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Consumer Attitudes toward Ready-To-Eat Packed Food Items (With Special

Reference To Jaffna Divisional Secretariat Division)

R. Meenambekai 1

P. Selvarajan2

Abstarct

Ready-to-Eat packed food items play a key role among the people in today’s busy lifestyle. It is observed that there is a huge flow of products into the consumer market in Jaffna district after the post conflict period. This research study attempted to identify the consumer attitudes toward the Ready-to-Eat packed food products (R2E) in Jaffna DS division. The problem associated with this research study is to describe consumer attitudes towards the above said food items. The main objective of this study is to identify factors (demographic factors and behavioural factors) influencing on consumer attitudes towards these products. For this purpose, 100 respondents were selected by using Area Probability Sampling method with an association of Judgement Sampling and data gathered from them through questionnaire and personal interviewing. The data analysis covered percentage, frequency, rank order and cross tab analyses by using the version 16.0 of SPSS (®) package. The findings showed the majority of the consumers for these products were young generation people especially students and working people below 45 years who belongs to nuclear family with moderate monthly income level. It was also found that television was the major source of medium for consumer awareness, and the interest of consumer towards these products was instant consumption, timesaving, taste and convenience to use them as snacks. Health consciousness was the major factor indicated by the non buyers of these products. Moreover planned purchase was common among majority of the elders while impulse buying behaviour is shown among many consumers preferred milk based products. Therefore it is recommend that these food manufacturers should pay much attention on attractive packaging, health and nutrients and quality and intermediaries should stress on effective sales promotion activities to increase the consumption of these products and sustainability. Keywords: Consumer Attitudes, Impulsive buying, Planned purchase, Ready -to-Eat food

items 1. Introduction

There is nobody in the world that is left out of the class of consumers. The consumer hood

continues till one’s last breath in the world.People bear certain beliefs and attitudes

towards certain types of goods, brands ofcommodities and retail outlets based on their

previous experience. Consumer purchases are likely to be influenced by physiological,

psychological and sociological factors (Solomon, 2009). The commodities and services are

brought by theconsumer to satisfy his basic needs, for comfort, pleasure, recreation and

1 Meenambekai. R, Vavuniya Campus of the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka (meenambeka@hotmail.com)

2 Selvarajan. P, Vavuniya Campus of the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka (pselvarajan@mail.vav.jfn.ac.lk)

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happiness. Everyindividual has physiological need such as hunger, shelter, thirst, etc., which

have to besatisfied for survival. The psychological factors like status prestige and social

factors likefriends, neighbours, relatives and job influence their purchasing activities.

Moreover the marketing mix also influences on the consumer behaviour and their purchase

decisions.

Now days the trend of buying behaviour and attitudes of consumers is dramatically

changing while the trend of retail marketing also changing rapidly. The following are main

causes lead to the change, a scenario of rapid urbanization, changing lifestyle, changes

income, and purchasing power, time which translates into an increased need for

convenience, increasing number of working women, well developed infrastructure,

distribution network, and marketing system. The changes in the business and marketing

environment leads to the production of different goods and services and marketing them to

satisfy the various needs of modern customers.

Jaffna District has many retailers for many years because with its population, a growing

economy, growing markets potential, young population and also, labour force. Although

conditions are attractive, retailers face some problems related to different demographic

characteristics, different values, and attitudes of consumers in Jaffna district. Also, according

to some researches, it was thought that there is a relationship between attitudes toward

retailing products and some demographic characteristics such as gender, education, income

and age.

The consumption of these Ready to Eat packed food products is also one of the new trend of

modern consumers. Unlike the olden days where man used to have his food lavishly and

slowly, the present trend changed the habits of foods, which are simple and easy to digest.

The food habits have changed due to the western influence and the usage of these foods is

also on the rise. Ready-to-eat packed food is food offered or exposed for sale without

additional cooking or preparation, which is packaged on the premises where they are being

sold and are ready for consumption.

Hence, the existence of these ready-to-eat packed foods (Canned foods, convenience foods,

fast foods, frozen foods, instant products, dried foods, preserved foods, etc)fulfilled all the

needs of the modern human being. Therefore the consumer behaviour and their attitudes

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are rapidly changing in the marketing environment. Thus it is important analyzing the

current situation and predicts the future trend to make appropriate decision making in the

business world. The present study analyse the consumer attitudes toward the Ready-to-Eat

packed food products (R2E) in Jaffna DS division. The main objective of this study is to

identify factors (demographic factors and behavioural factors) influencing on consumer

attitudes towards these products.

2. Literature Review

The study of consumer behaviour focuses on how individuals make decisions to spend their

available resources (time, money, effort) on consumption-related items (Schiffman & Kanuk,

1997).

Kotler (1999) defined, Satisfaction is a person’s feeling of pleasure or disappointment

resulting from comparing a product’s perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to his

or her expectations. Kotler says whether the buyer is satisfied after purchase depends on

the offer’s performance in relation to the buyer expectations.

Solomon (2009) says, an attitude is a predisposition to evaluate an object or product

positively or negatively. We form attitudes towards products or services that often

determine whether we will purchase them or not. According to Solomon (2002), Attitudes

can be formed, and so also they can be changed. Forming and changing both may slow or

fast and may be easy or difficult. This phenomenon is very important and a big opportunity

for the marketers to try to make the consumers’ attitude favourable to them and their

product.

Schiffman and Kanuk (2000), defined, following are the main sources of that influence on

Attitude formation.The formation of consumer attitudes is strongly influenced by personal

experience, the influence of family members and friends, direct marketing, and mass

media.Direct experience refers the attitudes towards the product formed by the directly

consuming the product. As we come into contact with others, especially family, close friends

and admired individuals, we form attitudes that influence our lives. Direct marketing

programs are used by marketers highly to target small consumer niches with products and

services that fit their interests and lifestyles. Mass media communication provides an

important source of information that influences the formation of consumer attitudes.

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According to Moye and Kincade (1999), Consumer express preference or lack of preference

for stores, brands, advertisements and other marketing stimuli by reflecting a favourable or

unfavourable attitude.

Verdurmeet al., (2001) examined, it is widely acknowledged that consumers’ decisions are

the result of a complex process not always very well understood as many personal and

environmental factors may contribute to final choices. Consumers’ knowledge or beliefs,

attitudes and behaviour are formed interdependently following some kind of causal chains

or hierarchies of effects. Finally, both beliefs and attitudes affect purchasing decisions. It is

assumed that respondents’ socioeconomic characteristics and food habits and lifestyles may

affect on purchase decision.

According toEagly and Chaiken (1993), Attitude has been widely defined as a psychological

tendency that is classified by evaluating a specific object (e.g. A food product) with series

degree of favour–disfavour, liking–disliking, satisfaction–dissatisfaction or good–bad polarity.

Aikman et al., (2006) concludes five informational bases of food attitudes were identified:

general sensory information (e.g., Taste, smell), specific sensory information (e.g., Oily,

greasy), abstract cognitive qualities (health, safety), and positive and negative effects

associated with eating foods (e.g., Guilt, nauseated, comforted, relaxed).

Euromonitor international (2008) researched, The pressures of working life along with time

constraints have resulted in an increasing number of consumers opting for convenience over

price, taste and on some occasions, health. This is the main conclusion of a survey carried

out in the USA by the market research and analysis group Packaged Facts. The study

revealed that around one-third of consumers felt they lacked the time to prepare healthy

meals, resulting in food being consumed quickly at work or in the car. For this reason these

same people have actually replaced many of their meals with snacks.The findings of this

study indicate that consumer behaviours towards R2E foods differed between segments,

and R2E food market segmentation based on food-related lifestyles can be applied to

develop proper marketing strategies.

Rees (1992), in his study revealed that factors influencing the consumer’s choice of food are

flavour, texture appearance, advertising a reduction in traditional cooking, fragmentation of

family means and an increase in ‘snacking’ etc. Demographic and household role changes

and the introduction of microwave ovens have produced changes in eating habits. Vigorous

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sale of chilled and other prepared foods is related to the large numbers of working wives

and single people, who require and value convenience.

These studies indicate clearly the factors that need to be analyzed to identify the consumer

attitudes towards the Ready to Eat packed food products.The following factors have been

identified to analyze the problem such as price, knowledge, value for money and

proposition, quality, safety and tasty, availability, awareness, experience and preference.

3. Methodology

To achieve the research objective, a conceptual model proposed which address on casual

linkages among some key variables along with consumers’ attitudes towards Ready to Eat

packed food items in Jaffna DS division have been taken into consideration.According to the

conceptual model the researcher explains two dimensions in detail. They are socio

economic aspects and behavioural aspects as independent variables and consumer attitude

as the dependent variable.

Figure 01. Conceptual model

Source: developed by author

As the sample size totally 100 respondents, were selected from the Jaffna Divisional

secretariat geographical boundary. Area probability sampling with the combination of

Judgemental sampling were used. Sample respondents were equally distributed to each four

DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS

Gender, age, marital status,

education, family type,

profession, household income,

consumption and expenditure

pattern, lifestyle

Behavioral Factors

Price, Knowledge, Value for

money and proposition,

Quality, safety and tasty,

Availability, Awareness,

Experience, Preference

Consumer

Attitudes

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Ready to Eat packed food product categories that were already selected for this study.

Primary data has been collected using the structured questionnaire with personal interviews

with the customers at the stores and dwelling place and through personal observations.

Secondary data has been collected through various sources such as, magazines, papers, Text

books and related websites. In Data analysing, it is especially considered tabular analysis,

univariate analysis consisting of mean, standard deviation and percentage, deriving

distribution, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion using the statistical

package for social science (SPSS16.0). Measures and data evaluation based on the Likert

scale and famous statistical tools were such as tables, pie charts and percentage analysis.

4. Discussion and Findings

The comparative study was used to study about the consumer attitudes towards Ready to

eat packed food items in Jaffna DS division. This study found the respondents between the

Age 6-24 years and 24-44 years consumed Ready to Eat packed food items 53% and 22%

respectively rather than other age category. Moreover 56% of them are male, 65% were

single in status, 78% were completed higher studies, and 46% of them were students while

29% government employees and 16% private employees. 37% of respondents belongs to

low income group (<Rs.20, 000/month) 36.00 per cent of them belonged to income group of

Rs. 20,000-39,999/month) and 20.00 per cent of them were belonged to income group of Rs.

40,000-59,999/month). 77% of the respondents belong to nuclear families. The findings

explained the demographic characteristics of consumers of Ready to Eat packed food items

in Jaffna DS division.

Table 01 Reasons for purchasing

Source: Survey data 2011

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The above table shows that Instant consumption was the foremost reason to purchase

Ready to Eat packaged food items in Jaffna DS division. Saving time and taste also were the

key reasons leaded to consumption.

Table 02 Reasons for not purchasing

Source: Survey data 2011

Health consciousness and relatively higher priced were the vital reasons for disliking the

purchase. Particularly elders were more health conscious than other age category of

respondents in Jaffna DS division.

From the analysis, Display at shopping outlets and Media ads were the main Source of

information for product awareness and contributed around 50% in each kind of Ready to Eat

packed food items. 30% of the respondents usually purchased based on their need, 20% of

the buyers purchased twice a week and 20% of the respondents purchased daily basis while

most of them consumed milk based products. Half of the respondents made planned

decision making while purchasing but most of milk based product buyers made impulse

purchases. More than half of the respondents purchased at supermarkets and modern retail

outlets while 33% of respondents purchased at retail outlets 29% of the respondents made

in both kind of places. Parents and friends influences on the purchase decision were 30%

and 20% respectively.

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Figure 02.

Foremost factors influence to choose products

Source: Survey data 2011

Saving time was the main factor influence on purchasing and consuming the products with

the mean value of 4.3

The study shows, Male respondents purchased for the reasons of instant consumption, taste

and save time.Female respondents purchased because of instant consumption, taste and

satisfaction in Jaffna DS division.

The both Government and private employees bought Ready to Eat packed products because

of saving time, instant consumption, and taste and instant consumption. Students

purchased because of its taste and instant need. While it was observed significantly that the

health consciousness and high price were the main reasons to avoid the purchase by elders

(age >65 years).

5. Conclusion

According to the above data analysis, more than half of the respondents were price

conscious and health conscious in Jaffna DS division. Half of the respondents perceived

value from the consumption of ready to eat products. The quality of the products also

influences on the purchase decision of the respondents while they prefer taste and special

attributes of the products. Moreover the half percentage of the respondents stated the

product available wherever and whenever needed. Media created more awareness while

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other sources also influenced. The above findings were obtained within the Jaffna DS

division only. But it could not represent the other areas of the Jaffna district. Because the

factors influenced on the consumer attitudes are differ place to place. But the findings can

be used for other similar regions in the district or out of the district. It can be a base for

further research.

6. Recommendations

The majority of the residents in Jaffna DS division purchased these ready-to-eat products

viz., Biscuits, chips, and fruit juice and milk packets. This indicates that there is a wide scope

for all the intermediaries who are involved in this business. Since, Jaffna DS division is a fast

growing geographical area after local conflict, there is ample scope for this type of business.

Ready-to-eat food products are impulse purchase products and generally fun eats foods.

The consumer buys such products only if it catches his eye at the outlet. So

players/manufacturers need to stress on attractive packaging and sales promotion. Further,

the study also indicated that those firms which resorted to advertisements through mass

media, particularly television and newspapers could get a better share in the market. This

calls for the attention of other competing firms in the business to improve their sales

promotion activities by making use of such mass media to improve their business.

The cosmopolitan people of Jaffna DS division were found more health and quality

conscious while choosing a ready-to-eat food product. Price was more important to them.

This sends a message to the manufacturers of ready-to-eat food products, that they cannot

compromise on quality of the products in view to offer the products at cheaper prices,

particularly for such cosmopolitan consumers.

Ready-to-eat food products are impulse purchase and fun eats products. Lower age groups,

particularly children and teens consume them the most. Taste and other quality aspects

count more while preparation of the products. Hence, manufacturers, planning for

marketing strategy by attaching nutritive value of the products have to think seriously

before launching such products.

Brand loyalty is an important factor in such ready-to-eat food products. It is very difficult to

induce the consumers for brand switching. Any new firm entering into the market should

study these things very critically. The quality aspects coupled with competitive price may

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lead to change of brands. The innovative firms should keep these points in mind while

entering into such type of business.

Some of the respondents who belongs to extended family in the study area are not

purchasing the ready to eat food items even though they are readily available in the market,

instead like to prepare their own. Hence, importance and awareness towards these

products should be created through various media or literatures.

The study revealed that in majority of the women and students made the buying decisions

of ready to eat food products. Sales promotion should target this group.

High price was an important reason for non-consumption by significant proportion of

households. Thus, efforts may be made to reduce the price of this product so as to increase

its sale.

The retailers influence plays very important role in the purchasing of ready to eat food

products and retail shops are the important source for purchase of these products by

consumers, retailers should be given training and incentives to promote sales.

There is a general perception among the consumers that of ready to eat food are expensive

than home made products, efforts must be made to overcome this perception by

propaganda and publicity.

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