SIP PROJECT REPORT ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS
WHIRLPOOL OF INDIA LTD (REF. CATEGORY)

SUBMITTED BY:
GOLAM AHAMED ROSUL
ENROLLMENT NO: 030101013
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:
PROF. MALAY BHATTACHARJEE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My first experience of Summer Internship Project on CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR TOWARDS WHIRLPOOL OF INDIA LTD (REF.
CATEGORY) has been successfully done, thanks to the support of everyone. I would like to acknowledge all the people who have helped us in this project. However, I wish to make special mention of the following. First of all I am thankful to our Prof. Mr. Malay Bhattacharya under whose guideline I am able to complete our project. Throughout my project he gave through instruction regarding the project and different sources. And of curse Mr. Yogesh Kumar being a company mentor he provided me all the essential information, holds the same space of honour. I am wholeheartedly thankful to them for giving me their valuable time & attention and for providing me a systematic way for completing my project in time.
I must make special mention of Mr. Google, who gave me the secondary data for my research and helped me a lot to complete the project.

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MENTOR’S APPROVAL

Date:

To whom So Ever It May Concern

Subject: CERTIFICATE OF PROJECT COMPLITION
Management Trainee’s Name: GOLAM AHAMED ROSUL
Project Title: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS WHIRLPOOL OF INDIA
LTD. (REF CATEGORY)
Dear Sir,
This is to certify that Mr. Golam Ahamed Rosul was enrolled in Whirlpool of India ltd. for his Summer Internship Project at Shivam road, Hyderabad. His project duration was from 27 th of May to 22 July. His learning ability, Discipline,
Punctuality, and Behaviour was good. He has successfully completed the project.
His overall conduct was very good. He abided by the Norms & Rules of the company. YOGESH KUMAR
(Assistant Manager Operations & Client Servicing)

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DECLARATION
I, Mr. Golam Ahamed Rosul, student of Globsyn Business School, National Campus, hereby declare that this project report entitled “CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS
WHIRLPOOL OF INDIA LTD. (REF. CATEGORY)” is written and submitted by me under the guidance of Mr. Yogesh Kumar (Assistant Manager Operations & Client Servicing) is my original work.
The findings in this report are based on the data collected by me during the course of the project.
While preparing this project, I have not copied from any other report.
Finally, I am very thankful to Prof. Malay Bhattacharya for his valuable academic guidance in my project work.
I understand that any coping is liable to be punished in a way that the university authorities deem fit. Date:-

Signature of Candidates
GOLAM AHAMED ROSUL

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE

PAGE NO.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

8

INTRODUCTION

9

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

10

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

10

LIMITATION OF THE RESEARCH

11

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

12

COMPANY PROFILE
VISION AND MISSION

16
17

TYPES OF REFRIGERATOR

18

INTRODUCTION OF NEO I-CHILL
PRODUCT OVERVIEW

20
21

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

26

QUESTIONNAIRE FORMAT
DATA ANALYSIS
FINDINGS
4P APPROACH

29
30
35
39

AIDA MODEL
CONSUMER DECISION MAKING
PROCESS
BCG MATRIX
SWOT ANALYSIS OF NEO I-CHILL
CONCLUSION
RECOMMENDATION

40
41
43
45
46
49

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX

50
51

LIST OF TABLES

TOPIC

PAGE NO.

CONSUMER DURABLE

12

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LIST OF FIGURES

TOPIC
GROWTH OF CONSUMER DURABLE
MARKET
AWARENESS OF NEO I-CHILL
INTERESTED ABOUT NEO I-CHILL
REASONS FOR PURCHASING NEO ICHILL
SALES REPORT OF 8 WEEKS
PURCHASE DECISION MAKER
CONSUMER DECISION MAKING
PROCESS
BCG MATRIX

PAGE NO.
15
30
31
32
33
34
41
43

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The basic concept of my project “Consumer behavior towards Whirlpool of India Ltd (Ref. category)” was to find out how the customers react while purchasing a refrigerator.

For this I had got a training of product knowledge of wide range of product series (limited to ref. category) manufactured by Whirlpool of India Ltd. Consumer retention is the key success for any competitive market. An effort was made to ascertain and analysis customer views and preferences for the new refrigerator Neo I-Chill, launched by the brand Whirlpool through the process of brand recall. Also, a detailed study was made to understand the performance pattern of major competitors of refrigerators.

In doing so, it was possible to examine the consumer behavior while purchasing a refrigerator of the brand Whirlpool and its competitors. During the course of this project, I was fortunate enough to study the promotional campaign carried.

My complete focus was on the new series of refrigerator- “Neo I-chill” launched by Whirlpool of
India Ltd. I have been involved with various promotional activities for the new refrigerator. This report contains the findings arrived after detailed analysis of the data received through filing up the questionnaires by the users of refrigerators at various areas of Hyderabad.

The promotional activities like giving photo frames, bottle openers as complementary gift were carried out at the Reliance Digital outlet. In this activity I have demonstrated the various series of refrigerators present in the outlet and handled various queries regarding the products and sold 36
Whirlpool refrigerators.

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INTRODUCTION

In the present competitive world if any business organization has to survive it needs to keep an eye on various forces operating in the market. More over competitors constantly try to win over others. In this scenario, every business organization needs to monitor the changes taking place in the market so that they are not caught. Company‟s ability to maintain satisfying customer relationships requires an understanding of consumer buying behaviour. This refers to the buying behaviour of consumers who purchase products or services for their personal or household use.
Consumers have limited time, energy and financial resources. Within the available resources, they make purchase and consumption choices as they wish. Consumers purchasing decisions take place over a period of time. The overall goal during this decision process is to evaluate various alternatives and choose the product that satisfies the consumer in an optimal way.
Similarly when customers make their purchase decision they get influenced by several major factors. These factors are:
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Demographic,
Social
Cultural etc.

The consumer‟s degree of interest in a product and the importance he/she places on this product determines the consumer‟s level of involvement. When customer comes for the purpose of purchasing a refrigerator, they consider many things in their mind such as capacity, storage, star rating etc. Because they know that they are purchasing a durable product and they are not going to purchase in frequently basis.

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SCOPE OF THE PROJECT:






This report will help to understand the consumer behaviour towards purchasing a new
Refrigerator.
It also opens the various factors which can affect the purchase decision.
This report provides a frame of mind of people, what are the expectations of consumer and up to how much level those expectations can meet.
The main purpose of the study is to aware the customers about the new refrigerator Neo ichill.

OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of the project is to understand the various key, external and internal variables which influence various market segments while buying refrigerators. However the main objectives of the project are:













To get exposed to the practical situations of the business.
To know how things work practically in corporate.
To learn to interact with various corporate people.
To know the effects of brand value of Whirlpool.
To know consumer behaviour while purchasing a refrigerator.
To make people aware about the new refrigerator Neo i-chill.
To sale the Neo i-chill refrigerator.
To know the consumer view regarding service/after sales service.
To know various strategies used by different companies to attract consumers.
To know the consumer preferences.
To analyze the awareness among public about the Whirlpool products.
To increase the sales of the refrigerators of the brand Whirlpool.

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LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH
There are some limitations of the human beings which is reflected in this research. The following are the limitations of this research study.


Taking interview of the respondents was quite a difficult job. Because there were customers shown unwillingness to respond to my questions.



The study of promotional activity was conducted only in the Reliance Digital in
Hyderabad.



The promotional activities were done only at showroom.



The sample size of 80 might not represent the whole population, as the sample size of 76 is too small for the whole population of Hyderabad.



Most of concern person were busy with their work.



Many of the respondents did not submit their form properly filed.



Some of the customer shown their interest only to get the complimentary gift, and not for the refrigerator.

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INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Durable goods are those which don‟t perish so quickly, yielding utility over time rather than at once. Examples of durable goods include electronic equipment, home furnishing and fixtures, photographic equipment, leisure equipment and kitchen appliances. They can be further classified as either white goods, such as refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners and brown goods such as blenders, cooking ranges microwaves or consumer electronics such as televisions, DVD players etc. such big-ticket items typically continue to be serviceable for three years at least and are characterized by long inter-purchase times.
The Indian consumer durables segment can be divided into 3 groups:

White Goods
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Air conditioners
Refrigerators
Washing machines
Sewing machines
Speakers and audio machines Watches and clocks
Cleaning equipments
Other domestic appliances Kitchen appliances/Brown goods  Mixers
 Grinders
 Microwave ovens
 Iron
 Electronic fans
 Cooking range
 Chimneys

Consumer Electronics






Televisions
Mobile phones
MP3 players
DVD players
VCD players

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PERFORMANCES:

India‟s consumer durables market is riding the crest of the country‟s economic boom. Driven by young population with access to disposable incomes and easy finance options, the consumer market has been throwing up staggering figures. The Indian durables market, with a market size of US$ 27.38 billion in 2010-11, has grown by 6.1% over the previous year.
In the past 10 years, global market has witnessed a surge in demand as economics such as Brazil,
Mexico, India and China have opened up and begun rapid development, welcoming globalization and privatization. The consumer durables industry has always exhibited impressive growth despite strong competition and constant price cutting. Given the strong correlation between demand for durable goods and income, the industry naturally suffered at the time of global melt down. However, projection of current year going forward are very optimistic, as consumers resume spending, and producers lunches the affordable products to grab the new customers.

CHALLENGES:

The biggest threats to local industry going forward are supply-related issues pertaining to distribution and infrastructure, as well as demand issues due to hard competition from imported goods. The lack of well developed distribution can create a challenge for the industry. In addition, regular power cuts and poor linkages make systematic production, assembly and delivery problematic.
On another side demand for a brand can fluctuate due to the entrance of various MNCs in the same industry. Customers have increasing choice from both domestically produced and imported goods, with similar features. This homogeneity makes it difficult for players to remain ahead of competition. The largest home appliances MNCs incorporated in India are Whirlpool
India, LG India and Samsung India and home grown brands are Videocon, Godrej Industries and
IFB.

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FUTURE IN INDIA:

India is set to undergo a major transform over the next two decades with sustained growth resulting in dramatic poverty reduction. India‟s consumer market is set to explode the next decades with total private consumption growing from $370 billion to over $1,500 billion by
2025. Contrary to popular belief, this growth will not be driven by population growth or by dramatic changes in household savings behaviour, but rather almost entirely by rising incomes.
The size of India‟s market will, however, still be tied closely to its large population, with average per capita consumption growing to only about $1,000 by 2025. Overall, the industry‟s future remains robust, and interested applicants will benefit from a holistic learning experience.

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Source: secondary data

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COMPANY PROFILE
WHIRLPOOL INDIA LTD.

Whirlpool, right from its inception in 1911 as first commercial manufacturer of motorized washers to the current market position of being world's number one manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances, has always set industry milestones and benchmarks. The parent company is headquartered at Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA with a global presence in over 170 countries and manufacturing operation in 13 countries with 11 major brand names such as
Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Roper, Estate, Bauknecht, Laden and Ignis. The company boasts of resources and capabilities beyond achievable feat of any other in the industry.
Whirlpool initiated its international expansion in 1958 by entering Brazil. However, it emerged as truly global leader in the1980's. This encouraging trend brought the company to India in the late 1980s. It forayed into the market under a joint venture with TVS group and established the first Whirlpool manufacturing facility in Pondicherry.
Soon Whirlpool acquired Kelvinator India Limited in 1995 and marked an entry into Indian refrigerator market as well. The same year also saw acquisition of major share in TVS joint venture and later in 1996, Kelvinator and TVS acquisitions were merged to create Indian home appliance leader of the future, Whirlpool India. This expanded the company's portfolio in the
Indian subcontinent to washing machines, refrigerator, microwave ovens and air conditioners.
Today, Whirlpool is the most recognized brand in home appliances in India and holds a market share of over 25%. The company owns three state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at
Faridabad, Pondicherry and Pune. Each of these manufacturing set-ups features an infrastructure that is witness of Whirlpool's commitment to consumer interests and advanced technology.
The company's brand and image speaks of its commitment to the homemaker from every aspect of its functioning. It has derived its functioning principles out of an undaunted partnership with the homemakers and thus a slogan of “You and whirlpool, the world's best homemaker” dots its promotional campaigns. The products are engineered to suit the requirements of „smart,

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confident and in-control' homemaker who knows what she wants. The product range is designed in a way that it employs unique technology and offers consumer relevant solutions.
Operational Excellence: Company believes in 3 steps process those are, know a customer, be a customer, and serve a customer.

VISION AND MISSION:
The company‟s pervasive vision is, “Every Home, everywhere, with pride, passion and performance”, rests on the pillars of innovation, operational excellence, customer-centric approach and diversified talent.
These are embedded within the company‟s business goals, strategy, processes and work culture.
Be it Whirlpool‟s products that are the result of innovation and operational excellence to meet every need of the consumers or the people behind these products that come from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, everything Whirlpool does features a distinct Whirlpool way .

PRODUCTS OF WHIRLPOOL INDIA:
There are various products of Whirlpool that influence the home appliance market or consumer durable market of India. Those products are:
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Refrigerators
Washing Machines
Micro Waves
Air Conditioners
Water Purifiers
And various Accessories.

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TYPES OF REFRIGERATOR:
Refrigerators can be classified into two types, single door and multi doors. Here are some
Whirlpool refrigerator products below,

SINGLE DOOR REFRIGERATORS:
Single door refrigerators maintain Direct Cooling process or one way cooling process.
Whirlpool India launched various series of DC or single door Refrigerators, those are –





Whirlpool Genius series has three types, those are – Royal, Premium, and Supreme.
These refrigerators are all 180 L to 220 L capacity. Whirlpool I-Magic series also fall in single door category.
Whirlpool Proton series has the single door refrigerators of 220 Liter capacity.

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MULTIDOOR REFRIGERATORS:
Multi door refrigerators are having auto defrostation system. So, these types of refrigerators are called Frost
Free (F.F) refrigerators. Whirlpool India has launched many series of multi door refrigerators those series are,
Master Mind, Protton, I-Chill etc. these are basically
Frost Free refrigerators.

In my project work, my main focus was on the special and latest series of Frost Free refrigerator
Neo-I Chill of Whirlpool India.

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INTRODUCTION OF NEO I-CHILL:
Neo I-Chill is a latest series of refrigerators, has been introduced by Whirlpool India in 2012. It‟s a double door refrigerator having the capacity of 340 Liter and above. It has been launched in three colours, those are- Swiss Silver, Graphite, and Real Steel. The latest technology enabled refrigerators attract the customer more and it is also energy efficient.

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PRODUCT OVERVIEW
MODELS AND SPECIFICATIONS OF NEO I-CHILL:
Whirlpool has launched some selected models for the latest series, those are-

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1) IC355 TCGB4
KEY FEATURES:
 340 Liter Capacity
 4 Star Rating
 Door Alarm
 Push In Gasket
 Deep Freeze Technology
 6th Sense Tower Cooling
 Quick Chill Beverage Zone
 3 Glass Shelf
 Deep Freezer with Chilling Gel

2) IC355 FC GB4
KEY FEATURES:
 340 Liter Capacity
 4 Star Rating
 Door Alarm
 Push In Gasket
 Deep Freeze Technology
 6th Sense Tower Cooling
 Quick Chill Beverage Zone
 3 Glass Shelf
 Deep Freezer with Chilling Gel
 Can Rack

3) IC355 ACGB4
KEY FEATURES:
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340 Liter Capacity.
4 Star Rating
Door Alarm

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
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Electronic Control
Auto Cool
3 Glass Shelf
Active Deo
Can Rack

4) IC355ACGB5
KEY FEATURES:
 340 Liter Capacity.
 5 Star Rating
 Door Alarm
 Push In Gas Kit
 3 Glass Shelf
 Auto Cooling

5) IC375 FCGB4
KEY FEATURES:
 360 Liter Capacity.
 4 Star Rating
 Door Alarm
 Push In Gas Kit
 3 Glass Shelf
 Flexi Cool

6) IC375 ACGB4
KEY FEATURES:
 360 Liter Capacity.
 4 Star Rating
 Door Alarm
 Push In Gas Kit

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
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3 Glass Shelf
Auto Cooling

7) IC375 ACGB5
KEY FEATURES:
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360 Liter Capacity.
5 Star Rating
Door Alarm
Push In Gas Kit
3 Glass Shelf
Auto Cooling

8) IC425TCGB4
KEY FEATURES:
 410 Liter
 4 Star Rating
 Door Alarm
 Push In Gas Kit
 6th Sense Tower Cooling
 Quick Chill Beverage zone
 3 Glass Shelf
 Led lights in Refrigerator

9) IC425 ACGB4
KEY FEATURES:
 410 Liter
 4 Star Rating
 Door Alarm
 Push In Gas Kit
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
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6th Sense Tower Cooling
Quick Chill Beverage zone
3 Glass Shelf
Led lights in Refrigerator
6th Sense Auto Cooling
Choco Box

As a product the Neo-I chill has so many technology enabled. It has the capability to make ice
50% faster comparing to other brands and in the refrigerator compartment that chills bottles 40 percent faster than standard refrigerators. The products also retain cooling for 25 percent longer during power outages. The latest technologies that featured the Neo i-chill are as below:

th

 6 Sense Tower Cool: It provides Uniform Cooling across Shelves.
 Quick Chill Beverage Zone: Dedicated Zone for Bottles & Cans.

 Ice Mate: Removable Container to provide flexibility between Ice or Space
.
 Largest Vegetable Storage: Biggest vegetable Storage in its segment#.
 Can Holder: Simple to use, foldable Can rack to store Cans

 Beverage Caddy: For Storing and carrying beverages.
 Ice Cream Zone: Dedicated Ice Cream Zone to keep ice cream in its original Form*.

 Choco Box: A space especially designed to store treats for your kids'' sweet tooth and yours too.
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 Freshonizer: Freshonizer in Vegetable Crisper to provide 7 Days* Garden Fresh
Vegetables.

 Door Lock: Lock your door for safety.
 Ice Twister: Ice twister to store ice and take it out in Easy twist Action.

 Toughened Glass Shelf: Toughened Glass Shelves to store heavy utensils.
Disclaimer: * Under standard test conditions.
# In comparison with select models.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
DEFINITION:
Research refers to „a search for knowledge‟. It can be defined as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic.
Research comprises defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organizing and evaluating data; making deduction and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis – Clifford Wood.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
It is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as science of studying how research is done scientifically. To complete a research successfully it is required to study the subject thoroughly. As the prime objective of the project is to know the consumer behaviour while purchasing a refrigerator, a research methodology adopted that is basically based on the primary data which has been collected during my internship. Secondary data has been used to support the primary data whenever needed.

RESEARCH DESIGN:
A research design is the determination and statement of the general research approach or strategy adopted for the particular project. It is the heart of the planning. If the design adheres to the research objectives, it will ensure that the client need will be served.
Research design is a plan structured and strategies of investigation. It is the arrangement of condition and analysis of data in a manner to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure.

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

In order to achieve the objective it was necessary to talk to the customers and public to draw the conclusions regarding the objective.
For visiting the customers and publics to collect the relevant information and documenting those; a questionnaire has to be needed. The questionnaire was provided to me and that was in such a manner to achieve the objective of the research.



NATURE OF RESEARCH
Quantitative type of research has been used. As all the data was based on numerical figures obtained in the survey.

TYPE OF QUESTIONS
The questions were self-administered, with a view to obtain maximum information from the respondent that is why the questions were straightforward.

Data collection
There are two types of data collection methods:


Primary Data



Secondary Data

PRIMARY DATA
I have taken great care while collecting primary data to answer that it is relevant, accurate, correct and unbiased.
I met them personally to get the primary data with the help of Face to Face Interview and
Questionnaire. In some cases I have taken the help of Telephonic Interview too.

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SECONDARY DATA
Secondary data consists of information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose. I have collected secondary data from the websites of different operators and library. Secondary data in this study has provided me an insight and helped me to form an outline for the core objectives established. Here the secondary data has helped me to understand the consumer behaviour of the other series of refrigerator of Whirlpool.

SAMPLE SIZE:
I have taken sample size of 76 customers of refrigerator.

Sampling Unit:
The respondents who were asked to fill out the questionnaires are the Sampling units. These comprise of Government employees, businessman, bachelors etc.

SAMPLING AREA:
I had to collect data from the customer of Reliance Degital and my area was Shivam Road,
Hyderabad.

QUESTIONNAIRE:
A Questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. For my project, questionnaire format was given by my company guide.

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QUESTIONNAIRE FORMAT:

Name: ____________________________________________________

Telephone/Mobile Number: ___________________________________

Email ID: __________________________________________________

When do you plan your next refrigerator purchase? _________________

Will you consider Neo I chill while making your next purchase?
Yes

No

If yes, why? ________________________________________________

ANALYSIS: I have used pie charts and some other statistical measure to analyze the responds. PROJECT REPORT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS WHIRLPOOL OF INDIA LTD. (REF. CATEGORY)
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DATA ANALYSIS
I had made people aware that the new refrigerator has been launched, and demonstrated the new refrigerator Neo i-chill to 170 customers. Some of the customers knew about the new refrigerator
Neo i-chill and most of them did not know about the Neo i-chill. And after getting information many of them shown their interest for that new refrigerator to purchase and some of them purchased that refrigerator. I have collected their responding and analyzed those.
While collecting data directly from the customer, many questions had been asked, and had been noted down those data. Now, at the end of my project I have analyzed the collected data. Here are some representation of my analysis of primary data and secondary data.

1. Do you know about the new Whirlpool refrigerator Neo i-chill?

Awareness about Neo I-chill
8%

YES
NO

92%

Source: Primary data

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Interpretation: When I asked customers that did they know about the new Whirlpool refrigerator Neo i-chill or not, I found that 8% of them they knew about the new launched refrigerator and 92% of the customers did not know about the refrigerator Neo i-chill. So, it has been known that most of the customers did not know about the new refrigerator.

2. Will you consider Neo I-chill while making your next purchase?

INTERESTED ABOUT NEO I-CHILL
YES

NO

34%

66%

SOURCE: Primary data

Interpretation:
I demonstrated the Whirlpool refrigerator Neo i-chill and took notes from the customers through the questionnaire. According to the questionnaire survey (responds given by the customers), I found that that there are 34% people interested to purchase the Neo i-chill.

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3. Reasons for preferring Neo i-chill:

Prefered features of Neo i-chill

11%
8%

37%

FASTER COOLING
22%

FLEXI COOL
CAPACITY
GOOD TECHNOLOGY

22%

OTHERS

SOURCE: Primary data

Interpretation: When I asked the customer, the reason behind preferring Neo I-chill refrigerator I got too many response. The major responses were faster cooling (11%), flexi cool
(8%), capacity (22%), good technology (22%) and other (37%). From the analysis, we can understand the reason for which they preferred Neo i-chill.

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SALES REPORT OF WHIRLPOOL REFRIGERATORS DURING
MY INTERNSHIP AT RELIANCE DEGITAL, SHIVAM ROAD,
HYDERABAD:

Sales report:

Chart Title
Neo i-chill

14%

Other Whirlpool

TOTAL WHIRLPOOL
REFRIGERATORS SOLD: 36
UNITS

86%

Interpretation:
I sold 36 units of refrigerator during my 8 weeks of internship. Out of which 14% was the new refrigerator Neo i-chill and 86% was other Whirlpool refrigerators.

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During the tenure of my internship, I got to know too many things about the feedback of
Whirlpool refrigerators, consumer behaviour while selecting and purchasing a refrigerator.

4. PURCHSE DECISION MAKER:

DECISION MAKER

44%
56%

MALE
FEMALE

SOURCE: Primary data

Interpretation:
While selling the refrigerators, one important concept I got to learn. I found that 44% of the purchase decision makers were male and 56% of the purchase decision makers were female. So I understood that female plays a good role for making the purchase decision.

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FINDINGS
There are various factors that influence the purchase decision of a consumer. These factors can be grouped as demographic, social, cultural factors etc. Consumers try to purchase and maintain a variety of products that satisfy their current and future needs.
Basically there are two factors consumers consider while purchasing or choosing a refrigerator.
Those are –
Capacity: they choose their refrigerator based on o Family size and food habit. o Family of 2 could do with a capacity of 160 to 200 liter o Add 20 liters for every additional member.
Star Rating: They consider the star rating of the refrigerators because they know that higher the star rating, lower the power consumption and so reduce the electricity bill.
However except the two major factors there are so many other factors they consider while making their purchase decision. Those factors are:

External Factors:
The External factors that influence the purchase decision of consumer in the age group of 30 to
40 for a refrigerator are 1.) Family
2.) Reference Group.
3.) Social class.
4.) Celebrity and Opinion leader.
5.) Occupational Subculture.
6.) Media Habits
7.) Indian Culture
8) Demographic Details.

Various factors and their influence on the purchase of Refrigerator :
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1.) Family: Spouse is the major influencer (Advice of other family members like mother and family friends also plays an important role).
2.) Reference Group:
• Influenced by sites and brand ambassadors.
• Neighbors also play a role of reference group
3.) Social Class:
• All social class – value for money & many even consider it as style as it fit to home décor.
4.) Celebrity and opinion leader:
• Purchase is influenced by Salesmen in showrooms.
• Celebrities were an important opinion leader and play role as influencers.
5.) Occupational subculture:
• Working Professional: Needs medium capacity range refrigerator.
• Monthly income doesn‟t play significant role in deciding the capacity of refrigerator. 6.) Media Habits:
• Use media to gather information (i.e. thru advertisements)
• Prefer internet to compare features so more & more information should be available on internet.
7.) Indian culture:
• Bright colors preferred but no one wants Black Color.
• People prefer to buy on auspicious occasions and festival like Diwali & Eid.

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8.) Demographic Details:
• Prefer Style as it fit to home décor.
• They set their maximum budget according to their affordability like, a bachelor sets his budget for a refrigerator purchase is Rs. 12,000 and in case of a homemaker or a family set their budget as Rs. 20,000 and above.

INTERNAL FACTORS:
There are various internal factors that also influence the consumer buying behaviour:





CAPACITY
STAR RATING
SIZE
FEATURES.

However all consumers want value for money and after sales service are important for all.
Vegetarians look for more space in vegetable box where as non-vegetarians look for spacious deep freezers.
The internal factors that influence the purchase decision of these consumers for a Refrigerator:
1. Need for the Refrigerator (whether need is physiological or esteem)
2. Personality of the buyer: whether he is extrovert or introvert, open to experiment, etc.
3. Level of Involvement of the buyer with the Refrigerator.
4. Motivation towards the Refrigerator whether it is latent or manifest.
5. Emotions towards the Refrigerator: which dimension will it satisfy amongst the pleasure, dominance and arousal?
6. Brand personality as perceived by the buyer and how he relates it to his own personality.
7. Attitude of the buyer towards the Refrigerator or the brand.

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8. Self-concept of the buyer: his thoughts and feelings towards the refrigerators/brands having reference to himself as an object.
9. Loyalty towards a particular brand of Refrigerator.
10. Positioning of a particular brand in the mind of the buyer.

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4 P approach

1.) Product
• Aesthetics (looks, color) are major considerations while purchasing Refrigerators so wide range of color should be available to fulfill the demand of maximum customers.
• After Sales Service is the main attributes being looked while purchasing the product.
• More features and maximum shelf space inside also looked while purchasing the refrigerator so more shelves to be provided in door side of the refrigerator so that more bottles can be kept inside it.

2.) Price
• All customers look for Value For Money. Mostly people are price conscious while

purchasing the product.
• Low price also acts as a social barrier as people consider low price refrigerator as a low quality product. • Price is not the major constraint if they are provided additional feature needed by the customers. 3.) Place
• Location of showrooms is not the most sought after criteria in the purchase decision because refrigerator is a high-involvement product and customers are ready to travel for purchasing refrigerators. But show room should be at such a place where other competitors are also available because people always want to make comparison.
• Since India is very rich in its customs and traditions, a number of festivals are celebrated throughout the year. People prefer to do major purchases during festival and special occasions so marketer should take this as an opportunity and provide maximum range of the products.

4.) Promotion
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Focusing on the promotion element of the four Ps, good communication is the key to effective marketing.
Potential customers go through a purchase cycle: pre-transactional (ie. before a purchase), transactional
(ie. at the time of purchase) and post-transactional (ie. after the purchase has been made).
Various promotional activities had been done for the new product the Neo i-chill. Some complementary gifts had been given to the customers to promote the new refrigerator. People were made aware about the new refrigerator, complimentary gifts were given to grab their interest, and they had given their responds about the new refrigerator.

AIDA MODEL
The AIDA model encapsulates this sequence and can assist in the planning of any communications campaign:
A – awareness/attention - Making the consumer aware of the product and getting their attention. I had made people aware that the new refrigerator Neo i-chill had been launched in the market. I – interest – Generating interest in the product/service on offer. I had made people know about the new features and technology that are enabled with the new launched refrigerator.
D – desire – Through awareness and interest, I had created the customer desire for the Neo ichill.
A – action – Stimulating the target to purchase the product/service. Many customers have been impressed with the product and service offered and they have made their decision.

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CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS:

Need recognition and problem awareness:
Here customers find that his old refrigerator is not working properly. And not giving sufficient cooling. Information search:
Customer does an external search about the product being offered by the brands which are in his evoked set.

Sources of information
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i) ii) Personal sources: Customer finds the opinion from his personal contact first for example they take opinion from their friends, colleagues, family members etc.
Experiential sources: Customer visits the local showroom and have a look at the options in their evoked set before finalizing the purchase.

Evaluating alternatives
Customers are aware of many brands of refrigerator through visiting the show rooms, and they try to make comparison among the brands and among the models. Customer compare refrigerators economically, capacity wise, storage wise, star rating etc. since they become confused they do ask to the salesman and try to sort out the things.

PURCHASE:
After eliminating too many confusion about which brand and which model to purchase, customer come to solution to a particular brand and a particular model.

POST PURCHASE:
Customer always expects post purchase service, if a brand fails to serve that the customer will not consider the next purchase preference to that brand, and if that brand shown the ability to serve that, customer will remain loyal to that brand.

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BCG MATRIX

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix is a simple tool to assess a company‟s position in terms of its product range. It helps a company to think about its products and services and make decisions about which it should keep, which it should let go and which it should invest in further.
If we look at the Whirlpool Company and analyze it with the help of the BCG matrix then we can understand the position.

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Question Marks
Question marks are products that grow rapidly and as a result consume large amounts of cash, but because they have low market shares they don‟t generate much cash. The result is a large net cash consumption. A question mark has the potential to gain market share and become a star, and eventually a cash cow when the market growth slows. If it doesn‟t become a market leader it will become a dog when market growth declines. Question marks need to be analyzed carefully to determine if they are worth the investment required to grow market share.

Dogs
Dogs have a low market share and a low growth rate and neither generates nor consumes a large amount of cash. However, dogs are cash traps because of the money tied up in a business that has little potential. Such businesses are candidates for divestiture.

Cash Cows
As leaders in a mature market, cash cows exhibit a return on assets that is greater than the market growth rate – so they generate more cash than they consume. These units should be „milked‟ extracting the profits and investing as little as possible. They provide the cash required to turn question marks into market leaders.

Stars
Stars generate large sums of cash because of their strong relative market share, but also consume large amounts of cash because of their high growth rate. So the cash being spent and brought in approximately nets out. If a star can maintain its large market share it will become a cash cow when the market growth rate declines.
If we analyze the current position of Neo i-chill we find that the market share of the new refrigerator by Whirlpool India is growing day by day. So, we can place the Neo i-chill in the
Star position. From this analysis we can understand that Neo i-chill needs more money to be invested in it for future growth and having a good market share.

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SWOT ANALYSIS OF NEO I-CHILL:
SWOT analysis is a good tool to evaluate a product, from which we can understand what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of that particular product in the present market scenario. STRENGTH:



Neo i-chill is a latest series of Whirlpool refrigerator, having good technologies that are6th sense technology, cooling gel, auto cooling, freshonizer etc.
Neo i-chill is a product from the house of good brand Whirlpool.

WEAKNESS:



Low advertisement.
Its colour is not preferred by the customers.

OPERTUNITY:



Neo i-chill is having good opportunities that it can grab a large market.
Lifestyle trends towards latest product.

THREATS:


Competition among the major competitor brands like LG, Samsung etc.

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CONCLUSION
Through this project I got to know many things that are related to the purchase of a refrigerator, excepting this I got to know the various home appliance products available in the Reliance digital like washing machine, micro wave, and air conditioners etc. and I also got to know the customers and selling & marketing concept at Hyderabad city.
Consumer acceptance on price of the product:
In a country like India where every customers are price sensitive, it is not easy to give them price satisfaction specially when they buy a frost free 300ltr and above capacity refrigerators ,but they can be impressed by better product with better technologies. The entry of NEO I-CHILL by
Whirlpool India Ltd is enabled with better technology like flexi chill, 6th sense technology, tower cooling etc. give them satisfaction about the product. However, the customers do comparison while purchasing double door Frost Free refrigerators. There are some competitors of NEO ICHILL in the market which I would like to mention, those are as follows:
NEO I-CHILL: WPL-FF-NEOIC355TCGB4 (340L), PRICE: 27,999 (MRP: 30,500), COLOUR:
Silver Swiss.
Competitors:




LG-FF-GL338 VE4-VB (320L), price: 27,290 (MRP:28,900) with design,
Customers are getting attracted by the flower design, door cooling and durachill technology.
PANASONIC- PANA-FF-NR-BU343SS2N (342L),price:27,490 (MRP:28,590)
Customers getting attracted by bottom freezer technology and silver colour.
SAMSUNG 315L, Price:27,588 (MRP: 28,500)

NEO I-CHILL: WPL-FF-NEOIC375ACGB4 (360L), PRICE: 32,990 (MRP: 36,600), COLOUR:
Graphite
Competitors:



LG-FF-GL- 368YEQ4-BW , (350L) Price: 33,790 (MRP:36,250),Design with White flowers, booket white ,door cooling, double cooling system(Attractive colour combination).
SAMSUNG S‟S-FF-RT41LSPN-PIN, 375 L, Price: 34,250 (MRP: 36,250), Platinum colour, cool pack technology.

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NEO I-CHILL: WPL-FF-IC425TCGB4 (405L), PRICE: 35,999 (MRP: 40,000), COLOUR: Silver
Swiss.
Competitors:



LG 390L, Price: 36,790 (MRP: 38,750) steel colour, tall
PANASONIC, PANA-FF-B414SS1N-SLV, (414L), Price: 34,988 (MRP: 35,190) bottom freezer technology, silver colour.

Customers get their attraction by colours and better technologies, if they find that they are getting good colour with better technology they will prefer that brand. Now considering Neo I-chill, it has better technologies but if the customers find better colour on other brands they easily shift to the other brands like LG, SAMSUNG.

Feedback of Neo i-chill:

Customers select a refrigerator on the basis of certain parameters like1)
2)
3)
4)

Capacity.
Space.
Colour.
Advancement of technology.

While dealing with customers I find, customers like the storage capacity of NEO I-chill, the advance technology of NEO, which satisfy the customer most but when it is the question of colour, especially female customers are colour choosy so they are attracted by the colour design of other brands. However, customers really like the graphite colour of NEO. I surveyed the customer with certain question-answer, where they have clearly mentioned the advanced technology of NEO (like- 50% faster ice making, flexi cool etc.) has attracted them most.

While purchasing of a refrigerator, every customer want a latest product with better technology enabled and good interior and exterior part. But if a family (husband and wife) comes for the purpose of
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purchasing of a refrigerator, women always select the model and make purchase decision and women are colour choosy so, they always go for the exterior look of the refrigerator. The flower design of other brands present in the outlet attracts them and they choose the refrigerator. However, they admit that the technology and storage capacity present in NEO is good and if they select the refrigerator, technologywise they easily go for NEO. And it has been seen that especially the financial scheme of NEO has satisfied the customers.

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RECOMMENDATION
 As a new refrigerator Neo i-chill is excellent but the colours should be more attractive.
 It should maintain proper stock.
 Neo i-chill is having good features in it and it is now in introduction phase of its product life cycle, so new, different and attractive range with lower capacity of refrigerator should be launched and therefore to show its superiority over the other competitor brands.  Indian consumers are price sensitive so they want the same features enabled in Neo ichill with lower price. So, price should be set taking care of those consumers.
 Products and its features are excellent but there should be some more promotional activities like TV ads, to promote the new products in market.
 Advertisements should be focused on homemakers because they are the primary influencers; mostly joint decision is taken whereas the financer is husbands.
 Extended after Sales Service can be used as pull strategy of promotion to attract the customers as all customers consider it as main attribute while purchasing the product.  Internet is other sources of gathering information about refrigerators and hence the product should be heavily promoted there.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Websites:



www.google.com http://www.whirlpoolindia.com/ Books:
 Marketing Management by Philip Kotlar.

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APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE FORMAT:

Name: ____________________________________________________

Telephone/Mobile Number: ___________________________________

Email ID: __________________________________________________

When do you plan your next refrigerator purchase? _________________

Will you consider Neo I chill while making your next purchase?
Yes

No

If yes, why? ________________________________________________

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THANK YOU

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