REPORT ON RESEARCH WORK ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS PREMIUM CHOCOLATES

SUBMITED BY:

MEGHA MARIAM THOMAS

10SBCM0215.

MARKETING-C

INTRODUCTION

In this research I have studied the consumer behaviour of three famous brands

of chocolates – Lindt, Ferrero Rocher and MnM’s which are consumed by

people of all ages. During this research I have interacted with people of

Alliance University. I also came to know which particular brand of chocolate is

most preferred by different people. In the report I have tried to explain the entire

research and facts product wise.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of

USER

PAYER

BUYER

Relationship marketing is an influential asset for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management, personalisation, customisation and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare functions.

Each method for vote counting is assumed as social function but if Arrow’s possibility theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function is achieved. Some specifications of the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, monotonicity, unanimity, homogeneity and weak and

strong Pareto optimality. No social choice function meets these requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously. The most important characteristic of a social function is identification of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation with the ranks. Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind, the productive system is considered from its beginning at the production level, to the end of the cycle.

CONSUMPTION OF CHOCOLATES IN INDIA

Chocolate consumption in India is extremely low. Per capita consumption is

around 160 gms in the urban areas, compared to 8-10kg in the developed

countries. In rural areas, it is even lower. Chocolates in India are consumed as

indulgence and not as a snack food. The consumption of premium chocolates is

rare and is mostly found in the premium customers due to the price. But with

globalization and increase in the disposable income people have started

indulging in it.

CHOCOLATE PRODUCTION

The cocoa-bean -- the heart of the sweetest delicacy in the world --

is bitter! This is why, up to the 18th century some native tribes ate

only the sweetish flesh of the cocoa fruit. They regarded the

precious bean as waste or used it, as was the case among the

Aztecs, as a form of currency.There are two quite different basic

classifications of cocoa, under which practically all varieties can

be categorised: Criollo and Forastero cocoas. The pure variety of the Criollo

tree is found mainly in its native Equador and Venezuela. The seeds are of finer

quality than those of the Forastero variety.

They have a particularly fine, mild aroma and are, therefore, used only in the

production of high-quality chocolate and for blending. However, Criollo cocoa

accounts for only 10% of the world crop. The remaining 90% is harvested from

trees of the Forastero family, with its many hybrids and varieties. The main

growing area is West Africa. The cocoa tree can flourish only in the hottest

regions of the world.

Immediately after harvesting, the fruit is treated to prevent it from

rotting. At fermentation sites either in the plantation or at,

collecting points, the fruit is opened.

Fermentation

The fermentation process is decisive in the production of high quality raw

cocoa. The technique varies depending on the growing region.

Drying

After fermentation, the raw cocoa still contains far too much water; in fact

about 60%. Most of this has to be removed.

What could be more natural than to spread the beans out to dry on the sun-

soaked ground or on mats? After a week or so, all but a small percentage of the

water has evaporated.

CleaningBefore the real processing begins; the raw cocoa is thoroughly cleaned by passing through sieves, and by brushing. Finally, the last vestiges of wood, jute fibres, sand and even the finest dust are extracted by powerful vacuum equipment.

Roasting

the subsequent roasting process is primarily designed to develop the aroma. The

entire roasting process, during which the air in the nearly 10 feet high furnaces

reaches a temperature of 130 °C, is carried out automatically.

Crushingandshelling

the roasted beans are now broken into medium sized pieces in the crushing

machine.

Blending

Before grinding, the crushed beans are weighed and blended according to

special recipes. The secret of every chocolate factory lies in the special mixing

ratios, which it has developed for different types of cocoa.

Grinding

the crushed cocoa beans, which are still fairly coarse are now pre-ground by

special milling equipment and then fed on to rollers where they are ground into

a fine paste. The heat generated by the resulting pressure and friction causes the

cocoa butter (approximately 50% of the bean) contained in the beans to melt,

producing a thick, liquid mixture.

This is dark brown in colour with a characteristic, strong odour. During cooling

it gradually sets: this is the cocoa paste.

At this point the production process divides into two paths, but which soon join

again. A part of the cocoa paste is taken to large presses, which extract the

cocoa butter. The other part passes through various blending and refining

processes, during which some of the cocoa butter is added to it. The two paths

have rejoined.

The cocoa butter has important functions. It not only forms part of

every recipe, but it also later gives the chocolate its fine structure,

beautiful lustre and delicate, attractive glaze.

Cocoa Powder

After the cocoa butter has left the press; cocoa cakes are left which still contain

a 10 to 20% proportion of fat depending on the intensity of compression.

These cakes are crushed again, ground to powder and finely sifted

in several stages and we obtain a dark, strongly aromatic powder,

which is excellent for the preparation of delicious drinks - cocoa.

Cocoa paste, cocoa butter, sugar and milk are the four basic ingredients for

making chocolate. By blending them in accordance with specific recipes the

three types of chocolate are obtained which form the basis of ever product

assortment, namely:

Kneading

In the case of milk chocolate for example, the cocoa paste, cocoa butter,

powdered or condensed milk, sugar and flavouring - maybe vanilla - go into the

mixer, where they are pulverized and kneaded.

Rolling

Depending on the design of the rolling mills, three or five

vertically mounted steel rollers rotate in opposite directions. Under

heavy pressure they pulverise the tiny particles of cocoa and sugar

down to a size of approx. 30 microns. (One micron is a thousandth part of a

millimetre.)

Conching

But still the chocolate paste is not smooths enough to satisfy our

palates. But within two or three days all that will have been put

right. For during this period the chocolate paste will be refined to

such an extent in the conches that it will flatter even the most discriminating

palate.

Conches (from the Spanish word "concha", meaning a shell) is the name given

to the troughs in which 100 to 1000 kilograms of chocolate paste at a time can

be heated up to 80 °C and, while being constantly stirred, is given a velvet

smoothness by the addition of certain amounts of cocoa butter. A kind of

aeration of the liquid chocolate paste then takes place in the conches: its bitter

taste gradually disappears and the flavour is fully developed. The chocolate no

longer seems sandy, but dissolves meltingly on the tongue. It has attained the

outstanding purity, which gives it its reputation.

LINDT CHOCOLATES

The origins of the company date back to 1845. David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his son, Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann owned a small confectionery shop in the old town of Zurich, to which two years later a small factory was added to produce chocolate in solid form.

Products that Lindt is famous for are its block chocolates. Current flavours from the Excellence range include:

Mint intense: dark chocolate infused with mint Orange intense: dark chocolate infused with orange essence and almond

flakes White Coconut: white chocolate with crisp flakes of fine coconut. Almond: white chocolate with whole roasted almonds and caramelised

almond pieces Poire intense: pear flavoured chocolate with almond flakes

Cherry intense Regular dark chocolate: available in 50%, 60%, 70%, 85%, 90% or 99%

cocoa varieties Extra creamy: milk chocolate Toffee crunch: crunchy toffee bits wrapped in milk chocolate Caramel crunchy: studded with crunchy caramel Lindor: the famous balls but in cube form Pistachio: a creamy pistachio filling in milk chocolate Mandarin: a creamy mandarin filling in milk chocolate Strawberry: a creamy white chocolate strawberry filling in milk chocolate Strawberry margarita: 'capsule' form with strawberry and margurita filling Orange: a creamy orange flavoured filling in milk chocolate Cuba: 55% cocoa, single origin Cuba Madagascar: 70% cocoa, single origin Madagascar Ecuador: 75% cocoa, single origin Ecuador Vanilla: White chocolate with vanilla bean Coffee Chilli: a 70% cocoa dark chocolate with red chilli extract Raspberry Intense Dark: dark chocolate with pieces of raspberries and

almond slivers A touch of sea salt: dark chocolate seasoned with sea salt

FERRERO ROCHER

Introduced in 1982, the chocolates consist of a whole roasted hazelnut encased

in a thin wafer shell filled with hazelnut cream and covered in milk chocolate

and chopped hazelnuts and walnuts. The sweets each contain 73 calories, and

are individually packaged inside a gold-coloured wrapper. Rocher comes from

French and means "rock".

Ferrero varieties

Ferrero Rocher – a whole hazelnut, coated in milk chocolate, surrounded by 'Nutella' filling, and encased in a nut croquante.

Ferrero Rondnoir – a 'pearl' of dark chocolate, surrounded by a dark chocolate cream, encased in a croquante and encrusted with dark chocolate Sprinkles.

Ferrero Raffaello – a half almond, surrounded by meringue and milk cream, encased in coconut wafer coated with coconut flakes.

Ferrero Garden (Coconut) – a half almond, surrounded by coconut cream, encased in wafer coated with coconut flakes, and topped with white chocolate icing cap.

Ferrero Garden (Lemon) – as above, but with lemon cream centre and flavouring, and lemon icing cap.

Ferrero Garden (Forest Fruits) – as above, but with strawberry & raspberry cream centre and flavouring, and strawberry icing cap.

Ferrero Garden (Pistacchio)[3] – as above, but with pistachio cream centre and flavouring, and pistachio icing cap.

Ferrero Garden (Almond) – as above, but with almond cream centre and flavouring, and almond icing cap.

Ferrero Garden (Hazelnut) – as above, but with nutella-type centre, and a white chocolate icing cap.

Ferrero Giotto – a chocolate cream centre, within a wafer sphere coated with hazelnut pieces.

The Rocher always bears a golden coloured wrapper, the Rondnoir a dark brown wrapper, and the Garden a silver wrapper with an illustration of the flavour under the name tag—for example, a strawberry, or a coconut.

LITERATURE REVIEWThe literature review that I have done is on the article that talks about premium chocolates taking off in India.At 10 per cent of the overall Rs 2,000-crore chocolate market, the premium segment is small. Yet, it is growing at a steady 30-40 per cent per annum, according to industry estimates.Premium refers to those products whose average price is Rs 100 and above. Quite a few chocolates fall in this segment, including brands such as Lindt, Ferrero, Godiva, Mars, etc. Mostly imported and distributed in the country, some of them such as Ferrero are going a step further, by setting up local manufacturing facilities.

A 100 gm bar of Lindt, costs anywhere between Rs 195 and Rs 255. It will soon introduce smaller packs of 38 gm. This will be priced between Rs 90 and Rs 120.

Lindt is not the only one doing this. When leading chocolate maker Cadbury’s launched a rich chocolate variant of its Cadbury Dairy Milk called Silk earlier this year, it did so at Rs 99 for a 169 gm pack.

Ferrero has its gift boxes, competitively priced at Rs 290 for a pack of five to over Rs 1,000 for a large 24-piece pack. According to industry sources, price points of Ferrero could fall further after its second manufacturing facility takes off in the middle of next year.

Hence from the above we can conclude that due to the increase in the disposable income, the purchasing power of the people has increased and hence the indulgence in premium chocolates has increased.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of my study restricts itself to the analysis of consumer behaviour

towards premium chocolates viz Lindt, Ferrero Rocher, M n M’s. There are

many other brands of chocolates available but my study is limited to three major

players of chocolates leaving behind the others. The scope of my study is also

restricts itself to ALLIANCE UNIVERSITYonly.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This project is based on the comparative study consumer behaviour towards

premium chocolates viz Lindt, Ferrero Rocher, M n M ‘s .

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.

NULL HYPOTHESIS: H0: there is no significant difference between the

ratings of the three premium chocolates.

ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS: H1: There is a significant difference between

the ratings of the three premium chocolates.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF ONE WAY ANOVA

Statistics, one-way analysis of variance (abbreviated one-way ANOVA) is a technique used to compare means of two or more sample.

The ANOVA tests the null hypothesis that samples in two or more groups are drawn from the same population. To do this, two estimates are made of the population variance. These estimates rely on various assumptions. The ANOVA produces an F statistic, the ratio of the variance calculated among the means to the variance within the samples. If the group means are drawn from the same population, the variance between the group means should be lower than the variance of the samples, following central limit theorem.

The results of a one-way ANOVA can be considered reliable as long as the following assumptions are met:

Response variable must be normally distributed (or approximately normally distributed).

Samples are independent. Variances of populations are equal. Responses for a given group are independent and identically

distributed normal random variables (not a simple random sample (SRS)

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 analysis of consumption of premium chocolates

consumed by the people. The data had been used to cover consumer behaviour

regarding premium chocolates. In collecting requisite data and information

regarding the topic selectedI went to the residents of Alliance 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 50 people was taken on the basis of convenience.

Sample area:

Alliance University

Sample units:

Students

Research Period:

Research work is only carried for a 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

“Comparative study of consumer behaviour towards Lindt, ferrero rocher

and M n M ‘S chocolates”. The data has been collected directly from

respondent with the help of structured questionnaires.

Secondary Source: The secondary data was collected from internet,

References from Library.

RESULT

Descriptives

ratings

N MeanStd. Deviation

Std. Error

95% Confidence Interval for Mean

Minimum

Maximum

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

1.00 50 2.6400 1.19112 .16845 2.3015 2.9785 1.00 5.002.00 50 3.6600 1.20560 .17050 3.3174 4.0026 2.00 5.003.00 50 3.3000 1.09265 .15452 2.9895 3.6105 1.00 5.00Total

150 3.2000 1.23158 .10056 3.0013 3.3987 1.00 5.00

ANOVA

ratings Sum of Squares df

Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups

26.760 2 13.380 9.872 .000

Within Groups

199.240

147 1.355

Total 226.000

149

ANALYSIS OF THE RESULT

The significance value as seen from the analysis is less than 0.005 and hence we reject the null hypothesis. According to the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference between the ratings of the three premium chocolates. But from the above analysis using SPSS we reject the null hypothesis. There is a difference in the ratings of the chocolates.

As we can see from the above ratings the highest rating for the chocolate is 5 and the minimum is 1 which shows that different people have different preferences.

The mean ratings of LINDT, FERRERO and M n M ‘s are 2.6, 3.6 and 3.3.

The reasons for the differences would be

Difference in the taste Availability of the chocolate. In alliance its ferrero that is available in the departmental store and that is

the reason it has the highest ratings.

REASONS FOR NOT SWITCHING OVER TO OTHER BRANDS

All the consumers why they continue to buy the old brand gave various

important reasons. The most important reasons given by the consumers were:

Taste/Flavour

Brand

Image

Quality

Packaging

CONCLUSION

From the above study I am concluding that be it premium or any kind of chocolate, the love for chocolates remains the same irrespective of the age group. When a particular brand of chocolate is available people cannot resist them.

Lindt being priced high has good packaging and has an awesome taste.

Ferrero has amazing packaging and is priced high too.

M n MS is more famous among the kids as due to its shape. In alliance ferrero has the highest rating as its available in the departmental store.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

In attempt to make this project authentic and reliable, every possible aspect of

the topic was kept in mind. 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.

ANNEXURES

The question that was asked to the respondents

On a scale of 5 where 5 being the best and 1 being bad how would you rate the following premium chocolates?

LINDT

FERRERO ROCHER

MnM’S

REFERENCES

http://www.google.com

http://www.chocolatereview.co.uk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/preference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ferrero-Rocher.jpg

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/premium-chocolates-take-off-in-

india/406293/

http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/top-10-brands-of-chocolate-in-the-

world-2016378.html