ASSIGNMENT OF CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS ON MAGGIE

Submitted To: Prof. Vinaydeep Maam

Submitted By: Name-

Div.Roll no.-

Consumer Decision making Process Internal and External Influences of Maggi Noddles

Consumer Decision Making Process, this basic psychological process plays an important role in understanding how consumers actually make their buying decision. Marketers must understand every facet of consumer behavior in terms of who, what, when, where, how and why. Smart companies likeMAGGI try to fully understand the consumers buying decision process all their experiences in learning, choosing and using of the product.

Maggi has always considered the following steps:

1 Problem Recognition
This is the first stage of the Buying Decision where the buyer recognizes a problem or need. The need can be triggered by internal or external stimuli which a marketer must identify by gathering information from number of consumers. They can then develop marketing strategies that trigger consumer interest. Nestle after carefully analyzing the market, identified the need for a quick snack in India. They adopted the first mover strategy and launched Maggi in India in the year 1982 as an instant fast food. Thereafter, Nestle recognized the consumers need for Maggi in different sizes and introduced the 50gms, Double Pack and Super Saver Pack (s). Later on in the years 2005 and then 2006, consumers need for a healthy instant food was catered by launching Maggi Atta Noodles and Maggi Dal Noodles. These again emerged as successful products and were widely accepted by masses. Further to suffice the need for different taste, Maggi Rice Mania was brought in the market in Shahi Pulao, Chilli Chao and Lemon Masala flavors.

2 Information Search
An aroused customer will be inclined to search for more information. At this level, a person simply becomes more receptive to information about a product. There are four major information sources which are of key interest to the marketer. These are the personal sources (family, friends, and acquaintances), commercial sources (advertising, websites, packaging and displays), public sources (mass media, consumer rating organizations) and experiential sources (handling, examining and using the product). MAGGI has over the years well established itself in the market and has now become a household name. This has helped the brand gain popularity through word of mouth. Maggis Mass Advertising Campaigns targeted consumers of all ages. Their advertisements have highlighted that Maggi is a good alternative available with the consumers when it comes to having a quick snack.

3 Evaluation of Alternative
Once all the consumers gather all the information he then evaluates the various option available to him. When evaluating the potential alternatives, consumer uses two types of information the first is the list of brands from which they plan to make their selection and the second is the criteria from which they plan to make their decision. Beliefs and Attitude: Evaluations often reflects beliefs and attitudes. And these are acquired by experiences and learnings. MAGGI has always provided its consumers with something new from time to time which has developed a good belief in the brand and thus has helped them to choose them from their other alternatives. Their competitors like top ramen always find it difficult on the evaluation front with magi because of strong association of consumers with it. Awareness set is Maggi Tom Ramen Wai Wai Cup of Noodles Chings So out of the above awareness set the consumers decides to choose Maggi because after analyzing the different parameters of the brand Maggi was chosen as the best alternative among the rest leading to its maximum market share.

4 Purchase Decision
In the evaluation stage the consumer forms preferences among the brands in the choice set, the consumer may also form an intention to buy the most preferred brand .In executing a preferred intention the consumer takes up five sub decisions

 Brand Dealer Quantity Timing Payment Method In some cases consumer may decide not to formerly evaluate each and every brand; in other cases intervening factors may affect the final decision. Because of the strong consumer awareness about the brand MAGGI, consumer generally prefer Maggi out of all the available brands , due to the mass distribution strategy adopted by Maggi, any consumer can easily purchase it from their local grocery store without wasting much of his/her time in searching for the product , Maggi comes in various sizes like single , double and the supersaver packs so depending upon each individuals need Maggi is catering each and every segment of the society not to mention that as the size increase the saving on each pack increases.

5 Post Purchase
After the purchase the consumer might experience dissonance that stems from noticing certain disquieting features or hearing favorable things about other brands and will be alert to information that supports his/her decision. Marketer must monitor Post Purchase Satisfaction Post Purchase Action Post Purchase Product Uses

Post Purchase Satisfaction

Satisfaction is a function of the closeness between expectations and the products perceived performance, if performance falls short of expectations the consumer is disappointed and if it meets the expectation the consumer is satisfied and if it exceeds the expectations then the consumer is delighted.

Post Purchase Action

Satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product will influence subsequent behavior if the consumer is satisfied he will exhibit a higher probability of purchasing the product again. The satisfied customer will also tends to say good things about the brand to others, marketers says our best advertisement is the satisfied customer

Post Purchase Use

Marketer should also monitor how buyers use and dispose of the product. A key driver of sales frequency is product consumption rate the more quickly buyers consume a product the sooner they may be back in the market to repurchase it.

Internal & External Influences affecting Consumer Behavior 1 Internal Influences Motivation and Involvement
Motivation is that internal force which arouses or activates some need and provides direction of behavior towards fulfillment of the need. A motivation maybe physiological in nature directed towards fulfillment of biological needs such as hunger and thirst, other motivations are psychological in nature focusing on the satisfaction of psychological desires such as the desire for seeking status, job satisfaction, or achievement. Everyone has both physiological and psychological motivations, but we fulfill them in different ways. One consumer satisfies his thirst by drinking water, the second quenches it by having a Thumbs Up, the third drinks Bisleri Mineral Water while a fourth prefers soda. For one consumer, buying a Deluxe Maruti car is a way of seeking status, another satisfies his want for status by becoming a member of the best club in town, while for a third having a credit card is a status symbol.

The reason why we adopt different methods of satisfaction of our motivations is because of the differing level of personal involvement in various activities. Involvement refers to the personal relevance or importance of a product or service that a consumer perceives in a given situation. For a professional photographer the choice of a camera is a consumer behavior situation of involvement because the camera is his most important professional tool. The photographer would be motivated to buy the best possible camera, irrespective of the price tag. For another consumer, a camera is just a means of recording important family events and just about any camera which is convenient to handle would fill the need.

High involvement leads to a highly motivated state of mind as in case of the

professional photographer. High involvement and high motivation lead to a consumer behavior process which is distinctly different from that of a low involvement and low motivation. The consumer was motivated to buy a pack of MAGGI because his physiological need for a quick and instant tasty food which required a very less amount of time for its preparation was duly met. When it comes to purchasing the product in terms of taste, Maggi emerged as a high involvement product and when it comes to purchasing the product in terms of Price, it emerged as a low involvement product.

Attitudes
Attitudes are our learned predispositions towards objects, people and events. Attitudes guide our orientation towards these. It is our attitudes which influence how we respond to different products and services. Attitudes are not inborn or innate in us. Rather they are learnt from people around us. Our attitudes influence our purchase decisions and consumer behavior.

Our attitude towards saving has undergone radical changes. Instead of saving and leading a simple, frugal life, people prefer to have a better lifestyle today rather than save for tomorrow. Till a few years ago most housewives had a negative attitude towards frozen, dehydrated or instant food like MAGGI. But today, with more women joining the work force, such products are viewed as a convenience and instant, quick to cook meals, looked upon favorably. The change in attitude of consumers has helped Maggi gain a market share of more than 50%.

Personality and Self-Concept

Personality is the sum total of the unique individual characteristics that make each one of us what we are. It provides a framework within which a consistent behavior can be developed. Self-concept or Self-image is the way we perceive ourselves in a social framework. We always tend to buy only those products and services which we think fit or match with our personality. Marketers also try to give a distinct image or personality to their products which is as close as possible to that of the target consumers. MAGGI tried to impart a distinct image to its 2 Minute Noodles by targeting consumers like young adolescents and working women. Its Fast to Cook, Good to Eat and Health Bhi, Taste Bhi funda clicked the consumers and was widely accepted by masses.

Learning and Memory

Everyday we are exposed to a wide and diverse range of information. But we can barely recall a small fraction of it the next day. We only remember that which is of relevance and importance to us, or where we have a motivation to remember. Our motives, attitudes and personality act as filters by letting in only relevant information and keepingall other information out. Surely we would see the

product, hear its jingle on the radio but chances are it will not register in our minds. We will remember it only for a short while and then forget it. This is known as selective retention. We retain in our memories only selective information. MAGGIs Mass Advertising has helped the company to position itself in such a manner that even its tagline has become a part of our daily conversations. This has helped Maggi to enable the consumers to memorize its product.

Information Processing
This refers to the process and activities which consumers engage in while gathering, assimilating andevaluating information. The manner in which we assimilate and evaluate this selective information is determined by our motives, attitudes and personality and self-concept. Thus the same information may be evaluated in a different manner by two different individuals and the ensuing response may also be very different. A half-filled glass elicits the response a halfempty glass from, one consumer while another reacts by saying it is half-full. The information regarding the new variants like MAGGI Atta and Dal Noodles was processed well by the consumers as they perceived it to be a healthy and nutritious variant. Maggis Rice Mania is not as successful as its other variants since consumers perception for this product varied marginally.

2 External Influences Cultural Influences

The first of the influences is that of cultural variables. Culture is defined as the complex, sum total of knowledge, belief, traditions, customs, art, morals, lawand any other habits acquired by people as members of a society. Culture of one society differs from that of another. Many of our actions and behavior as consumers stem from our cultural background. MAGGI has now become an integral part of consumers preferring fast food. The societal culture has now drastically changed. Women, who were earlier considered as homemakers only have now stepped out of their homes and are engrossed with hectic schedules. They largely opt for such alternatives that are less time consuming and even healthy for their family.

Sub-Cultural Influences
Within a given culture, there are many groups or segments of people with distinct customs, tradition and behavior, which set them apart from other people. All Indians share one common cultural heritage, but the Hindu Brahmins of Tamil Nadu are very different from the Hindu Bengalis of Calcutta in the same way as Kashmiri Hindus are different from the Hindus of Gujarat. Each of these people, within one cultural mainstream have uniquely distinct sub-cultures. They have their style of dress, food habits, religious traditions and rites all of which have implication for the marketer. Considering the local tastes and preferences that form a part of the subculture, MAGGI introduced its Rice Mania in Shahi Pulao for the North, Lemon Masala for the South and Chilli Chao for the Eastern parts of the country.

Social Class Influences

Social class is a group consisting of a number of people who share more or less equal position in a society. Within a social class people tend to share same values, beliefs, and exhibit similar patterns of behavior and consumption. Some social classes are ranked as higher and lower. Social classes differ from one society to another, and their standing in society may also change over time. Social classes may be defined by parameters such as income and occupation. The belongingness to a social class influence decisions such as choice of residence, type of holiday, means of entertainment and leisure. Considering the income and occupation of the urban society, MAGGI targeted the same and did not pay much attention towards the weaker sections of the society. They tapped the potential of the huge middle class consumers whose personal disposable income was high enough to resort to all such products.

Social Group Influences

A social group is a collection of individuals who share some common attitudes and a sense of relationship as a result of interaction with each other. Social groups may be primary, where face-to-face interaction takes place frequently, such as

families, work groups and study groups. Secondary groups are those where the relationship is a more formalized and less personal in nature. Examples of primary groups are associations of professional members of a political party, and social groups such as Rotary, Lions etc. The behavior of individuals as consumer is greatly influenced by other members of the group. MAGGI promoted its products as one, for the social group like school goin children, teenagers and working women.

Family Influences
Family is a social group which can be defined as a primary group. It needs to be studied in great detail as it is one of the strongest sources of influences on consumer behavior. The first and strongest influence on a child is that of his family and he imbibes many behavioral patterns from other family members subconsciously and these tend to stay with him even after attaining adulthood. Further, within a family many decisions are made jointly with various members exerting different degree of influence. The changing structure of families as the joint family system gradually gives way to single nuclear families also influence the consumer behavior. MAGGIs advertisements have always portrayed it as a family meal wherein it shows the entire family obsessed with Maggi for e.g. Maggi Mania. The advertisements also show the entire family consuming Maggi as their major meal.