A STUDY

ON WOMEN BEHAVIOUR OF PURCHASING HYUNDAI CAR

CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION

INDUSTRY REVIEW

The evolution of the automotive industry has been influenced by various innovations in fuels, vehicle components, societal infrastructure, and manufacturing practices, as well as changes in markets, suppliers and business structures. Some historians cite examples as early as the year 1600 of sail-mounted carriages as the first vehicles to be propelled by something other than animals or humans. However, it is believed by most historians that the key starting point for the automobile was the development of the engine. The engine was developed as a result of discovering new energy carrying mediums, such as steam in the 1700s, and new fuels, such as gas and gasoline in the 1800s. Shortly after the invention of the 4-stroke internal combustion gasoline-fueled engine in 1876, the development of the first motor vehicles and establishment of first automotive firms in Europe and America occurred.

During the 1890s and early 1900s, developments of other technologies, such as the steering wheel and floor-mounted accelerator, sped up the development of the automotive industry by making vehicles easier to use. Almost simultaneously, in America, the societal infrastructure that would provide fertile ground for the proliferation of automobiles was being set. Drivers licenses were issued, service stations were opened, and car sales with time payments were instituted. Famous vehicle models such as Fords Model T were developed during these times and, by 1906, car designs began abandoning the carriage look and taking on a more motor age appearance.

In the 1940s, during World War II (WWII), automotive factories were used to make military vehicles and weapons, thus halting civilian vehicle production. After WWII, the economies of most European and some Asian-pacific countries, such as Japan, were decimated; this required the development of new production and business strategies such as those of Toyota, which began to develop what is now known as Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing. Most of the first models produced were similar to the pre-war designs since it took some time for the plants to revamp their operations to make new designs and models. Comfort, look, and feel. Car designs were highly influenced by emerging safety and environmental regulations.

The 1970s were marked by stricter environmental regulations and the oil embargo of the early 70s, which led to the development of low emission vehicle technologies, such as catalytic converters, and a 55-mph nationwide speed limit in the U.S. Foreign cars like the Japanese Honda Civic started appearing in the U.S. market. The Civic was marketed as a fuel efficient and low-emissions vehicle, which given the recent high oil prices and strict environmental regulations made it well-received. Despite the entrance of new competitors into the U.S. market, U.S. automakers underestimated the threat of foreign automakers to their market shares. In the 1980s, the U.S. automotive industry began losing market share to the higher quality, affordable, and fuel efficient cars from Japanese automakers. In response to this market share loss, U.S. automakers began focusing on improving quality by adopting different Japanese manufacturing management philosophies, such as JIT. Although their adoption of JIT and other philosophies helped improve the quality of U.S. vehicles, it did not fully bridge the gap between the quality of U.S. and Japanese cars.

This gap remained because U.S. automakers tried applying JIT techniques without a full understanding of the whole Japanese manufacturing system, while Japanese automakers had decades to develop, refine and master their JIT approach. Another significant paradigm of the 1980s was the global nature of vehicle manufacturing. Automakers started assembling vehicles around the world. This trend was accelerated in the 1990s with the construction of overseas facilities and mergers between multinational automakers. This global expansion gave automakers a greater capacity to infiltrate new markets quickly and at lower costs. The increased product offerings in many markets led to consumers having a greater variety of vehicles from which to choose. To this new vehicle buffet was coupled the explosion of the internet, which made vehicle-related information readily accessible to consumers. Internet-informed and empowered consumers now wanted a vehicle that was personalizable, inexpensive, reliable, and quickly obtainable. Consumers desired vehicles that were less harmful to the environment, which led to the introduction of hybrid vehicles by Japanese automakers in the late 1990s.

COMPANY PROFILE

HYUNDAI MOTOR INDIA LIMITED:

HISTORY In India Hyundai Motor India Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company, the second largest and the fastest growing car manufacturer in India. HMIL's fully integrated state-of-the-art manufacturing plant near Chennai boasts some of the most advanced production, quality and testing capabilities in the country. Having started operations in 1996, HMIL has an illustrious history in India. HMIL emerged as the second largest automobile manufacturer in the country in just 6 months after it began its production and rolled out its 100,000th car from its Chennai plant within just 19 months of commencement of operations. Hyundai Motor India, continuing its tradition of being the fastest growing passenger car manufacturer, registered total sales of 299,513 vehicles in calendar year (CY) 2006, an increase of 18.5 percent over CY 2005. In the domestic market it clocked a growth of 19.1 percent a compared to 2005, with 186,174 units, while overseas sales grew by 17.4 percent, with exports of 113,339 units.

HMIL is investing to expand capacity in line with its positioning as HMC's global export hub for compact cars. Apart from expansion of production capacity, HMIL plans to expand its dealer network, which will be increased from 183 to 250 this year. And with the company's greater focus on the quality of its after-sales service, HMIL's service network will be expanded to around 1,000 in 2007. The year 2006 has been a significant year for Hyundai Motor India. It achieved a significant milestone by rolling out the fastest 300,000th export car. Hyundai exports to over 65countries globally; even as it plans to continue its thrust in existing export markets, it is gearing up to step up its foray into new markets. The year just ended also saw Hyundai Motor India attain other milestones such as the launch of the Verna and yet another path-breaking record in its young journey by rolling out the fastest 10,00,000th car.

PRODUCTS:

Santro Xing Getz Accent Verna Elantra Sonata Embera

PRODUCTION
Modern automobile engineering practices require a holistic approach to production management, which cannot be accomplished in a non-integrated manufacturing and assembly setup. 7

The production processes at Hyundai motor India are overlaid with an organization-wide implementation of manufacturing best practices like just-in-time, inventory management, kaizen, TPM and TQM, that help in making the worlds best cars, right here in India.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

The research and development team focuses on the development of new products and technologies that include interior and exterior design changes, development of new generation engines and alternate fuel systems, concept vehicles and advanced passenger safety and comfort systems, in line with evolving customer preferences across the globe. Recent successes of the team include the development of the Hyundai patented common Rail Direct injection (CRDi) engine in association with Detroit diesel.

HYUNDAI MOTOR INDIA FOUNDATION

HMIL has chartered the Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) with the objective of addressing the expectations of society and initiating concrete steps towards extending support in the fields of Health Care, Educational and Vocational training, Environment, Road Safety, Art, Science and Technology, Natural Calamity and Heritage re-building. Hyundai is committed to road-safety, and undertakes myriad initiatives ranging from creating awareness to help implement road discipline, besides producing cars that 8

conform to the highest safety standards to make the Indian roads safer. Hyundai Motor India, in association with the Institute of Road Traffic Education and Delhi Traffic Police, launched an innovative road safety program called "Hyundai Traffic Squad", a Student Traffic Volunteers Scholarship Scheme to create road safety awareness and support Delhi Traffic Police in improving Traffic Management System in Delhi.

AWARDS

HMIL has many awards in its bouquet.

The mid-size sedan Accent won two awards, Accent Petrol-No 1 Entry midsize year. car and Accent Diesel-No 1 mid-size diesel car by TNS. Business Standard declared it The Star Company amongst unlisted companies this

Getz got the coveted Car of the Year 2005 award twice over. Both Business Standard Motoring and CNBC-TV18 Auto car Auto awards declared it a winner.

HMIL was also the Manufacturer of the Year two years in a row in 2002 and 2003. ICICI Overdrive Awards declared Hyundai as the Car Maker of the Year in 2003. Hyundai products with state of the art technology have also been winning many accolades over the years. Santro bagged top honors in JD Power Asia Pacific for three years. Accent was ranked No. 1 in J D Power Asia Pacific APEAL for two years and also got Business Standard Motoring Jury award for its CRDi model.

SWOT ANALYSIS SWOT Analysis

of Hyundai:

Strengths

10

The Quality Advantage Hyundai owners experience fewer problems with their vehicles than any other car manufacturer in India . The Santro was chosen the best in the premium compact car segment and the Getz in the entry level mid - size car segment across several parameters. This study measures owner in terms of design, content, layout and performance of vehicles across several parameters. A Buying Experience Like No Other Hyundai has a sales network of 250 state-of-the-art showrooms across 189 cities, with a workforce of over 6000 trained sales personnel to guide our customers in finding the right car. Our high sales and customer care standards led us to achieve higher nameplate in the J.D. Power SSI Study.

Weaknesses
Commodity Price Risks Hyundai commodity price risks to higher costs due to changes in prices of inputs such as steel, aluminum, plastics and rubber, which go into the production of automobiles. In order to mitigate these risks, the company continues to attempts to enter into long term contracts based on its projections of prices. In a volatile commodity market, where your company gives top priority to ensuring smooth availability of inputs, long term contracts are helpful. They also help minimize the impact of growing input prices. Conversely, long term contracts dilute the benefits, if any of a decline in input prices. Exchange Rate Risk The company is exposed to the risks associated with fluctuations in foreign exchange rates mainly of import of components & raw materials and export of vehicles. The company has a well structured exchange risk management policy.

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Opportunities
Leading Growth As the market leader, company led the growth in the passenger car sector last year. Hyundai sales went up 30% to 4,72,000 units. This, as I said earlier, is the highest annual sale since company began operations 20 years ago. Hyundai also gained market share, mainly on account of its performance in the competitive A2 segment where it increased its share from 40.3% in 2005-06 to 47.7% in 2006-07. The record sales performance was reflected in the financials. Net Sales (excluding excise) grew by 31% to Rs 93,456 million. Operating Profit Margin increased from 0.8 % in 2005-06 to 4.7 % in 2006-07. Profit after Tax jumped 270% to Rs 5421 million.

Threats
Risk Factors In the course of its business, Hyundai is exposed to a variety of market and other risks including the effects of demand dynamics, commodity prices, currency exchange rates, interest rates, as well as risk associated with financial issues, hazard events and specific assets risk. Whenever possible, we use the instrument of insurance to mitigate the risk. Business Risks The automotive industry is very capital intensive. Such investments require a certain scale of operation to generate viable returns. These scales depend on demand. Although 2005-06 was year of continued growth for the Indian economy, whether this growth momentum will continue has to be seen.

COMPETITORS ANALYSIS

12

There is a highly competition in the market today. Various competitors of HYUNDAI are: Toyota Tata Ford Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL, formerly named Maruti

Udyog Limited) is a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan. MSIL has been the leader of the Indian car market for over two and a half decades. The company's two manufacturing facilities are located at Gurgaon and Manesar, south of New Delhi. The Manesar and Gurgaon facilities have a combined capability to produce over a million (1,000,000) passenger car units annually. Recently, the company has announced a further investment of Rs1, 700 crore (Rs 17 billion) for enhancing the production capacity by 250,000 units annually.

13

The company has a portfolio of 13 brands and over 150 variants across Maruti 800, Omni, international brands Alto, A-star, WagonR, Swift, Ritz and Estilo, off-roader Gypsy, SUV Grand Vitara, sedans SX4 and Swift DZire and the newest entrant Eeco.

TOYOTA COMPANY
Toyota was established as a public company in Japan in 1937. It entered the U.S. market in 1957, but only became successful with the introductions of the Corona in 1965 and the Corolla in 1968. By 1970, Toyota was the worlds fourthlargest carmaker and by 1975 had displaced Volkswagen as the U.S.s #1 auto importer. Toyota began auto production in the U.S. in 1984 through a joint venture with GM, and launched the successful Lexus line in the U.S. in 1989. Since then, Toyota has continued to grow steadily, becoming the third largest global automotive manufacturer as of 2003, with sales last year of 7.4 million vehicles. Unlike many other large auto manufacturers, Toyota carries only 4 brands: Toyota, Hino, Scion, and Lexus; it also has a majority interest in Daihatsu. Known for their quality and reliability, Toyota cars and light trucks such as the Camry (Best-selling passenger car in America, 2004), Corolla, Lexus LS330, Prius (Motor Trends Car of the Year, 2004), Tundra (Motor Trends Truck of the Team A 11 Year, 2000), Tacoma (Motor Trends Truck of the Year, 2005), 4Runner, and Lexus RX300 (Motor Trends SUV of the Year, 1999) have been extremely successful both in the U.S. and abroad.

14

The results of all this are clear: in 2005, Toyota won a record-breaking 10 segment awards in J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study, with Lexus carrying top honors for five years straight. And while 75% of Toyotas current market is in Japan and North America, it aims to reach markets in 140 countries and regions in the future. Toyota faces fierce competition from all angles, and is facing a very tough market from other Japanese, American, South Korean and German auto manufacturers. Toyota is working hard to set itself apart from the competition in more than one way, however. Since Toyota products have a reputation for reliability, the resale value of their vehicles tends to be much higher than many other producers. The most serious threat to Toyota is widely considered to be Honda Motor company. However, Toyota has done some substantial work on their products and price points to stay competitive against Honda. Below are some comparisons between Honda and Toyota products, and the price points for a base product, and fully loaded.

TATA MOTORS
Tata Motors, Indias second-largest automobile company, faces the prospect of a churn in its distribution network with rival companies luring away two of its top dealers by offering better margins. A slow pick-up in sales of Fiat Auto, whose vehicles are distributed in India by Tata Motors may also have contributed to the exits.

Pune-based BU Bhandari Auto, which became a Tata Motors dealer more than a decade ago when the automobile major entered the passenger car market by launching Indica, will distribute products of German carmaker Volkswagen , which is eyeing a larger market share in the booming Indian automobile market.

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FORD

The Ford

Motor

Company (NYSE: F)

is

an

American multinational corporation based in Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK. Ford's former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to Tata Motors of India in March 2008. In 2010 Ford sold Volvo to Greely Automobile.[5] Ford will discontinue the Mercury brand at the end of 2010. Ford introduced methods for large-scale

manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines. Henry Ford's methods came to be known around the world as Fordism by 1914 Ford is currently the second largest automaker in the U.S. and the fourth-largest in the world based on number of vehicles sold annually, directly behind Volkswagen Group.
[6]

In 2007, Ford fell from second to third in US annual vehicle sales for the first time in

56 years, behind only General Motors and Toyota.

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CHAPTER-II

CONCEPTUAL DISCUSSION

17

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Consumer behaviour is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, socio psychology, anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.

Behaviour occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a group (e.g., friends influence what kinds of clothes a person wears) or an organization (people on the job make decisions as to which products the firm should use).

Consumer behaviour involves the use and disposal of products as well as the study of how they are purchased. Product use is often of great interest to the marketer, because this may influence how a product is best positioned or how we can encourage increased consumption. Since many environmental problems result from product disposal

Consumer behaviour involves services and ideas as well as tangible products. The impact of consumer behaviour on society is also of relevance. For example, aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive marketing of easy credit, may have serious repercussions for the national health and economy.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKETING STRATEGY

The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such as how

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 The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products);

The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media); The behaviour of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions; Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions and marketing outcome; How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.

Understanding these issues helps us adapt our strategies by taking the consumer into consideration.

FACTORS INFLUENCE CONSUMER PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

People buy different products from different brands to satisfy their needs. Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by cultural, social, personal and psychological characteristic. Although marketers cannot control such factors, they must give attention to them.

Culture: Culture is the set of basic value, perception, wants and behaviors learned
by a member of society from family and other institution. Culture is the most basic cause of a person's wants and behavior. Every group or society has a cultural influence on buying behavior may vary greatly from country to country, or even neighborhood to neighborhood.

Subculture: Each culture contains smaller subcultures. Subculture is a group of

people with shared value system based on common life experiences and situations. Subcultures include nationalities, religions, racial groups, and geographic regions

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Social Class
Almost every society has some form of social class structure. Social classes are society's relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose members share similar values, interest, and behaviors. Social class is not determined by single factor, but is measure as combination of occupation, income, education, wealth, and other variables. Social classes show distinct product and brand preferences in areas such as clothing, home, furnishing, leisure activity, and automobiles.

Social factor
A consumer's behaviour also is influenced by social factors, such as the consumer's groups, family, and social roles and status.

Groups: A consumer's behavior is influenced by many small groups. A group can be

defined as two or more people who interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals. Groups that have direct influence and to which a person belongs are called membership groups. In contrast, reference groups serve as direct or indirect points of comparison or reference in forming a consumer's attitudes or behavior

Family: Family member can strongly influence consumer's behavior. Husband- wife
involvement varies widely by product category and by stage in the buying process.

Roles and status: The consumer's position in each group can be defined in terms of
both role and status. A role consists of the activities people expected to perform according to persons around them. Each role carries a status reflecting the general esteem given to it by society. People often choose products that show their status in society.

Personal Factor
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A consumer's decision also are influenced by personal characteristics such as the consumer's age and life cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle, personality and self concept:

Age and life cycle stage: People change the goods and services they buy over
their lifetimes. Taste in food. Clothes, furniture, and recreation are often age related. Buying is also shaped by the stage of family life cycle. Traditional family life cycle stages include young singles and married couples with children. Sony recently overhauled its marketing approach in order to target products services to consumers based on their life stages.

Occupation: A consumer's occupation affects the goods and services bought.

Blue collar workers tend to buy more rugged work clothes, whereas executives buy more business suits.

Economic situation: A consumer's economic situation will affect product

choice. If economic indicator point to recession, marketers can take steps to redesign, reposition, and reprise their products closely.

Lifestyle: People coming from the same subculture, social class, and occupation
may have quite different lifestyles. Lifestyle is a consumer's pattern of living as expressed in his or her psychographics. It involves consumer's activities, interest and opinions. When used carefully, the lifestyle concept can help the marketer changing consumer values and how they affect buying behavior.

Personality and self-concept: Each consumer's distinct personality

influences his or her buying behaviour. Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting response to one's own environment. For example, coffee marketer have discovered that heavy coffee drinker tend to be high on sociability. Thus Starbucks and other coffee houses create environments in which people can relax and socialize over a cup of steaming coffee.

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Psychological Factor
A consumer's buying choices are further influenced by four major psychological factors:

Motivation: A need becomes a motive when it is aroused to a sufficient level of

intensity. A motive is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction.

Perception: A motivated person is ready to act. How the person acts is

influenced by his or her perception of the situation. Perception is the process by which people select, organize, and interpret information to form meaningful picture of the world.

Learning: When people act, they learn. Learning describes change in

individual's behavior arising from experience.

Beliefs and Attitudes: Through doing and learning, people acquire beliefs
and attitudes. A belief is a descriptive thought that a person has about something. Marketers are interested in the beliefs that people formulate about specific products and services, because these beliefs make up product and brand images that affect buying behavior. Attitude describes a persons relatively consistent evaluation, feelings and tendencies towards an object or idea.

BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF INDIAN CONSUMERS

What was the price? Until 2000, this was the deciding factor for the Indian consumers in buying a product. Although the Indian economy Was liberalized in 1991, and international brands entered the Indian market soon after, Indian consumers didnt change overnight, their mindset of saving continued and meant little difference in their buying behaviors.

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A majority of Indians may actually be shopping not because of the particular products but because buying offers them a chance to win great gifts or a date with their favorite celebrity. The Indian consumption pattern and preference have undergone vast changes over the year allowing the foreign retailers to play with the psyche of the brand conscious.

BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF WOMEN

The rapid rise in employment among women. A far greater proportion of women are employed in less well-paid sectors, but women are making inroads in the higher echelons of business and as entrepreneurs. Of greater long-term significance is the gradual rise in women's wealth. Disparity remains as far as rates of pay for women are concerned, but Key Note has identified trends and report findings that support the view that women are gaining a far greater share of the UK's personal assets as a result of a wide range of factors most notably, early financial independence. The women have to set up independently and acquire their own assets at a young age. Key markets reviewed for this report show the following key trends: a more cautious pattern of consumer spending in the light of the recent corrections in interest rates and the housing market, and a consequent reluctance to spend on `big-ticket' items; and major alterations in patterns of distribution, e.g. the growing dominance of the supermarket retailers and increasing parity in patterns of demand between the sexes, which is paralleled by the rise of Internet retailing.

CAR CONSUMPTION
The car market, in common with many other markets, has entered a competitive period in which although sales volume has increased, the motor industry remains a key indicator in the world economy. The nexus of related industries which depend for their

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continued expansion on the car point to its crucial position. The massive growth of cars has required a massive growth of roads.

DEPENDENCE OF CAR
Car dependence is a reality for almost 80 percent of trips people make. Nevertheless, most people would not describe themselves as dependent, but rather see the car as providing independence, real financial saving and privacy. However, some people perceive effects of car use such as declining fitness due to lack of exercise or stress when stuck in traffic. About 80 percent of car owners may not imagine living without car. People who drive a lot tend to regard public transportation to be inferior quality, unmatched with their status and standards of living. It is seen that middle income people in the urbanized towns own more cars and travel farther than counterparts in cities. The "rural poor" are now forced to own and use cars or two wheelers to a greater extent than their income would normally supports due to lack of alternatives to satisfy their commuting requirements. The people with the highest income presumably own nearly 60 percent of the cars and account for 70 percent of the traffic. Middle and high-income groups rely heavily on cars wherever they live. Car dependence is a process and not a state: car use changes as people get older and perhaps richer. In general, people are not forced to buy a car and then immediately adopt a life style. It is also a fact that once we buy a car we drive more and more and play less attention to alternatives. The number of journeys by car or less than half a kilometer appears to have increased from 4 percent in 1970 to 30 percent today. If one calculates the time spent in traffic and parking the car, it may have taken the same time walking..

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The current driving trends indicate much more car use and fewer acceptable alternatives. In an attempt to reduce car travel, addressing the most cars dependent will be least successful.

CAR CONSUMPTION OF WOMEN

The car market, in common with many other markets, has entered a competitive period in which, although volume sales have increased, market values are declining as a result of high capacity, high levels of imports and market saturation. Women are still far more likely than men to live in households with no car, although the pattern is far more equal among younger men and women. Women's increased earning power and rising economic wealth therefore make them of growing importance in expanding car manufacturers' threatened sales targets.

Women prefer cars that are affordable, practical and safe, and with dash flair design, which has the highest percentage of female registrants of any car on the market. Clearly women are buying small, fuel-efficient cars in greater and greater numbers. This reflects womens responsibility attitude toward the environment as well as price consciousness. The project was developed on the basis women consumers It will be helpful to found out the awareness level of women consumers and their specification about car. It will be helpful for the company in developing a new product according to women expectation and product modification according the women consumers specification for existing product. 25

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CHAPTER-III

27

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH
Research is a process in which the researcher wishes to find out the end result for a given problem and thus the solution helps in future course of action. The research has been defined as A careful investigation or enquiry especially through search of new facts in any branch of knowledge.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The procedure using, which researcher go about their work of describing, explaining and predicting phenomena, is called Methodology. Methods comprise the Procedure used for generating, collecting and evaluating data. Methods are the way of obtaining information useful for assessing explanation.

TYPE OF RESEARCH
The type of research used in this project is descriptive in nature. Descriptive research is essentially a fact finding related to the present, abstracting generation by cross sectional study of the current situation.

DESIGN OF DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES

A descriptive study involves the following steps:

Formulating the objectives of the study Defining the population and selecting the sample Designing the method of data collection Analysis of data Conclusion and recommendation for further improvement in the practice

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TYPES OF DATA COLLECTED Primary data

In primary data collection, you collect the data yourself using methods such as interviews and questionnaires. The key point here is that the data you collect is unique to you and your research and, until you publish, no one else has access to it. There are many methods of collecting primary data and the main methods include:

questionnaires interviews focus group interviews

Questionnaires
Questionnaires are a popular means of collecting data, but are difficult to design and often require many rewrites before an acceptable questionnaire is produced.

Interviews
Interviewing is a technique that is primarily used to gain an understanding of the underlying reasons and motivations for peoples attitudes, preferences or behaviour. Interviews can be undertaken on a personal one-to-one basis or in a group. They can be conducted at work, at home, in the street or in a shopping centre, or some other agreed location.

Focus group interviews

A focus group is an interview conducted by a trained moderator in a non-structured and natural manner with a small group of respondents. The moderator leads the discussion. 29

The main purpose of focus groups is to gain insights by listening to a group of people from the appropriate target market talk about specific issues of interest.

Secondary data
Secondary data includes those data which are collected from internet, registers, records and annual reports of the organization.

SAMPLING AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES:

A sampling plan is a definite design for obtaining a sample from the sampling frame. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting some sampling units from which inferences about the population is drawn. Sampling design is determined before any data are collected.

DESCRIPTION OF STATISTICAL TOOLS

one of the method which can also be used:

Percentage method

PERCENTAGE METHOD The percentage method is used to know the accurate percentages of the data , it is easy to graph out through the percentages. The following are the formula No of consumers Percentage of consumers = ----------------------------Total no. Of consumers 30 x 100

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study is to view the Women preferences and awareness about cars. Ever since the advent of information technology in India, there has been a steady increase in the number of women employees in these industries. As these working women are paid with handsome of salaries by the companies and their working hours are varied, there is a need for them to have safe and secure transportation with a fair degree of privacy. These factors enable the women to purchase four wheelers of different brands. Yet another factor that encourages the women to purchase cars is the liberal loans offered by commercial banks and financial institutions. This also helps the automobiles industries to develop and launch the new products with wider variety of mix to meet the specification and demands of women.

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OBJECTIVES

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
To find out the women attitude of purchasing cars.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
To find out the factors that influence women car buyers To find out the major information sources through which they come to know about the car makers and models. To find out the price range that is preferred by women and the financial sources which they prefer to purchase cars To find out the preferences with regard to interior comforts, safety measures and other comforts that the carmakers offer. To find out awareness level of utility of cars among women.

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CHAPTER-IV

33

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

AGE LEVEL

S.no 1 2 3 4 5

AGE LEVEL 20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40 Above 40

Percentage of consumers 21 19 22 9 29

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 21 percent belongs to the age group of 20-25 years, 19 percent belongs to the age group of 25-30 year, 22 percent belongs to the age group of 30-35 year, 9 percent belongs to the age group of 35-40 and 29 percent belongs to the age group above 40 years.

PRETG E C NA E
3 5 3 0 2 5 2 0 1 5 1 0 5 0 2 -2 0 5 2 -3 5 0 3 -3 0 5 3 -4 5 0 a o e4 bv 0

S rie 1 e s

A EL V L G E E

34

MARITAL STATUS
S.No 1 2 Marital status of women Single Married Percentage of consumers 30 70

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 30 percent of the consumers are single and 70 Percent of the consumers are married people.

PER EN AGE C T
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 single m arried

Series1

MAR AL ST U IT AT S

35

OCCUPATION
S.no 1 2 3 4 5 Occupation Business Govt.employee Private employee It professionals Homemaker Percentage of consumers 4.5 18.5 29 25 23

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 4.5 percent of consumers are business women, 18.5 percent are government employee, 29percent are private employee, and 25 percent are it professionals and 23 percent are homemakers.

PER EN AG C T E
35 30 25 20 15 10 5
e e e rs ls

Series1 Series2

0
s e s in w p u s

e y

n a ss io ro fe

e m p

pr iv

O C PAT N C U IO

36

it

h om e

o vt .e

a te

m ak e

lo

lo

CAR USERS
S.no 1 2 People own a car Yes No Percentage of consumers 65 35

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 65 percent of consumers own a car and 35 percent do not own a car.

P RE TG E C NA E

7 0 6 0 5 0 4 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 ys e

Sr s eie 1

C RU E S A SR

n o

37

DURATION OF CAR UTILITY

S.no 1 2 3 4 5

Duration of car usage 0-1 year 1-2 year 2-3year 3-4 year Above 4 years

Percentage of consumers 9.23 13 33.85 10.77 33

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 9.23 percent of the consumers are using car from 0-1 yr.13 percent were using car from 1-2 yr, 33.85 percent were using car from 2-3 yrs, 10.77 percent were using car from 3-4yrs and 33 percent were using car above 4 years

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PER EN AG 40 C T E 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0-1 yr 1-2 yrs 2-3 yrs 3-4 yrs D R IO U AT N abov 4 e yrs Series1

CONSUMER PRICE PREFERENCES

S.no 1 2 3 4 5

Preferable price range 2.5 4.5 lakhs 4.5-6.5 lakhs 6.5-8.5 lakhs 8.5-10.5 lakhs Above10.5 lakhs

Percentage of consumers 46 44.5 7.5 1.5 0.5

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 46 percent of consumers prefer cars between 2.5-4.5 lakhs, 44.5 percent prefer cars between 4.5-6.5, 7.5 percent prefer cars between 6.5-8.5, 1.5 percent prefer car between 8.5-10.5 lakhs and 0.5 percent prefer cars

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above 10.5 lakhs.

PRETG E C NA E

5 0 4 5 4 0 3 5 3 0 2 5 2 0 1 5 1 0 5 0 2 .5 4 .5 la h ks 4 .5 6 .5 la h ks 6 .5 8 .5 la h ks 8 .5 1 .5 0 la h ks a oe bv 1 .5 0 la h ks

S rie 1 e s S rie 2 e s

P IC R N E R E AG

FINANCIAL SOURCES UTILIZED TO PURCHASE CAR

S.no 1 2 3 4 5

Financial source Bank Private financials Loans through dealership Own source of income Lease

Percentage of consumers 39.5 19.5 18.5 22.5 O

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 39.5 percent of consumers choose bank, 19.5 percent choose private financials, 18.5 percent choose loan through dealership and 22.5 percent purchase car with their own source of income.

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INFORMATION SOURCES TO PURCHASE CAR

S.no 1 2 3 4 5

Information source TV Internet Magazines Referral Walk into show room

Percentage of consumers 11.5 17 19.5 23.5 28.5

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 11.5 percent of consumers use TV, 17 percent use internet, 19.5 percent use magazines, 23.5 percent collect through referral and 28.5 percent walks into showroom to find out the information about car.

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COLOURS PREFERENCE
S.no 1 2 3 Colours Dark Light Bright Percentage of consumers 26 45 29

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 26 percent of the consumers prefer dark colors, 45 percent prefer light colors and 29 percent prefer Bright colors.

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FIRST PREFERENCE TO INFLUENCE THE CHOICE OF PURCHASING CAR

S.No 1 2 3 4 5

Factors influence choice of buying Cost Fuel efficiency Exterior appearance Safety and reliability Brand

Percentage of consumers 31.5 11 5 27.5 25

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Inference : From the above table it is inferred that, 31.5 percent give first preference for cost, 11 percent give first preference for fuel efficiency, 5 percent give first preference for exterior appearance, 27.5 percent give first preference for safety and reliability and 25 percent give first preference for brand.
Percentage 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 cost fuel efficiency exterior safety and appearance reliability brand

Series1 Series2

FIRST PREFERENCES GIVEN FOR THE FACTORS INFLUENCES THE BUYERS

FIRST PREFERENCE ON INTERIOR COMFORTS

s.no 1 2 3 4 5 44 Interior comforts Air conditioner Power window Enter/exit Adjustable seating comforts Adjustable safety belt Percentage of consumers 35 7.5 28 20 9.5

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 35 percent of the consumers give first preference to air conditioners. 7.5 percent give first preference to power windows,28 percent give first preference to enter/exit, 20 percent give first preference to adjustable seating comforts and 9.5 percent give first preference to adjustable safety belt.

PERCENTAGE 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 adjustable adjustable seating safety belt comforts FIRST PREFERENCE GIVEN FORINTERIOR COMFORTS air conditioner power windows enter/exit Series1 Series2

TYPES OF GEAR SYSTEM

Gear system 45 S.no 1 2 Manual Automatic

Percentage of consumers 24 76

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 24 percent of consumers prefer manual transmission and 76 percent prefer automatic transmission.

SAFETY MEASURES

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S.no 1 2 3 4 5

Types of safety measures Central locking with test alarm Central locking with remote Low fuel warning lamp Day and night mirror Child safety rear door locks

Percentage of consumers 10 20 25 7.5 37.5

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 10 percent of consumers would like to have central locking with test alarm as a safety measure, 20 percent would like to have central locking with remote, and 25 percent would like to have low fuel warning lamp, 7.5 percent would like to have day and night mirror and 37.5 percent would like to have child safety rear door lock.

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P RE T G E CN E A

4 0 3 5 3 0 2 5 2 0 1 5 1 0 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

Sre1 e s i Sre2 e s i

1 et al c i g i h et . n l ok w t s c r n t arm l a a 2 et al c w r m e . n l ok i h e o c r t t 3o f ew n g . w l ai l u r n m 4 a ada h m o . y n l i p ir r d n t r g 5 hd a t r a do l c s . i s f y er or ok cl e

WARRANTY EXPECTED

s.no 1 2 3 4 5

Warranty expected 1year 2 year 3 year 4 year 5 year

Percentage of consumers 1 4 23.5 31 40.5

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 1 percent of consumers expect 1 year of warranty, 4 percent are expect 2 years , 23.5percent expect 3 years, 31 percent expect 4

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years and 40.5 percent expect5 years.

PERCENTAGE

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years

Series1

YEARS OF WARRANTY

DURATION OF CAR USAGE

S.no 1 2 3 4 5

How long people use the same car 2 years 3years 4years 5years Above 5 years

Percentage of consumers 6 30 15 21 28

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 6 percent of the consumers use the same car for 2 years only, 30 percent of the consumers use the same car for 3 years, 15

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percent of the consumers use the same car for 4 years, 21 percent of the consumers use the same car for 5 years and 28 percent of the consumers use the same car above 5 years.

CAR USERS: WHAT CAR USER FEELS ABOUT CARS 1. SEATS ARE COMFORTABLE

S.No 1 2 3 4 5

seats are comfortable Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree strongly disagree

Percentage of consumers 61.54 36.15 1.54 0.77 0

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Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 61.54 percent of the consumers were strongly agree that their seats are comfortable , 36.15 percent were agree ,1.54 percent were neutral and l 0.77 percent were disagree.

P RE T G E C NA E

7 0 6 0 5 0 4 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 sr n l t og y ar e ge nu a et l r

Sr s eie 1 Sr s eie 2

S AI G O F RS E T C MOT N

sr n l t og y d ar e i ge s

2. AIR CONDITIONER WORKS WELL

s.no 1 2 3 4 5 51 Air conditioner Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree Percentage of consumers 60 35.38 1.53 3.07 0

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 60 percent of the consumers were strongly agree that their air conditioner works well, 35.38 percent were agree, 1.53 percent were neutral and 3.07 percent were disagree.

PER EN AG C T E 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 strongly agree agree neutral disagree AIR C N IT N O D IO ER strongly disagree PER EN AG C T E Series1 Series2

3.STORAGE SPACE IS ADEQUATE

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s.no 1 2 3 4 5

Storage space are adequate Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree strongly disagree

Percentage of consumers 46.92 26.92 3.85 20.76 1.54

Inference: From the above table it is inferred that, 46.92 percent of the respondents were strongly agree that their storage space is adequate, 26.92 percent were agree, 3.85 percent were neutral ,20.76 percent were disagree and 1.54 percent were strongly disagree.

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PER EN AG C T E

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 strongly agree agree neutral ST R E SPAC O AG E disagree strongly disagree Series1 Series2

CHAPTER-V
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CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS SUGGESTIONS

The consumers were aware about cars through entire information source. So the company should come out with, the most effective dissemination of information about cars, through all possible advertisement strategy. Most of the consumers those who were highly aware about cars belong to the age group of 30-35,Hence the company should target the above age group to offer the car according to their preferences The survey indicates that more prefer low price models (2.5 -4.5 lakhs) .Hence I suggest that manufacturer must offer car of above price range to women consumers. As more consumers prefer light colors with air conditioner facility in the cars, I suggest that the manufacturer should give high priority to these features .Further child safety rear door locks as safety measures and stylish exteriors are preferred by most of the consumers, Therefore manufacturer must serious thought to these suggestions.

CONCLUSIONS
As per the study I conclude the most preferred car must be compact, air conditioned, stylish and safety measure such as child lock system. As the consumers belong to upper middle income group, the company should facilitate attractive loan offers by having tieups with commercial bank. High focus and weight age must be given to attribute preferred by women while launching the new product. The year of warranty they expect for a car shows that the awareness has reached the mass female. After sales service also considered by the women consumer, hence high priority should be given for after sales service with sufficient staff and networking infrastructure.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS Kothari, C.R., RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Published by new age international private limited, 2nd edition, 1985 WEBSITES -www.google.com -www.scribed.com

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