INTRODUCTION

In this research I have survey the product performance and buying behavior of the famous brand
of products Nestle, which are consumed by people of all ages. During this research I have
interacted with students of VIT University. After this research I came to know how people
perceives these products on the variables like price, quality, advertisement, satisfaction, taste,
packaging, brand loyalty etc. I also came to know which particular kind of products is most
preferred by people of different age groups. In this research I have surveyed that how frequently
and how much they prefer to consume, whether they buy small, big or family pack. Trend of
ongoing changes in their likings has been shown in the report. In this report I have tried to
explain the entire research and facts Nestle products wise.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

All marketing starts with the consumer. So consumer is a very important person to a marketer.
Consumer decides what to purchase, for whom to purchase, why to purchase, from where to
purchase, and how much to purchase. In order to become a successful marketer, he must know
the liking or disliking of the customers. He must also know the time and the quantity of goods
and services, a consumer may purchase, so that he may store the goods or provide the services
according to the likings of the consumers. Gone are the days when the concept of market was let
the buyers beware or when the market was mainly the sellers market. Now the whole concept
of consumers sovereignty prevails. The manufacturers produce and the sellers sell whatever the
consumer likes. In this sense, consumer is the supreme in the market.

As consumers, we play a very vital role in the health of the economy local, national or
international. The decision we make concerning our consumption behavior affect the demand for
the basic raw materials, for the transportation, for the banking, for the production; they effect the
employment of workers and deployment of resources and success of some industries and failures
of others. Thus marketer must understand this.
Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy
product. 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.

The study of the consumer behavior not only focuses on how and why consumers make buying
decision, but also focuses on how and why consumers make choice of the goods they buy and
their evaluation of these goods after use. So for success of any company or product promotion it
is very necessary to depart its concentration towards consumer behavior.
 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

As learning is a human activity and is as natural, as breathing. Despite of the fact that learning is
all pervasive in our lives, psychologists do not agree on how learning takes place. How
individuals learn is a matter of interest to marketers. They want to teach consumers in their roles
as their roles as consumers. They want consumers to learn about their products, product
attributes, potential consumers benefit, how to use, maintain or even dispose of the product and
new ways of behaving that will satisfy not only the consumers needs, but the marketers
objectives.

The scope of my study restricts itself to the analysis of consumer preferences, perception and
consumption of Cadbury and Nestle Chocolates. There are many other brands of chocolates
available but my study is limited to two major players of chocolates leaving behind the others.
The scope of my study is also restricts itself to Vellore region only.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Awng Di (June 2008) This study compares consumers perceptions between retail stores:
superstores and family-run stores in Bangkok. The superstores which were used to compare with
family-run stores in this study are Big C, Carrefour and Tesco-Lotus. The study was quantitative
research using survey questionnaires to collect data from 400 shoppers in Bangkok areas.
Quantitative statistics were used to analyze data variables and test hypotheses. The results from
this study found that the competition between superstores and family-run stores resulted in more
benefits to customers. The customers were aware that many family-run stores closed down
because of superstores, but they preferred free and fair competition. The results also found that
the customers wanted the Thai government to impose restrictions on superstore expansion and
support family-run stores, though they still agreed that superstores are essential for consumers
and family-run stores are not well allocated for consumers in Bangkok. Consumers were satisfied
more with marketing factors including product quality, product variety, and stable prices of
superstores. They also preferred the store environment of superstores than with those of family-
run stores. Consumers also thought that superstores benefited the economy and society than
family-run stores.
NISSAR MOHAMED.S (MAY 2012) The purchasing power of the consumer has also
increased; giving rise to his wants and needs. It is over here that big retail chains such as Big
Bazaar come into picture satisfying various consumer needs under one roof.
From the survey conducted on the customers' perception towards the marketing mix of
Big Bazaar the following can be concluded regarding the P's: The customers are highly satisfied
with the variety and of products, but at the same time they are not very happy with the quality
and availability of branded products. Big Bazaar has definitely succeeded in keeping up its
image of a value for money store, as its price has been rated positively. The promotions are not
hitting the target. Although Big Bazaar has been promoting their offers, most of the customers
are introduced to these only at the store. Customers are delighted with the location of Big Bazaar
as it is located in the most intensely populated area of Chennai. Big Bazaar has been successful
in keeping up its promise of providing value for money goods, but today customers look beyond
price, such as quality, employee behaviour, store atmosphere etc. Big Bazaar has scope for
improvement in these yields.

M.Ramakrishnan (2010) The study aims to analyze the Consumer Perception towards Private
Label Brands on Big Bazaar, Coimbatore. The objective of the study is to understand the
possibility of success when retailers introduce private brands. The research is aimed to explore if
buying choices are made based on brand loyalty and to analyze whether customers actively seek
for new brands or strict to the old brands.

From this study, one can come to the conclusion that private labels are able to position
themselves significantly in the mind of customers and are gaining acceptance. Growth in specific
private label segments like food and apparel segments are growing at a faster rate. While, the
future of private labels is dependent on the retailers ability to overcome key challenges such as
adaptive supply chain practices, quality infrastructure, accelerated growth in new categories,
blurring dividing lines between private label and national brands. From the study, it was found
that good quality, price, trustworthy, large variety are the most influencing factor which drive the
customer to buy the private label brand. Therefore, these are the factors which should be
considered while coming with the future private brand. This in return it will help the retail stores
to increase sales.
Sproles and Kendall (1986) define a consumer decision making (CDM) style as a mental
orientation characterizing a consumers approach to choices. Broadly speaking, there are three
types of approaches instudying consumer decision-making styles: the psychographic / lifestyle
approach, which identifies hundreds of characteristics related to consumer behavior; the
consumer typology approach, which classifies consumers into several types; and the consumer
characteristics approach, which focuses on different cognitive dimensions of consumers
decision-making in the extent consumer behaviour literature, most studies assume that the
shopping approaches of all consumers with certain decision making traits combine to form a
consumers decision-making style. Academicians and researchers have long been interested in
identifying these underlying decision styles of shoppers. For example, consumers are identified
as economic shoppers, personalizing shoppers, ethical shoppers, apathetic shoppers, store loyal
shoppers, recreational shoppers, convenience shoppers, price-oriented shoppers, brand-loyal
shoppers, name-conscious shoppers, problem-solving shoppers, fashion shoppers, brand
conscious shoppers and impulse shoppers. Using the consumer characteristics approach, Sproles
(1985) developed a 50-item instrument to profile the decision making styles of consumers. Using
data collected from 111 undergraduate women in two classes at the University of Arizona and
employing a factor analysis technique, Sproles (1985) found six consumer decision-making style
traits He named and described these traits: (1) Perfectionism. (2) Value Conscious, (3) Brand
Consciousness, (4) Novelty-Fad-Fashion Consciousness, (5) Shopping Avoider-Time Saver-
Satisfier, (6) Confused, Support-Seeking Decision Maker. In a later study, Sproles and Kendall
(1986) developed a comprehensive instrument called Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) to
measure consumer decision making styles. The instrument was administered to 482 students in
29home economics classes in five high schools in the Tucson, Arizona area. This instrument
measures eight mental characteristics of consumers decision making: perfectionism, brand
consciousness, novelty-fashion consciousness, recreational, price-value consciousness,
impulsiveness, confused by over choice, and brand loyal/ habitual.
Reeti , Sanjay and Malhotra,(2009) investigated about the customers perceptions about
banking services in an emerging economy for which the various determinants affecting the
customer perception as well as attitude towards banking services were predicted through study
that was conducted on the respondents taken from Northern part of India .Major findings
depicted that customer perceptions are influenced by the usage of e-banking services by the kind
of account they hold, age , profession , attached high degree of usefulness to the balance enquiry
service among e-banking services .It was also found that security and truth are the most
important factors in affecting their satisfaction levels and slow transaction problem speed was the
most frequent problem faced by majority of Customers.

Karthik. A.S.(2008) Customer perception will be a primary force in determining how this
transition will evolve. Getting closer to the customer in todays highly competitive landscape is
essential for the entire industry and is no longer just a retail issue. It requires all organisations
across the supply chain to work as a single enterprise, sensing and responding rapidly to
consumer demand in a co-ordinated manner.
U. Dineshkumar, P.Vikkraman (2012) Organized retail outlets provide better quality of
service, product range as compared to the unorganized retail outlets. Most of the customers are
satisfied with the quality of service provided by the organized retail outlets.
William & Prabakar (2012) concluded that The customer perception of retail service quality is
an important segment to the emerging and the existing retailers in the market as the study reveals
that perception of service quality influenced by the various nature with various customers even
some of the general factors like Personal interaction, physical aspects are the dimensions on of
the customer perception remains constant and common to all the customer on a majority basis so
the retail outlets have to frame their own strategies In order to attract the customers on a longer
bas
Paulins & Geistfeld (2003), Consumer perceptions of retail store attributes for a set of particular
stores were examined to determine their effect on store preference. Respondents rated 13 stores.
Four variables were found to affect store preference using forward stepwise logistic regression:
type of clothing desired in stock, outside store appearance, shopping hours, and advertising.
Significance of the effect of store attributes on store preference varied by store type. In addition,
associations between customer perception of store attributes, education and age were observed.
Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This project is based on the comparative study consumer behavior towards Nestle and Cadbury
chocolates. Objectives of the study are:

The other objective is to know about the customer satisfaction level associated with
the product and the customer preference level.
To increase customer satisfaction and recapture the market share by fulfilling the
customer needs.
To study the factors affecting the consumption pattern.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the methodology of the study. This project is based on information
collected from primary sources. After the detailed study, an attempt has been made to present
comprehensive analysis of consumption of Nestle products consumed by the people. The data
had been used to cover various aspects like consumption, consumers preference and customers
satisfaction regarding Nestle Products. In collecting requisite data and information regarding the
topic selected, I went to the students of VIT University and collected the data.
Survey design:

The study is a cross sectional study because the data were collected at a single point of time. For
the purpose of present study a related sample of population was selected on the basis of
convenience.

Sample Size and Design:

A sample of 63 people was taken on the basis of convenience. The actual consumers were
contacted on the basis of random sampling.

Research Period:

Research work is only carried for 2 or 3 weeks.

Research Instrument:

This work is carried out through self-administered questionnaires.

Data Collection:

The data, which is collected for the purpose of study, is divided into 2 bases:

Primary Source: The primary data comprises information survey of Consumer

behavior towards Nestle Products. The data has been collected directly from respondent
with the help of structured questionnaires.

Secondary Source: To study the need of this project work secondary data have been
collected. For secondary data journal articles, magazines, news articles, textbooks and
websites have been referred to.

Data Analysis:

The data is analyzed on the basis of suitable tables by using mathematical techniques. The
technique that I have used is bar technique.
 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

In attempt to make this project authentic and reliable, every possible aspect of the topic was kept
in mind. Nevertheless, despite of fact constraints were at play during the formulation of this
project. The main limitations are as follows:

Due to limitation of time only few people were selected for the study. So the sample of
consumers was not enough to generalize the findings of the study.
The main source of data for the study was primary data with the help of self-administered
questionnaires. Hence, the chances of unbiased information are less.
People were hesitant to disclose the true facts.
The chance of biased response cant be eliminated though all necessary steps were taken
to avoid the same.