Volume 3, Issue 3 (March, 2014) Online ISSN-2320-0073

Published by: Abhinav Publication

Abhinav International Monthly Refereed Journal of Research in
Management & Technology
CONSUMERS’ BUYING AND SWITHCING BEHAVIOR DUE
TO ADVERTISEMENT: A STUDY ON SHAMPOO BRANDS
Ankita Shrivastava1
Research Scholar, Pacific Academy of Higher Education and
Research University, Udaipur(Raj.),India
Email: ankitaknipss@gmail.com

Dr. Vikram Bisen2

Director, ITM Group of Institutes,
Lucknow (U.P.), India
Email: vikram.bisen@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT
Consumers or the Customers are valuable assets for any organization as they are the ultimate
destination of any products or services. Since, they are the ultimate end users of any product or
services, thus, the success of any organization depends upon the satisfaction of the consumers, if not
they will switch to other brands. Due to this reason, the satisfaction of the consumers becomes priority
for any organizations. For satisfying the consumers, one has to know about what consumer buy, why
they buy it, when they buy it, how and how often they buy it and what made them to switch to other
brands. The present paper is an attempt to study the shampoo buying patterns among the individuals.
The study also examines the various factors specially advertisement, which influence the consumers to
buy a shampoo of particular brand and reasons for their switching to other brands. Results revealed
that advertisement has significant impact on consumers’ mind, when they buy any particular product.
Results also says that consumers switch to other brands after watching endorsements, consumers
buying pattern was also studied with special reference to different shampoo brand. Brand awareness
was also measured. Advertisement impact was also seen as major reason for switching to other brand.
It was also seen that consumers often switch to other brands occasionally. The present study was done
on college girls.
Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Shampoo Buying Patterns; Consumer Switching Behavior

INTRODUCTION
Consumers or the Customers are valuable assets for any organization. Consumer is an individual or
group of individuals who select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences
to satisfy needs and desires. In other words, Consumers are the ultimate destination of any products or
services. The study of these individuals, groups, or organizations is what we call Consumer behaviour.
The processes by which these organizations 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 behavioral 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 behavior study is based on
consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and

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buyer. In the present competitive global market, it has been seen that organizations are increasingly
focusing on the retention of their existing customers. Thus, gaining knowledge about customers'
switching behavior is substantively important for the sustainability of any organization. Customers'
switching behavior is the process exhibited by a customer, behaving differently to a particular brand
and undergoes alteration in the preference of the existing product or services. Since, customers are the
ultimate end users of any product or services, the success of any organization depends upon the
satisfaction of the consumers, if not they will switch to other brands. When any organization loses a
customer they are not only losing future earnings but also incurring the cost of finding new customers.
Over time loyal customers become less price-sensitive therefore, losing loyal customer means giving
up high margins. Considering the technological advancements and its easy access to every individual,
customers are becoming intolerant and they can dissolve the relationship as soon as any problem
arises. Thus, customer retention is the core concern of each and every organization. Due to this reason,
the satisfaction of the consumers becomes priority for any organizations.
The present paper is an attempt to study the shampoo buying patterns among the individuals. The
study also examines the various factors which influence the consumers to buy a shampoo of particular
brand and reasons for their switching to other brands. Advertising is almost everywhere in our daily
life. Its forms and roles are both contested and obtained and also admired. Some see advertising both
as the mirror and the maker of culture. Even when advertisements contribute new sounds and the
symbols that shape feature, its words and images reflect the present and the past. Others say
advertising is purely an economic activity with one purpose i.e., to sell many advertisers and agencies
believe that advertising creates “magic in market place”.
Researchers are agreed on these six fundamental principles on which advertising campaign run: to
secure attention; to arose interest; to develop and sustain interest; to create desire; to incite action and
to create good will. After choosing an appropriate strategy and deciding upon the advertising
objectives, media selection is the next important consideration. Media is the vehicle that is used for the
delivery of the message. Some important tools of advertisement are newspapers, magazines, radio,
television, direct mail and mail order, outdoor display and transportation. Advertisements also change
consumers’ view so that they can be compelled to even switch the product. In nutshell, advertisement
also effects switching behavior of consumers.
OBJECTIVES
1. To examine the consumer awareness of shampoo usage.
2. To analyze the relationship between a specific brand and its buying behavior.
3. To assess whether advertising is influencing the buying behavior and switching behavior
of the consumers.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Oyeniyi and Abiodun,(2010),in their study concluded that in order to retain customers, organizations
have to understand their behavior and try to satisfy them, by catering their needs and preferences.
Zain-Ul-Abideen and Salman Saleem(1982), found that emotional response of consumer purchase
behavior is the variable that results into strong association with the consumer buying behavior.
Bashir and Malik, (2009), in the given study revealed that consumers considered advertisement as a
reliable source of knowledge about any product or services. Advertisement can affect any
Amit Kumar (2011) in his paper ‘Celebrity Endorsements and its impact on consumer buying
behavior’ focuses on the perception of Indian consumers about celebrity endorsements, the celebrity
attributes likely to influence consumer purchase intentions. The practice of celebrity endorsements has
proliferated over time. Now days it has become a pervasive element of advertising industry especially
in India. Celebrity endorsement business has become a multi-million industry in India. Marketers use
celebrity endorsers to influence the purchase decision of consumers in order to increase their sales and
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extend their market shares. This made the author curious to explore the impact of celebrity
endorsements on consumer buying behavior.
Aneeza Bashir and Najma Iqbal Malik (2009), concluded in their study, “Effect of advertisement on
consumer behavior of university students” that advertisement persuades the consumer to at least buy
the product once in a life time. Personality used in commercials influenced the consumers more as
compare to keyword/caption. Results also revealed that consumers considered advertisement as a
reliable source of knowledge as compare to others (friends, neighbours, reference group) opinions.
T.Mamatha (2008) in her study ‘Post purchase behavior and consumerism’ says that consumer
behavior is a very complex phenomenon, which needs more efforts to understand, explain and predict.
In order to get a clear understanding of the same, every marketer should realize that consumer
behavior is, in fact, an assumption every marketing manager must make, if he plans to market on any
basis other than hit-or-miss. Although some individuals find it difficult to make this assumption, one
must agree that behavior is not so erratic or mysterious that it defies explanation.
Dinesh Kumar Gupta (2007) in his research ‘Impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying
behavior and brand branding’ aim to describe the celebrity endorsement increase consumer
attractiveness for product than non-celebrity endorsement and bring magic to brand and make them
more appealing and successful but while using celebrity endorsee, marketer has to take care of all the
aspect that whether the brought personality and image of celebrity matches or not, whether celebrity
endorsee has deep penetration among the masses or not, whether he is considered as credible source or
not etc.
Susan Chirayath (2007) says in their research ‘Impact of Promotional Activities on Consumer Buying
Behavior’ that, FMCG Sector in India is characterized by cut throat competition, which leads to brand
proliferation in various categories. In matured urban markets consumer sales promotion to differentiate
one's offer is a very common practice. In fact consumers are lured by the ever increasing budget
allocated to these activities. In such a scenario it is very essential to study how consumers make their
choices in FMCG category where there are several brands in the consideration set of the consumer.
Since the final risk being low, consumers do not mind switching from one brand to another due to
sales promotion offers. Thus it becomes imperative to the marketer to learn about consumer
preferences with respect to sales promotion offers, what schemes do the consumers prefer for what
kinds of brands, which media they prefer to learn about the schemes, whether they prefer incentives
immediately or at a later date.
income group individuals. Consumers were influenced by the appeal and personality used in the
specific brand advertisements.
Alnaimi, Richard Jones and Perkins(1991), studied that maintaining a long-term relationship with a
customer is one of the fundamental factors determining the value that the customer provides to the
organisation. Thus, a serious threat to achieving a long-term relationship is the customer’s switching
behaviour. The study also revealed that customers’ switching behaviour (switchers and stayers) is a
vital construct to understand the relationship development process between customers and the
organisations.
Ajzen(1991), perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and attitude toward the behavior lead
towards “behavioral intention”.
Bansal (1997), incorporated some measures of theory of planned behavior (TPB) in predicting
switching intentions. TPB posits a link between attitudes and behavior. In combination, perceived
behavioral control, subjective norm and attitude toward the behavior lead towards “behavioral
intention”.He also measured the impact of one's attitude towards switching behavior, perceived
behavior control (termed as perceived switching costs) and satisfaction with the product or service
provider, with intentions to switch. Results confirmed the significant influence of all three variables on
switching intentions.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The present study has been conducted among college girls, who live in hostel. These respondents have
been chosen for the study, as it is one of common place where girls from different regional and cultural
background prevailed. This study will be helpful in evaluating the attitude of the select boarders of the
hostel towards usage of shampoo. Also, various reasons for consumer switching to other brands have
been studied. For the purpose of the given study primary as well as secondary data has been used. The
Secondary data has been collected from various books, journals, published research papers, websites
etc. The primary data was collected by means of a questionnaire. Copies of the questionnaire were
given personally to respondents in the university hostel. The questionnaire contained a total of 14
items. The respondents are randomly selected and 80 respondents were personally meet to give their
responses. The data collected was mainly primary in nature.
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS
The study deals with the analysis of consumer awareness towards shampoo usage. The responses from
the respondents were subjected to simple percentage method, in order to know the inferences out of the
collected data.
Table 1. Shampoo Usage Rate
Usage Rate No. of Respondents Percentage (%)
YES 76 95
NO 04 05
Table-1 indicates the usage rate of shampoo by the respondents. As revealed from the table it has been
found that about 95% of the respondents using shampoos and only 5% using soaps and conditioners
etc.
Table 2. Frequency of using shampoo per week
Using Frequency No. of Respondents Percentage (%)
ONCE 09 11.25
TWICE 58 72.5
THRICE 11 13.75
Table 2 shown above indicates the frequency of purchasing shampoo per week by the users. The given
data revealed that most of the respondents buying shampoo twice in a month(72.5%), 13.75% buy
twice in a week and 11.25% respondents buying shampoo only once in a week.
Table 3. Frequency of buying per month
Using Frequency No. of Respondents Percentage (%)
ONCE 22 27.5
TWICE 25 31.5
THRICE 33 41.25
Table 3 shown above indicates the frequency of purchasing shampoo per month by the users. The
given data revealed that most of the respondents buying shampoo thrice in a month(41.25%), 31.5%
buy twice in a month and 27.5% respondents buying shampoo only once in a month.
Table 4. Awareness of Brands
Brands No. of Respondents Percentage (%)
COSMETIC 56 70
HERBAL 09 11.25
MEDICATED 07 8.75
OTHERS 08 10

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Table 4, examined awareness of the people regarding various brands of shampoos like Cosmetic
shampoos (Sunsilk, Head and Shoulders, Pantene, Clinic-plus, Dove etc), Herbal shampoos,
Medicated shampoos and others. Most of the respondents (70%) aware of Cosmetic shampoos.
11.25% respondents aware of Herbal shampoos, 8.75% aware of medicated shampoos and 10%
constitute others category.
Table 5. Usage of Shampoo Brands
Usage of Brands No. of Respondents Percentage (%)
ONE 44 55
TWO 11 13.75
MORE THAN THREE 25 31.25
Table 5 identified the usage of different brand by the respondents. An examination of the data revealed
that most of the respondents (55%) used only one brand, 31.25% respondents used more than three
brands, and 13.75% respondents used two brands.
Table 6. To Which Mode of Promotion Consumer gets attracted
Mode of promotion No. of Respondents Percentage (%)
ADVERTISEMENT 32 40
CELEBRITY 23 28.75
BANNER 06 7.5
OTHERS 19 23.75
Table-6 shows that by which mode of promotion consumer gets attracted. .An examination of the table
reveals that, most of the consumers preferred advertisement, celebrity, banners. Majority of the
respondents 40% preferred advertisements, 28.75% of the respondents preferred celebrity
endorsements, 23.75% preferred other mode of promotion and 7.5% preferred banners. Advertisement
creates attention and stimulates the consumer to buy a particular brand.
Table 7. Reasons for Switching to Other Brand
Mode of promotion No. of Respondents Percentage (%)
IMPACT OF PACKAGING 04 5
PRICE RISE OF CURRENT BRAND 10 12.5
SCHEME OF BRANDS 06 7.5
ADVERTISEMENT IMPACT 28 35
BRAND NOT AVAILABLE 08 10
TO TRY NEW OPTION 02 2.5
INFLUENCE BY OTHER 06 7.5
Table-7, given above shows the reasons for switching to other brand by the consumers. The data
revealed that about 35% respondents changed to other brand due to advertisement impact, 12.5%
respondents changed due to price rise, 10% respondents changed due to non-availability of product in
the market. 7.5% respondents due to scheme (offer), 5% respondents switched to other brand due to
impact of packaging while other 2.5% respondents switched to other brand to try new options.
Table 8. Factors effecting consumers’ buying decision
Factors No. of respondents Percentages
ADVERTISEMENT & SALES PROMOTION 18 22.5
PRICE & DISCOUNT 14 17.5
QUALITY 12 15
INCOME 11 13.75
WORD OF MOUTH 09 11.25

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Table 8. Factors effecting consumers’ buying decision
Factors No. of respondents Percentages
EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT 08 10
FESTIVAL SEASON 05 6.25
VISUAL MERCHANDISING 03 3.75
It is concluded from table 8 that the Advertisement & sales promotion and Festival season, have
occurred as the most important variable considered by consumers in their buying decisions.
Table 9. Factors influencing purchase of the brand
Factors No. of respondents Percentages
FAMILY 10 12.5
DOCTORS 09 11.25
ADVERTISEMENTS 29 36.25
SELF 24 30
OTHERS 08 10
Table-9, given above shows the factors influencing purchase of any particular brand. The data revealed
that about 36.35% respondents are influenced to purchase any brand due to advertisement impact,
12.5% respondents are influenced by family, 11.25% respondents influenced by doctors and 30 %
influenced by self.10 % respondents influenced by other reasons.
Table 10. Persuasion due to advertisement
Response category No. of Respondents Percentages
MOSTLY PERSUADED 35 43.75
SOMETIMES PERSUADED 29 36.35
NEVER PERSUADED 16 20
Table No. 10 showed that 43.75% of the respondents were mostly influenced by the appeal and
36.35% were sometime influenced by appeal in the advertisement whereas 20% of respondents were
never influenced from the appeal used in advertisement, which means that advertisement did effect
consumer behavior to a greater extent.
Table 11. Recommendations for Buying Shampoos
Recommendations No. of respondents Frequency
DOCTOR’S ADVICE 15 18.75
IMP. INGREDIENTS 8 10
NOT INTERESTED 10 12.5
PROMOTION TECHNIQUE(ADVERTISEMENT) 47 58.75
The above Table-11 shows the recommendation for buying shampoos by different people, the data
pertaining to this revealed that about 10% of the total respondents concentrate on the important
ingredients present in the shampoo. About 18.75% respondents ready to accept Doctor’s suggestion,
58.75% of the respondents consider it as a promotion technique to increase the sale of the product and
12.5% of the respondents are not interested in hair care and related problems.
Table 12. Switching to another brand
No. of respondents Percentages
FREQUENTLY 07 8.75
OCCASIONALLY 59 73.75
NEVER 14 17.5

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It can be concluded that a majority of the consumers change their shampoo occasionally
(73.75). These consumers also tend to test the quality of new launches. Frequently changing consumer
account for 8.75% and the non- availability is one of the factor which to a certain extent, has prompted
many consumers to use more than one brand simultaneously.17.5% of both sex of the consumer
responded that they never change their brand When asked about the reason they responded that
changing brand led to hair problems like hair loss etc.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it has been concluded that usage rate of shampoo among the select individuals has been high and
their buying behaviour is also very frequent. It has been seen that most of the people are aware of
cosmetic shampoos rather than herbal and medicated ones. Price, availability and Packaging of the
product also plays an important role in buying the shampoo products. Advertisement has very
important role in consumers buying behaviour and also in switching behaviour. It has been found that
most of the consumers preferred gifts, extra quantity, discount, price off while making decision for
buying the shampoos. Also, it has been seen that various factors influence the switching behaviour of
the consumers like impact of packaging, price rise of current brand, scheme of brands, impact of
advertisement, non-availability of brand, to try new option and influence by others etc.
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