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23-7-2009

Ludhianvis are brand conscious while purchasing jeans- reveals study


"Existing brands of Jeans - Levis, Pepe , Wrangler, Spykar are the most popular brands in Ludhiana. Majority of consumers were found to be brand conscious and so search for a brand they have in mind before going for its purchase. They prefer to have the brand insignia on the front pocket, or the back pocket as a second preference" reveals a study. The title of the research was," Consumer Purchase Behaviour towards Branded Jeans in Ludhiana." undertaken by Harleen Kaur Chawla MBA final year student of PCTE under the guidance of Mr.Pankaj Sharma, Faculty in Management, PCTE, Ludhiana. This study attempted to bring about consumer preferences with regard to Quality, Brand and Pricing of readymade Jeans. As an initial step a pilot survey was done on a small scale so as to materialize a Questionnaire that was used as a major research instrument. It included questions on brand switching, Influencers during purchase etc. The research was conducted in Ludhiana and descriptive in nature. The sample taken was as per convenience after visiting the leading Jeans' Stores. A sample size of 125 respondents was taken into consideration. The main objectives of the study were knowing the consumer awareness of various branded Jeans; studying their loyalty and then to give concrete results an application of components of Nicosia Model of Consumer Beahaviour was utilized.

While extending his remarks over the study, Dr. K.N.S.Kang, Director General, PCTE group of Institutes said that brand is one of the most important factors looked into while deciding the purchase of Jeans in particular. Consumers are more intelligent nowadays and the credit goes to all those modern advertising techniques which make the consumers aware and more conscious while using such products. The best part is competition is not restricted among the brands of different products rather it has crept into consumer world as well.

The study found some interesting results: In recalling brands, Levis emerged topper with 33% of respondents suggesting its name followed by Pepe Jeans (24%) and then Spykar ( 16% ). Another fact that was discovered was that 66.4% of respondents prefer buying Jeans throughout the year without opting specifically for any formal Occasion- Marriage, Festivals etc. This is quite significant when it comes to special schemes by Manufacturers in the form of discounts, Festival offers etc.that these are having least impact on potential consumers. Regarding placement of brand insignia, 44.8% of consumers prefer to have insignia on front pocket followed by 17.6% of them who want to have the same on back pocket.

In finding the Variables influencing the purchase, it was found that Brand name tops the chart (With 272 Rank Score) followed by Price (With 217 Rank Score) followed further by Quality & Design (With 157 Rank Score). This clearly depicts that consumers are Brand conscious and they also consider and do give prominence attention to Quality and Pricing before making purchase decision of Jeans. When asked about promotional aspect it was found that respondents give advertisements all the due credit for being the main tool, About 53% of them say that they come to know about a particular brand from advertisements as a main source , then comes point-of-purchase ( 21% of them ) and finally followed by Hoardings ( 14.4% ). This clearly depicts that advertisements affect the minds of consumers a lot.

The respondents were asked about their favourite outlets, Majority of them (about 52%) prefer to go to a particular outlet for purchasing branded Jeans. They put this tendency to the attribute of Variety available in these outlets. Clearly they have originated this tendency of liking an outlet based on variety available there. Another fact being found was that Majority of them ( 118 out of 125 sample size ) are satisfied with their purchased brands. More or less they want to stick to their preferred brands that show that they must have adopted Brand Loyalty after repeated purchases.

The study clearly suggests that branded Jeans' Manufacturers should make effective ads for customers and rather than giving discounts or festive offers, should try to stick to good quality standards to maintain loyalty of consumers. And most importantly the marketers should know the factors/ variables that are influencing Consumers' Purchase Behaviour for churning better profits through better sales. They (consumers of branded Jeans) have particular brand in mind when they come for the purchase and , price ranges & existence of other brands hardly deter them to change their loyalty provided quality and design specifications come true to their expectations. Related to this Following aspects were considered in the research study:

1. Spontaneous recall of branded jeans 2. Time of purchase 3. Best brand in branded jeans 4. Maximum number of branded jeans owned by the respondents 5. Insignia placement etc.

A study of the market reveals that the consumer is deftly moving towards brand identification and standardization. Only big players can bring in standardization and build brand image. An in-depth analysis of the jeans industry reveals the position of brands and various loopholes that are still to be tackled to accelerate growth.