A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ON AUTOMOTIVES WITH REFERENCE TO MARUTI SUZUKI IN BANGALORE CITY Area of project work: Bangalore Consumer

behavior: Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general. Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Research has shown that consumer behavior is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field. Relationship marketing is an influential asset for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management, personalization, customization and one-to-one marketing. INDUSTRY DETAILS: ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW: Maruti Suzuki India Limited commonly referred to as Maruti, is a subsidiary company of Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corporation. It has a market share of 44.9% of the Indian passenger car market as of March 2011. Maruti Suzuki offers a complete range of cars from entry level Maruti 800 and Alto, to hatchback Ritz, A-Star, Swift, Wagon-R, Estillo and sedans DZire, SX4, in the 'C' segment Maruti Eeco, Multi Purpose vehicle Ertiga and Sports Utility vehicle Grand Vitara.

It was the first company in India to mass-produce and sell more than a million cars. It is largely credited for having brought in an automobile revolution to India. It is the market leader in India, and on 17 September 2007, Maruti Udyog Limited was renamed as Maruti Suzuki India Limited. The company's headquarters are on Nelson Mandella Rd, New Delhi. In February 2012, the company sold its 10 millionth vehicle in India. The company exports more than 50,000 cars annually and has an extremely large domestic market in India selling over 730,000 cars annually. Maruti 800, till 2004, was the India's largest selling compact car ever since it was launched in 1983. More than a million units of this car have been sold worldwide so far. Currently, Maruti Suzuki Alto tops the sales charts but Maruti Suzuki's Swift has taken over this title by 19000 models in April 2012. Maruti Suzuki is India and Nepal's leading automobile manufacturer and the market leader in the car segment, both in terms of volume of vehicles sold and revenue earned. Until recently, 18.28% of the company was owned by the Indian government, and 54.2% by Suzuki of Japan. The BJP-led government held an initial public offering of 25% of the company in June 2003. As of 10 May 2007, the government of India sold its complete share to Indian financial institutions. Scope of the study The main purpose of the study is to know the Consumer behavior on automotives with reference to Maruti Suzuki in Bangalore city. This study will provide solutions to the management by understanding customers feedback. Through this study we will come to know: The features considered by the customers while purchasing a car. The most preferred brand by the customers. The scope of the study is restricted up to the Bangalore city.

Statement of the problem In Indian car industry, small car segments have played a very crucial and significant role due to its economy, efficiency and effectiveness. Due to invasion of foreign cars into Indian markets, the pace of competition has hiked. This has brought into market, number of Brands and their variants competing with each other. All these factors have resulted in flux in the minds of the customers as to which brand to go for. In other words, Brand-switching is gaining the momentum. So to position the brand in the minds of the customers the company or dealer should keep the track of this shift in preferences. Hence the main purpose of this study is to find the consumer behavior on automotives with reference to maruti Suzuki in Bangalore city. Review of Literature:
Previously the study conducted by a student, Babasab Patil in June, 2012 on THE IMPACT OF BRAND PREFERENCE AMONG B-SEGMENT CARS ON BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF CUSTOMERS AT BELGAUM CITY fetched the following result: The results of the survey conducted showed that Maruti Alto Brand is the most preferred car followed by Santro and it also showed the buying behaviour of customers that the most of the customer purchase car based on mileage followed by price and maintenance.

METHODOLOGY Objectives of the study 1. To understand the Buying behaviour of customers. 2. To know the facilities/services expected by the customers from the dealer.

HYPOTHESIS NULL HYPOTHESIS (H0): There are not many factors affecting Consumer behavior on automotives with reference to Maruti Suzuki in Bangalore city. ALTERNATE HYPOTHESIS (H-alpha): There are many factors affecting Consumer behavior on automotives with reference to Maruti Suzuki in Bangalore city.

Proposed tool to be used: chi square test Sampling plan and methodology: Sampling technique: Random sampling Location: Bangalore Sample size: 100

REFERENCES: