Horlicks Final

[pic 3]

Section - B

                                        PGDM (2015-17)

In order to study the attitudes and perceptions of Horlicks’ consumers, a survey was conducted. For this purpose, a questionnaire was designed and a total of 42 responses were received, out of these 5 of them are not taken into consideration because these respondents does not consume Horlicks. The results of the survey have been interpreted and represented in this report.(Fig. 1)

CONSUMER ATTITUDE

According to the survey conducted, the attitude of a Horlicks consumer can be explained on the basis of the following models:

The Tri-Component Attitude Model

The three components of this model are:

•        The cognitive component

•        The affective component

•        The conative component

THE COGNITIVE COMPONENT -Cognition refers to the thoughts and beliefs one has about an attitude object. This component signifies the knowledge and perceptions commonly referred to as the beliefs about the features of an attitude object the person acquires from direct experience as well as various source. While asking the respondents about the reasons to buy Horlicks, many consumers chose multiple attributes of which taste, flavor and nutrients have an equal amount of impact on the attitude formation towards their purchase. As per our survey, we analyzed that 64.9% of the consumers (24 out of 42 responses) are of the opinion that all the three attributes mentioned above are the primary reason for the consumption of Horlicks. (Fig.2)

In addition to this, when asked to the respondents to rate their satisfaction level of various attributes (on a scale of 1 to 5), we found that 45.9% of the consumers are highly satisfied with the taste, 43.2% are satisfied with the nutrients and also 52.78% are highly satisfied with the flavors offered by Horlicks.(Fig.3, 5 and 4)

THE AFFECTIVE COMPONENT – This component represents the customer’s emotions and feelings regarding the attitude object. As per the survey, 13.5% of the consumers strongly agree and 40.5% of the consumers agree that they personally connect themselves to the advertisements of Horlicks whereas around 10.8% of the consumers do not think they are connected to the advertisement. (Fig.10)

THE CONATIVE COMPONENT –This component emphasizes with the likelihood or tendency that a specific action will be undertaken by an individual regarding attitude object. It is treated as an expression of consumer's intention to buy. Consumers generally make purchases for positively evaluated goods and services.

The survey stated that 54.1% respondents are likely to buy Horlicks in every two months. In addition to this, it has been observed that the Television advertisement affects and attracts consumers the most towards the buying decision of Horlicks. Around 54.1% of respondents are attracted by the television advertisement. It has also been observed that in case of non-availability of Horlicks in a particular store, 51.4% consumers will move to another store in search of it.(Fig. 15, 9 and 8)

Attitude towards object model -This model states that a consumers’ evaluation of a product is a function of:

• The extent to which the product has each of the given set of attributes
• The importance of each of these attributes to the consumer.

According to the survey, taste, flavor and nutrients are the most important attributes of Horlicks. On a scale of 1 to 5, 45.9% of the consumers are highly satisfied with the taste, 37.8% are highly satisfied with the nutrients and also 52.78% are highly satisfied with the flavors offered by Horlicks.(Fig.3, 4 and 5)

Attitude toward the ad model - The model states that the feelings consumers form when they see and hear advertisements significantly impact their attitudes towards the brands advertised.

According to our survey, 40.3% of the respondents agree that they are attracted towards the advertisements of Horlicks while making the purchase decisions, whereas, 16.2% respondents strongly agree that the advertisements of Horlicks are attractive to them and also 32.4% respondents are neutral towards these ads.(Fig. 11)

Also to focus on the personal connection with these advertisements, 40.5% of the respondents have agreed that they personally connect themselves with the ads and on the contrary 10.8% strongly disagree with the fact.(Fig. 10)

As far as the advertising medium is concerned 54.1% of the consumers are affected by the Television, 37.8% by word-of-mouth, 5.4% by hoardings and 2.7% by newspaper.(Fig. 9)

CHANGING THE MOTIVATIONAL FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDES

THE UTILITARIAN FUNCTION - This function stems from the belief that consumer’s attitudes reflect the utilities that brands provide. Sometimes, the product is demonstrated to the consumers to make them aware of the utilitarian purpose which they might have ignored. This is done to make them in favor of the product.

As per the survey conducted, 48.6% of the consumers think that Horlicks is much more effective than any other health drinks, 16.2% of the consumers strongly agree to this fact and 27% are neutral.(Fig. 13)

THE KNOWLEDGE FUNCTION - This function states that people form attitudes because they have a strong need to understand the characters of the people, events, and objects they encounter. Hence, many companies focus their advertisements on the consumer’s need to know element.

The survey states that 41.7% of the respondents agree that the facts projected in the advertisements motivate them to buy Horlicks and even 13.9% strongly agrees for the same.(Fig. 14)

CONSUMER PERCEPTION

According to the survey conducted, the perception of a Horlicks consumer can be explained on the basis of the following components:

• Perceptual Selection
• Perceptual Interpretation

1. Perceptual Selection

• Expectations - Consumers generally see what they expect to see which is backed up by familiarity, previous experience, or a set of expectations. In other words, customers tend to perceive products and its attributes according to his/her own satisfaction.

According to the survey, 59.46% of the respondents agree to the fact that Horlicks is able to meet their overall expectations, whereas, 35.14% strongly agrees for the same fact.(Fig. 13)

In another question asked to them that whether they would recommend Horlicks to other parents or not, 94.6% of the respondents agreed that they would definitely recommend. (Fig. 17)