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Modeling the Barriers to Rural Marketing Using the Interpretive Structural Modeling Approach
--Poonam Kumari, Nirupma Gupta
and Shilpa Sindhu
One of the major roles of marketing is to deliver the right kind of product to the right customer at the right time and at the right place. Rural marketing is gaining a great deal of attention these days due to the large population living in the rural areas. As urban markets have saturated, rural India is consistently facing a new heat of the world of brands, be it in FMCGs, consumer durables or automotives. Marketing to rural customer has now become a necessity for marketers if they want to stay competitive in the volatile and turbulent market conditions. Although it seems to be so easy and marketers do not leave any stones unturned to market their products in rural areas, the fact is far from reality. In the present paper, a number of barriers that critically inhibit marketers’ successful foray into the rural markets and their interrelationships using the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) have been derived. The identified barriers have been categorized with respect to their driving power and dependence. Through ISM approach, order can be imposed on the complexity of these variables. This approach would enable the rural marketers to identify the critical points where maximum effort could be focused for success.
© 2014 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
The Influence of Country-of-Origin Labeling for Lentils on Consumer Preference: A Study with Reference
to Sri Lanka
--Ramu Govindasamy, Surendran Arumugam
and Isaac Vellangany
Lentils have been a part of the human diet for ages, especially in the developing countries, as a source of protein, vitamins and minerals. Understanding and identifying consumers who care about the country-of-origin of these lentils are important in strategic lentil marketing. Thus, the present study aims to identify consumers who think that country- of-origin is an important attribute while purchasing red lentils by conducting an intercept survey of 300 consumers in grocery stores, supermarkets and other family-run stores in Sri Lanka between July-August 2010. This survey collected detailed information relating to demographic, socioeconomic, grocery purchasing pattern and behavior. The results obtained using logit model indicate that those who frequently consume lentils every day, who use non-packed red lentils, who use packed red lentils with store’s own label, who think brand is an important attribute, who work in the government sector, and who earn between 45,001 and 65,000 Sri Lankan rupees per month are more likely to consider the country-of-origin as an important factor while purchasing red lentils.
© 2014 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Consumer Perception Scale in Store Environment (CPS-SE) for Measuring Consumer Buying Behavior
--Shalini Jha, Bharti Singh and Suresh K P
Developing a scale which would capture all the data required by a study is a time- consuming and difficult process. The present paper reviews the process of developing a scale for measuring consumer buying behavior in a store environment in three stages, namely, item generation, scale development and scale evaluation. To measure the effect of store environment cues, specifically background music and behavior of salesperson on consumer buying behavior, a scale was developed using six factors, namely, perception of merchandise quality, perception of overall environment, perception of ambient music, perception of affability of salesperson, emotion (pleasure/arousal), and behavior (approach/avoidance). Validation measures such as face validity, content validity and construct validity were employed to standardize the questionnaire with 43 statements. Factor analysis was used to check the unidimensionality of the scale to assess the consumer behavior.
© 2014 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Segmentation of Users of Cellular Phone Services in Guwahati City: An Exploratory Study
--Sinmoy Goswami, Suman Sarmah and Swapna Boruah
Cellular phone services are an inseparable part of the modern human society. This paper presents the segmentation of the users of cellular phone services in Guwahati, Assam, India, on the basis of the parameters identified from the findings of the previous studies. An exploratory study was conducted among 500 respondent users of such phones in Guwahati by using a structured questionnaire. It was found that most of the respondents were moderately satisfied regarding network, roaming facilities, charges, connectivity, value-added services, free incoming calls, attractive schemes, newer innovations and popularity of cellular phone services in Guwahati. Again, most of them had moderate overall satisfaction regarding their current cellular phone service provider(s) and had average chances of shifting from their current cellular phone service provider(s) to another without changing their number. The results of hierarchical cluster analysis reveal that there are five clusters (segments) of respondents among the users of cellular phone services in Guwahati. In addition, the outcome of non-hierarchical cluster analysis shows that these five clusters of respondents are: popularity seekers, connectivity seekers, efficient service seekers, optimal service seekers, and quality service seekers. Among them ‘quality service seekers’ is the largest segment comprising 56.2% of the respondents. Formulation of proper strategies for each such cluster of customers may enable the cellular phone service providers to satisfy them, thereby ensuring higher customer loyalty leading to uninterrupted profitability and survivability of these companies.
© 2014 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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