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International Journal of Management (IJM)
Volume 7, Issue 7, November–December 2016, pp.257–264, Article ID: IJM_07_07_027
Available online at
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ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510
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COSMETICS BRAND ALLEGIANCE OF WOMEN
CONSUMERS
Dr. Amandeep Kahlon Virk
Assistant Professor, Budha College of Management, Ramba, Karnal
ABSTRACT
Brand allegiance is completely a new concept in consumer market which refers to commitment
towards a brand. Lots of brands are available in the market and today’s modern women prefer to
buy a brand which carries a big name, fame and style. Price and promotion is the chief P’s of
cosmetic market. Retaining customer is a challenging task for each marketer. The study
investigates the demographic factors and their association with cosmetic brand preference. In
order to analyse data and testing underling hypothesis chi-square test has been used. The findings
suggest that there is a strong association between Occupation, Income & residential location and
their brand preference and good association is found between brand name preference and price of
brand. Lakme is found to be most preferable brand among women.
Key words: Brand, Allegiance, Market, Preference and Cosmetics
Cite this Article: Dr. Amandeep Kahlon Virk, Cosmetics Brand Allegiance of Women Consumers.
International Journal of Management, 7(7), 2016, pp. 257–264.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=7&IType=7
1. INTRODUCTION
Branding is the practice of identifying a product or line of products by a special name or symbol. Every
product or service that exists has a name. That name is turned into a brand by infusing in it some
distinction. A brand is a name term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of those elements used to
identify a company’s goods or services to consumer and to differentiate them from the product or services
of the competitors. Brand name must be meaningful and pronounceable in all relevant languages,
otherwise firms will find that they are unable to use well known local names as they expand abroad. In
order to get success in this competitive era a brand should live in mind and heart of a customer. According
to a study by Mademoiselle Magazine, today’s females are “more likely to know what brands they want
before they go shopping” (Parks, 1997). The concept of ‘loyalty’ is not a new concept: it has been in
practice for many centuries. In past, ancient Roman Empire had often used the concept of loyalty for their
army. In 21
st
century, marketers are trying to capture market share and profits with the help of a loyal
customer base. Loyalty, in day- to-day life, implies an unselfish belief in products/services. Loyalty also
suggests monogamy: one choice above all others.
Dr. Amandeep Kahlon Virk
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2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Priyanka P. and Krishnaveni R. (2016) investigated perception of women consumer towards branded
cosmetics. The findings of the study indicate that marketer should focus on brand image attributes, quality
and benefits in their effort to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty. By maintaining and strengthening
the brand image and values, it will position the brand positivity in the minds of customers.
Parmar M. K. Sushil (2014) conducted a study on brand loyalty for cosmetic products among youth
aimed to find out a particular cosmetic brand which is popular and regular stuff of youth’s basket
irrespective of any purpose. The study found that brand loyalty has no significant association with gender
and domicile. Annual spending on cosmetic products and domiciles of youth are statistically independent.
Excellent quality of a cosmetic brand was highly ranked by majority of respondents followed by need
satisfaction and brand name.
Sundry, R. (2014) conducted a study on brand consciousness of women consumers. The study was
aimed to study the level of brand consciousness existing among women consumers and its affect on family
buying behaviour. The study revealed that women of old age have high brand consciousness due to their
experience with their favorite brand compared to middle aged women. High brand consciousness is found
among consumers employed in private organization.
Yousaf, Usman et al (2012) tried to identify the brand loyalty and affirmed that brand credibility,
brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality and product knowledge are important to build brand
loyalty. Findings of the study disclosed that there is a positive relation between brand credibility, brand
awareness, brand association, perceived quality, product knowledge (independent variables) and brand
loyalty (dependent variables). It has also been found that brand awareness has the highest impact on brand
loyalty and L’Oreal consumers are more brand loyal in comparison to other brands.
Khraim S. Hamza (2011) in the study influence of brand loyalty on cosmetics buying behaviour of
UAE female consumers, the study indicated that brand name has shown strong correlation with brand
loyalty. There is positive and significant relationship between factors of brand loyalty (brand name,
product quality, price, design, promotion, service quality and store environment) with cosmetic brand
loyalty.
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Descriptive research design was used for the study. Primary and Secondary sources were used to collect
data. Primary data was collected with the help of well structured and pre tested questionnaire. 200 women
customers from rural and urban area (100 each) constitute the basis of the sample. Convenience sampling
method was used to collect necessary data. Chi-square test was used to analyse the data and to draw logical
and scientific inferences.
3.1. Research Objectives
• To analyse the demographic profile of the cosmetics using customers;
• To study the association between brand preference and demographic characteristics of women consumers.
3.2. Research Hypotheses
Hypothesis is usually considered an integral part in research process. It means an assumption or some
supposition to be proved. It is a tentative theory a supposition adopted to explain certain facts and guide
the investigation process.
The Null hypothesis assumed for the analysis of the data includes the following:
• There is no association between Occupation and Brand preference of cosmetic.
• There is no association between Income and Brand preference of cosmetic.
• There is no association between Resident location and Brand preference for cosmetic.
• There is no association between Brand name preference and price of brand.
Cosmetics Brand Allegiance of Women Consumers
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4. DATA ANALYS
IS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1. Respondent’s Profile
4.1.1. Age group
Age distribution being one of the most important demographic variable. An attempt was made to classify
the respondents on the basis of their age group. According to rural and urban areas the age structure is
given below in table 4.1
Table 4.1 Age-wise classification
Age
Group
No. of Respondents
Overall
%
Rural Urban
No. % No. %
<25 30 30 38 38 68 34
25-35 40 40 32 32 72 36
35-45 20 20 20 20 40 20
45-55 7 7 6 6 13 6.5
55> 3 3 4 4 7 3.5
Total 100 100 100 100 200
Table: 4.1 project that those respondent’s in the age group of 25-35 years dominate the sample. Since
the researcher has taken open-ended class interval for classification of age, median age was the most
appropriate measure of central value accordingly the median age was:
(a) Rural 30 yrs.
(b) Urban 28.75 yrs.
(c) Overall 29.4 yrs.
4.1.2. Marital Status
Traditionally the family has been the focus of the most marketing efforts and for many products and
services. The household continues to be the relevant buying units. Taking this into consideration an
attempt was made to classify the respondents on the basis of their marital status, the marital status wise
classified categories include married and unmarried respondents.
It was observed that total of 112 married and 88 unmarried respondents were there.
Table 4.2 Marital status-wise classification
Status Rural Urban Total
Married 60 52 112
Unmarried 40 48 88
Total 100 100 200
The classification according to area and marital status is given in table 4.2 and to test the hypothesis
that there is no relationship between area and marital status (2*2) contingency table was used for test.
Calculated value of is 0.898 , Table value of for 1 degrees of freedom at 5 %level of
significance is 3.841 As Calculated value of chi-square is less than Table value so Null hypothesis is
accepted.
Dr. Amandeep Kahlon Virk
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4.1.3. Occupation-wise Classification
Occupation is one of the most important demographic variable which influence the buying pattern of the
buyers .Keeping this in view an attempt was made to classify the respondents on the basis of the
occupation, Since it was a onetime study based on cross sectional data the effect of period and season was
not considered at any stage. For this purpose, the occupation wise classified categories of the respondents
included govt. employee, private employee, business, students, house wife and self employed categories.
The distribution of respondents according to professional information is depicted in Table 4.3
Table 4.3 Occupation-wise classification
Occupation No. of Respondents Percentage
Govt. Employee 42 21
Private Employee 50 25
Business 40 20
Student 30 15
Housewife 20 10
Self Employed 18 9
Table 4.3 indicates that the respondents of private employees’ category dominate the sample as they
constitute 25% of total respondents.
4.1.4. Income-wise Classification
Income simply indicates the capacity of the buyer to buy a product. Product choice is greatly affected by
ones economic circumstances. People economic circumstances consist of their disposable income, saving,
assets, borrowing power and attitude towards spending versus saving. Keeping this in mind, an attempt
was made to classify respondents on the basis of their income. Annual income wise classification is
presented in Table No. 4.4
Table 4.4 Income-wise classification
Annual Family
Income (Rs.)
No. of Respondents
Rural Urban
Overall
<50,000 10 10 20
50000 to 100000 24 20 44
100000 to 150000 40 20 60
150000 > 26 50 76
Since the classification was based on the open ended class interval, accordingly the median Income
was;
(a) Urban 1,50,000 Rs.
(b) Rural 1,20,000 Rs.
(c) Overall 1,30,000 Rs.
4.1.5. Family Structure
The family structure was classified into two dictomous classes’ namely (a) Joint family (b) Nuclear family.
It was interesting to know that majority of respondents belong to Joint family category. The proportions
are shown in Table 4.5
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Table 4.5 Family Structure
Family Structure Respondents
Rural Urban
Overall %
Nuclear 35 45 80 40
Joint 65 55 120 60
Total 100 100 200 100
Table indicates that 40% respondents belong to Nuclear family and 60% were from joint family.
4.1.6. Educational Status
An attempt was made to identify academic profile of the respondents. It is appropriately believed that
preference of customer for a product is closely related to their level of education. The education level wise
classification of categories include below Matric, Matric, XII, Graduate, Post Graduate and above, as
described in Table No. 4.6
Table 4.6 Educational qualification wise classification
Qualification No. of respondents
Rural Urban
No. % No. %
<Matric 32 32 10 10
Matric 25 25 3 3
XII 12 12 6 6
Graduation 20 20 70 70
Post Graduation 11 11 11 11
The analysis clearly highlights that majority of the respondents were Graduate, does they dominate the
sample. 20% of them were from rural area and 70% were from urban area.
4.2. Association between Occupation, Income, Residential Area and Cosmetic Brands
Preferences
4.2.1. Association between Occupation and Brand Preferences
A buyer’s occupation has a direct effect on their choice for products, Occupation is one of the most
important attribute which influence the buying pattern of the consumer. Keeping this in mind, an attempt
has been made to study the association between occupation and preference for brand. The data on
association has been presented in Table below: