Buying Process For Purchase Of Ice Creams example essay topic

Introduction: This assignment deals with an investigation into the buyer behaviour and buying patterns of consumers with respect to ice-creams. The fundamental issues that we start off by addressing are those of why people buy ice-creams and what they look for in an ice-cream. The realization of what needs of a consumer are addressed by an ice-cream will be crucial in not only tailoring our product to those needs but also in demarcating the various segments. Several attributes of ice-creams needed by buyers were listed but it was unclear as to what the relative importance of each of these was. With an eye on determining this relative importance, a survey was conducted wherein the attributes were ranked by the respondents and given a total overall rank each. The survey also aimed at exploring various other facets of buyer behaviour through pointed questions and a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended answers.

The various issues the survey looked to throw some light upon are: . Brand-consciousness levels among the consumers. Favourite flavours. Price-sensitivity. Other factors such as place of consumption, ethos of consumption etc. Survey Analysis: The survey was conducted among students belonging to the 23-26 years age group.

The attributes ranked by the respondents are goodness of taste, flavour used, colour, type / variety (such as sticks, cones etc. ), price, brand and dealer. The results of the survey are tabulated below. They have a mean ranking of 1.6 each on a scale of 7. The brand is rated next, with a mean ranking of 3.2 followed by type or form of the ice-cream (4.4). The price, the dealers and the colour of the ice-cream were found to be pretty low down on the priority list of the consumer.

Very often ice-creams are chosen on the brand name alone. The respondents were asked about whether they based their buying on brands. Two out of five respondents were brand-conscious, another two were undecided and one answered in the negative. The question of favourite flavour received a large variety of responses. Vanilla, strawberry and chocolate are the dominating flavours. Price-sensitivity is low in the results of the survey.

Three out of five members replied that they were not price sensitive, and one said he was sometimes price sensitive. Buyers use ice-cream in different ways. Some buyers said they felt that ice-creams brought people closer, whereas some others felt that ice-creams were cool and they are consumed for fun. There was a high rate of coincidence between the people who ate the ice-cream with family at home and those who thought ice-cream helped create bonds between people.

There was also a high rate of coincidence between those people who ate ice-cream outdoors with their friends at shopping malls and eat-outs, and those who thought ice-cream was meant for having fun. These aspects of buyer behaviour are crucial in linking the different habits buyers have. Buying process: Ice creams are often an impulse purchase. As such the buying process for purchase of ice-creams takes very little time. The decisions that have to be made while buying an ice-cream are what flavour to buy, what type (form) to buy, what brand to use and what quantity or price to buy. It is important to note that these are not sequential steps in the buying process.

Often some of these steps are skipped. Often these steps happen in varying orders. The buying decision for ice-creams is not very structured. Part of the reason could be that the effect of buying an ice-cream lasts only for a very short time. The investment of money in the decision is also low. As such there is no post-purchase behaviour from the consumer here except for the fact that the experience of using one ice-cream influences his decision the next time.

An attempt has been made to come up with a time frame for the decisions made by the consumer while buying an ice-cream. Time Steps involved in buying 1 - 5 min Deciding on flavour 1 - 2 min Deciding the type 1 min Deciding on brand 0.5 - 2 min Deciding the Quantity / Price 3.5 - 10 min Total Market Segmentation: The segmentation of the ice-cream market can be done in three ways - flavour of ice-cream, type of ice-cream consumed (cones, sticks etc.) and the social need satisfied by the ice-cream. The main flavours in the Indian market are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Together these constitute more than 70% of the market share in India. The survey conducted during the assignment showed 4 out of five people liking one of these three flavours. The next way of segmentation depends on the Type.

It can be broadly segmented as cups, cones, bars / sticks. Out of the 5 respondents of he survey 3 respondents preferred cones, one preferred cup and one was indifferent. The next parameter to segment is Social need. Here we take a look at what an ice cream means to a consumer and what purpose it serves to him. For example, some people consider eating ice cream as an activity that brings the family together. Some youngsters eat ice creams with friends and view it as an activity that represents their youth.

Hence we can segment the market into consumers at home, consumers with friends and consumers who eat alone..