CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR OF FASTRACK WATCHES

Final REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………

2. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND…………………………………………...

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3. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY…………………………………………………………..

4. LITERATURE REVIEW

A.DEFINITIONS…………………………………………………………………

B.BUYING DECISION PROCESS………………………………………………

5. AN OVERVIEW OF WRIST WATCH INDUSTRY………………………………..

6. COMPANY PROFILE OF FASTRACK…………………………………………….

7. STP ANALYSIS OF FASTRACK…………………………………………………..

8. MARKETING MIX OF FASTRACK………………………………………………..

9. CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF FASTRACK…………………………..

10. METHODOLOGY OF STUDY…………………………………………………….

11. ANALYSIS OF STUDY……………………………………………………………

12. RECOMMENDATIONS…………………………………………………………...

13. REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………..

14. ANNEXURES………………………………………………………………………

1. ABSTRACT

The report focuses on attitudes and behavior on the concept of the youth’s buying behavior towards Fastrack watches. Different consumers have got different decision making process. The buyer’s ultimate goal is to buy the product of qualitative, quantitative with low/best affordable

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price. To identify different kinds of consumer buying behavior towards different wrist watches and Fastrack, we have carried out survey of buying behavior of youth and different kind of consumer behavior models, literature and theory of consumer behavior. Finally we analyzed and concluded with research based on questionnaire of Fastrack watches at IBS Hyderabad. The research has been conducted to understanding the various important factors effecting the buying behavior patterns of consumers in particular the youth. The research findings could be used to enhance the features of product which could ultimately lead to profitability of the company.

2. INTRODUCTION

Why studying consumer buying behavior?

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Fastrack brand mainly target youth segment. Youth is perhaps the most difficult demographic group to communicate with. Not only they have a short attention span, they are also elusive in media consumption, fickle in brand preference, and simply challenging to engage and entertain. Marketers spend millions in marketing research every year trying to predict, or anticipate, changing youth behaviors. With the continually proliferating choices of trendy watches, not only does this group embrace technology at an early age, it quickly becomes the early adopters of all new trends and convergent platforms. One can argue that whatever youth does today foreshadows what older demographic groups will adopt in the near future. All this makes it extremely difficult to understand and target their behaviors.

BACKGROUND

Consumer has been elated with the kind of reception they are getting from various companies these days. The reason behind a drastic change in consumer behavior is because the consumer is no more treated as a hire purchaser but, he is treated as the decider of the company’s fortune. Companies or marketers cannot hire any fortuneteller to guess the consumer’s attitude. Guessing or measuring the consumers attitude is not a cake walk but this is because predicting consumers attitude is as tough as predicting consumer’s mind. Consumers are continuously choosing among the various products though they are not aware of the products and usage, even though they are intentionally purchasing the various new brands without any knowledge about the new products, furthermore if new company enters into the market, for every consumer it is very difficult to understand the features of the news products and this makes confusion among the consumers to obtain the information. For example: If one local company enters into the market then to gain the knowledge about the features of the new product, it will take long time for the consumers to understand. The term ‘consumer’ can be described as a person who acquires goods and services for self satisfaction and his often used to describe two different kinds of consuming entities: the personal consumers and organizational consumers. The personal consumers buy goods and services for his/her own use. In this context, the goods are bought for final use by individual, who are organizational consumers, they encompasses for profit and not for profit business, government agencies, institutions, all of them must buy products, equipment and services in order to run their organization. The consumer will respond according to the product quality and reliability, the fundamental understanding of products is necessary to understand the product features, products reliability and product benefits. The consumer is the end user for the product; consumers buy the products in market; in order to perform successful sales operations in the market an effective distribution channel and networks are required for the organizations. Distribution channels and networks play an important role in the consumer goods industry. Consumer is the ultimate user of every product, without any consumer there is no market as such. Every region wise the different consumers are using different kind of products. Every consumer has their own tastes and preferences. So, every consumer’s opinions and preferences are different from one another. The local marketers have

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good idea about, what the local consumers are using (region wise). For example: The south Indian food habits and tastes and preferences are different, when compared to north Indian food habits. Hence we can deduce that direct marketing activities have big impact on every consumer, because through direct marketing every company knows about the behavior of every consumer in the market. Manufacturing companies, retailer and suppliers do not have an idea about the consumer behavior in the local market. So, direct marketing activities should be left to the local market leaders, because the local market leaders have best idea of local market and local consumer behavior. This theory helps for the organization and sub-organizations to know the consumer behavior in different market environments, taste and preferences of the consumer behavior. McDonald’s would not have made a big impact in the Indian market had it persisted with its U.S. product line that included beef products, moreover, McDonald’s repositioned the brand as family-oriented and children-friendly, catering the traditional Indian middleclass segment that finds pride in its family culture and is especially conscious of childcare. So in this point of view Mc Donald’s have approached differently, because they identified that, which they followed earlier that will not get good impact on their business so, they immediately changed the business line to achieve the targets, thus, this is one kind of business strategy to achieve the set goals in huge populated countries. For perspective of globalization we can not change the system of tastes and preferences of Consumers. The consumers mind is different from one another in according to the human psychology, demographical differences, age & sex and to understand people needs. To assess the influences of every consumer approach is different, in theory explained that consumer is treated as decider of the company, what ever the product comes to the market, the consumer is the ultimate purchaser for every product, some times the consumers are choosing, selecting and going for family decision making to choose differently, in one point of time the consumers differentiated and explained that they are going for personal and some of the them are using products for profit. Demographical differences make new food habits for every consumer. The example could be of two countries, wherein Chinese consumers are giving respect to traditional and patriotic values; where as Indian consumers are more religious when they are using the products. These are influences that make the consumer to purchase different products; mostly those influences are more related to the physiological, demographical, social, cultural, economic, family and business influences. According to Kotler, consumer behavior is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It is a subcategory of marketing that blends elements from psychology, sociology, socio psychology, 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, psychographics, and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people needs. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from group such as family friends, reference groups, and society in general. for example while consumers purchase the shoe, then they go for family decision, comfort, satisfaction, price and quality. Every family member doesn’t have the same opinion to buy the

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same product; different family members have different choice to buy the product. So, in one family consumer behavior is different

3. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to a better knowledge of consumer buying behavior towards purchasing the Fastrack watches. The aim of the thesis is to find out the factors influencing the youth in purchasing Fastrack watches.

4. LITERATURE REVIEW

4.a DEFINITION Consumer-buying behavior according to Kotler is defined as “The buying behavior consumers – individuals and house holds who buy goods and services for personal consumption.” the term ‘consumer’ can be described as a person who acquires goods and services for self satisfaction is often used to describe two different kinds of consuming entities: the personal consumers and the organizational consumers. The personal consumers buy goods and services for his/her own use. In this context the goods are bought for final use by individual, who are organizational consumers, encompasses for profit and not for profit business, government agencies, institutions, all of them must buy products, equipment and services in order to run their organization. Peter and Olson mention that interactions between the peoples emotions, moods, affection and specific feelings is called consumer behavior, in other words in Environmental events which they exchange ideas and benefits each is called consumer behavior. Buying behavior of people, who purchase products for personal use and not for business purposes. The Physical actions of consumers that can directly observe and measured by others, by influencing behavior profit can be earned. The study of consumer behavior has evolved in early emphasis on rational choice to focus on apparently irrational buying needs and the use of logical flow models of bounded rationality. The latter approach has depended into what is often called the ‘information processing model’. The information processing model regards the consumer as a logical thinker who solves problem to make purchasing decision. Compares the four major approaches to create successful inter-organizational relationships and integrates them into a single prescription for managing important inter firm relationships. Service fails, in satisfying the customers and developing customer loyalty over time in business to business markets. Webster and Wind famously identified five buying roles, they are: 1. users 2. Influencer3. Buyer 4. Decider and 5 Gatekeepers. Further categories have been suggested as the ‘initiator’, and the ‘analyst’ and spectator. The product purchase decision is not always done by the user. The buyer necessarily purchases the product. Marketers must decide at whom to direct their

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promotional efforts, the buyer or the user. They must identify the person who is most likely to influence the decision. If the marketers understand consumer behavior, they are able to predict how consumers are likely to react to various informational and environmental cues, and areable to shape their marketing strategies accordingly. The consumer behavior influences are follows: The consumer behavior influences in 3 aspects, they are acquiring, using and disposing.The acquiring means that how the consumer spends money on the products, such as leasing, trading and borrowing. Using means some of the consumers use the high price products and some of the consumer sees the quality. Disposing is nothing but distribution, order or places a particular product. By understanding consumer behavior deeply, different authors have given different information about the consumer behavior, how consumer buys the products, it involvesfive steps they are: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behavior, the marketer can pick up many clues as and how to meet the buyer need and develop an effective program to support an attractive offer to the target market. According to Kotler, the Consumers buying decision process is influenced by four steps those are as follows: a. Types of consumer buying decision behavior: Consumer buying behavior decision-making varies with the type buying decision. There are different types of buying behavior decisions. b. Complex buying behavior: Consumers undertake complex buying behavior when they are highly involved in purchase and complex buying behavior and perceive significant difference among the brands. Consumers may be highly involved when the product are expensive, risky, purchased in frequently and are highly expensive (Kotler, 1994). c. Dissonance: Reducing buying behavior occurs when consumers are highly involved with an expensive, infrequent or risky purchase, but sees little difference among various brands. d. Variety: Consumers undertake variety seeking buying behavior in situations characterized by low consumer involvement, but significant perceived brand difference. In such cases, consumers often do a lot brand scrutiny.

4.b THE BUYING DECISION PROCESS

A. INTRODUCTION OF BUYING DECISION PROCESS

Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Mostly large companies do extensive research on consumer buying decision, to answer questions like what does consumer buy, where they buy, how they buy, how much they buy, when they buy and why do they buy a product, for this question to reorganize the decision different stages needed they are, information search, and evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase decision etc., The consumer passes through all five stages with every purchase, but in more routine purchases, consumers often skip or reverse some of these stages.

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B. THE BUYING DECISION PROCESS

NEED RECOGNITION

The buying process starts with need recognition, where as buyer recognize the need. The buyer’s decision is depending on his/her internal & external stimuli of consumer behavior. The internal and external stimuli of consumer behavior means that the consumer, which product should purchase, how much wants to purchase and externally which products are more reliable and usable. According to this internal and external stimuli’s the buyer will take the decision. The consumers are searching the information from the various sources those are information search, personal source, commercial sources, public sources and experimental sources; this is also process of the buying decision process before purchase of the product.

INFORMATION SEARCH:

The consumer can obtain information from any of several sources, which includes: Personal source: family, friends, neighbors, acquaintance etc.Commercial sources: advertising, sales people, dealers, packaging, displays.Public sources: mass media, consumer-rating organizations etc.Experimental sources: handling, examining, using of the product.Consumers receive most of the information about a product from commercial sources, which are controlled by the marketer. The most effective source however tend to be personal. Personal sources appear to be even more important in influencing the purchase.

C. EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES:

The consumer evaluates all the alternatives available to him/her to arrive at a brand choice. The consumer will see the product as a bundle of attributes with varying capacities, which satisfies his or her needs. The consumer will pay more attention to those attributes connected with their needs. The consumer is likely to develop a set of brand beliefs about, where each brand stands on each attribute. These of beliefs held about the particular brand is known as brand image, according to the beliefs and preferences of the consumer, evaluates the alternative products instead of using existing products.

D. PURCHASE DECISION:

In the evaluation stage, the consumer ranks all the brands and makes a purchase intention. Generally the consumer purchase decision is to buy the most preferred brand, when purchasing

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a products, consumer will think about two things, which can be, purchase decision and purchase intention. The attitude of others and unexpected situation factors both directly or indirectly effects the consumer’s final decision to buy a particular brand.

E. POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOR:

The buyers’ job does not end when the product is brought. After purchasing the product, the consumer will be satisfied or dissatisfied and will be engaged in post purchase behavior. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the purchase of a particular product depends on the relationship between the consumer expectation and the consumer disappointment, if it meets the consumer expectations, the consumer can get satisfied. And if it exceeds he/she is delighted.

5. WRIST WATCH INDUSTRY: AN OVERVIEW

Wrist Watches form an integral part of the personality of individuals in the present era. Earlier seen as a luxury item, they are now witnessing a fundamental change in perception, and are now

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gaining respect as an essential utility item. For the watch industry, time seems in its favor what with the liberalization of the Indian market coupled with the rising purchasing power of the young and consumerist Indians.

Indian watches market was for long dominated by public sector organizations like Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd. (HMT) and Allwyn and has now left the pioneers far behind or nowhere in market by private sector enterprises like Titan, Sonata, Ajanta and Timex along with foreign entities jostling for display space in the smallest of shops selling these products.

Before the establishment of HMT as the dominant player in the Indian markets initially, the country was solely dependent on imports to meet the internal demand. However, establishment of HMT as the leading player in the wrist watch segment in the 1960’s, changed the scenario.

In post liberalization India, the market stood to witness intensive competition between foreign and Indian manufacturers like Timex, Titan, Movado, Longines, Rado, Rolex, Fréderique Constant, Mont Blanc, Swatch, and many others. Many watch makers have made significant inroads in the industry and others are in the process of establishing themselves, currently.

Besides this, buyers are extremely choosy about the brand and type of wrist watches they wear. Being extremely brand conscious, their tastes have evolved over the years and have gone beyond the realms of durability to choose in terms of aesthetics and elegance. Thus it is a buyers market with multitude of designs that have entered and flooded the market place.

The size of the watch market currently is estimated to be around 40 to 45 million pieces annually. The organized sector alone contributes up to 30 percent of this figure, and the rest of the demand is being met by the unorganized grey sector. This data is significant indeed in view of the socio economic distribution of the Indian populace. More than 58 percent of the population is under twenty five and more than 80 percent of the population is below 45 years of age.

In dollar terms, the estimated annual market size is around USD 195 million, despite the fact that the penetration of watches is the lowest, compared globally. Looking into this fact and the long standing Indian tradition of comparing watches with jeweler and other traditional items, many watch companies are interested in setting up base in India. The average growth in the size of the market is slated to be around 10 -15 percent per year.

A casual study of the watch market reveals that it is segmented on basis of multiple proportions such as price, benefits and types of watches. The price of the watches is a major motive in the minds of the customer. Accordingly, three segments can be identified here, namely low priced, medium priced, and high priced watches.

The lower priced segment consists of watches priced less than INR 1000; the medium price range consists of watches in the INR 1000-3000 range and the high priced watches come in the INR 3000 upwards range. There are other higher categories as well such as the premium and luxury range, but they appeal to only a small category of the watch market in India.

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According to a recent study, more than 90 percent of the watches were from the lower price ranges with international costs being less than 20 Euros. Moreover, around 20 to 25 watches are being sold for every 1000 citizens. Thus there is enormous potential for growth of the industry in this untapped segment. Some customers look out for features like fashion appeal, technology, sophistication and status. Others go for durability, economy and precision.

Many customers prefer mechanical and automatic watches, while others prefer quartz watches. Newer segments are also on rise such as ladies watches, children’s watches and gent’s watches. Customers usually base their preferences and buying decisions on a variety of factors like price, durability, utility, aesthetic appeal and brand name. A combination of all these points ultimately forms the customer’s buying decision that translates into the purchase of a watch.

The retail sector has just begun to boom in India. Since the early 1990’s, Indian customers are relying more on departmental stores and shopping malls to purchase their wants and needs. This has come as a boon for watch manufacturers and dealers, who are now looking forward to utilize these new outlets to reach out to the Indian masses. Watch manufacturers are looking at a suitable mix to market their products ranging from exclusive retail outlets to display sections in malls and large departmental stores.

In the end, though India is still considered to be a difficult market to penetrate, due to reasons like price sensitiveness and its largely unorganized sector. However, with the right planning and the right partners and experienced collaborators, it is expected that both international and domestic watch manufacturers will do well in the Indian markets.

6. COMPANY PROFILE: FASTRACK

BACKGROUND OF FASTRACK

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Timex had entered the Indian market through a joint venture with Titan and which was their offering for the youth market. When that JV broke off in 1997 and Timex went independent, there was a gap in Titan’s portfolio and it only made sense to fill that need through their offering. Fastrack was launched as a range of watch ware under Titan and was called Titan Fastrack. Subsequently, it grew from a range to a sub-brand, where Titan was upfront in the logo and the association was strong. They used the jazzy version of the Mozart tune, which is Titan’s signature tune. So, the link with Titan was very strong. When they launched, they targeted predominantly the early jobber 23-30 year-old male executive. It was only a year or two later that they launched a line for women.

RE-LAUNCH OF THE BRAND

They took off and did well in the start but started stagnating in 2001-2003, and that’s when they went for a reality check. Titan had simultaneously launched the steel collection, which was an attempt to contemporize for a Titan audience. But what was happening was the collection in terms of looks, price point and consumer buying behavior was very similar to Fastrack, including advertising. The parent brand needed to continue in its endeavor to keep it contemporary and hence repositioned Fastrack to younger audience in sub-25 range.

Awareness of Fastrack was very low and was linked to Titan. There was no independent identity. Research had also shown that the fact that it had the backing of Titan was a positive assurance. However, kids didn’t like to be serious and sober like their parents. Fastrack needed to break away and hence changed the logo to bring in a youthful, spontaneous, energetic and fun identity and also removed Titan from the upfront association in the logo. They however, kept it at the bottom, saying it’s a Titan product. This helped carry the assurance of the trusted Titan brand. They also stopped using the Mozart tune in advertising.

Fastrack was launched with new products, a new identity, new advertising and a new logo in June 2005. The year took off so well that they ran out of stock very quickly and ended the year with a 150 per cent growth and the demand was growing continuously. Next year, they recorded another 100 per cent growth.

When re-launch was started, Fastrack brand was worth about Rs 29 crore but however they have grown almost ten times of that over the last three years. Fastrack has a presence in over 6000 outlets across 800 towns, with new exclusive brand kiosks in Metro Malls and its multi-channel distribution network which covers the 228 strong World of Titan Network, 122 Large Format Chain stores viz. Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Central, Westside, Pantaloons and Multi-brand watch & optical outlets. Fastrack is actually among the few brands where people come asking for the brand. They have adopted a fashion based strategy, where they launch

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about 3-4 collections in a year in both categories. Collection-based strategy has helped them very well.

It has been twin approach of constantly innovating on product design, yet being affordable, and to reach out to consumers in a language that connects to them that led to their success. It’s not your typical fashion brand talking down saying you must look cool and you must look like me. With their advertising, they were able to relate to the youth in a setting they were familiar with.

Fastrack, in it’s journey to being a fashion accessories brand has expanded it’s portfolio to now include not just watches and sunglasses but bags, belts, wallets and wristbands too. With this, it now has enough categories to open a fashion accessories store – and that’s just what they’ve done!

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STP Analysis

SEGMENTING: Wrist watch can be majorly segmented on the basis demographic factors and price. On the basis price the market can be segmented into low priced, medium priced and high priced. The low priced watches are priced less than Rs.1000, medium priced watches are priced from Rs1000 to Rs.3000 and highly priced are priced above Rs.3000. Fastrack has unveiled products in all the segments. The range of Fastrack watches is from Rs. 500 to Rs.4000.

On demographic grounds, the market could be segmented on the basis of age. The watches could be targeted at kids, youth and middle aged people. Fastrack watches were launched to cater to the needs of youth at first however it introduced watches for kids also later on. Hence

TARGETING:

Fastrack has products caters to the products in all the segments. The range of Fastrack watches is from Rs. 500 to Rs.4000. Hence it is catering to all the three segments of low, medium and highly priced segments. However more emphasis is laid on medium and high priced segments.

Collection Price rangeSport 2000-4000Army 2000-3500Adventure 1000-2000Basics 500-1500

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Grunge 1000-2500Aluminum 500-1000Color Play 1000-2000Digital Fashion 500-2000Essentials 1000-2500Party 1500-3000Pairs 3000-3500Neon - Disc 1000-2500Neon 500-1500XY 1500-3000

On demographic grounds, Fastrack watches were launched to cater to the needs of youth at first however it introduced watches for kids also later on. Hence it is targeting both youth and kids segments.

Collection TargetSport Men onlyArmy Both men and womenAdventure Both men and womenBasics Both men and womenGrunge both men and womenAluminum Women onlyColor Play Women onlyDigital Fashion Both men and womenEssentials Both men and womenParty BothPairs PairNeon - Disc Men onlyNeon Men onlyXY Both

POSITIONING:

Fastrack positions itself as both trendy and affordable range. These two attributes were usually considered as two poles wide apart. Fastrack has taken the challenge of combining both the features to offer a greater value proportion to its customers.

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MARKETING MIX OF FASTRACK:

PRODUCT AND PRICE:

There are a variety of collections of Fastrack watches specifically targeted to men and women. Each product is includes a different set of features to meet the need of specific customers.

COLLECTION PRICE RANGE TARGETSport 2000-4000 Men onlyArmy 2000-3500 Both men and womenAdventure 1000-2000 Both men and womenBasics 500-1500 Both men and womenGrunge 1000-2500 Both men and womenAluminium 500-1000 girls onlyColour Play 1000-2000 girls onlyDigital Fashion 500-2000 Both men and womenEssentials 1000-2500 Both men and womenParty 1500-3000 Both men and womenPairs 3000-3500 Pair Neon - Disc 1000-2500 Men onlyNeon 500-1500 Men onlyXY 1500-3000 Both men and women

PROMOTION

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• Advertising: advertising is in the form of television commercials. The company uses

youth icons to portray the trendy and funky look of the brand and to associate with it.

• Public displays also play an important role in promotion. The colorful and lively bill

boards play an important role in promotion.

PLACE

• Channels: The product is sold at almost all the leading watch stores and shopping

malls. The company has also established branded stores and it is also available in Titan stores.

• Coverage: the products are available all over India.

9. Consumer buying behavior: Fastrack watches

CULTURAL FACTORS

In India, Titan ahead of all other brands as the Most Admired Brand in India across all product categories. It was also a fitting tribute to a brand, which had not only revolutionised the Indian watch industry, but also brought in world-class benchmarks in product design, quality and retailing into India. In 1998, it was Fastrack, the cool, trendy, funky range for the young and young-at-heart. Since Indian population has positive outlook for titan it has influenced the behavior of younger generation who are variety seeking.

SOCIAL CLASS

The age and stage of individual has a mojor influence on the buying behavior of consumer. The youth in the range of age of fifteen years to mid thirties are generally attracted to the watches. Friends and their peer group has a mojor influence on the purchase decisions of the youth.

ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES:

Economic circumstances do not play a major role in opting for Fastrack watches because the target segment is youth and it offers an affordable range.

BRAND PERSONALITYFor Fastrack watches traits like Excitement and ruggedness can be attributed.

Excitement includes imaginative and being up to date while ruggedness sports outdoorsy and tough.

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LIFESTYLE A Fastrack watch generally attracts people with affluent lifestyle who are fashion conscious.

For Fastrack watches traits like Excitement and ruggedness can be attributed. Excitement includes imaginative and being up to date while ruggedness sports outdoorsy and tough.

BUYING DECISION PROCESS OF CONSUMER FOR FASTRACK WATCHES

• PROBLEM RECOGNITION: The buyer first and foremost identifies the reason why he or she wants a particular product. In the case of Fastrack watches the need is triggered by both internal and external stimuli. Internal stimuli are the need to keep track of time while external stimuli are because of the peer group who are using the watch. In the survey we have conducted many of them have responded that it as either a necessity or a accessory.

• INFORMATION SEARCH: In order to reach a large audience Fastrack employs a number of advertising and promotional campaigns. Fastrack has roped in John Abraham as brand ambassador of the product at the beginning to portray the sporty nature of the brand. The company has also roped in Aamir khan for army collection. The company uses youth icons to portray the trendy looks of the watches. It also advertises aggressively in internet, print media and television. Therefore it’s quite easy on the part of consumers to make an informed decision regarding Fastrack watches by collecting data from various sources of mass media and from family, friends etc. In the survey we have conducted majority have responded that television and print media have major influence on their purchase decisions.

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• EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES: A consumer then evaluates various alternatives based on the needs and information available to him. Fastrack through its variety of variants is able to satisfy a number of needs of the consumers. Fastrack which is always perceived as trendy and affordable watch has an edge over its competitors. Hence Fastrack is one of the best alternatives who are looking for a trendy yet affordable watch.

• PURCHASE DECISION: There is a strong preference of Fastrack brand among youth in both middle and upper. It would involve other sub decisions like timing, payment method. All the Branded stores and shopping malls would be offering flexible payments methods and flexible timings. In the survey conducted by us we have observed that consumers preferred to buy the watches majorly in branded stores and shopping malls.

• POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOR: Since Fastrack has been able to deliver value for money and satisfy the needs of consumers, it has been able to build a brand image for itself and win the loyalty of consumers. Hence many of the respondents have responded to not only buy the Fastrack watch once again bit also to recommend the brand to their friends and colleagues.

Thus above mentioned is the process which shows the different stages in consumer buying behavior.

TOTAL SETAWARENESS SET

CONSIDERATION SET

CHOICE SET

DECISION

Fastrack Fastrack Fastrack Fastrack ?Tommy Hilfigure Taghure Timex Timex Taghure Timex Titan Timex Titan Titan Sonata

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10. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

A. INTRODUCTION:

The research methodology is a procedure of collecting data to find out purpose. The data collection distinguished in secondary and primary data including description of the target population, survey method, design of questionnaire and presenting and demonstrated finally, used methods for the analysis and conclusion.

B. METHOD

As the types of method qualitative and quantitative researches are. Usually qualitative research is supported by quantitative to describe the research object more precisely the research is focused on quantitative method to get more attention on the purpose. Quantitative method is the analysis of the complex collected data much due to the amount of information and the highly resource demanding. Quantitative method of research provided insights into the problem and in developing approach by generating relevant questions.

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C. TYPES OF RESEARCH

The objective of descriptive research is to provide a description of various phenomenon’s connected to individuals, situations or events that occur. The purpose might be to develop empirical generalization. Once, such generalizations begins to appear, then they are worth explaining, which might lead to theory development. Moreover, descriptive research is often used when a problem is well structured and there is no intention to investigate cause/effect relationship. The objective with explanatory research is to analyze cause-effect relationship, explaining, because explanatory study is to develop a theory that could be used to explain the empirical generalization that was developed in the descriptive stage. This provides a cycle of theory construction, theory testing and theory reformulations, this research is descriptive research which objective is that to get the accurate answers from the respondents Combination of items from the frame of statistical explanation which quantifies the risk and thus enables an appropriate sample size to be chosen, descriptive studies require a clear specification of who, what, when, where, why, and how of the research.

D. RESEARCH APPROACH

The Research can be divided into two categories1. Deductive or inductive research2. Qualitative and quantitative research of the study

The qualitative and quantitative methods refer to the way one chooses to treat and analyze the selected data. Selectivity and distance to the object of research characterize a quantitative approach, whereas a qualitative approach is characterized by nearness to the object of research. Both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses and neither one of the approaches can be held better than the other one. The best research method to use for a study depends on the study’s research purpose and the accompanying research questions. There is one significant difference between these two approaches. In the quantitative approach results are based on numbers and statistics that are presented in figures in the qualitative approach, the focus lies on describing the subject with the use of words, which approach to choose depends on the problem definition together with what kind of information is needed. The two approaches are used as per their suitability and also be used in combination.

E. POPULATION AND SAMPLE

The two definitions of population and sample: The whole number of people is called as population. For example of ten millions known as population, whereas sample means a part of anything presented for inspection, or shown as evidence of the quality of the whole; a specimen;

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as, goods are often purchased by samples. Data has been collected from the Icfai Business School Hyderabad students who are master level students wearing Fastrack watches and not wearing Fastrack watches. The students of Icfai Business School Hyderabad has got students across the country from all the states of india. The students were randomly selected 150 of 2000 students of Icfai Business School Hyderabad participated in interviews. All the students responded towards the questionnaires about the wrist watch products differently, mostly the youth have participated in the research, as far as research is concern more about utility theory and reality of buying behavior of youth. This research is useful for further research in the subject area. The research came out with the new ideas in consumer behavior when they are purchasing the watch products in the market.

F. INSTRUMENT TO COLLECT THE DATA.

For the acquisition of data a questionnaire is used for standardizing the data and allowing and easy comparison. Instrument to collect the data, questionnaires used to get the data from the students. The primary data which helps for the research to do more effective research of the study, when talking about secondary data: there to investigate the demand on which the consumer behavior is based, thus it was decided. Primary data collection includes both in-depth interviews with ICFAI Business School Hyderabad. It is applied randomly in the way of simple and straight forward questionnaire. Questionnaires are close ended, multiple and moreover covering with research questions as well the subject related. The questionnaires were asked deeply to do the research more effective and efficient. (All questionnaires included in the Appendix) Secondary data can be usually collect quickly compared to primary data. The data are source materials that have been collect for the study. Secondary data is derived from sources like internet, online internet articles, journals and other online databases home site of Fastrack and other marketing management, consumer behavior books and consumer behavior literature books.

G. RESEARCH VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

To optimize the validity of this research, some early steps have been handled carefully, when interviewed in person by contacting them personally, still list the question guideline to direct me in collecting information’s more effective. To ensure the reliability further checked the data, especially the figures repeatedly to ensure the source accuracy. We have tried our best to reduce the limitation, primary data and secondary data furthest. When finished the whole work, we also recheck everything again to make the research more reliable.

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ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY

Introduction: In the analysis part, first the graphical representation of different questionnaires and description after that presenting the empirical analysis of the study, the questionnaires the way is used more scientifically and very straight and deep questions, which are very easy to get the answers from the students, which are very positive and appropriate answers from the respondents.

1. A watch to you is?

For the question we separated men and women to know deeper information from the youth consumers. A total of 282 students participated in the survey. Among them 150 were men and rest of 1328 were women.

Males: For this question all of the 150 men have responded of which

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Description:

Majority of the male customers have responded that they viewed a wrist watch an absolute necessity. Secondly they responded it to be an accessory. Some of them responded it to be both an accessory and a style statement. A relatively few people responded with other in which they felt it to be a

Women for these question 132 women have responded as follows.

Description:

In contrast to the men’s view of wrist watch as a necessity majority of the women felt it as an accessory. Secondly they felt it to be a necessity. Same as men many of them felt it to be both an accessory and a style statement.

2. In your view, what key features does a watch need to have?

For this question also we have grouped the responses of men and women differently so that improvements could be specifically targeted.

MEN:

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Description

For this question majority of men have responded that they are looking trendy looks than any other feature. After trendy looks they are more conscious about the price. And then we were looking for digital and analog features. A relatively few people responded that they wanted after sale services.

Women:

For this question, women also responded that they were looking for trendy looks inline with men. Then they were looking for digital and analog functions and then conscious about price. And then they looked for after sale services.

3. Do you prefer branded watches to unbranded watches?

This question has been included to know if branding influences the purchase decision of the consumers.

Men:

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For this question 81% of men responded that they preferred branded watches to unbranded watches. Hence we can deduce that there is a wide scope for branded watches.

Women:

Description:

For this question 73% of women have responded that they would prefer branded watches to unbranded watches. Some of them responded as can’t say as it would depend upon their mood and specific conditions prevailing at that point of time. Hence we can see from this also that branded watches have a huge scope.

4. Where do you prefer to buy a watch?

This question has been included to know the places where customers prefer to make their purchases.

Men:

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Description:

65% of men have responded that they would like to buy their watch from a branded store followed by shopping malls by 23% and then local stores by 11%.

Women:

Description:

54% of women have also responded that they would like to buy their watch from a branded store followed by shopping malls 27% and then by local stores.

5. How often do you change your watch?

This question has been included to know about the usage rate of watches among youth.

Men:

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Description:

45% of men liked to change their watches in one to three years 23% liked to change it three to five years 17% liked to change their watch in less than one year and then 15% they liked to change their watch in greater than five years.

Women:

Description:

36% of women wanted to change their watches in less than one year 30% liked to change their watch in one to three years 25% liked to change their watch in three to five years. Lastly a relatively small percentage 9% of people preferred to change it in more than five years.

6. The amount of rupees you wish to spend on buying a new watch?

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This question in included to know the spending pattern of youth on wrist watches. This would give insights to know more about the spending patterns and company could try to include more variety in the particular range.

Men:

Description:

56% of the men have responded that they would prefer to buy in thousand to three thousand ranges. It is followed by 20% of three to five thousand ranges and then less than thousand range of 13% and lastly in greater than five thousand range 11%.

Women:

Description:

46% of the women have also responded that they would prefer to buy in thousand to three thousand ranges. It is followed by 39% of three to five thousand range and then greater than five thousand range 10%and lastly in less than thousand range 5%.

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7. What additional features do you mostly prefer in a watch?

This question is included to learn about the further improvements that could be made to the watch series.

Men:

Description:

60% of men have responded that date and year function as other features they would like to prefer to have in their wrist watch. It is followed 29% by night glow feature. Thirdly they preferred to have other features like MP3 player, stop watch, lap time etc. A small number of people responded to prefer yatchmeter in their watch.

Women:

Description:

42% women of our sample 282 have responded that night glow feature as the preference other feature they would like to prefer to have in their wrist watch. It is followed by date and year function by 28%. 17% preferred to have yatchmeter in their watch. A small number of people 13% responded to prefer other features like MP3 player, stop watch, lap time etc.

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8. As per you, what is the most effective medium of advertisement for a wrist watch?

Men:

54% of men feel television is the effective medium of advertisement followed by print media 21%, internet 7% and public display18%

Women

37% of women feel print media is the effective medium of advertisement followed by television 21%, internet 7% and public display18%

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9. What influences you to buy a particular wrist watch?

Men:

Description:

34% men were influenced by advertisements. 34% are influenced by their peer group and friends and then 23% by other factors such as their personal choice, situational factors etc. Lastly they were 14% influenced by family.

Women:

Description:

46% women are influenced by friends. 27% were influenced by their advertisements and then 21% by family. Lastly they were 6% influenced by other factors such as their personal choice, situational factors etc.

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10. Which brand do you use now?

Men:

Description:

54% of the men were using Fastrack watches. It is followed by 27% Tommy Hilfigure, 10% Taghuer and 9% by other brands which included Titan, Timex, Casio, Espirit and some local brands. Many of the men were using more than one watch of different brands.

Women:

Description:

61% of the women were using Fastrack watches. It is followed by 27% other brands which included Titan, Timex, Casio, Espirit and some local brands and then Taghuer 7% and Tommy Hilfigure 5%. Many of the women were also using more than one watch of different brands.

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11. Have you used Fastrack watch?

Men

Description:

79% of men have used Fastrack watches at some point of time.

Women

Description:

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68% of women have used Fastrack watches at some point of time. Comparatively less number has used than men.

12. How do you perceive Fastrack watches?

Men:

Description:

51% of men perceived Fastrack watches as trendy. It is followed by 27% affordable and then 19% value of money. A relatively small 3% of people have perceived them as unaffordable. Many of them have responded to this question as being both trendy and affordable.

Women:

Description:

50% of women have also perceived Fastrack watches as trendy. It is followed by 42% affordable and then 8% for value of money. None of the women have perceived them as

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unaffordable. Many of them have responded to this question as being both trendy and value for money.

13. How likely is it you would recommend Fastrack watch to your friends and colleagues

Men

Description:

55% of men responded to recommend it fairly to their friends and colleagues. Followed by 27% strong recommendation and then by 18% recommending sometimes. None of them responded to refer it never.

Women

37

Description:

51% of women responded to recommend it strongly to their friends and colleagues. It followed by 38% of fair recommendation and then 9% of recommending sometimes. A relatively small 3% of women responded to refer it never.

14. How likely is that you buy a Fastrack watch in your next buy?

Men:

Description:

43% of men responded to buy a Fastrack watch in their next buy as fairly. It followed by 29% strong will to buy and then 20% by sometimes. 9% of them also responded to re-buy it never.

Women

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Description:

51% of women responded to buy a Fastrack watch in their next buy as strongly. It followed by 43% fairly and then 6% by sometimes. None of them responded to re-buy it never.

15. Which type of strap do you prefer in your watch?

Men:

Description:

51% of men responded to have a leather strap. It followed by 42% steel strap and 5% by gold plated strap. Rest 2% of them responded to have other type of straps like plastic, cloth type, Velcro type material etc.

Women:

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Description:

40% of women have also responded to have a leather strap. It followed by 39% steel strap and 5% by gold plated strap. Rest 16% of them responded to have other type of straps like plastic, cloth type, Velcro type material etc.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the above study we would like to recommend Fastrack to target the market with new variants of watches on regular basis as many of them feel the Fastrack as trendy in order to increase the market share. Fastrack has to increase its branded stores from its current 4 stores as most of the people like to buy the wrist watches in branded stores only. In addition to these Fastrack should add new features like display of date and day in more variants of analog watches. Fastrack should use television, print media and start some brand magazine for there advertisements and to keep there existing customers update of any new variants of watches as around 50% of people would like to change there watches in less than 3years. Most important point is around 60% of people would like to recommend others to buy Fastrack and around 48% of people like to buy Fastrack in there next buy. The above type of advertisements can help Fastrack to improve the loyalty customer base. As the positioning of Fastrack targeted trendy, affordable ranges in youth segment and it is been accepted by most of the people but they would like to have more and more variants and features in this segment

Following recommendations are the key features to be added and improvements for Fastrack

New trends year on year

More brand showrooms

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More no of variants in the price range of Rs1000 - Rs3000

Date and day display option for boys

Night glow option for girls

Promotions in televisions and print media

More variants in leather and steel strap

Providing special offers for the loyal customers

References:

1. www.fastrack.in

2. Aaker A., Kumar, V., Day, G.s., (1997): Marketing Research., John wiley and Sons Inc.,P. 776.

3. A. Simons, Donald B. Irwin and Beverly A. Drinnien 1987 Online article of Maslow’sHierarchy Needs of Consumer Behavior. West Publishing Company, New York.

4. Baker, M.(2002)., "A Composite Model of Buyer Behaviour", Journal of ConsumerBehavior, Vol.1 (1), pp.85-109.

5.Babin, B. J., Darden, W. R., & Griffin, M. 1994. Work and/or Fun: Measuring Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Value. Journal of Consumer Research, 20(4): 644-656.

6. Bovee, c. L., Thill, J.V., (1992): Marketing. McGraw-ill, Inc., P. 761.

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7. Philip Kotler, Abraham Koshy (2009): Marketing Management, Pearson Education., p.154, 159-165

ANNEXURES

Questionnaire

Name: _________________ Age: _______Gender: ___________Mobile No: __________________

Please provide your valuable and unbiased views to make our project analysis in more effective way

1. A watch to you is

A. Necessity B. Accessory

C. Style D. other

2. In your view, what key features does a watch need to have?

A. Trendy looks B. Digital & Analog combined

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C. Price D. After sales services

3. Do you prefer branded watches to unbranded watches?

A. Yes B. No C. Can’t say

4. Where do you prefer to buy a watch?

A. Branded stores B. Online

C. Shopping Malls D. Local store

5. Which type of strap do you prefer in your watch?

A. leather Strap B. Steel Strap

C. Gold plated Strap D. others______________

4. How often do you change your watch?

A. Less than one year B. 1-3 years

C. 3-5 years D. Greater than 5 years

6. The amount of rupees you wish to spend on buying a new watch?

A. Less than 1000 B.1000-3000

C. 3000-5000 D. More than 5000

7. What additional functions do you mostly prefer in a watch?

A. Night-glow B. Date & year Function

C. Yatch meter D. Others____________________

8. As per you, the most effective medium for the advertisement for a wrist watch

A. Print Media B. Television

C. Internet D. Public Display

9. What influence you to buy a particular wrist watch?

A. Family B. Friends

C. Advertisements D. Other __________________

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10. Which brand of watch do you use?

A. Fastrack B. Taghuer

C. Tommy Hilfigure D. Other _________________

11. Have you used Fastrack watch?

A. Yes B. No

12. How do you perceive Fastrack Watches?

A. Trendy B. Affordable

C. Unaffordable D. Value for money

13. How likely is it you would recommend Fastrack watch to your friends and Colleagues

A. Strongly B. Fairly

C. Sometimes D. Never

14. How likely is that you buy a Fastrack watch in your next buy?

A. strongly B. Fairly

C. Not sure D. Never

15. Which type of strap do you prefer in your watch?

A. leather Strap B. Steel Strap

C. Gold plated Strap D. others______________

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