

information they were likely to provide was theoretically relevant. According to the authors,

“... theoretical relevance indicates that certain concepts are deemed significant because:

- They are repeatedly present or notably absent when comparing incident after incident;

and

- Through the coding procedures they earn the status of categories” (Strauss and

Corbin, 1990, p. 177)

3.1.2.1 Sampling techniques

Random sampling

Random sampling technique is used in this study. In random sampling process every element

from population has equal chance to be selected as a subject. Even the sampling process

could sometimes become huge and costly. The questionnaires’ formation was structured. For

collecting reliable data for reliable analysis, every individual was requested to respond to the

opened-ended and closed-ended questions.

3.1.3 The research Instrument

In this study personally administered questionnaires have been used as the research

instruments. The core advantage of this is that within a short period of time all completed

response were collected. A questionnaire to which respondents recode their answers is a pre-



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formulated set of question. For this research data was collected by using questionnaires.

Questionnaire is an appropriate way to collect the data specifically. Finally the questionnaire

was the combination of close-ended and multiple choice questions. For this purpose

individuals were requested to answer the selected questions related with word of mouth

marketing and its influence on buyers’ decisions. Name, age, gender and marital status were

inquired to the respondent for data collection process.

3.1.3.1 Questionnaire construction

The questionnaire was invented by Sir Francis Galton. A questionnaire is a list of research or

survey questions asked to respondents, and designed to extract specific information.

Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are cheap, do

not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and often have

standardized answers that make it simple to compile data. It serves four basic purposes

1. To collect the appropriate data.

2. To make data comparable and amenable to analysis

3. To minimize bias in formulating and asking questions

4. To make questions engaging and varied.

3.1.3.2 The questionnaire items

This questionnaire consists of 31 questions divided into of two parts; part A and part B

Part A: The personal information consists of 9 questions, 7 are multiple choice questions and

1 close ended question.

Part B: The general questions consist of 22 questions, 9 are close ended questions and 13 are

multiple choice questions.

This questionnaire was customised for the general public.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_survey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Galton


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3.1.3.3 Pilot study

A pilot study is a research project that is conducted on a limited scale that allows researchers

to get a clearer idea of what they want to know and how they can best find it out without the

expense and effort of a complete study. They are used commonly to try out survey questions.

A pilot study of 5 questionnaires was done among our class members.

3.2 Administration of questionnaires.

For this study the respondents were randomly selected within the area of Triolet,

Morcellement St Andre and Flacq to collect the data and to know about the views the general

public. Questionnaires were divided at household. As the sample size 70 respondents were

selected. The final survey was administered to household and within the area of Triolet,

Morcellement St Andre and Flacq. The questionnaire was a self administered questionnaire

(SAQ) that is a questionnaire that has been designed specifically to be completed by a

respondent without intervention of any members of the research for collecting the data. The

SAQ has been distributed in person to the general public.

3.2.1 Collection of questionnaires

The SAQ was collected on the next day from the respondents.

3.2.2 Data analysis

Data analysis involves a series of recorded statement into descriptive statements. In this

research the data will be analysed using excel to design the charts.

3.3 Limitations of the study

Sample size

As we were targeting the entire population of Mauritius it was difficult to find a large

sample size in limited time scale.



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Time constraints

As we are our semester early we lack time.

Financial constraints

As we are still students we lack financial means.

3.4 Elimination of Bias

Fourteen questionnaires were eliminated as ten were not properly filled and four respondents

did not return their questionnaires.

3.5 Conclusion

In this chapter we covered types of research, sampling, the research instrument, the pilot

study, the data analysis and limitation of the study.

CHAPTER FOUR- FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

4.0 Introduction

The findings and analysis chapter is being considered to be another significant chapter. It will

indicate the answers of the research question. This section comprises of rough data, tables,

charts and graphs. This chapter covers the presentation of responses, analysis and findings of

data collected from the questionnaire.

4.1 Analysis 1



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Less than Rs7500

Rs7500-Rs15000

Rs15000-Rs25000

Rs25000 and above

0

5

10

15

20

25

20

20

2

24

1214

Nature of Job and Income Level

TemporaryPermanent

Income Level

Num

ber o

f res

pond

ents

According to the analysis 52 (92.9%) of the respondents have a permanent job whereas 4

(7.1%) of the respondents work temporarily. This can lead to an increase in revenue at

J.Kalachand if ever people do not spread negative word of mouth as most of the respondents

are financially secure.

4.2 Analysis 2



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Occasionally Monthly Yearly None of the above0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40 36

6

10

02

0 02

Respondents customers at J.Kalachand

YesNo

How often respondents visit J.Kalachand

Num

ber o

f Res

pond

ents

The diagram above shows the number of respondents who are customers at J.Kalachand and

how often they visit showrooms. According to our analysis, 52 (92.9%) respondents are

customers whereas 4 (7.1%) are not customer at J.Kalachand. The highest numbers of

respondents visit J.Kalachand occasionally.

4.3 Analysis 3



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Agents Friend& Relatives Social Media Other Specify0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

4

8

4 4

2

18

8

6

0

2

0 0

MaleFemaleOthers

As depicted in the chart above, the majority of respondents influenced are through friends

and relatives. This clearly shows that they tend to believe people who they know rather than

believing advertising. There are more female buyers than males as females tend to believe

their close one and get easily influenced. Hence, according to the marketing concept, they

believe word of mouth rather than agents, social media and other specify.



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4.4 Analysis 4

Under 21 Years

21 to 35 Years 35 to 45 Years 45 and above0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

2

6

0

8

0

8

2

00

4

8

0

4

14

0 0

Awareness

Flyers & NewspaperRadio & TelevisionSocial MediaFriends & Relatives

Age

Num

ber o

f Res

pond

ents

The figure above shows the age differences of respondents and by which means are they

aware of the new products at J.Kalachand. According to the analysis, highest level of

respondents is between 21 to 35 years and it is through their friend and relatives that they are

aware about the new products at J.Kalachand.

Therefore, it can be said that people spread information through their friends and relatives

which means ‘word of Mouth’.



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4.5 Analysis 5

Yes

No

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

22

24

6

4

Purchase Decision that would be affected

NoYes

Number of Respondents

Purc

hase

Dec

ision

This diagram shows the number of customers who had received feedbacks about J.Kalachand

and whose purchase decision will be affected if they receive negative feedback. This shows

that there are many people talking about J.Kalachand. It can be positive and negative saying

as well. So, J.Kalachand must meet the level of its customers so as they can spread positive

word of mouth so as to increase revenue.

4.6 Conclusion

In this chapter we analysed and calculated the data received from the survey. The data are

presented above using charts. According to our analysis, it can clearly be said that word of

mouth plays a vital role in the 21st century.



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CHAPTER FIVE- CONCLUSION

5.0 Introduction

This chapter contains the detailed review and discussion of the findings with regard to the

research question and objectives. These analysis help us to answer the research questions.

5.1 Conclusion

The main objective of this research was to investigate the effects of Word Of Mouth on

Consumer Buying Behaviour. For this purpose data were collected through the general public

using questionnaires. The final result shows that people of different gender, ages, marital

status and of different income level tend to buy any item rely on others’ comments, opinions

and others’ word of mouth to take any decision.

According to our survey we found that people prefer word of mouth to any other form of

communication and they know about new product through friends and relatives that is word

of mouth thus J.Kalachand must be aware that word of mouth is an important part of the

marketing strategy.

The questionnaire shows us that individual’s decision could be effected by negative word of

mouth. This is a real fact that bad impression of any product can be created by one bad

experience which proves that negative word of mouth could have undesirable effects but

positive word of mouth could create a magical impression or image of products. Word of

mouth has a direct positive effect on consumer buying behaviour.

Finally, these findings provide interesting insights into buying behaviour for J.Kalachand

consumers.

About the effective use of word of mouth, there is an agreement if word of mouth being a

contributing factor in sale of products. It is accepted through the survey that ‘word of mouth’

is a persuasive means to promote a product also formulating favorable decision regarding

buying of personal items.



J.Kalachand

CHAPTER SIX- RECOMMENTATION

6.0 Introduction

Based on the above-mentioned findings of the study, the following are recommended for

future enhancement of the development of J.Kalachand.

6.1 Recommendation

According to our study, we would like to recommend J.Kalachand these strategies below:

Customer Relationship Management

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a system for managing a company's

interactions with current and future customers.

Now more than ever, the customer is king. In today's competitive business landscape,

recognizing this fact is imperative for J.Kalachand’s success. To help J.Kalachand cope

with the ever-increasing customer demands, they should use CRM. As marketers can also

access the necessary business intelligence to better understand which campaigns are

working and which customers to target with a specific offer.

J.Kalachand must build good relations with its customers to earn their loyalty and ensure

their commitment to talk about the merits of the company and its products in all forums.



J.Kalachand

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility is a management conception whereby companies integrate

social and environmental concerns in their business operations and interactions with their

stakeholders.

CSR will help J.Kalachand to make customers think more highly of it. If customers like

and admire J.Kalachand, they are likely to buy more products; they will share their

enthusiasm with friends and be less willing to change brands.

Brand Management

Brand Management is the activity of controlling the promotion of a particular brand of goods.

J.Kalachand must choose the best communication tool that they are comfortable to

implement in as this will reach to their intended audience.

Corporate Branding

Corporate branding refers to the practice of promoting the brand name of a corporate body, as

opposed to specific products or services. The activities and thinking that go into corporate

branding are different from product and service branding because the scope of a corporate

brand is typically much larger.

J.Kalachand could add significant value in terms of helping the entire corporation and the

management team to implement the long-term vision, create unique positions in the

market place of the company and its brands. Hence a corporate branding strategy can

enable the corporation to further leverage on its tangible and non-tangible assets leading

to branding excellence throughout the corporation.



J.Kalachand

References

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Dryden.

Kotler, P. (1994), Marketing Management, 8th Ed., Prentice Hall.

Kotler et al., (1999). Principle of Marketing, 2nd Ed., New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Kotler, P and Keller, K.L, (2006), Marketing Management, 12th ED., Pearson Prentice Hall.

Marketing mix – 4 P’s (McCarthy). (Oct 21, 2013). Retrieved from

http://www.toolshero.com/marketingmix-4p-mccarthy/

Ouwersloot, A & Duncan, T.(2011) Integrated Marketing Communications, European

Edition, McGraw-Hill Education, UK.

Roberts, A. (n.d.) The 3 P’s of Marketing Communication. Simply Digital Marketing.

Retrieved from http://www.simplydigitalmarketing.com/3-ps-of-marketing-communication

Söderlund, M. (2001). The loyal customer. Malmö: Liber Economy.

Solomon, M.R. (1995), Consumer Behavior, 3rd Ed., Prentice Hall Stayman.

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Deshpande, R. (1989), “Situational Ethnicity and Consumer Behavior”, Journal of Consumer

Research, 16, December, pp. 361-371.

Solomon, N. (1996, July 1). The media’s favorite think tank. Retrieved from FAIR:

http://fair.org/extra-onlinearticles/the-medias-favorite-think-tank/

Totten, J.C. and Block, M.P. (1994) “Analyzing Sales Promotion: Text & Cases: How to

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Wansink, B and Laurent, G. (2000) ‘A Benefit Congruency Framework of Sales Promotion

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Word of mouth: Kotler on marketing. (2009, 6 November). Retrieved from

http://www.marsdd.com/mars-library/word-of-mouth-kotler-on-marketing/


http://www.marsdd.com/mars-library/word-of-mouth-kotler-on-marketing/

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ffair.org%2Fextra-onlinearticles%2Fthe-medias-favorite-think-tank%2F&h=2AQFMruqQ

http://www.simplydigitalmarketing.com/3-ps-of-marketing-communication

http://www.toolshero.com/marketingmix-4p-mccarthy/


J.Kalachand

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Word Of Mouth

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