PhD

Agriculture in India is characterized by informal or traditional supply chain which is better to be shifted to more modem domestic and export oriented value chain. Majority of agricultural products are marketed in their raw form, value addition may result in higher income to the farmers, generation of rural employment, checking of price collapse of crops at the time of glut and increasing shelf life of the produce. Coconut is the principal cash crop occupying 41 percent of the net cultivated area and supporting 34 lakhs of marginal and small farmers of Kerala. More than 40 value added products are identified, marketed and exported by various agencies in coconut growing countries. Developing market for value added products warrants comprehensive study on the consumer behaviour towards these products. Hence, the study on Dynamics of consumer behaviour towards selected value added coconut products in Kerala with the objectives of assessing the consumption pattern of consumers towards selected value added coconut products, examining the pre purchase and post purchase behaviour of consumers, identifying the factors influencing the purchase decision of consumers and to suggest appropriate product positioning strategies for those products was undertaken. The study was confined to three districts of Kerala viz., Trivandrum, Ernakulam and Kozhikode. These districts were selected since, in Gross Value Output (GVO) of Kerala, coconut crop holds first position in Kozhikode and second position in both Ernakulam and Trivandrum. Also, these districts are placed almost equidistantly along the length of Kerala and representing southern, central and northern zones of the state. Purposive sampling was implemented for selecting the urban centres which are fixed entities and having known description. The respondents interacted at various centres in order to know the awareness about the product were selected by means of purposive sampling, from which the final respondents (60 numbers each for each product from each urban centre) selected by means of random sampling. Six Value Added Coconut Products (VACP) such as Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO), Neera, Coconut Vinegar (CV), Coconut Milk Powder (CMP), Coconut Chutney Powder (CCP) and Desiccated Coconut (DC) were selected for conducting the research. Primary data were collected from the respondents administering a pretested structured interview schedule. The data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using appropriate tools such as summation, averages, percentages, indices, Likert scale, Chi square, Kruskal Wallis test and Kendall's coefficient of concordance. Consumer profile was studied by analyzing the socio economic status of the consumers such as age, gender, marital status family size, educational status, occupational status, income, awareness of the consumers towards the value added products and the users of the individual product. Out of the total 376 respondents, 78 per cent in Trivandrum, 84 per cent in Ernakulam and 72 per cent in Kozhikode were aware of the products. Variables such as monthly expenditure for food, non-food items and different value added products, their monthly consumption, frequency and time of purchase, usage pattern, mode of purchase, source of purchase, change in the form of consumption and currently using brands were analysed to study the consumption pattern. The monthly family consumption expenditure for VACP to the food expenditure varied from 0.7 per cent in the case of CV to 5.7 per cent in the case of CMP. Pre purchase behaviour of the consumers was studied by analyzing the nature of market search in terms of brand, quality and price of the products, and marketing outlets, decision maker in the family, actual buyer, motivation towards purchase, awareness about the products and brands, sources of awareness, brand preference and shop preference the variable marketing outlet was least considered by the respondents in all the centres for all the products. For VCO price was less considered than quality or brand. In case of DC, except marketing outlet all other three variables were considered by cent per cent of the respondents. Bbrands viz. Ninnal, Organic India, Virgin Plus, Elements and Rubco of VCO, Thirukochi, Kaipuzha, Kera neera, Kera punch and De cocos of neera, Double Horse, Coco Vinegar, Thirukochi, Kalpaka and Theeram of CV, Maggi, KPL Shudhi, KLF Coconad, Kera, Maharaja, Syuryashobha and Palmo of CMP, Double horse, Brahmins, Kitchen Treasures, Eastern, New Kalpaka, Nirapara, Thejus and Kanchana of CCP,and Dinesh, Nariyal, Virgin Plus, Suryashobha and Maharaja of DC were recalled by the respondents. The most important motivational factor for all the products emerged to be essentiality of the product. Ninety nine per cent of the total respondents preferred super markets, either solely or in combination with other shopping sources for all the VACP products. But in case of neera apart from super market 52 per cent respondents preferred local retailers and 47 per cent preferred agri expo. Post purchase behaviour of the consumers was studied by analyzing the consumer attitude, consumer satisfaction, brand loyalty and dissemination of information, In order to analyse consumer's attitude and satisfaction the characteristics of the products such as ready to use, price, availability, shelf life, taste, status in health maintenance, hygiene, package size, packaging, brand image and promotions were considered. The variables such as duration of the use of current brand, brand shift and reasons for brand shift were considered to study brand loyalty. In the case of VCO the variables ready to use, hygiene nature and good packaging has generated a favourable attitude among the respondents and there was significant agreement among them. With regard to Neera there was no significant agreement among the respondents for any of the variable. However, as shown by Consumer Attitude Index the variable ready to use generated a highly favourable attitude towards neera by the respondents in all the three centres. The attitude of the respondents towards CV was highly favourable with respect to the variables ready to use. With regard to the shelf life as shown by the lowest score, index and significant agreement among the respondents, the attitude was less favourable. The variables ready to use and packaging had highly favourable attitude among respondents as shown by high indices of 99 and 94, respectively, in the case of CCP. The attitude developed to the variable ready to use was favourable with an index of 100 in all the centres with regard to DC. The composite index of consumer attitude of respondents towards YCO was rated as high favorability. For neera CMP and CCP the attitude of the respondents were less favourable and for CY and DC the attitude was of moderate favourability. Except neera the attitude levels of the consumers in different centres were almost similar. For neera the attitude in terms of favorability was moderate in Trivandrum, high in Emakulam and low in Kozhikode For YCO, the variable brand image was having the highest satisfaction index of 88 averaged over the three centres indicating a high level of satisfaction, the lowest score value was for promotion with an index of73. In the case of neera, the variables packaging and quality had the satisfaction index of93. The variables brand image and taste, with 81 of 94 for both, fell in the zone of high level of satisfaction in the case of CY. The variable price had relatively high 81 value of 79 indicating a moderate level of consumer satisfaction with regard to CMP. In the case of CCP, the variables brand image, packaging quality and package size were having higher scores and consequently higher 81 of 96, 94 and 91, respectively. For DC the variables brand image and packaging quality showed high level of satisfaction followed by the package size with an index of 79. There was no significant agreement among the response of the respondents. For the study of the factors affecting purchase decision, product related factors, socio economic factors, promotional factors, availability factors, motivational factors and institutional factors were taken into consideration. In the composite analysis of all the products and all the centres, among the eleven variables such as quality certification, technology usage, price affordability, hygiene nature, taste, packaging, family member opinion, promotional factors, availability, sociable nature of sales man and life period, technology usage and quality certification were emerged as the factors in the first and second positions though these two ranks were changed in different centres. Family member opinion was rated as the third factor influencing the purchase decision for all the products. Price was considered only at fifth position for almost all the products. Launching of modem, more effective and proven mass promotional strategies, pricing considering the low income groups, extension of distribution outlets to local retailers, convenient shops, co-operative stores and even online marketing, adoption of value addition technology packages prescribed by the competent research, extension and management institutions like Indian Council of Agricultural Research (lCAR), State Agricultural and other Universities, Coconut Development Board (CDB) and organisations abroad doing research in coconut and its value added products, acquiring certifications like FPO, lSI, AGMARK, ECOMARK, FSSAJ etc. to improve the brand image and consumer acceptance, emphasizing on the similarity between the traditional and raw coconut products and new value added products and their ready to use nature in the promotional activities among the target group, particularly working women, maintenance of maximum possible long term relationship with consumers, and continued research on consumers' attitude and market were suggested as product positioning strategies for widening consumer acceptance and market of value added coconut products.