A business research project on Malabar gold jewellery store

Submitted to:
A.K Gupta (Lecturer)
Accman Institute of Management

Submitted by:
MOHD.ARISH

Acknowledgement
We take the opportunity to express our gratitude to all the respondents, who has helped us to achieve such results and finish the project on time. This research project could not have been possible without their dedication, patience, assistance and cooperation. We thank our seniors Nabin Shaw and Tirthankar Basu for helping us when we needed some guidance for the project. We particularly gratify prof. A.K Gupta for his guidance throughout the project. We thank our mentor Mr Narayan Iyer for providing us with all the necessary statistics. We also thank our parents who have selflessly financed our project work. As we all know this project is very important for us for the partial fulfilment of PGDM. As this project will provide us with knowledge far greater than what we have in the books. So the importance of this project is far greater than only educational qualification. Above all, we thank GOD, Almighty for the immense wishes and blessings that gave us motivation and confidence to complete this project on time.

Verified respondents
S. No.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Name
Amrita Lala Ankita saigal Abhilasha Gupta Ankit Gupta Akhilesh Jadav Arupa Kumari Ashwini Malik Bani walia Bandana Sharma Bhavna Kaur Candra Dubey Danny Khanna Deepika Iyer Deepti Siddhanta Debjani Malik Debolina Mehta Dimple Khanna Disha Kaur Deepshika Garg Dipali Jain Esha Kaur Fatema Begam Godhuli Agarwal Ganga Virani

Sex
F F F M M F M F F F F M F F F F F F F F F F F F

Age
17 23 27 28 19 20 21 24 22 25 18 28 16 26 32 35 23 22 37 24 22 28 31 23

S. No.
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Name
Gourav Sexana Himani Agarwal Jyoti Agarwal Janvi Kapoor Kamal Kaur Kangna Rai Kakoli Gupta Kirti Chauhan Karthik Chauhan Koyel Kundu Khusboo Kajol Sharma Latika gupta Lokesh Ranjan Manisha Saha Mousumi Ghosh Moumita Chowdhury Madhushree Mondal Manisha Chakraborty Monijita Moitra Natasha Srivastav Nishi Sinha Nandini Pradhan Neha Verma Neha Gupta Nikita Singh

Sex
M F F F F F F F M F F F F M F F F F F F F F F F F F

Age
27 25 21 25 17 28 19 18 28 22 21 22 27 17 23 24 17 32 30 25 33 16 36 32 22 37

S. No.
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75

Name
Nikita Shah Naina Sharma Payel Basu Piyali Basu Piya Chatterjee Priyanka Pal Pritha Mittal Priyambada Sharma Pratiksha Gupta Priyanka Chaudhury Pallavi Saxena Pritanjali Alluwalia Rimpa Pal Rajni Banerjee Reshmi Gupta Rupsa Banerjee Rupal Srivastav Somoshree Sinha Sonam Singh Sonalika Biswas Sonhar Singh Sonali Saha Sonali Singh Shreya Dey Sahana Dutta

Sex
F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F M F F F F

Age
38 29 49 30 22 34 22 25 37 38 27 36 32 34 31 32 22 30 21 33 42 17 50 55 56

S. No.
76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

Name
Sangita Choudhary Sikha Agarwal Soma Kundu Sona Mohanti Sriji Mehta Sriparna Majumder Sukla Sarkar Suparna Chakraborty Sudeshna Roy Sukla Sarkar Subha Gupta Suchi Singh Sunny Manchandani Sahana Dutta Sangita Chauhan Sikha Agarwal Soma Kundu Sriji Mehta Suchita Singh Sabita Kapoor Tuli Das Tanushree Ghosh Taniya Thakur Uma Das Vaibhab Tripathy

Sex
F F F F F F F F F F F F M F F F F F F F F F F F M

Age
19 40 41 17 39 43 58 60 16 40 41 39 33 50 31 33 27 23 45 40 16 34 32 21 65

Preface
Business research is the process of designing, gathering, analyzing, and reporting information that may be used to solve a specific business problem. As we all know market research is an ancient technique to find out how one things rank against each other. It has been used since the time began. Market research comprises one of the most important and fascinating facets of marketing. The ethical aspects of market research and the responsibilities each of the marketing research stakeholders have to themselves, one another, and the research project presented and developed in more detail throughout the text.

Synopsis

Objective: Researchers: Research Guide:

To know the preference jewellery among women.

of

Rahul, Rupak, Anirban, Aveek, Piyali Prof A.K Gupta Nabin Shaw Tirthankar Basu Narayan Iyer

Project Duration: Area of Research: Sample Unit: Sample size: Methodology:

45 days

Women 25 Descriptive research and conclusive research (Random sampling)

Sample tool used:

Questionnaire

Contents
Design of the study: o Introduction of the study o Objectives o Statement of the problem o Scope of the study o Methodology of data collections o Limitation of the study Gold Industry: o Introduction o History o Applications o Occurrence o Production o Price o Current supply and demand statistics o Factors influencing gold prices

o Indian jems jewellery industry Malabar Gold: o Introduction o History o Area of operation o Malabar Gold - Kasaragod Unit o Management & Staff o Special Features o Mission o Social responsibility o Organizational Structure o Sources of fund o Details of Malabar Gold collections Consumer Behaviour: o Introduction o Consumer Behaviour o Buyer an enigma o Factors influencing consumer behaviour

o Outlet selection and purchase o Purchase behaviour o Post purchase behaviour Consumer behaviour analysis of customers of Malabar Gold: o Introduction o Analysis of data Finding and suggestions: o Introduction o Findings o Suggestions o Conclusion o References o Few Snaps o Questionnaire

List of tables
o Sex-wise classification of respondents o Different income group of respondents o Marital status of respondents o Different age group of respondents o Product-wise classification of respondents o Awareness of respondents about products other than Gold o Classification based on amount of Gold owned o Satisfaction on making charges o Advertisement of Malabar Gold o Factors influencing purchase o Satisfaction with showroom facility o Rating of designs available o Response on complaints registered o Salesman responsiveness o Rating on service facility Rating on overall service

o Level satisfaction o Insistence on well wishers

List of graphs
o Sex-wise classification of respondents o Different income group of respondents o Marital status of respondents o Different age group of respondents o Product-wise classification of respondents o Awareness of respondents about products other than Gold o Classification based on amount of Gold owned o Satisfaction on making charges o Advertisement of Malabar Gold o Factors influencing purchase o Satisfaction with showroom facility

o Rating of designs available o Response on complaints registered o Salesman responsiveness o Rating on service facility o Rating on overall service o Level satisfaction o Insistence on well wishers

Design Of The Study

Introduction to the study

Society is a diversified in all aspects. We see this among consumers, marketers, producers and even among consumer behaviour from theoretical aspects. The study of consumer behaviour enables marketer to predict consumer behaviour in the market; it also produces under standing of the role that consumption has in the lives of individuals. Consumer behaviour is defined as a behaviour that consumers display while searching for purchase, using, evaluation and disposal of products, services and ideas that they to satisfy their needs. The study o f consumer behaviour is concerned not only with what consumers buy, but also with what they buy it, when, from where and how they buy it and how often they buy it. It is concerned with learning the specific meanings that products hold for consumers. Consumer research takes place at every phase of the consumption process; before the purchase, during the purchase and after purchases.

Consumer behaviour is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It attempts to understand the buyer decision processes/buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, psychographics, 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. What we buy, how we buy, where and when we buy, in how much quantity we buy depends on our perception, self concept, social and cultural background and our age and family cycle, our attitudes, beliefs, values motivation, personality, social class and many other factors that are both internal and external to us. Consumer behaviour is interdisciplinary; i.e. it is based on concepts and theories about people that have been developed by scientist in such diverse disciplines as psychology, sociology, social psychology, cultural anthropology and economics.

Consumer research is the methodology used to study consumer behaviour. The study of consumer behaviour is the study of how individuals make decision to spend their available resources on consumption elated items. It includes the study of what, why, when and form where they buy etc. Consumer behaviour is a relatively new field of study emerged in late 1960s with no history or body of research of its own unlike branches of economics. Many early theories concerning consumer behaviour were based on economic theory on the notion that individuals act to maximize their benefits in the purchase of goods and services. There are number of reasons why the study of consumer behaviour developed as a separate marketing discipline. As sum as the marketing researchers began to study the buying behaviour of customers, they realized that, despite a something me too approach to fashions, many consumer rebelled at using the identical products everyone else used. The primary purpose or studying as part

of a marketing curriculum is to understand why and how consumers make their purchase decisions. These insights enable marketer to design more effective marketing strategies. Consumer behaviour has become an integral part of strategic market planning. The belief that ethics and responsibility should also be integral components of every marketing concept, which calls on marketer to fulfil the needs of their target market in ways that improve society as a whole. In addition to studying consumer uses and purchase and post purchase evaluations of the product they buy, consumers researchers are also interested in how individuals dispose the other ones new purchase.

Objective
To analyse the behaviour of customers of Malabar Gold. To know the motivating factors of consumers in purchasing products of Malabar Gold. To know how brand preference is formed in purchasing Malabar Golds ornaments among consumers. To analyse marketing strategies of Malabar Gold. To ascertain the level of brand loyalty and brand image associated by consumer with a brand name Malabar Gold and the reason for this. To measure the level of satisfaction of customers of Malabar Gold. To study the consumer perception towards Malabar Gold.

Statement of the problem

The MALABAR GROUP OF COMPANIES has launched its gold ornaments outlet named MALABAR GOLD with entire package of offers and with unique collections of designs. So after 15 years of business and service, it is important to know how the customers behaviour is against its competition and how effective has been the product positioning. After the purchase of specialty goods or shopping goods, the customer exhibits post purchase behaviour. It may be either cognitive consonance or cognitive dissonance. The consonance leads to dissatisfaction. But when it comes to customers going in high value premium segment goods such as gold, diamond and platinum ornaments, in a high competitive with too many players in the market, then the customer surely has a wide range of choice to choose from and carefully evaluates the different showrooms before making a purchase decision. In such a situation, any of purchase dissonance will lead to very high degree of dissatisfaction, which may also lead to spreading negative option to the prospective buyer of jewellers outlet. The MALABAR GROUP OF COMPANIES has launched its gold ornaments outlet named MALABAR GOLD with entire package of offers and with unique collections of designs. So after 15 years of

business and service, it is important to know how the customers behaviour is against its competition and how effective has been the product positioning. After the purchase of specialty goods or shopping goods, the customer exhibits post purchase behaviour. It may be either cognitive consonance or cognitive dissonance. The consonance leads to dissatisfaction. But when it comes to customers going in high value premium segment goods such as gold, diamond and platinum ornaments, in a high competitive with too many players in the market, then the customer surely has a wide range of choice to choose from and carefully evaluates the different showrooms before making a purchase decision. In such a situation, any of purchase dissonance will lead to very high degree of dissatisfaction, which may also lead to spreading negative option to the prospective buyer of jewellers outlet.

Scope of the study

This study of under standing the behaviour of the customers on jewellery brand, namely MALABAR GOLD, apart from helping to acquire a better insight and understanding into the vital, but trivial aspects of the jewellery market, it also helps in assessing the companies strength and weakness against the competing jewellery brands. Thus helping in finding the loop holes in the companys products on in finding logical solutions to the problems.

This study helps in finding out: How the customers rate the various attributes in Malabar Gold as against other competitors. How effective has been the company in positioning Malabar Gold as a reputed jewellery showroom. How effective has the companys marketing strategy of low making charge, with offering a whole lot of unique features provided in the market.

Methodology for data collection

1. Source of data: There are broadly two types of data available to a researcher. They are; (a) Primary data (b) Secondary data Primary data: It refers to the first hand information collected by the researcher, specific to the research problem. It includes using different primary data collection tools such as personal interview using questionnaires, telephone surveys, mail surveys etc. For the present study, primary data was collected by survey method using questionnaires. Secondary data: It is the information that already exists for another purpose. This refers to all those data which are collected for some earlier research work. The secondary data for this work was obtained form company profile, company magazines, website, newspapers, internet, text books, reports and form company brochures and other promotional materials. 2. Sampling:

In the consumer market research, there is a problem of selecting a sample of few hundred respondents from a vast population. The reason for sampling is that it is not possible to cover the entire population in the field of research.

SAMPLING DESIGN Type of sample: Sampling: Simple random For this study the respondents were customer of Malabar Gold only were selected. Structured closed ended questionnaire. The respondents were contacted personally and interviewed.

Research instruments: Method:

Limitations of the study

The main limitations are: Time limitation for compelling the project. The data obtained in some cases may be biased. Difficulty in communication within the city while conducting the survey. The information obtained from the consumers based on questionnaires was assumed to be factual. Since the survey is based on sampling method, it does not disclose the character of the entire customers.

Gold industry

Introduction
Gold has long been considered the most desirable of precious metals, and its value has been used as the standard for many currencies in history. Gold has been used as a symbol for purity, value, royalty. One of the salient features about the gold is that a single gram of weight is not at all wasted since its exploration. It has been rounding in different hands in one or the other way. The history of gold starts from 2600BC. A huge description is available in the Egyptian Hieroglyphs. It may be the first metal used by humans and was valued for ornamentation and rituals. Important locations famous in the name of gold are Red sea in Saudi Arabia, Lydia, Romania, Las medullas, in Spain, Rosia Montana in Transylvania, Central America, Peru and Columbia. Today, gold has emerged as an important mean for investments also. Volatile markets and unstable economic conditions have also added to it. China is largest producer followed by South Africa. But India is the largest consumer of gold, where it is largely used for jewellery together with investment. Indias diversified religious customs and rituals have helped to the high demand for gold.

History
The symbol for the Sun has been used since ancient times to represent gold. The Turin mining papyrus Gold has been known and highly-valued since prehistoric times. It may have been the first metal used by humans and was valued for ornamentation and rituals. Egyptian hieroglyphs from as early as 2600 BC describe gold, which king Tushratta of the Mitanni claimed was "more plentiful than dirt" in Egypt. The south-east corner of the Black Sea was famed for its gold. Exploitation is said to date from the time of Midas, and this gold was important in the establishment of what is probably the world's earliest Coinage in Lydia between 643 and 630 BC. The Romans developed new methods for extracting gold on a large scale using hydraulic mining methods, especially in Spain from 25 BC onwards and in Romania from 150 AD onwards. The Mali Empire in Africa was famed throughout the old world for its large amounts of gold. Mansa Musa, ruler of the empire (13121337) became famous throughout the old world for his great hajj to Mecca in 1324. When he passed through Cairo in July of 1324, he was reportedly accompanied by a camel train that included thousands of people and nearly a

hundred camels. He gave away so much gold that it took over a decade for the economy across North Africa to recover, due to the rapid inflation that it initiated. During the 19th century, gold rushes occurred whenever large gold deposits were discovered. The first documented discovery of gold in the United States was at the Reed Gold Mine near George Ville, North Carolina in 1803. The first major gold strike in the United States occurred in a small north Georgia town called Dahlonega. Further gold rushes occurred in California, Colorado, Otago, Australia, Witwatersrand, Black Hills, and Klondike. Because of its historically high value, much of the gold mined throughout history is still in circulation in one form or another.

applications
In various countries, gold is used as a standard for monetary exchange, in coinage and in jewellery. Pure gold is too soft for ordinary use and is typically hardened by alloying with copper or other base metals. The gold content of gold alloys is measured in carats (k), pure gold being designated as 24k.

As a medium of monetary exchange

Gold coins intended for circulation from 1526 into the 1930s were typically a standard 22k alloy called crown gold, for hardness. Modern collector/investment bullion coins are typically 24k, although the American Gold Eagle and British gold sovereign continue to be made at 22k, on historical tradition. The world wide used coins are American Gold Eagle, British Gold Sovereign, Canadian Gold Maple Leaf, Gold Kangaroos, Australian Gold Nugget, Australian Lunar Calendar Series, Austrian Philharmonic and American Buffalo.

Jewellery
Because of the softness of pure (24k) gold, it is usually alloyed with base metals for use in jewellery, altering its hardness and ductility, melting point, colour and other properties. Alloys with lower cartage, typically 22k, 18k, 14k or 10k, contain higher percentages of copper, or other base metals or silver or palladium in the alloy. Copper is the most commonly used base metal, yielding a redder colour. 18k gold containing 25% copper is found in antique and Russian jewellery and has a distinct, though not

dominant, copper cast, creating rose gold. Fourteen carat gold-copper alloy is nearly identical in colour to certain bronze alloys, and both may be used to produce police and other badges. Blue gold can be made by alloying with iron and purple gold can be made by alloying with aluminium, although rarely done except in specialize jewellery. Blue gold is more brittle and therefore more difficult to work with when making jewellery. Fourteen and eighteen carat gold alloys with silver alone appear greenish-yellow and are referred to as green gold. White gold alloys can be made with palladium or nickel. White 18 carat gold containing 17.3% nickel, 5.5% zinc and 2.2% copper is silver in appearance.

Other uses
Salts and radio scopes of gold are used in pharmacology. Gold leaf, flakes or dust is used in some gourmet foodstuffs, sweets and drinks as decorative ingredient. Gold is used in dentistry as crowns and permanent bridges. Gold threads are used in embroidery Gold has been used for electrical wiring in some high energy applications, atomic experiment and other electrical equipments. Olympics, Nobel Prize and other competitions and honours award a gold medal to the winner.

Occurrence
In nature, gold most often occurs in its native state (that is, as a metal), though usually alloyed with silver. Native gold contains usually eight to ten per cent silver, but often much more - alloys with a silver content over 20% are called electrum. As the amount of silver increases, the colour becomes whiter and the specific gravity becomes lower. Ores bearing native gold consist of grains or microscopic particles of metallic gold embedded in rock, often in association with veins of quartz or sulphide minerals like pyrite. These are called "lode" deposits. Native gold is also found in the form of free flakes, grains or larger nuggets that have been eroded from rocks and end up in alluvial deposits (called placer deposits). Such free gold is always richer at the surface of gold bearing veins owing to the oxidation of accompanying minerals followed by weathering, and washing of the dust into streams and rivers, where it collects and can be welded by water action to form nuggets.

Gold minerals
Gold usually occurs in nature as the native element or as the gold silver alloy electrum. Gold does occur combined with tellurium as the minerals calaverite, krennerite, nagyagite, petzite and sylvanite. Gold also occurs as the rare bismuthide maldonite (Au2Bi) and the antimonide aurostibite (AuSb2). Gold also occurs as rare alloys with copper, lead, and mercury: the minerals auricupride (Cu3Au), novodneprite (AuPb3) and weishanite (AuAg)3Hg2).

Production
Since the 1880s, South Africa has been the source for a large proportion of the worlds gold supply, with about 50% of all gold ever produced having come from South Africa. Production in 1970 accounted for 79% of the world supply, producing about 1,000 tones. However by 2007 production was just 272 tones. This sharp decline was due to the increasing difficulty of extraction, changing economic factors affecting the industry, and tightened safety auditing. In 2007 China (with 276 tones) overtook South Africa as the world's largest gold producer, the first time since 1905 that South Africa has not been the largest.

Other major producers are United States, Australia, China, Russia and Peru. Mines in South Dakota and Nevada supply two-thirds of gold used in the United States. In South America, the controversial project Pascua Lama aims at exploitation of rich fields in the high mountains of Atacama Desert, at the border between Chile and Argentina. Today about onequarter of the world gold output is estimated to originate from artisanal or small scale mining. After initial production, gold is often subsequently refined industrially by the Wohlwill process or the Miller process. Other methods of assaying and purifying smaller amounts of gold include parting and inquartation as well as cupellation, or refining methods based on the dissolution of gold in aqua regia. The world's oceans hold a vast amount of gold, but in very low concentrations (perhaps 12 parts per 10 billion).

Price
Like other precious metals, gold is measured by troy weight and by grams. When it is alloyed with other metals the term carat or karat is used to indicate the amount of gold present, with 24 karats being pure gold and lower ratings proportionally less. The purity

of a gold bar can also be expressed as a decimal figure ranging from 0 to 1, known as the millesimal fineness, such as 0.995 being very pure. The price of gold is determined on the open market, but a procedure known as the Gold Fixing in London, originating in September 1919, provides a daily benchmark figure to the industry. The afternoon fixing appeared in 1968 to fix a price when US markets are open.

Current demand and supply statistics Gold supply and demand Q4:2009:
At US$23.6bn, global dollar demand for gold reached new heights in the last quarter of 2009, rising 12% on year earlier levels. Global investment demand for gold showed the strongest surge, reaching $3.9 billion in Q4 2009, 29% higher than Q4 2009, with particular strength in the US, China, Egypt and Vietnam. Despite a number of markets turning to gold due to its investment attributes as a safe haven in times of rising inflation and unstable equity markets, identifiable global investment demand in tonnage terms was down by 4% over Q4

2008 to 119.8, as some investors took profits. This decline represents a 9% decrease in net retail investment, which was partly offset by a move to positive net investment in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and similar products.

FACTORS INFLUENCING GOLD PRICE

Today, like all investments and commodities, the price of gold is ultimately driven by supply and demand, including hoarding and disposal. Unlike most other commodities, the hoarding and disposal plays a much bigger role in affecting the price, because most of the gold ever mined still exists and is potentially able to come on to the market for the right price.

Bank failures
When dollars were fully convertible into gold, both were regarded as money. However, most people preferred to carry around paper banknotes rather than the somewhat heavier and less divisible gold coins.

Low or negative real interest rates

If the return on bonds, equities and real estate is not adequately compensating for risk and inflation then the demand for gold and other alternative investments such as commodities increases.

War, invasion, looting, crisis

In times of national crisis, people fear that their assets may be seized and that the currency may become worthless. They see gold as a solid asset which will always buy food or transportation. Thus in times of great uncertainty, particularly when war is feared, the demand for gold rises.

INDIAN JEMS JEWELERY INDUSTRY

The exports of gems and jewellery registered an upbeat growth of per cent in dollar terms during AprilSeptember 2007-2008. In 2007-2008 the exports of this sector increased by 16.8% and crossed a level of US$10.5. This is a particularly interesting industry from an Indian stand point, since it involves imported raw materials, domestic value added and global markets and provides skilled employment. Indian gems firms are tightly integrated into global production chains. In order to give a boost to exports of gems and jewellery, Government took major policy initiative during the same year.

OVERVIEW OF GOLD INDUSTRY IN INDIA

India is the largest consumer of gold in the world followed by China and Japan. India is emerging as worlds largest trading centre of gold with a target of US$18 bn set for 2011. India dominates the worlds cut and polished diamonds (CPD) market. In value terms, the country accounts for approximately 55% of global polished diamond market and nearly 9% of the jewellery market. Surat contributes 90% of Indias total diamond exports. Indias domestics branded jewellery market is estimated at Rs 600-700 crores. There are 13 bullion importing bank in India.

 Indias gem and Jewellery Exports Promotion Council (GJEPC) is aiming at turning India into an international diamond trading centre. Since India is already enjoying 80-85% of the world CPD market, scope for further growth in diamond exports is limited. Hence, if Indias gems and jewellery sector is to substantially increase exports, the best lies in the jeweller sub sector. Indias imports an average of 18000 bars a day, about 70% of the total demand and the balance is being sourced to indigenous output and metal recycled from old jewelleries. The main reason why India has not made a dent in jeweller exports market is the existence of government restrictions in their domestic jewellery industry in the pre-economic liberalization era. If the gold jewellery exports are to be encouraged, it would be necessary to allow bulk imports of gold which would have to be converted to jewellery and then exported.

Malabar Gold

Introduction
Malabar Gold Pvt Ltd is a unit of a corporative setup called Malabar Group of Companies. It is one among the 26 units or firms under Malabar Group of Companies. Today Malabar Gold is a leading jeweller in south India and Middle East. It has not only retail outlets but also runs wholesale outlets too. Malabar Gold is reputed jeweller maker and has millions of customers across India and outside.

History
The name Malabar itself gives a clear idea of its origin, it was born on 5th July 1993 at Kozhikode, which is known as heart of Malabar i.e., northern Kerala. The founder of Malabar Gold is Mr M.P Ahamed, who is the present chairman. Earlier Malabar Gold was known as Malabar Jewellers. The present corporate office is at Kozhikode. Within 15 years Malabar Gold is successful in spreading its wings throughout Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Gulf countries.

Area of operation

Malabar Gold has opened its outlets throughout South India and Gulf countries. In total it has 26 outlets including wholesale outlets. They are listed as below: Kerala: Calicut, Kannur, Thalassery, Kasaragod, Palakad, Manjeri, Trissur, Perinthalmannna, Vadakara, Kochi, Edappal, Kodungalloor, Kanhagad, Thodupuzha, Sulthan Bathery. Karnataka: Mangalore, Bangalore (2 outlets). Tamilnadu: Tirur, Erode. Andhra Pradesh: Hyderabad. UAE: Sharjah, Ajman, Al-Ain, Bur-Dubai. They are also planning to extend their business in Payyannur, Coimbatore, Mysore and Tiruvananthapuram.

Malabar GOLD- KASARAGOD UNIT

Malabar Gold opened its franchise in Kasaragod on 7th December 2003. It was inaugurated by Panakad Hyderali Shihab Thangal. It is located in the Century Park shopping complex, near municipal new bus stand. The showroom is fully air conditioned and has a good parking facility too.

MANAGEMENT AND STAFF

Management is concerned with the accomplishment of objectives by utilizing physical and financial resources through the efforts of manpower. Staffs refer to the human resources within an organization. The Kasaragod unit is lead by a very good team headed by Mr P.A. Ibrahim Haji who is the General Manager. Altogether it has 64 employees. Persons with their destinations are listed below: Sales Manager: Purchase Manager: Accountant: Packing Manager: Mr Chandra Shekaran Nair Mr Shahid P.C Mr Thomas Mr Shaji K

Special features of Malabar Gold

Exclusive showroom for 100% BIS hallmarked 916 gold collections. A vast array of modern designer collections from India, Singapore, Europe, Middle East etc. Pure value for money guaranteed while buying and selling. Lifelong guarantee and free maintenance for gold ornaments. German made gold check carat analyser to check the purity of gold while buying and selling gold. Exclusive collections of MG diamonds. IGI certificate of authenticity and buy back guarantee for diamond ornaments. Special counter for world class branded watches like Omega, Rado, Mont Blanc, Seiko, Foce, Tissot, Espirit, Continental, Police, Tag Heuer, Caterpillar, D4 swiss, Accurate and Citizen. 2 years international warranty and after sale service for Swiss made watches. International Gemological Institutes certificate for diamond ornaments. PGI certificate for platinum ornaments. Availability of well trained professional sales executives. Certain percentage of profit is reserved for charity.

MISSION OF THE ORGANISATION

Vision of the organization is as follows: To provide employment opportunity to educated people. To training to unskilled persons. To provide employment to persons from rural area. To provide good quality products at reasonable price. To give customers the best value for their money. To provide good working conditions. To earn reasonable profit.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF MALABAR GOLD

Social responsibility means the obligation of a business to act in manner, which will serve the best interest of the society.

Towards the employees

Workers are, indeed the pillars of the organization. They are the important part of the organization. It is therefore very necessary to keep them satisfied and give them in due. According to modern philosophy, labour is a human being and worker next. Malabar Gold has to ensure job security for their workers and has to pay reasonable salaries for their effort. It also creates good working conditions like good lighting, ventilation, air conditioning etc. to its employees. The company also provides ESI to their staff. They are provided with accommodation, insurance coverage and uniforms to the staff. The firm also ensures selection and recruitment is being done without any discrimination like caste, colour, religion, and state.

Towards the customers

The satisfaction of the customers should be the primary concern of every business concern. Malabar Gold ensures marketing of such goods which are demanded by the customers based on their taste and preferences. It also ensures adequate supply of good quality products at reasonable price. After all their punch line is beauty meets quality.

Towards the society

Every organization has responsibility not only towards employees and customers but also towards the society also. Malabar Gold ensures maximum utilization of nations rich resources. They try to dispose less wastage. Together with this they also create more employment opportunities. Provide jobs for unemployed youths of rural area. It also maintains good relation with local area.

ORGANISATONAL STRUCTURE
An organizational structure explains how authority and responsibility flows from one head to other. In Malabar Gold Managing Director is at the top level. He sets the plans and policies. He controls each and every corner of the showroom. Malabar Gold follows the centralized form of structure. It means that all powers are vested with the op level management. The organization mainly has 4 departments and each department its own departmental heads and trainees.

Sources of funds
The main sources of the funds are bank loans and from other financial institutions. Almost half of the capital are owned fund.

DETAILS OF MALABAR GOLD COLLECTIONS

The exclusive collections of Malabar Gold include: World class designer jewellery from Italy, Turkey, Korea, Bahrain and Singapore. Traditional jewelleries from Karnataka and Kerala. Royal Mughal collections Karachi bangles. Calcutta collections. Rajkot collections. Zara collections. Antique collections.

 Hansa collections. Bombay and Bombay special collections. Signity studded jewelry. Daily wear bangles and chains. Formal or work wear jewelry. Navrathna, birthstones, lucky stones studded with gold. Platinum ornaments with 950 Purity Assurance Card. Wide range world class branded watches like Omega, Rado, Mont Blanc, Seiko, Foce, Tissot, Espirit, Continental, Police, Tag Heuer, Caterpillar, D4 swiss, Accurate and Citizen. Varied collections of their own brand diamond collection called MG diamonds.

Consumer Behaviour

Introduction
All of us are consumers. We consume things of daily use; we also consume and buy these products according to our needs, preferences and buying power. These can be consumable goods, durable goods, specialty goods or industrial goods. What we buy, how we buy, where and when we buy, in how much quantity we buy depends on our perception, self concept, social and cultural background and our age and family cycle, our attitudes, beliefs, values motivation, personality, social class and many other factors that are both internal and external to us.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Consumer behaviour is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, sociopsychology, anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision processes/buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, psychographics, 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. Belch and Belch define consumer behaviour as 'the process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires'.

Buyer- an enigma
Although it is important for the firm to understand the buyer and accordingly evolve it marketing strategy, the buyer or consumer continues to be an enigma sometimes responding the way the marketer wants and on other occasions just refusing to buy the product from the same marketer. For this reason, ht buyers mind has been termed as a black box, the marketer provides stimuli but he is uncertain of the buyers response. This stimulus is a combination of product, brand name, colour, style, packaging, intangible services, merchandizing, shelf display, advertising, distribution, publicity and so forth. Further todays customer is being greatly influenced by the media especially electronic. Technological developments in the field of information, biotechnology and genetics, and intensive competitions in all products and services are also impacting consumer choices.

FACTORS INFLUENCIG CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The factors that influence consumer behavior can be classified into internal factors and external environmental factors. External factors do not affect the decision process directly, but percolate or filter through the individual determinants, to influence the decision process. The individual determinants that affect consumer behaviour are: Motivation and involvement Attitudes Personality and self concept Learning and memory Information processing The external influences or factors are: Cultural influences Sub-cultural influences Social class influences Social group influences Family influences Personal influences Other influences

MODELS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

We have already seen that there are many factors which influence the decision making of consumers. There are various consumer models which help in the under standing of consumer behavior. They are formulated by different economist and management scientist based on various ideas. They are: Economic Model Psychological Model Input process output Model Sociological Model Hawrath Sheth Model Sociological Model Engel-Blackwell-Kollath Model Model of family decision making Nicosia Model A model of industrial buying behaviour

TOOLS TO STUDY CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

It is important to marketer to regularly study buyer behaviour. The different tools available to him or her are:

Surveys
This is the most common technique used in studying consumer behaviour. It involves the use of questionnaires. Different scaling techniques like Likert and Thurstone are used to measure consumer attitudes. The problem with survey methodology is that it gives to marketer only conscious response of the customer.

Projective Techniques
To throw the customer off his or her conscious level and to get know subconscious-level responses, projective techniques like word association, picture association and thematic appreciation tests have been used. This provides valuable information on his or her product or brand and about the customers lifestyle and self concept.

Focus Group Discussions

This is another qualitative technique used to assess how customers perceive the product and use situations. It also provides the marketer with valuable information on the target market.

OUTLET SELECTION AND PURCHASE

As the number of product and brands are increasing in the market, so are the retail outlets and it becomes very confusing for the customers to choose the retail stores. The selecting of a retail store also involves almost the same process as selecting a brand. A retail outlet relates to a service or a product which caters to the consumer. The retail trade occurs from the stores but, it also occurs from catalogues, direct mail via print media, television and radio. Retailing is also done in weekly markets which are put up in different areas of a city on different days. It is also done from consumer, by means of various media. It has become very challenging and exciting, both for consumers and marketers. The consumer may give first preference to the store or the product or, he may give equal importance to both. Sometimes one prefers a store first, where he can get friendly and logical advice to buy the product or brand of second priority, if he is assured of proper service and proper guidance, rather than buying a product of his choice on first priority and missing out on other important aspects of purchase.

PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR
We have seen that in many products, decision-making is a very lengthy process, and takes a very long time. The problem is recognized and a lot of information is gathered. After this is done, the last two stages of decision-making, that is, the purchase and post purchase come into play. Purchase is very important as it generates revenue, and post purchase gives us an idea of the likes and dislikes of the consumer. Post purchase behaviour also establishes s link between the marketer and the target market segment. Purchase is important to the marketer as the product was planned, produced, priced, promoted and distributed after a lot of effort. If purchase does not take place, the marketer has failed in his marketing effort. He then needs to change the marketing mix. He has to change entire strategy, as the ultimate aim of the marketer is to float a product which will generate revenue and bring satisfaction to the customers. Purchase is important for his success, for achieving his objectives and for formulating competitive strategies against the competitors. It marks the end of his search, end of his efforts and chooses the brand of his choice for expected benefits.

POST PURCHASE Behaviour

It is important for the marketer to know whether his product is liked by the consumer or not. He wants the feedback about his product so that corrective action, if necessary, can be taken, and the marketing mix be modified accordingly. Post purchase behaviour is the reaction of the consumers; it gives an idea of his likes and dislikes, preferences and attitudes and satisfaction towards the product. It indicates whether or not the purchase motives have been achieved. Purchase is the means and post purchase is the end. Post purchase behaviour indicates whether or not repeat purchase will be made, whether the customer will recommend the product to others or not. It indicates whether long term profits can or cannot be expected. All this can be found out by the post purchase behaviour or the customers. Post purchase is the last phase in the decision making process.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS OF CUSTOMERS OF MALABAR GOLD

INTRODUCTION
In this chapter an attempt is made to study about behaviour of consumers of consumers in Kasaragod district about Malabar gold.

ANALYSIS OF DATA
Table No. 1
Showing the no. of customers in sex classes:
Category Male Female Total No. of Respondents Percentage

10 90 100

10 % 90 % 100 %

Chart no.1:- Sex wise classification of the respondents

percentage
Male Female

10%

90%

Interpretation
We have surveyed 100 people from which 90 were female and 10 were men. We chose women as the dominating influence as jewellery is mostly a womens accessory. Women mostly use jewellery such as bangles, necklace, rings etc. But men mostly use rings and a bit of necklace as their jewellery. So women use more variety of jewellery than men, hence we concentrated on surveying women rather than men.

Table No. 2
Showing the no. of respondents belonging to different income level
Income Group (in Rs)
Below 12000

No. of respondents
10

Percentage
10

12000-16000 16000-20000 Above 20000 Total

30 40 20 50

30 40 20 100

Chart No. 2
Income Level
Percentage No. of Respondents

Above 20000

20% 10 40% 20 30% 15 10% 5

16000-20000

12000-16000

Below 12000

No of respondents
10 20

Below 12000 30 12000-16000 16000-20000 Above 20000

40

Interpretation:
We have found that 40% of the 100 people we surveyed had their family income in between rs 16000-20000. 30% of them ranged about 1200016000 and below 12000 gathered 10 candidates. We then have the above average group with rs 20000 as their family income. Hence we come to the conclusion that the average family income of the middle class people who buy golden jewellleries from MALABAR GOLD is between 16000-20000.

Table No. 3
Showing the marital status of the customers
Status Unmarried Married Total No. of Respondents 12 88 50 Percentage 12% 88% 100%

Chart No. 3
Percentage
12%

Unmarried Married

88%

No of respondents

100 80 60 40 20 0 Unmarried Married No of respondents

Interpretation
Through this survey we found out that 88% of the of the 100 people we surveyed are married. It gives us a clear indication that married men and women use jewellery more as after marriage one has to wear more jewellery than that of the unmarried ones. 12 of the 100 people who were shopping at Malabar Gold wore rings and bangals before marriage.

Table 4
Showing the no. of respondents belonging to different age groups. Age Below 18 18-28 28-38 Above 38 Total No. Of respondents 16 44 28 12 100 Percentage 16% 44% 28% 12% 100%

Chart No. 4
Percentage of age group
12

16

28

Below 18 18-28 28-38 44 Above 38

Agegroup
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Below 18 18-28 28-38 Above 38 Agegroup

Interpretation

Through the study we found that women and mens age ranging from 18-28 wear most of the jewelleries as this is the best age for getting married and we found that women and men above the age wear too little jewellery. Men and women falling below the age of 18 also wear little jewellery.

Table 5
Product wise classification of customers: Product Gold Watch Platinum Diamond Total No. Of respondents 70 10 10 10 100 Percentage 70% 10% 10% 10% 100%

Chart -5
Products purchased at Malabar Gold
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Gold Watch Platinum Diamond

Various Products at Malabar Gold

10 10 Gold 10 Watch Platinum Diamond 70

Interpretation
We have surveyed to find that Malabar Gold customers buy gold more than their platinum, diamonds and watches. We discovered that 70 people out of 100 customers buy gold from their shops. Watches, Platinum and diamonds are bought by 10 people each. So it gives us a clear indication that gold is the favourite product of the customers of Malabar Gold.

Table 6
Showing no of customers aware of products other than gold available in Malabar Gold. Status Yes No Total No of respondents 88 12 100 Percentage 88% 12% 100%

Chart 6
Awareness of people
12

Yes No

88

Awareness of people
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Yes No 12 88

Interpretation
It is good to know that, 88% of the customers know that other products are available in the stores of Malabar Gold. 12% of the people dont even know what the materials available in the stores are even. Whether the customers discover those materials by advertisements or merchandise is a different issue.

Table 7
Showing the no. of respondents belonging to different groups of the amount of gold they own Amount of Gold Below 56 56-120 120-200 Above 200 Total No. Of respondents 08 22 26 14 70 Percentage 11.43% 31.43% 37.14% 20% 100%

Chart 7
Gold available with customers
Above 200

120-200 Gold available with customers 56-120

Below 56

10

15

20

25

30

Percentage of gold available with customers

20%

11.43%

Below 56 31.43% 56-120 120-200 Above 200 37.14%

Interpretation
We found that most of the customers are loyal to Malabar Gold and have at least 120 carat gold along with them. Their maximum inventory of the customers would be close to 200 carat. The Customers buy freely from the stores of Malabar Gold and find the venture satisfactory.

Table:8
Showing no. of customers satisfied with making charges of ornaments in Malabar Gold.

Status Yes No Total 80 10 90

No of respondents

Percentage 88.88% 11.12% 100%

Chart 8
Satisfaction in making changes
90 80 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 0 Yes No Satisfaction in making changes

percentage of people satisfied

12.12%

Yes No

88.88%

Interpretation
We have interpreted that the customers of Malabar Gold are more or less satisfied by making changes to their ornaments. 88.88% of the customers of the store are happy with changes made to their ornaments whereas 11.12% people are happy with their traditional ways and think little for making changes.

Table 09
Showing the media through which the customers came to know about Malabar Gold. Media Newspaper Television Yellow pages Friend & Relatives Total No of respondents 20 40 10 30 100 Percentage 20 40 10 30 100

Chart-09
Media effect of Malabar Gold
40 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Newspaper Television Yellow pages Friend & Relatives 10 20 30

Percentage of media effect

20 30 Newspaper Television Yellow pages Friend & Relatives 10 40

Interpretation
Our survey amicably shows that the customers are made aware of Malabar Gold through Newspaper mainly. Plus this store relies on mouth to mouth publicity. 40% of 100 people knew about Malabar through Newspapers. 30 out of 100 people are made aware by their friends and relatives. It is maybe because of women conversing about the jewellery they wear when they go to parties and other social gatherings.

Table 10
Showing the factors which influenced the customers in purchasing from Malabar Gold. Factors Company image Quality Advertisements Collection Total No of Respondents 22 28 24 26 100 Percentage 22% 28% 24% 26% 100%

Chart 10
Factors of purchase behaviour
Collection 26

Advertisements

24

Quality

28

Company image

22

10

15

20

25

30

Percentage of factors affecting the buy

26

22 Company image Quality Advertisements Collection

24

28

Interpretation
Quantity is temporary but quality is permanent. It also reflects on the survey results. As the quality of gold provided by Malabar Gold speaks for its sale and loyality of customers. We see that 28% of the customers believe in the quality of Malabar Gold and 26% buy from these stores because of the variety of ornaments available in their showroom. 24% buy after watching the advertisements in the paper or TV. 22% are the loyal ones; they buy because of the company image.

Table 11
Showing the number of customers happy with the showroom facilities: Status Yes No Total No of respondents 86 14 100 Percentage 86% 14% 100%

Chart 11
Satisfaction with showroom facility

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Yes No 14 86

Percentage of satisfaction
14%

Yes No

86%

Interpretation
We can see that 86% of all the customers are satisfied with the showroom facilities provided by the Malabar Gold administrators. 14% are not satisfied with the facilities of the showroom as maybe they expect too much of Malabar Gold. The experience of customers in the showroom of Malabar is good enough as the service is excellent. All the customers are more or less satisfied with the service provided by the showroom facilities.

Table 12
Showing how the customers rate the designs of ornaments. Rating Excellent Good Average Poor Total No of respondents 12 58 30 0 100 Customer 12% 58% 30% 0% 100%

Chart 12
Rating of designs
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Excellent Good Average Poor Rating of designs

Percentage of ratings
0% 12% 30%

Excellent Good Average 58% Poor

Interpretation
We can see that the ratings of Malabar Gold suggest that the design variety is good enough and the ornaments available in the showroom are satisfactory. The ornaments of the showroom are designed to be satisfactory. 58% of the 100 people think that the designs are good enough. 30% think that the ratings are moderate. 12% think that the variety of the designs are excellent compared to other gold outlets.

Table 13
Showing the no. of customers who got immediate response on complaints registered: Status Yes No Total No. Of Respondents 92 08 100 Percentage 92% 08% 100%

Chart 13
Services Against Relationship

100 80 60 40 20 0 Yes 8 92

No

Percentage
8%

Yes No

92%

Interpretation
92% of the people feel that Malabar Gold service is excellent. All their complaints are met with wonderful service. As soon as the complaints are registered, the Malabar service acts on that and satisfies customers. Only 8% think that the service of Malabar Gold stores is not upto the mark. Most of the customers are satisfied, which was the main aim of the survey.

Table 14
Showing the customers rating on the salesman relationship: Rating Excellent Good Average Poor Total No of respondents 10 46 44 0 100 percentage 10% 46% 44% 0% 100%

Chart 14

Salesman relationship
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 10 0 Excellent 0 Poor 46

44

Good

Average

Percentage of Satisfaction
0 44 Excellent Good 46 Average Poor 10

Interpretation
The customers of Malabar Gold are happy with the customer relationship they hold with the floor salesmen. 46% people feel that the salesman relationship is good, as 44% feel that the salesman relationship is average and 10% feel that it is excellent. One good thing we came to know that, the service and support provided by Malabar Gold stores are not poor. Some feel that the salesmen relationship need improvements.

Table 15
Showing the customers rating on the service facility available: Rating Excellent Good Average Poor Total No. Of respondents 12 48 40 0 100 percentage 12% 48% 40% 0% 100%

Chart 15
Service facility
60 50

40

30

Service facility

20

10

0 Excellent Good Average Poor

Percentage
0 12 40 Excellent Good 48 Average Poor

Interpretation
Here we find out that the customers are well attended by the staff and the salesman behaviour is upto the mark. Most of the people, to be approx. 48% of them think that the services available for the customers. The showroom is fully centralised AC and the customers feel that they will pay money to good use and the trust gained by the floor manager provides ample opportunity to materialise the relationship between the customers and the employees.

Table 16
Showing the customers rating on overall service of Malabar Gold with respect to other jewellers in town. Rating Excellent Good Average Poor Total No. Of Respondents 14 48 38 0 100 Percentage 14% 48% 38% 0% 100%

Chart No. 16
Rating of Malabar Gold
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Excellent 0 Good Average Poor 14 38 48

Percentage of Rating
0% 14% 38% Excellent Good Average Poor 48%

Interpretation
Here we see that Malabar Gold is the clear leader in the area and 48% of all customers prefer to go to the Malabar Gold centre rather than other gold shops. 38% of 100 people feel that other shops are well furnished to satisfy the needs of the customers. 14% think that the services are excellent compared to other shops available nearby. One good thing is that the survey shows the clear mindedness when it comes to commenting on any situation.

Table 17
Showing the customers rating on their level of satisfaction: Rating Excellent Good Average Poor Total No of Respondents 12 52 36 0 100 Percentage 12% 52% 36% 0% 100%

Chart 17
Level Of Satisfaction
60 52

50

40 36 30

20 12

10

0 Excellent Good Average

0 Poor

Percentage Of Satisfaction
0%

12%

36%

Excellent Good Average Poor 52%

Interpretation
We see that 52% of the people feel that satisfaction level reached by Malabar Gold is good and 36% of 100 people feel its average. 12% think that the overall satisfaction level reached by Malabar Gold is excellent; as compared to other shops available in the market. This 12% are the loyal customers which the company mainly focuses on. The survey reached a conclusion that Malabar Gold is head and shoulders ahead of their competitors when it comes to level of satisfaction.

Table 18
Showing whether the respondents will insist their well wishers, friends and relatives to buy from Malabar Gold: Status Yes No No answer Total No of Respondents 66 0 34 100 Percentage 66% 0% 24% 100%

Chart 18
insistence on well wishers

No answer

No

Yes

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Percentage of publicity

34

Yes No 66 No answer

Interpretation
The last question makes us to believe that the customers of Malabar Gold are loyal and trustworthy. They advertise the Malabar Gold chain of gold shops by mouth to mouth publicity. The customers insist their relatives, friends and family to buy from Malabar Gold. We found that: 66% will insist their friends, relatives and families to buy from Malabar gold 34% think otherwise We found no one saying No comments.

Findings And Suggestion

Introduction
This part gives overall information about the consumer behaviour of Malabar Gold customers. It also includes findings, suggestions and conclusions about the study.

Findings
Most of the respondents are females. Customers of Malabar Gold are mainly from upper class and upper middle class families. Most of the purchasers of Malabar Gold are mainly youngsters. Malabar Gold has got large no. of gold ornaments customers. Only a few customers are not aware of products other then gold available in Malabar Gold. The making charges of Malabar Gold are satisfactory according to the respondents. Television is the advertising media through which large no. of customers came to know about Malabar Gold. Factors like company image, quality, advertisement, collections have equally influenced the purchase.

 Major no. of respondents is satisfied with the showroom facility. Designs of ornaments are rated as good. Respondents got immediate response for the complaints registered. Salesman responsiveness is rated as somewhat good and average. Malabar Gold provides good service facility. The overall performance of Malabar Gold is good. Level of satisfaction of customers is good. Respondents are ready to insist their well wishers to purchase from Malabar Gold. The consumer behaviour of Malabar Gold is good.

SUGGESTIONS
Malabar Gold customers are business people and have high income, so it should be better to frame promotion programs targeting the lower class people. With regard to advertising, the company should focus on persuasive advertising highlighting the unique feature and benefits of their products. Only a few customers had purchased watch, diamonds and platinum ornaments, so a special attention should be paid in these areas. Among the service facilities, respondents suggest to improve parking facility. More advertisement should be made in media other than television. Steps should be taken to attract more male customers.

Conclusion
To conclude the overall responses of the customers of Malabar Gold is good. The overall performances in all areas are satisfactory. During the study it was found that the following factors such as making charges, salesman responsiveness, ornaments designs, price etc. has satisfactorily influenced consumer behaviour. Further, there is some kind of promotion activities required to hold the present customers and make new customers.

References
Books referred to:
Marketing Management Kotler & Keller Marketing Management - A. Vinod Consumer Behaviour Matin Khan Company profile and magazines Business world

Websites visited:
www.wikipedia.org www.pdftracker.com www.scribd.com www.slideworld.com www.slideshare.com www.managementparadise.com www.pdfgeni.com www.malabargoldindia.com

Few Snaps:

QUESTIONNAIRE
1) Name: Address: Ph. No: 2) Sex: Male [ ] Female [ ] 3) Income group (Rs /Month): Below 12000 [ ] 12000-16000 [ ] 16000-20000 [ ] Above 20000 [ ] 4) Marital status: Married [ ] Unmarried [ ] 5) Age (in years): Below 18 [ ] 19 - 28 [ ] 29 - 38 [ ] Above 38 [ ] ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________

6) What product did you buy from Malabar Gold? Gold ornaments [ ] Watch [ ] Platinum [ ] Diamond [ ]

7) Are you aware of products other than gold available in Malabar Gold? (Like diamond, watch, platinum etc.) Yes [ ] No [ ]

8) Amount of gold you own (in grams): Below 56 [ ] 56 - 120 [ ] 120 - 200 [ ] Above 200 [ ]

9) Are you satisfied with making charges of Malabar Gold? Yes [ ] No [ ]

10) Media through which you came to know about Malabar Gold? Newspaper [ ] Television [ ] Yellow pages [ ] Friends and relatives [ ]

11) Which factor influenced your purchase? Company image [ ] Quality [ ] Advertisement [ ] Selection available [ ]

12) Are you satisfied with the showroom facility of Malabar Gold? Yes [ ] No [ ]

13) How would you rate the designs of gold ornaments available in Malabar Gold? Excellent [ ] Good [ ] Average [ ] Poor [ ]

14) Are you able to get immediate response for the complaints registered? Yes [ ] No [ ]

15) How would you rate the salesman responsiveness of Malabar Gold? Excellent [ ] Good [ ] Average [ ] Poor [ ]

16) How would you rate the service facilities available in Malabar Gold? Excellent [ ] Good [ ] Average [ ] Poor [ ]

17) How would you rate overall performance of Malabar Gold with respect to other jewellers? Excellent [ ] Good [ ] Average [ ] Poor [ ]

18) What is your level of satisfaction? Excellent [ ] Good [ ] Average [ ] Poor [ ]

19) Will you insist your well wishers, friends and relatives to purchase from Malabar Gold? Yes [ ] No [ ]

20) Suggestions, if any: ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________