Vol 10 Issue 2 December , Year 2016 Nitte Management Review44 [625484]

Vol 10 Issue 2 December , Year 2016 Nitte Management Review44
Factors Influencing Buying Behavior of Consum-
ers of Domestic Sof t Drinks: A Case S tudy
Ashoka M. L * and Rakesh T . S **
*Department of PG Commerce, University of Mysore, Manasagangothari, Mysore, Karnataka , India.
Email:[anonimizat]
**Research Scholar , University of Mysore, Mysore And Asst.Professor , Department of Commerce, S.D.M
College (Autonomous), Ujire, Karnataka, India. Email: [anonimizat]
Many local sof t drinks manufacturing enterprises are operating at the regional level
and a few of them operating at the national level which are quietly stealing the thunder
from the two multinational giant s like Pep si and Coca Cola by selling quality product s
pricees cheaper than those of MNCs. This is p articularly happening mostly in all small
towns and rural areas. To be a successful enterprise, one should underst and the
buying behaviour and also the factors which influences the consumer to buy the
product. In this background, the present study is t aken up to underst and the consumer
perception and buying behavior towards local sof t drinks. The study identifies factors
which influence consumers to prefer domestic sof t drinks in the market with Dakshina
Kannada region as a represent ative case. .
The study shows that all the age group s of consumers are satisfied with domestic sof t
drinks in this region and the factors like price and availability of the product s are the
most import ant factors which are influencing the consumers to prefer domestic brands
in the market.
Key words: Consumer Perceptions, Coca Cola, Domestic players, Multi-National
Comp anies Parle, Pep si, Sof t drinks.
INTRODUCTION
Until Pepsi and coca cola entered the Indian soft drink market it was in
the hands of domestic soft drink players who dominated the whole market.
More than 75 percent of the market share was in the hands of the domestic
players with Parle holding 60 percent market share. In India when the
policy of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) took place
in 1991 green signal was given to Pepsi in 1991. This was followed by
white card entry of Coca Cola Company in 1993 which started to operate
its own units in India. This created a competitive environment among
the domestic as well as MNCs players in country . The whole market
scenario got changed and MNC players’ brands started dominating the

45
market. Both domestic and MNC players put all their ef forts and strategies
in marketing that included distribution reach to far -flung areas.
Consumers are very sensitive in nature. It is dif ficult to judge which
factors underlie their buying decisions. . In the case of soft drinks it is
more complicated for domestic as well as MNCs players to judge which
factors are more important. This study is an attempt to find out those
factors which influence the consumers to prefer domestic players’ brand
at the point of purchase. The local brands like Bindu, Torino, Winner ,
Spinner , Sixer , Canara, Trice-up, Toffa, Ajaya, Sprint, Virgin, Joy , Zaffa,
Joyner , Sip-On and many more emer ge and compete against the MNC
players collectively grabbing more percentages of market share by better
understanding consumer preferences, developing their own marketing
strategies and creating retail networks favourable to them.
Indian Trade Classification defines soft drinks as non-alcoholic water –
based flavored drinks that are optionally sweetened, acidulated and
carbonated. Some carbonated soft drinks also contain caf feine, mainly
the brown-coloured cola drinks.
ISSUES FOR RESEARCH AND INVESTIGA TION
Biswas and Sen (1999) pointed that the global players like Coke and
Pepsi have beaten all strategies of local players in order to grab lar ge
percentage of market shares in India. Agarwal (2010) has identified that
how this war between Pepsi & Coke will never end in Indian market. It
may be in bottling, advertising, product launches, poaching and many
more. The final question which arises is, ‘which is the best soft drink?’
and the answer varies from person to person. Some say Pepsi is better as
Coke is too fizzy and some say coke is better because they claim that
Pepsi is ‘oily after taste’. It is dif ficult to judge who wins the race in the
market and to choose the best is left ultimately to the consumers”.
Chakraborty (201 1) observes that there is a general tendency among
customers to avoid private-label colas, as customers have negative attitude
and unfavourable perceptions about price, quality , taste, packaging,
promotion etc. on private label colas. The premium colas have their brand-Ashoka M. L and Rakesh T. S

Vol 10 Issue 2 December , Year 2016 Nitte Management Review46
image developed over the years that forms the foundation for high-level
customer -loyalty . However , Devaraj & Enid (201 1) have identified that
the consumers were well aware about their product preferences and
showed a negative attitude towards cola consumption. This attitude
perhaps accounts for the recession in cola sales nationwide. Loss in Cola
sales is gain of other carbonated soft drink beverages. As it is evident
that attitudes remain constant for longer periods, carbonated cola
beverages, will have a tough time re-positioning their brands to the Indian
Consumers. Draskovic, Temperley and Pavicic, (2009) tried to highlight
some of potential moderating variables of consumers’ perception of
packaging material, age, occasion, product category and place of
purchase / consumption of beverages. Gupta, Maity , and Pandey (2014)
has highlighted that any association with an event provides scope for
elementary messages which may be suitable for increasing awareness
but doesn’ t lead to higher order ef fects of building positive attitude and
intention to purchase. Prakash and Pathak (2014) conducted a study and
highlighted that price, brand name, quality , availability , packaging and
so forth were the important factors influencing the rural consumers’
purchase decisions and reasons for switching brands, billing patterns
and satisfaction level among them. Wulf, Odekerken-Schröder ,
Goedertier , and Ossel (2005) through their study suggest that there exists
a common belief that private label products can of fer the same or even
better quality than national brands but at a lower price. We can see that
there are conflicting findings and this study To the best of our knowledge
there has been no study is published evaluating the factors which influence
the consumer to prefer and to buy local soft drinks against MNCs soft
drinks in the Dakshina Kannada district. Therefore, this study attempts
to understand the consumer preference to buy local soft drinks.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
In India wherever one goes, one finds soft drinks. It may be MNC players
brand or domestic players brand soft drinks. MNC players like Coke and
Pepsi are spending huge money on advertising and sales campaign inFactors Influencing Buying Behavior of Consumers of Domestic Soft Drinks: A Case S tudy

47
order to market their product and also to attract more and more customers
towards it. Domestic players are not following the footsteps of MNC
players to attract the customers towards their product but they are
following their own marketing strategies and techniques to reach the
customers and fulfill their needs. Hence there arises a need to study the
factors which af fects more on consumers to prefer and to buy domestic
soft drink brands as well as MNCs soft drink brands and also to probe
into the reasons for preference of domestic brands and the level of
consumers’ satisfaction towards it.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.To assess the awareness and source of awareness among
consumers towards domestic soft drinks
2. T o ascertain the factors which influence the consumers to prefer
domestic soft drinks as well as MNC soft drinks
3.To ascertain the satisfaction level of consumers towards domestic
brand of soft drinks.
METHODOLOGY
The study is intended to analyze the customer satisfaction towards local
soft drinks. Primary data is collected through a structured questionnaire
administered to the selected respondents. The data collected was analyzed
and interpreted with the tables, figures and charts. “Content score
technique” has been used for analyzing the factors influencing the
purchase behaviour of consumers and also ‘Chi-square test’ has been
used to know the satisfaction of the consumers towards local soft drinks.
Secondary data was collected from various journals, magazines, Articles
and web sources etc. The study is based on samples of 500 respondents.
The generalizations made in the study are applicable only for the Dakshina
Kannada district, Karnataka. Table 1 shows the demographic
characteristics of the respondents surveyed.Ashoka M. L and Rakesh T. S

Vol 10 Issue 2 December , Year 2016 Nitte Management Review48
Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the r espondents
RESUL TS AND DISCUSSION
The respondents were asked about their preference level of the soft drinks.
The responses are tabulated in Table 2.
Table 2 Consumers’ Preference Towards Soft Drinks
Source: Compiled by the authors
54 per cent of respondents surveyed preferred the soft drinks moderately
in the study area and 16 per cent of respondents “highly like” the soft
drinks. Only 5 per cent of the respondents viewed soft drinks unfavorably .
Further , we investigated about the behaviour of the respondents asFactors Influencing Buying Behavior of Consumers of Domestic Soft Drinks: A Case S tudy
Particulars Highly
Preferred Moderately
Preferred Low
Preference Not at all
Preferred Total
Respondents 80 272 124 24 500
Percentage (%) 16 54 25 5 100 Gender Profession Age in
Years
10-20 Age in
Years
21-30 Age in
Years
31-40 Age in
Years
41-50 Total Percent
Male Students 117 58 0 0 175 35
Employee 0 35 8 7 50 10
Entrepreneurs 0 12 4 4 20 4
Not Occupied 0 1 1 0 2 0.40
Total(a) 117 106 13 11 247 49.40
Female Students 81 53 0 0 134 26.80
Employee 15 36 20 11 82 16.40
Entrepreneurs 0 0 2 0 2 0.40
House-wife 0 17 11 2 30 6
Not occupied 0 0 3 2 5 1
Total (b) 96 106 36 15 253 50.60
Total (a +b) 500 100

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presented in Table 3. The survey result indicates that the reason why
consumers buy soft drinks was due their liking for the brand, the second
reason was for rejuvenation. It was also found that the majority of the
respondents did not prefer to buy diet soft drinks. It also interesting to
note that majority of the respondents disagreed that advertisements did
not influence their buying behaviour . This implies that advertising will
attract the consumers to buy a soft drink. Another curious finding is that
the consumers did not prefer the colored soft drinks.
Table 3 Descriptive Analysis of Consumers’ Perception towards Soft drinksAshoka M. L and Rakesh T. S
Table 4 Awareness towards Local Soft Drinks
Particulars Highly
Aware Aware Not
Aware Total
Respondents 88 376 36 500
Percentage (%) 18 75 7 100 StatementsStrongly
Disagree Disagree Can’t Say AgreeStrongly
Agree
TotalAverage
Score1 2 3 4 5
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Soft drinks really gives me a lift
during the day
42
9
110
22
87
18
215
43
42
8 496 2.69
I like diet soft drinks
36
8
157
33
85
18
151
32
51
11 480 2.52
Advertising has nothing to do with my
choice of soft drink
114
23
139
28
112
22
94
19
41
8 500 1.95
Soft drinks are bad for a person's
health
55
11
114
23
151
30
111
22
69
14 500 2.14
On an average day, I consume more
soft drinks than water
205
41
185
37
52
10
40
8
18
4 500 1.65
I am addicted to soft drinks
159 33 158 32 100 20 38 8 34 7 489 1.63
I like to drink a coloured soft drink
182
37
99
20
96
19
93
19
26
5 496 1.78
I like the brand and would like to
purchase it 51 10 46 9 63 13 206 42 129 26 495 3.26
Source: Compiled by the authors

Vol 10 Issue 2 December , Year 2016 Nitte Management Review50
Table 5 Awareness of Local Soft Drinks thr ough Various Means of Sour ces
Source: Compiled by the authors
The above table 5 reveals that 45 per cent of respondents are aware of
local soft drinks through the shopkeepers’ display and 28 per cent of
them are aware through their friends. Thus, one infers that local soft
drinks are best advertised by the local shopkeepers themselves.
Table 6 Consumers’ Preference towards Soft Drinks
Source: Compiled by the authors
Table 6 reveals that, 53 per cent of the respondents prefer MNC soft
drinks, whereas, 47 per cent prefer local soft drinks. Thus, there is
appreciable market for local soft drinks in Dakshina Kannada district,
Karnataka, which is good.
Table 7 Factors Influencing Consumers to Pr efer and Buy Local Soft Drinks
Sour ce: Compiled by the authorsFactors Influencing Buying Behavior of Consumers of Domestic Soft Drinks: A Case S tudy
Particulars Quality Taste Price Advertisement Avai lability Total
Content Score 1528 1628 1872 1044 2012 8084
Rank IV III II V I
Percentage (%) 19 20 23 13 25 100 Particulars Local soft
drinks International
soft drinks Total
Respondents 236 264 500
Percentage (%) 47 53 100 Particulars
Newspaper TV Friends Radio Shopkeepers
Display Total
No of Respondents 40 80 140 16 224 500
Percentage (%) 8 16 28 3 45 100 The above Table 4 reveals that 75 per cent of respondents are aware of
local soft drinks and 18% of respondents are highly aware of local soft
drinks in Dakshina Kannada district which shows a remarkable degree
of awareness!

51
The above table 7 reveals that, the factors which influence Consumers
to prefer the local soft drinks like Joy , Zaffa, Bindu – Jerra Masala Soda,
Sip-on, Mer ger etc are on the basis of availability and price of local soft
drinks in Dakshina Kannada district rather than the factors like quality ,
taste and brand ambassador . The factors like availability and price have
scored 2012 and 1872 respectively in the weighted (scale 5 to 1)
summation of the content score and secured I rank and II rank respectively .
Table 8 Factors Influencing Consumers’ to Pr efer and
Buy MNC Soft Drinks
Source: Compiled by the authors
The above table 8 reveals that, the factors which influence Consumers’
to prefer MNC soft drinks like Pepsi and Coke etc are on basis of quality
and taste of local soft drinks in Dakshina Kannada district rather than
the factors like availability , price and brand ambassador . The factors like
quality and taste have scored 2108 and 2056 respectively in the weighted
(scale 5 to 1) summation of the content score and secured I rank and II
rank respectively .
Table 9 Consumers’ age gr oup and their Satisfaction level towards Local Soft Drinks
Source: Compiled by the authorsAshoka M. L and Rakesh T. S
Particulars Quality Taste Price Advertisement /
Brand
Ambassador Availability Total
Content Score 2108 2056 1748 1944 1996 9852
Rank I II V IV III
Percentage (%) 21 21 18 20 20 100
?Respondents'
AgeSatisfactionlevel towards Domestic Soft drinks
Total Highly
DissatisfedDissatisfed Neutral SatisfedHighly
satisfed
10-20 yrs 34 39 54 46 40 213
21-30 yrs 36 39 55 32 50 212
31-40 yrs 11 5 8 10 15 49
41-50 yrs 6 6 7 2 5 26
Total 87 89 124 90 110 500

Vol 10 Issue 2 December , Year 2016 Nitte Management Review52
Table 10 Chi-Squar e Tests
Sour ce: Compiled by the authors
Let us assume the null hypothesis (HO) that ‘the Satisfaction level of all
age groups is same about the domestic soft drinks’ and alternative
hypothesis (H1) that ‘the Satisfaction level of all age groups is not same
about the domestic soft drinks’.
The table value =21.026 for df=(r -1) x (c-1)= (4-1)(4-1)=12 and á=
0.05.Since the Chi-square value ( 12.352) is lesser than table value (21.06)
at 5% significance. We accept the null hypothesis and reject alternative
hypothesis. Hence all age groups of consumers are satisfied with domestic
soft drinks in the Dakshina Kannada district.
Moreover age groups between 10-20 and 21-30 are more satisfied with
domestic soft drinks in this region. Age group between 10-20 consumers
are more depended on their parents and they spend their pocket money
with lot of calculations. Before they buy , they compare and buy the
products which is more of af fordable and cheaper in price. In case of
domestic soft drinks, consumers will always compare domestic brands
against MNCs brands and they will take a decision and with this above
table 9 it can be concluded that consumers are satisfied with domestic
soft drinks and enjoying the taste of soft drinks at cheap price.
CONCLUSION
Trend are changing with the increasing threat from small, local brands
and many of them are operating in the regional level and few of them are
operating at national level and they are quietly stealing the thunder from
the two multinational giants by selling quality products at af fordableFactors Influencing Buying Behavior of Consumers of Domestic Soft Drinks: A Case S tudy
Value Df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 12.352a 12 0.418
Likelihood Ratio 12 0.372
Linear-by-Linear
Association 1 0.771
N of Valid Cases 12.957
0.085
500

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price than MNCs, especially in the small towns and rural areas. Factors
like availability and af fordable price are influencing more on consumers
to prefer and purchase domestic players’ soft drinks. Coke
and Pepsi spend crores on advertising, these local players are not spending
like MNC players on advertisement and on brand ambassador to attract
consumers towards their brands but pricing and taste is what is attracting
consumers to local soft drinks brands in the market and also low
marketing spends as they deal directly with retailers. With this it can be
concluded that local soft drinks brands has owned the heart of the
consumers in the market and there are more potential for this local brands
in the market. But local soft drinks makers should also give more
prominence for the quality and taste so that they can acquire more market
shares.
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