IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 23192828

Vol. 5, No.6, Nov-Dec 2016

CONSUMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS AYURVEDIC PRODUCTS WITH

SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MEGHAS HERBO CARE AYURVEDIC
PHARMACY, VARODE, PALAKKAD.

RAJANI.P
Assistant Professor
Department of Commerce
Introduction

Sree Narayana College Ayurveda means knowledge of life and

Alathur
Palakkad District
Abstract
Meghas Herbo Care was formed by
Dr.Velayudhan alias Mani a great friend of
nature and Ayurveda started in 2003 as a
fledging pharmacy. Today it is one of the
largest manufactures of ayurvedic medicine
with a formidable presence all over Kerala
The philosophy behind the inception was to
serve the humanity through Ayurveda.
Realising the importance of standardisation
of medicines and modernisation of
production, Meghas Herbo care looks the
significant step of updating the technology
of the existing pharmacy and establishing a
private limited company. Meghas Herbo
Care at Varode, Palakkad district of Kerala
is creditable that it obtained the Good
Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification
from the government of Kerala with in short
span of its operation.
Key Words : Ayurveda, Medicine,
Pharmacy
is about 5000 years old traditional Indian
system of medicine. Ayurveda is a system,
which avail the essential fundamentals of
nature, to maintain health in a person by
preserving their mind, body and spirit in
adept equanimity with nature. Natural
remedies have immense applications
globally. Ayurveda sees health and disease
in holistic terms. It links the microcosm of
individuals with the cosmos. It takes into
account the relationship between energy and
matter. This system of healing believes in
treatment of not just a part affected by
disease but the individual as a whole.
Consumer perception is
defined as the way that consumers usually
view or feel about certain products and
services. It can also be related to customer
satisfaction which is the expectation of
consumers towards the product ayurveda has
been recognised by WHO as complete
system of natural medicine. The crude drugs

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 IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 23192828
Vol. 5, No.6, Nov-Dec 2016

have therapeutic benefits significant for both special reference to Meghas Herbo Care
humans and animals. Ayurvedic Pharmacy, varode, Palakkad. The
problem was to study the consumer
Meghas Herbo Care was formed by
perception and to analyse the different
Dr.Velayudhan alias Mani a great friend of
attitudes or motivation for buying Meghas
nature and Ayurveda started in 2003 as a
Herbo Care products as well as to Ayurveda.
fledging pharmacy. Today it is one of the
largest manufactures of ayurvedic medicine Objectives of the Study
with a formidable presence all over Kerala.
To study the consumer perception
The dynamic leadership of Dr. Velayudhan,
towards Meghas Herbo Care
complemented by the energetic drive of his
products.
team of young enthusiastic professional has
taken Meghas Herbo Care Ayurvedic To give suggestions based on the
Pharmacy to new heights. findings of the study..

The philosophy behind the inception was Research Methodology

to serve the humanity through Ayurveda.
Realising the importance of standardisation Research Design
of medicines and modernisation of The study was both descriptive and
production, Meghas Herbo care looks the analytiacal in nature and data were
significant step of updating the technology collected from consumers by
of the existing pharmacy and establishing a administering questionnaire.
private limited company. Meghas Herbo
Care at Varode, Palakkad district of Kerala Area of the Study

is creditable that it obtained the Good The area of study was Kottayi Grama
Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification Panchayath, Palakkad District.
from the government of Kerala with in short
span of its operation. Sources of Data

The study was based on both primary

Statement of the Problem
and secondary sources.
The study deals with the consumers
perception towards ayurvedic products with Primary Source

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 IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 23192828
Primary data were collected from the
consumers by administering
questionnaire.
Secondary Source
Secondary data were collected from the
published records like broachers, official
statements etc. Data were also collected
from books journals, magazines and
websites.
Sample Design
A sample of 50 respondents was taken into
account for the study. Convenience
sampling was the sampling technique used
for this study.
Review of literature
1.In their study Chowdhury, Ahmed and
Huda (2007), states that perceived quality
has significant impact on customer
perceived value, and it is needless to say that
consumer perceived value acts
prerequisite for consumer buying motive.
2. The study conducted by Nair and Prakash
(2007), states that Understanding
consumption decision of consumers is a key
to success of any business. Business
organisations are spending billions of dollars
to know consumers attitudes, motivation to
Vol. 5, No.6, Nov-Dec 2016
purchase and future behavioural intentions
of consumers.
3.According to the study conducted by
Hawkins, Best, Coney and Mookerjee
(2007), states that information processing
model have four major steps/stages. It starts
with exposure followed by attention,
interpretation and lastly retention. The first
three of these establish perception. They
also states that all this take place inside the
mind or black box of the consumers
simultaneously, and it changes from person
to person. Perception is highly subjective
and therefore easily distorted. Moreover,
perception is the meaning that an individual
attributes to the incoming stimuli that
gathered through the five senses that are
taste, smell, touch, hearing and sight.
4.The study conducted by Akhtar et al.
(2008) found that natural cosmetic sales are
increasing with revenues doubling every few
as a year in Europe.
5.Joshi (2008) in his study observed that the
perception of people in traditional medicine
is optimistic and emphasised the need to
revive the system along the line of prevalent
traditions and promote the usage of herbal
medicines.
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 IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 23192828
Vol. 5, No.6, Nov-Dec 2016

6.In their study T.P. Hashim, M. Madhu and

V.D.T (2009), states that quality control,
prevention of adulteration and other harmful
chemicals is a challenge. It should be in
minds that all that glitters are not gold
similarly all herbal products are not safe.
Proper information required before using CHART No.1

any herbal medicines and products. AgeWiseClassificationofRespondents

7.In the study conducted by Subrahmanian

and Venkatesan (2011), suggested that
awareness level towards ayurvedic products
was more among elderly men. Lack of
facility and availability was a major
hindrance in the popularity of herbal
products. Interpretation

Results and Discussions From the above table and graph it can be
found that 36% of the consumers were aged
Table 1 between 15-30 years. 26% of them were
between 30-45 years. 20% of consumers
Age Group
were aged above 60 years. 14% of
AGEGROUP NUMBEROF PERCENTAGE consumers were aged between 45-60 years.
RESPONDENTS
Only 4% of consumers belong to below 15
BELOW15 2 4
YEARS years category.

1530YEARS 18 36
Table2
3045YEARS 13 26
4560YEARS 7 14 GenderWiseClassificationofRespondents
ABOVE60 10 20 GENDER NUMBEROF PERCENTAGE
YEARS RESPONDENTS
TOTAL 50 100 MALE 24 48
Source:PrimaryData FEMALE 26 52
TOTAL 50 100
Source:PrimaryData

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 IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 23192828
Vol. 5, No.6, Nov-Dec 2016

Source: Primary data

ChartNo..2
ChartNo.3
GenderWiseClassificationofRespondents
EducationalDetalsofRespondents

Interpretation

The table 2 and chart 2shows that 52% of

the respondents were females and remaining Interpretation
48% of respondents were males.
The above table and figure depicts that
Table 3 about 28% of the respondents were
completed their secondary education. 24%
Educational Details of the Respondents
of the respondents were graduates. 22% of
EDUCATIONAL NUMBEROF PERCEN respondents were completed their primary
STATUS RESPONDENTS TAGE education. 16% of the respondents were post
PRIMARY 11 22 graduates and 10% of them were completed
EDUCATION their higher secondary education.
SECONDARY 14 28
EDUCATION
HIGHER 5 10
SECONDARY
EDUCATION
GRADUATION 12 24
POST 8 16
GRADUATION
ANDABOVE
TOTAL 50 100

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 IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 23192828
Vol. 5, No.6, Nov-Dec 2016

Source:PrimaryData

Interpretation

The above tables shows the ranks of better

Table 4 medication. It can be seen that the first rank
was given to the Ayurveda that means most
Better Medication of the customers given their first preference
to Ayurveda. The second rank is for
MEDICATI R RA RA RA RAN TOT
homeopathy. Alopathy was given third rank
ON A NK NK NK K5 AL
N 2 3 4
and Unani the fourth rank. No one of the
K customers prefers any other types of
1 medications.
AYURVEDA 39 8 2 1 0 50 Table6

ALOPATHY 5 19 24 2 0 50 NumberofRegularConsumers

HOMEOPA 5 22 20 3 0 50 OPINION NUMBEROF PERCENTAGE

THY RESPONDENTS
UNANI 1 1 4 44 0 50 YES 48 96
OTHERS 0 0 0 0 0 50 NO 2 4
TOTAL 50 50 50 50 50 TOTAL 50 100
Source:PrimaryData Source:PrimaryData

Table5

WeightedAverageRankTableShowingthe ChartNo.6

BetterMedication NumberofRegularandNonRegular
Customers
RANKS 1 2 3 4 5 TOTAL RA
NK
FEATURES 5 4 3 2 1
AYURVEDA 195 32 6 2 0 235 1
ALOPATHY 25 76 72 4 0 177 3
HOMEOPATHY 25 88 60 6 0 179 2
UNANI 5 4 12 88 0 109 4
OTHER 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
MEDICATION

Interpretation

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 IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 23192828
Vol. 5, No.6, Nov-Dec 2016

The table 6 and the above figure shows that

about 96% of respondents were regular
customers of herbal products and only 4% of
respondents were occasional customers.
Table 7

Rank Table Showing the Reason for Prefering Ayurvedic Products

RANKS RANK RANK RANK RANK RANK RANK RANK TOTAL
FEATURES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
GOODNESS 23 8 10 2 1 6 0 50
OF
Out of 50
AYURVEDA
REASONABLE
respondents
4 10 15 13 5 3 0 50
PRICE most of the
GOOD 7 13 12 9 5 4 0 50 respondents
QUALITY (36%) were
QUICK 0 4 5 11 15 15 0 50 aged
RELIEF between 15-
EASY 4 3 5 10 16 12 0 50 30 years.
AVAILABILITY
26% of
NOSIDE 12 12 3 5 8 10 0 50
customers
EFFECTS
OTHERS
were aged
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL
between 30-
50 50 50 50 50 50 0
45 years and
Source:PrimaryData
20% were aged above 60 years. 14%
Interpretation of respondents were in between 45-
60 years and only 4% aged below 15
The table 7 shows that the first rank is given years.
for the feature of goodness of Ayurveda.
This shows that most of the customers were
purchasing the product because of the reason
Majority of the respondents were
of goodness of Ayurveda. The next rank is
females (52%). Male respondents
for quality and the customers are interested
were only 48%.
in its quality also. The third rank was given
for the reasonable price. The absence of side
effects gets fourth rank and easy availability
of ayurvedic products gets fifth rank. The Most of the respondents (28%)
sixth and seventh rank was given for quick completed their secondary education.
relief and other features respectively. 24% were graduates and 10% of
them were post graduates. 22% of
Findings them completed primary education

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 IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 23192828
Vol. 5, No.6, Nov-Dec 2016

and only 10% were secured higher increase its area of operation and
secondary education. also to increase its commercial sales

Conclusion

The main reason behind choosing the The study was conducted to find out
ayurvedic products by the customers the consumers perception towards
was the goodness of Ayurveda. The
ayurvedic products with special
quality of medication also motivates
consumers to buy ayurvedic reference to Meghas Herbo Care
products. Ayurvedic Pharmacy. This pharmacy
is a GMP (Good Manufacturing
Practice) certified pharmacy. The
The source of awareness about the
products for majority of consumers consumers have good opinion about
was through word of mouth. The the products offered by the
notice also provokes sales.
pharmacy. The pharmacy keeps a
Suggestions good relationship between its

The organisation can adopt consumers by providing good and

advertisement techniques such as quality products to them. All

television advertisements, news consumers of the company were

paper advertisements etc. to create satisfied with the products and would

awareness about the products among like to recommend the products to

consumers. others.

The pharmacy may implement online References

shopping site to attract various [1]Akhtar S, Halim, MA, Sohel, MSI,
prospective consumers to make them Sarker, SK, Chowdhury, MSH &
Sonet, SS, A review on the use of
a real consumers of the products.
non-timber forest products in beauty-
care in Bangladesh, Journal of
The pharmacy can provide a service
Forestry Research, vol. 19 no. 1, ,
of experienced consultants at its own 2008 ,pp. 72-78.
premises.
[2]Arya.V, Kumar.S & Kumar.S
The organisation can adopt web Consumer Buying Behaviour
based promotional techniques to Towards Ayurvedic
Medicines/Products in Joginder

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 IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 23192828
Vol. 5, No.6, Nov-Dec 2016

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[4]Basha, SK, Anjaneyulu.E &
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[5]Hawkins, D. I, Best, J. R,
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[6]Zimmerman.C&Kandish.J,A
pilot study to assess students'
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knowledge in the use of
complementary and alternative Authors Profile
Presently working as an Assistant Professor in Department of Commerce , Sree Narayana College
Alathur, Affiliated to University of Calicut. I have 5 years and 8 months teaching experience. Now my
pursuing Phd in Mahatma Gandhi University Kottayam. I have published 12 articles in various national
journals and 6 articles in International Journals. My research interest is in the area of tourism.

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