RESEARCH GAP IN THE LITERATURE

The literature review is a significant step in each and every research process. Review of earlier
studies discloses the works and studies done by individual researchers and institutions help to
establish further the need for the study. The researcher has reviewed 75 studies, which include 60
Indian journals and 15 international journals were collected. The previous studies identified
important gap that will be explored in this thesis. In this research special attention being given to
the marketing strategies adopted by the manufacture for effective reach is also done. The various
studies related to consumer behavior, rural market and urban market have been conducted by
different social scientists at micro as well as macro level in India and abroad. The present study
was covered the Consumer Behavior towards consumer durable goods. But no study was made
in purchase Behavior towards consumer durable goods.
. , -have searched that examining ―Tolerance for Unethical Consumer Behaviour Provides a
Key Insight to how People Behave as Consumers Worldwide‖. In this study, consumer reactions
to unethical consumer behaviour scenarios are investigated using sample data from Austria,
Brunei, France, Hong Kong, the UK, and the USA. Nationality is found to be a significant
predictor of how consumers view various questionable behaviours. Gender is not a significant
predictor, while age and religious affiliation are found to be significant predictors of consumer
ethical perceptions.
. have identified ―An Evaluation of Consumer Awareness in Rural Markets‖. This paper deals
with the extent of awareness in rural markets of India. It presents the ― Gold‖ available in this
steadily growing market which has been going great guns since the 1980‘s and now bigger than
the urban market for both FMCG‘s and durables, the former with 53 per cent share and the latter
with 59 per cent of total market.
have contributed ―Consumer Satisfaction and Post-Purchase Intentions‖. An Exploratory Study
of Museum Visitors. This paper examines the relationship between consumer satisfaction and
subsequent intentions in the museum context as well as the moderating influence of demographic
characteristics such as gender, age and education in that relationship. The relationship between
satisfaction and a range of service elements, overall satisfaction with the experience and
intentions was investigated. Museum marketers can profit by examining the 'Value chain" of
museum experience outlined in the model presented, especially the greater likelihood of
consumers recommending the experience to others than making a repeat visit themselves, and by
investigating segment differences beyond those reported here.
. have conducted ―Impact of Consumer Involvement of Buying Decision - A Conceptual
Frame-Work. Consumer involvement refers to the intensity of interest with which consumers
approach the market place. It is related to the consumers‘ values and self-concept which
influence the degree of personal importance ascribed to a product or situation consumer
involvement varies Krishna across different individuals, product, brands and situations.
has focused on the ―The Paradox of Progress: Inexperienced Consumers‘ Choice of Major
Household Appliances‖. The results supported the initial notion that limited consumer
socialization may result in, and even necessitate inexperienced consumers‘ reliance on surrogate
indicators of quality, such as price, brand name and store image, as compensation for lack of
appropriate product knowledge unfortunately the use of surrogate indicators of quality does not
necessarily imply informed, responsible buyer behaviour.
. , . has analyzed that ―The Relationship between Satisfaction, Loyalty and Buying Intention
Perceived by Spanish Consumers. Scale development was based on the review of the most
relevant literature regarding food marketing and agribusiness. Data were collected through a
structured questionnaire. A structural equations model was applied to analyze the relationships
among consumer satisfaction, loyalty and buying intention. The results show that a higher
satisfaction leads to greater levels of loyalty and buying intention of the consumers.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study aims at focusing study on purchase behavior of consumer durable goods in Ulhasnagar
City in Thane Distric of Maharashtra, India. Researcher limits its scope to selected consumer
durable such as Air conditioners, Refrigerator, Television, Washing machine and, Wet Grinder.
Hence, it is necessary to concentrate on consumers‘ perception, consumers‘ pre-purchase and
post-purchase behavioral activities. There are many sides of consumer behaviour that possibly
need elaboration and how ever this study concentrates on individual consumer purchase
behaviour regarding the purchase of consumer durable goods already stated. This research study
is exploratory in nature. Moreover, the area of the study is confined to Ulhasnagar City in Thane
Distric of Maharashtra, India. The study focuses on the durable products in urban and rural area
in seven Ulhasnagar City in Thane Distric of Maharashtra, India.
The Indian economy is basically divided into urban and rural. Rural sector is now balanced for
contribution a vast potential to marketers and promises to be an opportunity for which are to be
grab by surmounting challenges and threats. To surveys and audits for a number of consumer
products and services have, over the years, clearly highlighted the emerging importance of the
rural and urban sectors. There have been less focused studies analyzing the consumer durable
market in the background of changing scenario of rural and urban markets. And there have been
less attentiveness on consumer behavior studies. This present comparative study is an attempt to
fill this void in research on rural and urban markets. This study is confidential to rural and urban
areas in Ulhasnagar City in Thane Distric of Maharashtra, India.

PROBLEMS OF THE STUDY

The study of behavioral aspect of consumers is great importance for marketers and this
knowledge is applied to find out the consumers wants and needs. The study of consumer
behavior helps every common man in all its practical sense. In a competitive environment one
cannot thrust a product on the consumers. It is essential for marketers to understand consumers
for their own survival and success in competitive marketing environments. The reason for
studying consumer behaviour is to find out the role it plays in the lives of many consuming
public at large and that as the institutions involved in the production and marketing of different
types of consumable articles, equipment, goods and services in general. But for such studies it
would be difficult to ascertain the exact needs of consumers.
The consumer has also to take decision about when and where to buy the products that he needs
or wants, how much the consumer wants to spend on it, or how much the consumer can afford to
and how the consumer will pay for it. Some purchase decisions are routines and may not require
these considerations. Other purchase situations may be more complex. In other cases
considerations regarding status and prestige are also important. Many product purchases may
require the evaluation of a variety of economic, social, and psychological factors. To solve the
 problems of consumers and marketers, there must be continuous studies in the field of consumer
buying behaviors. Few researches have been done in India on the impact of consumer buying
behaviour and brand equity on consumer durables. Most of the studies have been considered
non-durable products. This study has left a gap in the studies done in durable product sector in
India. Hence, this study has been undertaken to consider the research work.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The specific objectives of the study are

1. To analyse the factors influencing consumers‘ perception towards purchase behaviour of

2. consumer durable goods in Tiruvarur district.

3. To identify the purchase behavior of selected rural and urban consumer durable goods in

4. Tiruvarur district.

5. To analyse the purchase behaviour and satisfaction of the rural and urban consumer

6. durable goods.

HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY

The following hypothesis were framed and tested
There is no significant difference between demographic profile and factors influence
the consumers‘ perception towards consumer durable goods.
There is no significant difference between demographic profile of respondents and
purchasing behaviour of consumer durable goods.

RESEARCH METHODOOGY
The study is based on both primary secondary data. The primary data were collected directly
from the sample of consumers through a well-devised interview schedule. Incomplete and
inaccurate responses were dropped out, upon the respondents having select five durable goods
viz., Air conditioners, Refrigerators, Washing machines, Television and Wet grinder as samples
for the purpose of the study.
For data collection the researcher visited the respondents at their responds more than once, at
their leisure are conveniences. The secondary data relating to the study were collected from
books, journals, research articles, magazines, reports, newspapers and websites. The researcher
also visited the library of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, for the collection of some
source materials.

SAMPLING DESIGN
The researcher was taken by convenience sampling methodThis research based on empirical
investigation. The study area has spreads over of Tiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu. To make the
samples representative, as far as possible, various steps have been taken into consideration. 145
samples have been selected areas of the Tiruvarur District. This study was selected on the basis
of demographic; Socio - economic and cultural status conditions. Five consumer durable
products have been selected i.e. Air conditioners, Refrigerators, Washing machines, Television
and Wet grinder for this study.

Data Collection
This research study is primarily an empirical study on the consumer behavior relating to selected
consumer durables. The researcher collected information through primary and secondary data,
the interview schedule has been constructed to collect data from consumers of Tiruvarur District
towards information related to consumer durable goods, with the demographic; socio-economic
and cultural conditions of consumer. The secondary data has also been collected from different
sources of journals, magazines, annual reports, internet; books related to topic, etc. the data
analysis has been conducted with the following methods.

Sample Selection
The researcher was adopted convenience sampling method. The respondents chosen from an age
group residing in Tiruvarur in age group of 20 - 65 Years including the different strata of
consumer durable goods. 200 interview schedules were conducted to the respondents spread over
in Tiruvarur district. Among them 166 interview schedule were collected. In which 21 interview
schedule were found unusable. Hence, the accurate sample of the study is 145. The method of
collection is substantiated in the following table 1.

Table 1 Selection of Sample Distribution

: Primary Data

STATISTICS TOOLS AND FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS

Need Recognition
Need recognition means awareness of a want or a desire. A buying process starts with the need
arousal. A need can be activated through internal or external stimuli. The basic needs of a man
arise to a particular level and become a drive and he knows from his previous experience. This is
a case of internal stimulus. A need can also be aroused by an external stimulus such as the sight
of a new product in a shop while purchasing the usual product.

Product Awareness and Information Search

In this stage, the consumer enters a stage of active information search to get product awareness.
He/she tries to collect more information about the product, its key attributes, and qualities of
various brands and about the outlets where they are available.
 Evaluation and Intention
Once interest in a product is aroused, a customer enters the subsequent stage of evaluation and
intention. The evaluation stage represents the stage of mental trial of the product. During this
stage, the consumer assigns real-time value-weights to different products/ brands on the basis of
accumulated stock of product information and draws conclusions about their relative satisfaction
giving potential value. After this evaluation, the consumer develops the intention either to
purchase or reject the product. The final purchase will however depend on the strength of the
positive intention, that is, the intention to buy.

Purchase
It is the terminal stage in the buying decision process that completes a transaction. It occurs
either as a trial or adoption. If a consumer is buying something for the first time, from the
behavioral view point, it may be regarded as trial. This trial enables him to accumulate
experience about the product purchased. (Beatty et al : 1987). If this experience is positive in
terms of satisfaction derivation then repeat purchases may occur. However repeat purchases will
occur only when he is satisfied with the performance. But the possibility of trial purchase is
available. In the case of durables like refrigerator, air- conditioner and microwave oven, trial
purchase is not possible because, once a product is purchased it has to be adopted and repeatedly
used.

Post Purchase Behaviour

Post Purchase behaviour refers to the behaviour of a consumer after his commitment to a product
has been made. It originates out of consumer experience regarding the use of the product and is
indicated in terms of satisfaction. This behaviour is reflected in repeat purchases or abstinence
from further purchase.
Post Purchase behaviour refers to that behaviour exhibited after the purchase decision. The goal
of consumers‘ decision system lies in consumption and consumption occurs during the post-
purchase phase. Thus purchases are only ``means to an end the end being the attainment of
benefits from consuming the product or service. From marketers‟ perspective, long term success
flows from having consumers experience satisfaction during the post-purchase phase. The post-
purchase processes account for two major activities, consumption and disposition. Trashing,
saving and selling the product are the three major options of product disposition.

Tabulation
Primary data from the respondents are presented in the bi-variate, univariate, one-way and Cross
tabulation is prepared which is used full of the data analysis. Tabulation makes percentage
analysis easier.

 It is very power full tool for the data analysis and specifically to understand market share of
various companies and average expenses made for consumer durables and other aspects can be
measured with this tool. Percentage analysis can wipe out the effect of inflation in measuring
consumer behavior.
 - test is applied to analyze the respondent's preferences on various elements of purchase decision
process in respect of durables.

 by principle component method is applied to analyse the various elements of purchase decision
process in respect of durables.

 (ANOVA) is used to identify the significant differences among the various elements of buying
behaviour with regard to durables.

 test is used to find the mean values of va rious elements of buying behavior of consumers in
respect of durables.

 is employed to find the association between clusters of buyers of

 durables and various demographic characteristics. and

 is used to find the relationship between the

 variables of the study.

Pilot Study
The study used a structured interview schedule. The interview schedule was pretested during the
months from September 2017 to December 2017 on a sample of 50 consumer selected in
Tiruvarur District. A pilot study was undertaken to identify and eliminate ambiguous terms and
to check the reliability of the questions. Necessary changes were made in the instrument of the
basis of responses to the interview schedule.

Consumer Decision Making

A Process by which consumers identify their needs, collect information, evaluate alternatives,
and make the purchase decision. These actions are determined by psychological and economical
factors, and are influences by environmental factors such as cultural, group and social values.

Consumer Durable Goods

Consumer durable products are things that can be used for a long period of time as they are not
easily destroyed, Examples of durable goods include; household appliances, machinery and
sports equipment.

Purchase Behaviour
Purchase is to fully pay for a good or service to that good being delivered or service being
performed. To fulfill this usage; however, the connotation of the word has started to shift to
indicate a purchaser that is not creditworthy.
OPERATIONAL CONCEPT
Need Recognition
Need recognition means awareness of a want or a desire. A buying process starts with the need
arousal. A need can be activated through internal or external stimuli. The basic needs of a man
arise to a particular level and become a drive and he knows from his previous experience. This is
a case of internal stimulus. A need can also be aroused by an external stimulus such as the sight
of a new product in a shop while purchasing the usual product.

Product Awareness and Information Search

In this stage, the consumer enters a stage of active information search to get product awareness.
He/she tries to collect more information about the product, its key attributes, and qualities of
various brands and about the outlets where they are available.

Evaluation and Intention

Once interest in a product is aroused, a customer enters the subsequent stage of evaluation and
intention. The evaluation stage represents the stage of mental trial of the product. During this
stage, the consumer assigns real-time value-weights to different products/ brands on the basis of
accumulated stock of product information and draws conclusions about their relative satisfaction
giving potential value. After this evaluation, the consumer develops the intention either to
purchase or reject the product. The final purchase will however depend on the strength of the
positive intention, that is, the intention to buy.

Purchase
It is the terminal stage in the buying decision process that completes a transaction. It occurs
either as a trial or adoption. If a consumer is buying something for the first time, from the
behavioral view point, it may be regarded as trial. This trial enables him to accumulate
experience about the product purchased. (Beatty et al : 1987). If this experience is positive in
terms of satisfaction derivation then repeat purchases may occur. However repeat purchases will
occur only when he is satisfied with the performance. But the possibility of trial purchase is
available. In the case of durables like refrigerator, air- conditioner and microwave oven, trial
purchase is not possible because, once a product is purchased it has to be adopted and repeatedly
used.

Post Purchase Behaviour

Post Purchase behaviour refers to the behaviour of a consumer after his commitment to a product
has been made. It originates out of consumer experience regarding the use of the product and is
indicated in terms of satisfaction. This behaviour is reflected in repeat purchases or abstinence
from further purchase.
Post Purchase behaviour refers to that behaviour exhibited after the purchase decision. The goal
of consumers‘ decision system lies in consumption and consumption occurs during the post-
purchase phase. Thus purchases are only ``means to an end the end being the attainment of
benefits from consuming the product or service. From marketers‟ perspective, long term success
 flows from having consumers experience satisfaction during the post-purchase phase. The post-
purchase processes account for two major activities, consumption and disposition. Trashing,
saving and selling the product are the three major options of product disposition.

Tabulation
Primary data from the respondents are presented in the bi-variate, univariate, one-way and Cross
tabulation is prepared which is used full of the data analysis. Tabulation makes percentage
analysis easier.

 It is very power full tool for the data analysis and specifically to understand market share of
various companies and average expenses made for consumer durables and other aspects can be
measured with this tool. Percentage analysis can wipe out the effect of inflation in measuring
consumer behavior.

 - test is applied to analyze the respondent's preferences on various elements of purchase decision
process in respect of durables.

 by principle component method is applied to analyse the various elements of purchase decision
process in respect of durables.

 (ANOVA) is used to identify the significant differences among the various elements of buying
behaviour with regard to durables.

 test is used to find the mean values of various elements of buying behavior of consumers in
respect of durables.

 is employed to find the association between clusters of buyers of

 durables and various demographic characteristics. and

 is used to find the relationship between the

 variables of the study.

Pilot Study
The study used a structured interview schedule. The interview schedule was pretested during the
months from September 2017 to December 2017 on a sample of 50 consumer selected in
Tiruvarur District. A pilot study was undertaken to identify and eliminate ambiguous terms and
to check the reliability of the questions. Necessary changes were made in the instrument of the
basis of responses to the interview schedule.
Consumer Decision Making
A Process by which consumers identify their needs, collect information, evaluate alternatives,
and make the purchase decision. These actions are determined by psychological and economical
factors, and are influences by environmental factors such as cultural, group and social values.

Consumer Durable Goods

Consumer durable products are things that can be used for a long period of time as they are not
easily destroyed, Examples of durable goods include; household appliances, machinery and
sports equipment.

Purchase Behaviour
Purchase is to fully pay for a good or service to that good being delivered or service being
performed. To fulfill this usage; however, the connotation of the word has started to shift to
indicate a purchaser that is not creditworthy.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study has been selected in Ulhasnagar City in Thane Distric of Maharashtra, India. Due to
the diversity of the locations and lack of awareness researcher was not able to collect reliable
data. This study is mainly focused on consumer durable goods like Air conditioner, Refrigerator,
Television Washing machines and Wet grinder only. This research study is restricted to
Tiruvarur District. The household survey has been restricted to a sample size of 145. The
decision on the sample size was rather arbitrary, although the sample size is deemed sufficient
considering the nature of the issues analyzed and the requirement of category-wise analysis. The
numbers of respondents from different sections of society are not selected in proportionate with
the actual number of families in these sections. Only households possessing at least one of the
durables under study had been included among the sample households. This has perhaps resulted
in excluding those lower class families which do not possess any of the durables selected.