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TITLE OF THE PROJECT A study on brand switching : Taking Shampoo as product category Submitted on fulfillment of the Study Oriented

Project BITS C323 BY Ahana Ghosh 2008B1A7575H UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF Ms Swati Alok Management Department

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE, PILANI HYDERABAD CAMPUS April 2011

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the report entitled, A study of brand switching: Taking Shampoo as product category submitted by Ahana Ghosh of ID No. 2008B1A7575H, on fulfillment of the requirements of BITS C323 Study Oriented Project embodies the work done by her under my supervision.

Signature of the supervisor Name: Ms Swati Alok Designation: Faculty, Management Department Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I thank the Instructor In-Charge of the Bits C323 Study Oriented Project course for providing me the opportunity to take-up the course.

I would like to express my profound gratitude to Ms.Swati Alok, my SOP Instructor, for giving me this opportunity and providing constant guidance and bearing with me for all the errors that I have committed .I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to her for guiding me constantly throughout the course of the project and by providing me with adequate amount of course material required for the study.

CONTENTS 1. Objective----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6 2. Literature review-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6 2.1Definition of brand and brand loyalty----------------------------------------------------------6 2.2 Evaluating the effect of Consumer Sales Promotion on Brand Switching and Brand Loyal segments ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8 2.3Theories explaining brand switching---------------------------------------------------------10 3. Factors affecting brand switching----------------------------------------------------------------------11 3.1The relationship between advertising and brand-switching----------------------------------------11 3.1.1Objectives of advertising-----------------------------------------------------------------------------11 3.1.2Studies on customer segmentation and product category----------------------------------------11 3.1.3Advertising effectiveness-----------------------------------------------------------------------------12 3.2Hierarchy models of customers responses to advertising------------------------------------------12 3.3The relationship between promotion and brand-switching-----------------------------------------13 3.4Customer satisfaction and brand-switching----------------------------------------------------------13 3.5The influence of price consciousness-----------------------------------------------------------------13 3.6 Brand Relationship and Peer Influence---------------------------------------------------------------14 5. Research methodology-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------15 6. Questionnaire design-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16 7. Limitations of the study----------------------------------------------------------------------------------17 8. Data analysis and interpretation of data collected from sample------------------------------------17 9. Interpretation of data collected from brand switching segment------------------------------------18 10. Interpretation of data collected from brand loyal people------------------------------------------22 11. Analysis of the research--------------------------------------------------------------------------------25 12. Data analysis and conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------------27
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13. Suggestions----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------28 14. References-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------30 15. Annexure: I----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31

Objectives: y To study the effect of advertising and promotion on customers brand choice for shampoo. y Study the impact of advertising and promotions on brand switcher and brand loyal segments of shampoo. y The importance of promotional tools, the attitudes towards advertising, and the reasons for changing shampoo brand will be tested. y The impacts of advertising and promotion will be evaluated by adopting the hierarchy model: aware-try-switch-repeat purchase. y Investigate the influence of peers, family, and brand relationships on switching intentions amongst young consumers

Literature ReviewBrand switching is when a consumer or group of consumers switches their allegiance from one brand of a certain type of product to another. This brand switching may be temporary, (example: if Pantene is not available at the shop a consumer may buy Dove as their next preference) or it may be longer lasting, perhaps for example in the case of products that last longer or from which switching away is harder. It is possible to research consumers in a marketplace to determine their attitude to brands and their likelihood to switch from a brand they are using at the moment, and in particular to which other brand they might switch. This allows the building of a picture of likely brand switching behaviour. If consumer propensity to switch is known the market can be modelled to indicate future market share. Such modelling could also indicate the relative positioning of the competing brands on some variable asked in the research. Brand switching research shows that if a particular competitor was most likely to steal customers away from any particular company and the company could then focus their creative attention on that particular threat to their business.

A simple indicator of consumer satisfaction in a competitive market is the buyers repeat purchase rate over time. Brand switching analysis is also useful to forecast the brand dynamic evolution. This approach is based on the analysis of purchase sequences. Definition of brand and brand loyalty :6

The American Marketing Association defines brand as 'a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors' (Kotlei 1995). Aaker (1995) defines a brand on different levels, stating that a brand is not merely the physical product, but is also composed of brand attributes, symbols, brand--consumer relationships, benefits of self-expression, customer profiles, associations with the culture of the country of origin, and corporate identity. In essence, the brand provides a simple means for the customer to distinguish it from its peers. Padberg stated that in the marketing process, a brand provides a means of communicating economic information; it facilitates product recognition and protects the customer from the risks associated with buying an unknown brand.

De Chernatony & McDonald (1998) stated that 'A successful brand is an identifiable product, service, person or place augmented in such away that the buyer or user perceives relevant, unique added values which match their needs most significantly.

A brands success results from being able to sustain these added values in the face of competition. 'Successful brands deliver benefits to satisfy customer needs. These needs include rational needs (such as features, packages or the price of a brand) and emotional needs (such as prestige, distinctiveness, style or the social reassurance of a brand).

Brand loyalty refers to the consumer's behavior of repeatedly purchasing a specific brand over a certain period of time. This is based on past behavior, and the local consumer is highly likely to purchase the products of a specific brand currently and in the future. According to Aaker (1995), a powerful brand enjoys a high degree of brand loyalty. Related brand choice theories claim that, in order to increase the sales volume or marketing shares of a particular brand of products, it is necessary to either strengthen the brand loyalty of existing customers o r try to persuade the consumers of other brands to switch. The former is called inertia or brand loyalty, and the latter brand switching.

Brand awareness and brand association are linked to consumers' brand preferences. Ehrenberg asserted that salient brands are high in both intentions to buy the brand and brand loyalty. Ehrenberg stated that since the selling brand tends to be copied quick ly by competitors, competitive brands lack variation between each other. Similar brands have different market shares because of the different number of people to whom each brand is salient. Ehrenberg further argued that the main function of advertising is to reinforce an existing consumer's propensity to buy a particular brand. Evaluating the effect of Consumer Sales Promotion on Brand Switching and Brand Loyal segmentsSales promotions are generally looked at as tools that undermines the brand; yet a tool that is necessarily meant to speed up sales. Consumer sales promotion take up a large share of the total marketing expenditure despite which it remains an area that still attracts attention as an essential component of the promotion mix meant to increase short term sales. It is therefore not surprising that most of the marketers resort to sales promotions to attract the competitors market share. Economic status was not a defining factor effecting consumers brand loyalty. Howard and Sheth (1969) proposed that in frequently purchased product categories, especially low-priced categories, households may routinise their brand purchases by using the same brand repeatedly over the time. This means that the currently chosen brand has a higher probability of being chosen in the future than other brands. This brand inertia is a totally routinised behaviour or a behaviour based on the situation factors, such as non availability of other brands, high switching costs etc., with a low relative attitude towards the brand.Such customers might switch to a competing brand if an alternative is available to them. Therefore such a repeat behaviour cannot be considered as loyalty in the long run (Dick and Basu, 1994). On the other hand, households
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may not repeat purchase the previously chosen brand and switch brands in search for variety (McAlister, 1982; Kahn, Kalwani and Morrison, 1986). Therefore, currently chosen brand will have a lower probability of being chosen in the future than other brands. In such a scenario, marketers will benefit only if a customer shows loyalty or commitment to re-buy a preferred brand consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand purchasing despite situational influences and marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching behaviour (Oliver, 1999). Two divergent streams of research characterise the literature on the operational loyalty concept: the stochastic approach, which is purely behavioural and deterministic approach that considers loyalty as an attitude. Accordingly, two broad categories of consumers exist- one that displays only behavioural loyalty which is very likely to switch brands if their routine purchase pattern is disrupted. They are called Habitual Buyers. The other category is of True brand loyal who show commitment to a specific brand which goes beyond just repetitive behaviour. Therefore, both behaviour and attitude which a consumer has towards a specific brand combined together provides comprehensive understanding of brand loyalty. Manufactures are constantly trying to get their brand noticed among a plethora of brands available. Efforts by organisations are not only directed at getting their brand noticed by the consumer but also to get the consumer interested enough to buy it on every subsequent purchase occasion. In this context, differences in the effects of marketing mix variables on the consumers with different purchase characteristics, such as loyalty have caught the attention of marketers. Growing number of researchers and marketing practitioners have undertaken systematic efforts to understand the relationship between brand loyalty and the factors that influence it during the past few decades (Lau et al., 2006). Use of sales promotion directed at the consumers is one of the factors influencing brand choice behaviour (Dodson, Tybout and Strenthal, 1978) that has increased the interest of the marketers who are extensively using it to increase sales.

Theories explaining brand switchingThere are many theories that are available to explain how consumers make product and/or brand choices. 1.The 'expectance-value model' argues that consumers assign scores to two parameters and make a mental calculation before making a decision. The first parameter is the degree to which consumers expect a pleasurable outcome. The second parameter is the value the consumers ascribe to a favorable outcome. This model is insufficient to explain the phenomenon because people have limited brand information and limited mental processing capabilities . 2.The economist's view of consumer behavior hypothesizes that consumers seek information until the marginal value that is gained is less than the cost of securing knowledge of the product. This model is also not acceptable since in many cases consumers are unable to acquire 'perfect' information.

3. De Chernatony and McDonald propose a more accepted model for brand buying behavior. It argues that the making of a brand purchase is determined by 'consumers seeking and evaluating small amounts of information. Consumer relies only on few piece of information with which they feel confident to help them decide how the brand might perform.' The amount of information that consumer seek may be determined by various factors such as time pressure, previous experience, advice from friends and the level of involvement in the brand purchase.

In recent years many researchers have studied brand choice and switching. The scope of these studies not only includes the analysis of the factors that affect the consumer's brand choice and switching, but it also helps to analyze the future demand situation. There has been always a shift in consumer brand loyalty and favours it can be because of lack of consistency in quality, high cost of raw materials or profit motives so as to increase the sales figure.

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Factors affecting Brand Switching1.The relationship between advertising and brand-switching There are different points of view towards the influences of advertising in terms of brandswitching behavior. Especially, the hierarchy models of customers responses to advertising. A variety of research studying on the process of how customers will be influenced by advertising. There are many intermediate effects before the final purchase. Objectives of advertising-Advertising can be used to attract new customers, it is mainly a tool to maintain existing customers and make them continue to buy the same brand. According to Lavidge and Steiner, the purposes of advertising mentioned by researchers are mainly from two aspects: short-term and long-term effects. The short-term impact is aimed to attract more consumers and boost immediate sales, whereas the long-term effects could be providing information and educating customers to distinguish one brand from others, building up brand image and improving customer loyalty, and eventually increasing sales. Research conducted by Deighton, Henderson and Neslin (1994) discovered that sales increase comes largely from brandswitching rather than repeated purchase during an advertising activity. That is to say, the influence of advertising on those customers who already bought the product promoted is less obvious than on those new customers. According to Ehrenberg (2000, p39), advertisings main role is to reinforce feelings of satisfaction with brands already bought. Studies on customer segmentation and product category According to Raj (1982), advertising may have strong influence on lower loyalty customers by attracting them to switch to the brand advertised, and higher loyalty customers will probably respond to the advertising with repeat purchase and increase their purchase quantity. Bucklin and Gupta (1992) argued that response-based segmentation is more valuable than demographic segmentation in the real business world. In Dillon and Gupta (1996, p.38)s study, customers have been segmented into five groups based on their brand perceptions and their response to marketing mix variables, and both customer and marketings elements have been studied to investigate their relations with product category and brand purchase behavior.

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Advertising effectiveness In Ehrenberg (2000)s opinion, repeat purchase accounts a large amount of sales volume of frequently purchased products, and research on advertisings main effectiveness should not only be limited in discovering the ultimate purchase behavior or the persuasive effectiveness of advertising, rather every stage of the process of responsiveness needs to be investigated, because there is no strong evidence to prove the effectiveness of persuasive role of advertising. In addition, long-term effects may be resulted from the reinforcement of advertising. Customers may switch back to the brand which they usually buy after the promotion and advertising campaign, in order to form a new purchase behavior and create repeat purchase, advertising reinforcement is crucial and necessary. The increasing sales may not be the only criteria for the high effectiveness of advertising, rather advertising effectiveness need to be measured based on three objectives: developing brand awareness and providing product knowledge, creating brand preference and positive feeling, building up trust and stimulating purchase. There is a positive relation between liking and effectiveness of advertising. In other words, if the TV advertising is more likable, customers may be more likely to be persuaded. Moreover, the more relevant and meaningful advertising is more effective than the advertising which only has better entertainment function. Hierarchy models of customers responses to advertising There are two levels of studies, namely aggregate-level and individual-level studies, the former uses market-level data, such as brand advertising expenditures or market share; the latter use single source data such as individual brand choice. One of the examples of aggregate-level studies could be the research on the relationship between the impact of advertising sales and advertising spending. Hierarchy effect models assume that the influence of advertising on consumers is a process, and there are several steps and intermediate advertising effects in this process. One of example of hierarchy advertising effect model is AIDA model: AttentionInterest-Desire-Action studied by E. St. Elmo Lewis in 1989. Given that customers may not change their brand preference immediately from one brand to another, how consumers move from one stage up to next stage and finally move to actual purchase stage is an essential problem for understanding customers brand-switching behavior, and it is also useful for increasing the

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effectiveness of marketing communication. Lavidge and Steiner (1961) argued that the changes of all the stages of influence should be evaluated, rather than only measure the development of brand awareness or sales stimulation. The relationship between promotion and brand-switching According to Gupta (1988), the impacts of price and promotions on which brand customer will choose, when they are willing to buy the product, and how much they are going to buy are significant. Laroche et al. summarized three main advantages of sales promotion, including triggering unplanned purchase, encouraging customers to purchase nonpromoted merchandises, accelerating the number of shopping trips to the store. Clearly, promotion has been considered one of the stimuli of brand-switching and repeat purchase. There are two possible explanations for the increased sales resulted from promotion, one is the increased purchasing quantity from existing consumers, and the other is the new purchase from new consumers. Existing consumers may store more products that they do not need immediately, they may store pile the product during promotion activities. If all the increasing sales from existing consumers in short-term, there may be no significant changes or increase in sales in a long-term period due to the store piling (Gupta, 1988). Therefore, the main purpose of promotion could be attract more new customers, rather than stimulate existing consumers to buy more same product. Customer satisfaction and brand-switching It is true that dissatisfaction can cause brand-switching, and customers may express their dissatisfaction through switching to other brands. However, dissatisfaction is not the only reason causing brand-switching, and satisfied customers may not stay on the same brand (Kasper, 1988). Customers brand choice decision does not seem simple, and other influential factors need to be studied. Kasper (1988, p.395), suggested that the influences of product and store characteristics, marketing mix variables, and antecedents of behavior like involvement, attitudes, and cognitions on brand-switching and loyalty for durables, nondurables, and services all need to be examined at the same time. The influence of price consciousness

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According to Oliveira-Castro et al. (2005), consumers may response price promotion differently for different levels brand, and their goal would be to gain the maximum benefits including both utilitarian and informational benefits, as well as minimize their purchase costs. Krishna (1992) suggested that customers have varied expectations for different brands, consequently, they may respond to price-oriented promotions differently. That is to say, customers different price expectations for brands will probably affect how they will react to the promotions. However, if customers have price expectations for some brands, they may purchase fewer products from less preferred brands and wait for the price promotion for their preferred brands. Brand Relationship and Peer Influence Peers influence the purchase decision but the relationship building with a brand is also dependent upon the user and on the usage of the brand.As young consumers move to establishing independent identities, they depend on peers to obtain ideas, information, and viewpoints. Peers influence the boundaries of information search and acquisition and, on many occasions, the use of a brand (Singh, Kwon and Periera, 2003). Simultaneously, brands also provide inputs and consumers form relationships with brands along different dimensions (Escalas, 2004). To the extent that peer influence results in brand choice, it will influence the relationship with the brand. The role that peers play is nonetheless important but as far as getting involved with a brand is concerned, it is very individual-specific; what they do with the brands to add meaning to their life cannot be derived from what peers suggest. However, as young consumers move out of the orbit of parental influence,peer influence tends to rise (Feltham, 1998). An increase in peer influence should weaken brand relationships as the opinions of peers would take precedence over any brand relationships that the young consumer may be forming. The following is a flowchart demonstrating how advertisement and promotional tools affect brand switching behavior-

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Research Methodology4.1Primary source A questionnaire was prepared.Through this questionnaire, we are analyzing how advertisement, sales promotion and price consciousness affects brand switching behavior. 4.2 Sample Profile The respondents for this objective are under the category of 17-21 years of age and are from BITS Hyderabad Campus. 4.3: Samples size : About 50 Questionnaires will be floated to the respondents and data will be collected and analyzed from the questionnaires. 4.4: Data analysis instrument : The data collected will be analyzed using pie charts and bar graphs.

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Questionnaire design : Questionnaire survey will be used to collect data, because survey questionnaire is a more useful method to gain the perceptual information from customers, and customers attitudes towards advertising and promotion are crucial for the study.

There are four parts includes in survey questionnaire : brand switching ; price consciousness, customers responses to advertising, and customers responses to promotional tools.

First, customers brand switching behavior will be evaluated. The related questions include the reasons for changing brand, the numbers of brands changed during a period. The influences of advertising/promotion in terms of brand-switching and customers attitudes towards utilitarian/informational benefits will also be evaluated.

The part two of the questionnaire will investigate the price sensitivity of customer. Three questions will be asked to test to what extent customers will be influenced by price change.

The third part will focus on customers response to advertisement .Customers brand switching behavior related to advertising contents will be tested.

The influences of advertising on different stages of customers responsive hierarchy will be investigated. The purpose of studying on the hierarchy is to understand on which stages advertising will have strong impacts. In this research, a new hierarchy model (awareness trialpurchaserepeat purchase) will be adopted to investigate advertising/promotion effects on each stage. This hierarchy model will be used to present the process of changing attitudes and behaviors with the stimulation of marketing actions. There are two main advantages of this hierarchy model. First, both emotional and behavioral changes are included in the model; second, both primary demand (repeat purchase) and secondary demand (brand-switching) are contained in this model. Therefore, the effectiveness of advertising/promotion on both attracting new customers and accelerating repeat purchase could be tested.
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The last part of the questionnaire is to test brand switching and promotional tools. Mainly, six promotional tools will be tested in terms of their effects on brand choice behavior. These six promotional tools include price discount, freebies, sachet attached to newspapers, extra grammage, buy one get one free offer, postpone purchase till favorite brand is available in market . Limitations of the study: Sample size is small and also all the sample of same age group and hail from approximately same income level family group. Data analysis & interpretation The following is the analysis of data collected from 50 students in BITS, Pilani Hyderabad campus. Only the top two subcategories under each category were selected and the data was interpreted for each sample. Pie chart demarcating Brand Switching from Brand loyal peopleNo. of Brand loyals No. of Brand switchers

48% 52%

26 people were found to be brand switchers. 24 people were found to be loyal to the brand of shampoo used by them.

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Product category which is more prone to brand switching-

Electronic gadgets 30%

Shampoo 70%

Therefore, it can be concluded that products, like shampoo, involving low risk and low investment are more prone to brand switching. Interpretation of data collected from Brand switchersFactors playing an important role for switching to other brand

Other factors 31%

Advertising 31%

Peer influence 38%

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Therefore, it is seen that peer influence plays the deciding factor for brand switchers. Sales promotion and price difference does not play a key role.

Brand of shampoo currently being used by brand switching sample

Others 42%

Dove 25% Sunsilk 8% Pantene 25%

From the chart, it can be seen that most of the sample uses some other brand of shampoo. Dove and Pantene have an equal share. Reasons for brand switching:
6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 Value for money Word of mouth Advertisements Promotion Dissatisfaction with the previous brand used

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Therefore, it can be said that word of mouth and dissatisfaction from the previous brand are the key reasons which lead to brand switching.

Customers responses to advertising contents

4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 Product quality Value for money Celebrity in advertisement Good brand image Packaging

Therefore, money value contents and information about product quality in the advertisement are important factor for brand switchers. The influence of the interestingness of the advertisement, the celebrity used and the packaging doesnt affect these samples. Behavior response to advertisement-

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4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 Trial of the product Awareness about the brand Repeated buying of the brand Buying the brand

From the above histogram, it can be seen that for brand switcher advertisement creates A) awareness about the brand and B) makes the consumer to try the brand. Factors influencing sales promotion
3 Postpone purchase 2.5 Extra grammage 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 Buy 1 get 1 free offer Price discount Sachet attached to newspapers Freebies

From the above graph, it can be seen that brand switchers are not ready to postpone their purchase if the brand of their preference is not available. Freebies attract brand switchers. Price discount also attribute to brand switching.

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Customer satisfaction

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 Hair grows in bulk Reduces dandruff Makes hair silky and smooth Reduces hairfall

The brand switchers are not particularly satisfied by the brand of shampoo they currently use. Therefore, some people even did not agree to one of the attributes as were not completely satisfied by the brand currently used by them and were ready to switch over. Interpretation of data collected from Brand loyal peopleBrand of shampoo currently being used by brand switching sample

Others 17% Pantene 17%

Sunsilk 16%

Dove 50%

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Most brand loyal people use Dove. Reasons for brand switching:
3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 Value for money Word of mouth Advertisements Promotion Dissatisfaction with the previous brand used

The study indicates that brand loyal people value their money and also word of mouth also plays an important role for them for choosing their shampoo.

Customers attitudes towards advertising contents

3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 Packaging Celebrity in advertisement Good brand image Product quality Value for money

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From the above graph, it can be seen that good brand image content in an advertisement and information regarding product quality plays the key role for brand loyal people. Behavior response to advertisement- (aware-trial-buy-repeat model)

3 2.5 2 1.5 Trial of the product 1 0.5 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 Awareness about the brand Repeated buying of the brand Buying the brand

It is seen from the data that for brand loyal people advertising leads to repeatedly purchase their preferred brand. Therefore, advertisement plays a key role for repeated purchase of the same product. Factors influencing sales promotion

3 Postpone purchase 2.5 Extra grammage 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 Buy 1 get 1 free offer Price discount Sachet attached to newspapers Freebies

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Therefore, it can be seen that brand loyal people are ready to postpone their purchase if their preferred brand is unavailable and are not ready to switch over to any other brand despite attractive sales promotion.

Customer satisfaction

4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 Makes hair silky an smooth Re uces hairfall Hair grows in bulk Re uces an ruff

Brand loyal people are extremely satisfied by their shampoos. They believe that their respective shampoos have kept their promises of reducing hairfall,making their hair silky and smooth, helped reduce dandruff, and made their hair grow in bulk.

Analysis of the research-

The following diagram represents the effect of promotional tools on brand loyal and brand switching category of people.

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Po o o oo

o o o

The following diagram represents the effect of advertisements on brand loyal and brand switching segments.

Adverti i

Response

Makes rand loyal people repeatedly purchase the same rand

Makes rand switchers more aware about a brand and also makes them try the product

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   )  $#3 2 ' & 1  !    

65 4

  0  )(   $ ' & #% $# "  ! !

    

Do ff oy

Aff

    

o o o oo o o o o off

Data analysis & conclusions: In shampoo category, there are many changes which marketers have to notice in the market place, especially increased competition and customers new preferences. Marketers and researchers are more and more concerned about the severe competition resulted from product similarity and large numbers of competitive brands in the same market. The growing intensity of competition pushes companies to study their competitors, and most important, to understand their customers including both existing and potential buyers. Finding out the key factors which influence brand switching is important for companies to improve customer satisfaction and maintain existing customers. Especially in shampoo category, where customer loyalty is relatively low to some extent due to the similarity of products and services and low level of risk involved in switching. . However, to our surprise, in a sample of 50. ; no. of brand loyal and brand switcher were same. (24. 26 respectively) y Price consciousness has been assumed has relation with brand-switching, however the result shows that there is no strong relationship between brand-switching and customers price sensitivity in case of shampoo category. It is been seen that dissatisfaction from the previous brand and product quality are the key factors which lead to brand switching. y Advertising is more effective on the stage of awareness and product trial for Brand switchers (mean=1.75) whereas for brand loyal people advertisement leads to purchase and repeat purchase. (mean=1.5) y Brand switcher who are high in price consciousness (shown high perception for value for money) , tend to prefer free gift, price discount . It means that high price consciousness customers are more likely to switch to other brands when they are attracted by these promotional tools which are not the case with brand loyal customers. Thus price discount and free gift plays important promotional tool for customer to switch to other shampoo brand. y Brand loyal customers are more likely to change to other brands because of the contents about good product quality and good brand image, whereas the effectiveness of the aspects about good value for money impacts brand switchers. The celebrity in

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advertising and the interestingness of advertising is less important to lead to brandswitching. y Customer satisfaction level is very low in case of brand switchers as compare to brand loyal segment. y It can be concluded that marketers should emphasize on promotion and advertisement tools in order to prevent brand switching.

Suggestions: In this age of cut-throat competition in the fast moving consumer goods sector(eg. Shampoo),which is prone to brand switching,because of low risk involvement,marketers should adopt strategies that would help them retain their current customers and influence other customers to buy their products. y Marketing agents should emphasize on improving the quality of their products and keep to their promotional promises so that their current customers do not switch over to some other shampoo due to dissatisfaction. y Advertisements should be done in all form of media ranging from newspapers,magazines,kiosks,billboards to television and internet advertisements. y Advertisements create an impact on the mind of the consumers. Brand loyal people go for repeatedly purchase of the same product. At the same time, it makes consumers aware of a particular shampoo and try the shampoo, this happens in the case of the brand switching segment. y Effective promotional tools should be adopted by marketing strategists such as freebies, which tend to attract the brand switching segment of people. Free sachets accompanying electricity bills and newspapers make consumers to try a particular product free of cost, and in future , the consumer purchases the product if he/she is satisfied by its initial performance. y Strategists should emphasize on building good brand image. Roping in renownned celebrities as brand endorsers can be made secondary,good packaging is also not necessary for increasing sales as these factors clearly do not affect the sample studied.

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Shampoos should be designed in such a way such that they keep to their promotional promises and customers do not switch over to other brands as a result of dissatisfaction with the present one.

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References1. Evaluating the effect of Consumer Sales Promotion on Brand Switching and Brand Loyal segments by Komal Nagar 2. Brand Relationships and Switching Behaviour for Highly Used Products in Young Consumers by Arvind Sahay and Nivedita Sharma

3. Examine the Factors Influencing Brand-switching: the Effects of Advertising and Promotion by Xueling Luo(2006)

4. Other sources from the internet.

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Annexure :1

Questionnaire: Advertising/promotion and brand-switching (Shampoo Dove and Pantene)

Q1: Do you usually change regarding which brand of shampoo to buy? A)Yes B)No

Q2: Have you changed shampoo brand during the last six month? (1) No, I have not (2) Yes, I have

Q3. Which brand(s) of shampoo have you purchased during the last 6 purchases 1----------------- 4---------------2.---------------- 5----------------

3--------------------6------------------

Q4: Which factors plays most important role in switching to other brand of shampoo.

A)Advertising B) Sales Promotion C) Peer Influence D) Price difference

Q5: For which of the following product category will you tend to switch brand frequently?

A) Shampoo

B) Electronic gadgets C) buying a Car

Q6: Which brand of shampoo are you currently using?


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A.

Dove B) Pantene C) Sunsilk D) Head & Shoulders E) Others

Brand Switching

Q7. Please select the level of your agreement for each following statement. 1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree ) Serial Questions no. 1 The reason for changing shampoo brand is usually because of your dissatisfaction with the previous brand. 2 3 4 I am usually stimulated by promotion. I am usually attracted by advertisements. I am usually encouraged by good word-of-mouth from other consumers who have already tried the new brand product. 5 I usually change to another brand because of its reasonable price and good value for money. 6 I usually change to another brand because it is a high level of product with relatively higher price. Rating

Price Consciousness

8P. Please select the level of your agreement for each following statement. 1=strongly disagree, 3=strongly agree ) Serial no. Questions 1 2 3 I usually buy shampoos when there are freebies accompanying them. I buy the lowest price shampoo that will suit my needs When I am choosing shampoo, I rely heavily on price Rating

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Customers attitudes towards advertising contents

9PP. The following content/information of advertising can make me buy another advertised shampoo that I do not usually buy? Rank 1 to 5 with top most criteria being ranked 1. and the least preferred option ranked 5 .

Serial no. 1

Questions

Rating

I switched over to another brand because of the good money value of the brand

I switched over to another brand because of the product quality

3 4 5

I switched over to another brand because of the good image of the brand I switched over to another brand because of the celebrity in advertising I switched over to another brand because of the interesting and likable packaging and promises

Effect of Advertisement

10A. What role the advertisement plays in your brand switching intention the most? Rank 1 to 4 with top most criteria being ranked 1 and the least preferred option ranked 4. Serial no. Questions 1 2 3 Advertising usually makes me aware the shampoo product brand Advertising usually makes me try the shampoo product brand Advertising usually makes me buy the shampoo product brand Rating

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Effect of Promotional Tools

11. Which factors of sales promotion influence your brand switching intention the most? Rank 1 to 6 with top most criteria being ranked 1. and the least preferred option ranked 6 . Serial no. 1 Questions I have switched to a competing brand due to Price Discount (e.g. Rs. 5 off) 2 I have switched to other brands due to Buy One Get One Free Rating

I have switched to a competing brand due to Free Gifts (e.g. free soap)

I have switched to a competing brand due to Samples (e.g. sachet in newspaper or in a store)

I have switched to a competing brand due to Extra Grammage (e.g. 20% extra)

If my favourite brand is not on promotion, I will postpone the purchase till it is on promotion

Customer Satisfaction

12CS.Please select the level of your agreement for each following statement. 1=strongly disagree, 4=strongly agree )

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Serial no. 1

Questions

Rating

My shampoo has reduced my hairfall to a considerable level as compared to the shampoo previously used by me

2 3

My shampoo has made my hair silky and smooth My shampoo has helped in reducing dandruff to an extent more than pantene

my shampoo has made my hair become thicker

(Thank you for your help!)

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