INTRODUCTION

As a consumer we are all unique and this uniqueness is reflected in the consumption pattern and process purchase.

The study of consumer behavior provides us with reasons why consumers differ from one another in buying using products and services. We receive stimuli from the environment and the specifics of the marketing strategies of different products and services,

and responds to these stimuli in terms of either buying or not buying product.

In between the stage of receiving the stimuli and responding to it, the consumer goes through the process of making his decision.

Stages of the Consumer Buying Process:

Six Stages to the Consumer Buying Decision Process (For complex decisions). Actual purchasing is only one stage of the process. Not all decision processes lead to a purchase. All consumer decisions do not always include all 6 stages, determined by the degree of complexity...discussed next.

The 6 stages are:

1.Problem Recognition-

Difference between the desired state

and the actual condition. Deficit in assortment of products. Hunger--Food. Hunger stimulates your need to eat. Can be stimulated by the marketer through product information--did not know you were deficient? I.E., see a commercial for a new pair of shoes, stimulates your recognition that you need a new pair of shoes.

2.Information search-

Internal search, memory. External search if you need more information.

Friends and relatives (word of mouth). Marketer dominated sources; comparison shopping; public sources etc.

3.Evaluation of Alternatives-Need to establish criteria for

evaluation, features the buyer wants or does not want. Rank/weight alternatives or resume search. May decide that you want to eat something spicy, Indian gets highest rank etc. If not satisfied with your choices then return to the search phase. Can you think of another restaurant? Look in the yellow pages etc. Information from different sources may be treated differently. Marketers try to influence by "framing" alternatives.

4.Purchase decision-

Choose buying alternative, includes

product, package, store, method of purchase etc.

5.Purchase-

May differ from decision, time lapse between 4 & 5, product availability

6.Post-Purchase

Evaluation--outcome: Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction. Cognitive Dissonance, have you made the right decision. This can be reduced by warranties, after sales communication etc. After eating an Indian meal, may think that really you wanted a Chinese meal instead.

Factors Effecting the Consumer Buying Decision Process

A consumer, making a purchase decision will be affected by the following three factors:

1.Cultural and sub culture Factor 2. Social Factor 3. Personal Factor

•

Culture and Sub - culture-

Culture refers to the set of values, ideas, and attitudes that are accepted by a homogenous group of people and transmitted to the next generation. Culture also determines what is acceptable with product advertising. Culture determines what people wear, eat, reside and travel. Cultural values in the US are good health, education, individualism and freedom. In American culture time scarcity is a growing problem that is change in meals. Big impact on international marketing.

Culture can be divided into subcultures: Geographic regions

Human characteristics such as age and ethnic background. West Coast, teenage and Asian American. Culture affects what people buy, how they buy and when they buy. Understanding Consumer Buying Behavior offers consumers greater satisfaction (Utility). We must assume that the company has adopted the Marketing Concept and are consumer oriented.

Social Factors

Consumer wants, learning, motives etc. are influenced by opinion leaders, person's family, reference groups, social class and culture. •

Roles and Family Influences-

Role...things you should do based on the expectations of you from your position within a group. People have many roles. Husband, father, employer, employee. Individuals role are continuing to change therefore marketers must continue to update information. Family is the most basic group a person belongs to. Marketers must understand:

that many family decisions are made by the family uni oconsumer behavior starts in the family unit

family roles and preferences are the model for children's future family (can reject/alter/etc)

family buying decisions are a mixture of family

interactions and individual decision making Family acts an interpreter of social and cultural

values for the individual.

The Family life cycle: families go through stages; each stage creates different consumer demands: •

Reference Groups-Individual identifies with the group to the extent that he takes on many of the values, attitudes or behaviors of the group members. Families, friends, sororities, civic and professional organizations. Any group that has a positive or negative influence on a persons attitude and behavior. Membership groups (belong to) Affinity marketing is focused on the desires of consumers that belong to reference groups. Marketers get the groups to approve the product and communicate that approval to its members. Credit Cards etc.!! Aspiration groups (want to belong to) Disassociate groups (do not want to belong to) Honda, tries to disassociate from the "biker" group. The degree to which a reference group will affect a purchase decision depends on an individuals susceptibility to reference group influence and the strength of his/her involvement with the group.

Social Class

An open group of individuals who have similar social rank. US is not a classless society. US criteria; occupation, education, income, wealth, race, ethnic groups and possessions. Social class influences many aspects of our lives. i.e; upper middle class Americans prefer luxury cars Mercedes.

Upper-upper class, .3%, inherited wealth, aristocratic

names. Lower-upper class, 1.2%, newer social elite, from

current professionals and corporate elite Upper-middle class, 12.5%, college graduates,

managers and professionals Middle class, 32%, average pay white collar

workers and blue collar friends

Working class, 38%, average pay blue collar workers

Lower class, 9%, working, not on welfare Lower-lower class, 7%, on welfare

Social class determines to some extent, the types, quality, and quantity of products that a person buys or uses.Lower class people tend to stay close to home when shopping; do not engage in much pre-purchase information gathering. Stores project definite class images. Family, reference groups and social classes are all social influences on consumer behavior. All operate within a larger culture.

Personal Factor

Unique to a particular person. Demographic Factors, Sex, Race, Age etc. Who in the family is responsible for the decision making? Young people purchase things for different reasons than older people.

Psychological factors

Psychological factors include:

Motives-

A motive is an internal energizing force that orients a person's activities toward satisfying a need or achieving a goal. Actions are effected by a set of motives, not just one. If marketers can identify motives then they can better develop a marketing mix.

MASLOW hierarchy of needs!!

Physiological Safety Love and Belonging Esteem Self Actualization

Need to determine what level of the hierarchy the consumers are at to determine what motivates their purchases. The product was not selling well, and was

almost terminated. Upon extensive research it was determined that the product did sell well in inner-city convenience stores. It was determined that the consumers for the product were actually drug addicts who couldn't digest a regular meal. They would purchase Nutriment as a substitute for a meal. Their motivation to purchase was completely different to the motivation that B-MS had originally thought. These consumers were at thePhysio logical level of the hierarchy. BM-S therefore had to redesign its MM to better meet the needs of This target market. Motives often operate at a subconscious level therefore are difficult to measure.

Perception

Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information inputs to produce meaning. IE we chose what info we pay attention to, organize it and interpret it. Information inputs are the sensations received through sight, Taste, hearing, smell and touch. Selective Exposure-select inputs to be exposed to our awareness. More likely if it is linked to an event, satisfies current needs, intensity of input changes (sharp price drop). Selective Distortion-Changing/twisting current received information, inconsistent with beliefs. Advertisers that use comparative advertisements (pitching one product against another), have to be very careful that consumers do not distort the facts and

perceive that the advertisement was for the competitor. A current example...MCI and AT&T...do you ever get confused? Selective Retention-Remember inputs that support beliefs, forgets those that don't. Average supermarket shopper is exposed to 17,000 products in a shopping visit lasting 30 minutes-60% of purchases are unplanned. Exposed to 1,500 advertisement per day. Can't be expected to be aware of all these inputs, and certainly will not retain many. Interpreting information is based on what is already familiar, on knowledge that is stored in the memory

Lifestyles-

Recent US trends in lifestyles are a shift towards personal independence and individualism and a preference for a healthy, natural lifestyle. Lifestyles are the consistent patterns people follow in their lives. The marketer must be aware of these factors in order to develop an appropriate MM for its target market

Company profile

Van Heusen Corporation is one of the world's largest apparel companies. It owns and markets the Calvin

Klein brand worldwide. It is the world's largest shirt and neckwear company and markets a variety of goods

under its own brands, Van Heusen, Calvin Klein, IZOD, ARROW, Bass and G.H. Bass & Co., and its licensed brands including Geoffrey Beene, Kenneth Cole New

York, Kenneth Cole Reaction, unlisted, A Kenneth Cole Production, BCBG Max Azria, BCBG Attitude, MICHAEL Michael Kors, Sean John, Chaps, Donald J. Trump Signature

Collection, JOE Joseph Abboud, Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY, and Timberland.

Product profile

Research objective

RESEARCH OBJECTIVEFOLLOWING IS THE OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

To study the consumer behaviour with respect to Van Heusen.

To find out purpose of buying van huusen products. To study the awareness of various companies

regarding branded clothes. To find out channel of communication which is

preffered by cuctomers To find out how often customers visit ven huesen

store. To find out which other brands customer normally

buy. To find out the normal spending of customers on

clothes per year.

Research Design

RESEARCH DESIGN

Type and source of data:

1.primary data: Collected directly from customers by using questionnaire

2.secondary data: Secondary data is taken from company website,brouchers,company register etc.

3. data collection method: survey

4.research instrument: Include 10 questions

5.sampling plan: 1)consumer behavior study i. sampling unit- ven heusen customer ii.sampling size- 50

2)duration:

10 days.

RESEARCH LIMITATION

RESEARCH LIMITATION

Following is the limitation of research

Information given by the customer is assumed to be true.

Because of time constrain the sample size is limited.

Analysis & Interpretation

SIZE NORMALLY CUSTOMERS WEAR

Particular Freq Shirt Freq Trouser Shirt Per Trouser Per30-34 - 33 - 6635-38 1 15 2 3039-42 43 2 86 443-47 6 - 12 0

30-34 35-38 39-42 43-470

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Shirt %Trouser %

INTERPRETATION

1) According to the customer’s survey normal Shirt size is in the Range of 39 – 42 i.e. 86%.2) Normal Trouser size is 30 – 34 i.e. 66% according to our survey.

COMMUNICATION CHANNEL PREFERED BY VAN HUESEN CUSTOMERS

Particular Frequency PercentageLetter 4 8Sms 24 48Call 7 14

E-mail 15 30

10%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Letters

Sms

Call

E-mail

INTERPRETATION

1) Most preferable network is SMS which is preferred by 48% customers.2) The Second most preferable network is E-mail i.e. 30%.

HOW OFTEN CUSTMER’S LIKE TO RECEIVE INFORMATION ABOUT VAN HUESEN

Particular Frequency PercentageOnce In month 23 46

Once in two month 25 50Once in six month 2 4

Percentage0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Once in monthOnce in two monthsOnce six month

INTERPRETATION

1) According to survey customers like to receive information about store Once in Two month.

HOW OFTEN CUSTOMER’S VISIT ANY VAN HUESEN STORE

Particular Frequency PercentageOnce In two month 23 46

Once in three month 18 36Once in six month 9 18

Percentage0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Once in two monthOnce in three month Once in six months

INTERPRETATION

1) Most of the customer’s visit VAN HUESEN Store in every two months i.e. 46% of the total sample size.

WHY PEOPLES BUY VAN HUESEN CLOTHES

Particular Frequency PercentageBrand 15 30Style 17 34

Fit 13 26Range 5 10

Percentage0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

BrandStyleFitRange

INTERPRETATION

1) The customers buy VAN HUESEN Clothes because of its Style and Fitting i.e. 34% and 26%. 2) However some customers buy it for Brand Name.

CUSTOMERS SPENDING ON CLOTHES PER YEAR

Particular Frequency Percentage5000-10000 25 50

10000-15000 20 4015000-20000 3 6Above 20000 2 2

Percentage0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

5000-1000010000-1500015000-20000above 20000

INTERPRETATION

1) The average spending of customers on clothes is in the range of 5000 – 10000 i.e. 50% of the total sample size

OTHER BRANDS NORMALLY PREFERRED BY CUSTOMERS

Brand Name Frequency PercentageArrow 4 8

Allen Solly 10 20Louis Philippe 14 28Wills Lifestyle 7 14

Color Plus 4 8Zodiac 11 22

Percentage0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

ArrowAllen SollyLouis PhilippeWills LifestyleColor PlusZodiac

INTERPRETATION

1) Most preferable Brand other than VAN HUESEN is LOUIS PHILIPPE which is preferred by almost 28% customer as per our survey.

2) The second most preferable Brand by customers is ZODIAC which is almost 22% of the sample size

PERCENTAGE OF MALE AND FEMALE VISITED STORE DURING SURVEY

Particular Frequency PercentageMale 45 90

Female 5 10

Percentage

Male Female

INTERPRETATION

1) According to our survey we noted that most of the visitors of VAN HUESEN are Male i.e. 90% of total customers

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY

Particular Frequency PercentageVery Satisfied 25 50

Satisfied 23 46

Unsatisfied 3 6Very Unsatisfied 0 0

Very Sa

tisfied

Satisfi

ed

Unsatisfi

ed

Very Unsati

sfied

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Percentage

Percentage

INTERPRETATION

1) According to survey customers are very satisfied with this Brand.

RESEARCH FINDING

RESEARCH FINDING

BRAND NAME AND FITTING ARE THE IMPORTANT FACTOR FOR BUYING VEN HUESEN PRODUCTS.

MOST CUSTOMER VISIT VEN HUESEN IN EVERY 2 MONTHS.

CUSTOMER LIKE TO RECEIVE UPDATES ABOUT STORE THROGH SMS.

THE OTHER MOST PREFERABLE BRAND IS ZODIAC IN COMPARISION WITHVEN HUESEN.

CUSTOMERS ARE VERY SATISFIED WITH VEN HUESEN BRAND.

CUSTOMERS SPEND ON CLOTHES IN THE RANGE OF 5000-10000 EVERY YEAR.

SUGGESTIONS

SUGGESTIONS

VEN HUESEN SHOULD INCREASE CASUAL STOCK.

SHOULD INCREASE THE RANGE AVAILABLE AT THIS PARTICULAR STOCK.

SHOULD COME UP WITH 38 AND 36 CM SIZE IN SHIRTS

LAUNCH NEW TYPE OF OCCASIONAL WEAR T-SHIRTS.

COMPANY SHOULD COME UP WITH NEW DISCOUNTS SCHEMES.

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

The aim of marketing is to meet and satisfy target customer’s need and want. Studying customer provides clues for developing new product, product features. Company challenge is to produce delight and loyal customer. A company would be wise to measure customer satisfaction regularly, because the key to customer retention is customer.

The project is undertaken for VAN HEUSEN which is the leading brand for apparel in World.

The aim of project is to study of consumer behavior with respect to apparel and customer satisfaction level.

For this research primary and secondary data is used in which primary data is collected directly from customer through open and close – ended questionnaire, answer filled by customer for which personal contact was made with customer in VAN HEUSEN store .

Most of the customers purchase VAN HEUSEN products because of its fitting and very high percentage of customers are satisfied with VAN HEUSEN service and product line. The most customers have suggested that store should come up with new discount schemes.

According to our survey the other most preferable brand is LOUIS PHILLIPPE and ZODIAC. Most of the visitors are Men very few customers are unsatisfied with this brand and so its become recommended Brand.

Because of its unique collection VAN HEUSEN is on the top position in today’s competitive market

APPENDIX

V A N H E U S E NFeedback Form

Name:

First Name: _________________ Last Name: _________________

Gender: MMM F

Birth Date (dd/mm/yy) : __/__/____

Mobile No: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1. Please let us know what size your normally wear ?

Shirt Trouser

2. Your Occupation:

Designation:_________________________________________

Company name:______________________________________

3. How would you prefer to receive communication from van huesen?

Email Letter Sms Call on mobile

4. How often you would you like to receive communication about van huesen?

Once in two months Once a month Once in six month

5. How often do you visit any van heusen store?

Once in two months Once in 3 month Once in six month

6. Why do buy van heusen?

Please rank the following options with1 being the most preferred option and 5 being the least preferred:

Brand Style Fit Range Price

7. Which other brands do you normally buy?

Arrow Allen Solly Louis Philippe Wills Lifestyle Color Plus Zodiac

8. Why do you buy this brand?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

9. Do you have any special requirements that van heusen could address?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

10. Are you satisfied with VAN HEUSEN?

a) Very satisfied b) Satisfied

c) Unsatisfied d) Very unsatisfied

11. How much you spend on your clothes per year?

a) 5000 – 10000 b)10000 – 15000

c)15000 – 20000 d) Above 20000

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography

1)Marketing Management-By Philip Kotler

2) Research Methodology-C. R. Kothari

3) Website www.vanheusen.com

4) Booklet of VAN HEUSEN, advertisement posters, broachers, etc