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KARNATAK LAW SOCIETYS

INSTITUTE

OF

MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

AND

RESEARCH

PROJECT REPORT ON

FACTORS INFLUENCES THE PURCHASE DECISION TO


BUY MAHINDRA TRACTOR BY THE FARMER

At
Belgaum Motors, Belgaum
SUBMITTED TO
KARNATAKA UNIVERSITY, DHARWAD

SUBMITTED BY
Miss. Deepa Astekar
MBA09003022

In the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Masters


in Business Administration (MBA) awarded by Karnataka University,
Dharwad for the year 2009-10.

Internal Guide

External Guide

Prof. Deepa More

Mr. M. Kulkarny

KARNATAK LAW SOCIETYS


INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT EDUCATION & RESEARCH
BELGAUM.
(Affiliated to Karnataka University, Dharwad & Recognized by AICTE, New Delhi)

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that
completed

her

Ms Deepa Astekar

Summer

influences

In

Plant

purchase

project

has satisfactorily
on

decision

Mahindra tractor by the farmer

factors

to

buy

in the partial

fulfillment of the requirement of Masters of Business Administration,


during the academic year 2009-2010.

INSTITUTE GUIDE

Prof. Deepa More


Kalkundrikar

DIRECTOR

Dr. A.B

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Any accomplishment requires the effort of many people and this is no different. As
an introduction to any last would be incomplete without the mention of people who have
made it possible and whose constant guidance and encourage served as beacon light my
effort with success.
I like to thank My Family and Friends who have directly or indirectly helped me
in successful completion of this project and will remain the source of inspiration for
putting my best efforts to ensure the success of this report.
I wish to take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude to
Mr.Mahantesh Kulkarny, sales manager of the Belgaum Motors, for providing me an
opportunity for carry out my Summer In Plant Project at their esteemed organization.
I am Grateful to my Internal Guide Prof. Deepa More who has guided me in each
and every mode of the project work and helped me to understand more and more. I also
like to thank my External Guide (Company Guide) Mr. Mahantesh Kulkarny who has
supported me throughout my project.
I also express my gratitude to our beloved Director Dr. A.B Kalkundrikar for his
inspiration, advice and support in project work.

Thanking you.

Place: Belgaum

Deepa L. Astekar

Date:

DECLARATION

I, Deepa L. Astekar hereby declare that the project report entitled


factors influences purchase decision to buy Mahindra tractor
by the farmer. is an independent study carried out by me during my
Summer In Plant Project.

I also hereby declare that this report is not being submitted to


any organization and the data will be held confidential.

Date:
Astekar
Place:

Deepa L.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Tractor industry has been one of the primary engines driving agricultural growth since
from the times of the Green Revolution. Major population of the country resides in
villages. And agriculture is the major occupation of the villagers and tractors are the major
inputs of the agriculture.
Mahindra & Mahindra are the market leaders in the medium & high segment of tractors.
But the increase in competition has resulted know and understand the factors influence
their purchase decision to buy the Mahindra tractor.
The survey is carried in the region of Belgaum city and nearby villages. The survey
revealed that source of information, brand loyalty, most important priority when choosing
a product, customers behavior in evaluation of different attributes and satisfaction level
are the major factors.
The sample size for the survey was 60 farmers and method was through personal
interview by administrating the questionnaire. The survey has revealed that most of the
farmers are uneducated and seek advice from the villagers for buying tractor.
So the mode of communication should be simpler to convince these farmers and company
should take some aggressive action such as road shows to promote its product and should
concentrate on local media and should maintain the good relations with the customers.

Objectives of the study


To know the factors influences the purchase decision of the farmer who are buying
Mahindra tractor.
To know the source of information to aware the farmer about the Mahindra tractor.
To know the customers behavior in the evaluation of alternatives.
To know the satisfaction level of customer.

ABOUT THE INDUSTRY


Tractor industry has been one of the primary engines driving agricultural growth right
from the times of the Green Revolution. Since the onset of mechanized farming, tractors
have played a significant role in replacing the medieval techniques used for tilling.
India is the second largest manufacturer of tractors in the world. However, in terms of
usage, tractor penetration in India vis--vis other agrarian economy is very low. The
penetration level for tractors in India at 11 tractors per 1,000 hectares of gross cropped
area (GCA) is lower than the world average of 19 tractors per GCA, hinting at the
potential in the longer run.
The Indian tractor market is dominated by low price, rugged, versatile and low to medium
powered tractors largely due to inability of farmers to invest in farm mechanization.
Tractors are categorized on the basis of horse power (HP) of the engine. In India, the
popular range of tractors is 20-40 HP compared to 60 HP in Europe and 90 HP in the
USA. However, demand for higher powered tractors has gradually emerged from farmers
in Madhya Pradesh & Maharashtra due to the soil conditions. The tractor industry
comprises 14 players, including three MNCs and is dominated by Mahindra & Mahindra
Ltd., Tractors & Farm Equipment Ltd. and Punjab Tractors Ltd.
The key factors that drive demand for tractors are easy and cheap availability of finance
and good monsoons. After a downturn during the last three to four years due to poor
monsoons, the industry is back on a growth path, which is believed to continue in coming
years. During the fiscal 2003-04, the industry grew by 10.5% and the volumes as a whole
reached 1, 89,000 units, the first growth year since 1999-2000. The trend is continuing in
2009-10 as well. Tractor sales during the year of 2009-10 have grown by 32% percent to
1, 17581 units against 88889 units of last year and is expected to close the year with
growth of 40%. The bullishness in the domestic tractor industry is helped by better
availability of credit in rural areas. The total tractor market in India was in the year 2001
volumes of 250000 units per annum. The current financial year is expected to close with
overall industry sales of more than 400000 units.

Tractor Industry sales


Make

F-10

F-09

Sales

Market share

Sales

Market share

Mahindra

117581

29.4%

88889

29.2%

SWARAJ

48052

12%

35248

11.6%

FES

165633

41.4%

124137

40.8%

TAFE+EICHER

88097

22%

67774

22.3

ESCORTS

53258

13.3%

41097

13.5

SONALIKA

34967

8.7%

27156

8.9%

JOHN DEERE

28206

7%

18332

6%

NEW HOLLAND

19017

4.8%

16075

5.3%

HMT

4899

1.2%

4084

1.3%

OTHERS

6126

1.5%

5266

1.7%

INDUSTRY
TOTAL

400203

100

303921

100

ABOUT THE COMPANY


Mahindra Group is one of the largest corporate groups of India. It is a US $4.5 billion
conglomerate with employee strength of over 40,000. The group has diverse business
interests such as automotive, farm equipments, infrastructure, information technology,
hospitality, and financial services. Mahindra Group has global presence and it is ranked
amongst Forbes Top 200 list of the World's Most Reputable Companies and in the Top 10
list of Most Reputable Indian companies.

The origins of Mahindra Group can be traced back to October 2, 1945 when Mahindra
brothers J.C. Mahindra & K.C. Mahindra joined hands with Ghulam Mohammad, and
Mahindra & Mohammad was set up as a franchise for assembling jeeps from Willys,
USA. After India's independence in 1947, Mahindra & Mohammad changed its name to
Mahindra & Mahindra. Ghulam Mohammad migrated to Pakistan post-partition and
became the first Finance Minister of Pakistan. Since then, Mahindra Group has gone from
strength to strength and today it has evolved into a giant group.

Business Interests of Mahindra Group


Automotive Sector: Mahindra Group is the market leader in utility vehicles in India since
inception. Mahindra also manufactures and markets utility vehicles and light commercial
vehicles, including three-wheelers. Some of the famous automobile brands of Mahindra
are: Scorpio and Bolero. Recently, Mahindra joined hands with French automobile major
Renault to enter passenger car segment. It has launched a car called Mahindra Renault
Logan.
Farm Equipment Sector: Mahindra is the largest producer of tractors in India and is
among the top five tractor brands in the world. It has its own state-of-the-art plants in
India, USA, China and Australia, and a capacity to produce 1, 50,000 tractors a year.
Trade & Financial Services: Mahindra Intertrade Limited and its subsidiaries have
specialized domain knowledge in imports and exports of commodities, domestic trading,
marketing and distribution services. Mahindra Finance is one of the largest Non Banking
Finance Companies in India with an asset base of about Rs. 5000 crores. Mahindra

Insurance Brokers offer Life and Non-life Insurance plans to retail and corporate
customers. Mahindra Steel Service Centre is the first steel service centre in the organized
sector in India.
Infrastructure Development: Mahindra Group has interests in real estate, special
economic zones, hospitality industry, infrastructure development, project engineering
consultancy and design. Mahindra Holidays & Resorts is the leader in the lifetime holiday
market in India. Mahindra Gesco is fastest growing Construction Company in India.
Mahindra World City is developing and promoting India's first Integrated Business City.
Mahindra Acres Consulting Engineers is a multidisciplinary engineering consultancy
organization.
Information Technology: Mahindra Group entered into IT sector in 1986 when it formed
a joint venture with British Telecommunications plc. The company was called MahindraBritish Telecom. The Company has recently changed its name to Tech Mahindra. Tech
Mahindra is a leading provider of telecommunication solution and service industry worldwide. It is India's 8th largest software exporter.
Specialty Businesses: Mahindra Group companies such as Mahindra AshTech, Mahindra
Defense, Spares Business Unit and Mahindra Logistics are into Specialty Businesses.
Mahindra AshTech undertakes turnkey contract execution for Ash Slurry System and
Travelling Water Screens. Mahindra Defense Systems looks after the requirements of
India's defense and security forces. Mahindra Logistics provide complete logistics
solutions to complex transportation needs of clients across the world.
Major Achievements of Mahindra Group

Mahindra & Mahindra made the first indigenous Jeep in the country in 1949.

Fourth largest tractor company in the world.

Largest manufacturer of tractors in India.

Largest manufacturer of MUVs, offering over 20 models

The Company's current Board of Directors is as follows:


NAME
1.

DESIGNATION

Mr. Keshub Mahindra


Chairman

Mr. Anand G. Mahindra

Vice Chairman
Director

Deepak Shantilal Parekh

Director

4.

Nadir Burjorji Godrej

Director

5.

M. M. Murugappan

Director

6.

Bharat Narotam Doshi

Executive Director & Group Chief


Financial Officer (Group CFO)

7.

Arun Kumar Nanda

Executive Director

8.

Narayanan Vaghul

Director

9.

Dr. Ashok Sekhar Ganguly Director

2.

and

Managing

3.

10. R. K. Kulkarni

Director

11. Anupam Pradip Puri

Director

12. Arun Kanti Dasgupta

Nominee of LIC

FARM EQUIPMENT SECTOR

One of the progressive and dynamic divisions of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., is the Farm
Equipment Sector, which was started way back in 1963. The late 1960s witnessed the
beginning of "The Green Revolution" in India. Mahindra & Mahindra took the lead and
responded with launching their new "INTERNATIONAL" range of modern high
performance tractors. In technical and financial collaboration with International Harvester
Co. Ltd., UK, M&M and Voltas set up International Tractor Co. of India Ltd. in 1963.
In 1978, International Tractor Co. of India Ltd. merged with M&M to be re-christened as
Mahindra & Mahindra - Tractor Division, which is renamed as Mahindra &
Mahindra - Farm Equipment Sector after the restructuring in 1994. Farm Equipment
Sector is involved in manufacturing of wide range of tractors & farm implements to suit
the varied needs of Indian as well as overseas farmers.
The Farm Equipment Sector has manufacturing facilities at Kandivli and Nagpur
with the capacity to produce 150000 tractors per annum. It consists of modern machine
shops, assembly lines and engine manufacturing facilities. The manufacturing facility at
Kandivli is the worlds single largest unit of manufacturing tractors under one roof.
The Kandivli plant of Farm Equipment Sector possesses the prestigious international
quality certification ISO-9001, since February 1996. The plant at Nagpur produces
hydraulics units and a wide array of agricultural implements to suit every soil type and
farm operation. In September 1996, production of tractors has started at Nagpur plant and
has reached the operational level of 2,000 tractors per month within a period of two years.
The Nagpur plant has received coveted QS-9000 award in July 1999.
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. currently is the market leader in the Indian tractor
industry and the fourth largest in the world in terms of units sold. It has been the market
leader for last 28 years consecutively in a highly competitive Indian market. Farm
Equipment Sector has continuously increased its market share from 5.2 % in F-1977 to
41.4% in F-2010. Today, Mahindra & Mahindra carries the goodwill and the trust of over
lakhs of farmers. M&M has the widest range of tractors amongst Indian companies.
Different tractor models cover diversified market segments from 25 HP to 60 HP tractors.
Mahindra tractor has come to be recognized as a powerful symbol of productivity and
unparalleled performance. Mahindra tractors, therefore, is the No. 1 - at the helm of the
Indian Tractor Industry. Focused approaches to improve dealer performance and Channel

Management process have been taken to progress towards our vision of being the largest
tractor manufacturer in terms of volumes by year 2011.
In addition to capturing the domestic market, M & M has also made significant
progress in competitive overseas market. Company has exported over 6000 tractors to
date, to countries like USA, South Africa, Europe, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal,
Vietnam, Zimbabwe etc. Our Marketing Network spans the entire globe with
representation in most continents around the world. Mahindra USA, a 100% subsidy of
M&M, has a strong dealer network of over 100 dealers covering almost all of USA.
Several other export markets are being developed to expand to the global arena in tractor
marketing.
But M&M isn't content with being just a market leader. Research engineers at
Mahindra, in collaboration with AVL, Austria, developed a Direct Injection tractor engine.
This gave far greater fuel efficiency than ever before and provided the advantage of
instant cold start. Environment Protection Agency (EPA), USA has certified Mahindra
engines as environmentally friendly and has conferred EPA certificate to Mahindra
tractors for confirming to the tier-1 emission norms.
To achieve undisputed Market leadership, basic thrust of Farm Equipment Sector
is on continuously upgrading the products and introducing new products to suit the
changing needs of the farmers. Dedicated cross-functional teams are working on major
aggregates like transmission, engine, sheet metal and hydraulics with improved
performance. Several new features like constant mesh gearbox for easy gear shifting,
power steering to reduce steering efforts have been successfully introduced. To offer our
tractors to customer Right at First Time, a network of knowledge base from world
renowned R&D houses, institutions and experts have been pooled along with strong inhouse R&D facilities. A highly motivated team of well qualified 400 engineers drawn
from various functions follow the modern concurrent engineering approach, latest
computer software, modern testing facilities and proven design and developing
methodologies. Our research & development facility at Kandivli is recognized by
Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology,
Government of India.

Farm Equipment Sector has set the vision to become Worlds largest tractor
manufacturing company by year 2005. To pursue the vision, various initiatives have been
adopted in the area of manufacturing, like Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), Total
Quality Management (TQM), Focus on enhancing productivity, World Class Quality with
least cost. To get quality built into the product as required by the customer, vendors are
being integrated for supplying quality products through initiatives like supplier up
gradation, strategic sourcing, global sourcing etc. With thrust on Product Development,
Channel Management coupled with lean manufacturing, Farm Equipment Sector is
moving rapidly on the journey towards the vision to lead the world through delighting the
agricultural community worldwide.
The company has already commissioned 75 Samriddhi dealers, till March 2010
end. And they are expecting to increase this dealership till 150. This would help the
company to move to towards Farm Tech prosperity by innovative farming technologies,
thereby enhancing rural prosperity.
F 09

F10

Growth

Tractor

88880

117580

32%

Spares(Rs. Lakh)
Implements (Rs. Lakh)
Market share

8583
31.9
29.2%

10297
63.64
29.4

27%
99%
0,2%

The benefits that company wants to give to its customer through its product are as follows:
1. More fuel saving by providing modern DI engine.

2. Low weight because of good PTOHP & draw bar and cropping technique.
3. Long life engines by providing good engine parts and new search tank.
4. Long life gear box by providing good transmission.
5. Tractor which perform well on the field with smooth movement.
The benefit customers are looking for from the Mahindra tractor:
1. Free service and spare parts which dealer provide by well trained mechanics.
2. Easy maintenance by providing guidance from the dealers mechanics.
3. Less chances of damage by proving free services and continuous backup.
4. Self maintenance and easy inspection.
5. Good break system
6. Comfortable driving
7. Attractive colors structure and design.

ABOUT PRODUCT

255 DI

265 DI

365 DI

475 DI

475 DI - Sirpanch

B-275

575 DI

575 DI - Sirpanch

585 DI

Arjun 605 DI

585 DI Sirpanch

Dealers profile
This is a partnership firm started by Mr. Robert Hankerry and Mr. Pandu Patil on
15th des 2009. Also they deal with spares and servicing in there showroom. The firm has
named as Belgaum Motors. They are the only dealers in Belgaum. They undertake
business in Khanapur, Hukkeri and Belgaum Talukas. They also deal with spares and
servicing.
Mr. Robert Hankerry has his own showroom in Hubali named as Bhasker Agro
care and Mr. Pandu Patil has his own showroom in Gokak named as Suhas Motors, which
is one of the top rated dealership in India.
They have depts. like Finance, Retail, Spares, workshop and sales. Following is
the systematic representation of organizational structure.
Organizational structure

Junior
Mechanic

Finance dept.
The finance dept consist of Account manager and Assistance Accountant. They
maintain day to day records in journal and later they record in ledger. All the records are
computerized and coded. Also they maintain the books like purchase book, sales book,
bank statement, and yearly balance sheet. Yearly they have been audited by auditor
appointed by the company. Dealer has been given credit facility by the company. To
maintain the liquidity of the organization they keep some amount in their bank account to
meet the uncertainties. Account manager manage all payment of salaries and wages of the
employees.

Workshop dept
After sales they also provide free service coupons for two years to their customer.
For this facility they maintain Job card which maintain by Front Line Adviser (FLA). FLA
record all the technical problems describe by the customer in the job card. In the job card
they maintain the details like meter reading, date of servicing, technical problems in the
tractor and the detail of the spares used from the spares department etc further he guides
the mechanic about the problems and asks them to repair it. If he found any other
problems he advises the customer to take the servicing for that particular problem. CRO
(Customer Relationship Officer) inform the customer about the completion of servicing.
Maintain contacts with the customer.CRO also maintain History file, job card, free follow
up register, repeat job register, complaint register, and inform the entire customer about
the servicing camps provided by the dealer. CRO also maintain post service feedback. The
company also provides training campaign to the mechanics. As the mechanics are
conducting padayatra that is free servicing at doorstep, they are the main source to create
brand awareness and also plays important role in the customer satisfaction. All the
mechanics are well trained.
Sales dept The sales dept include sales manager and sales executive. There are six sales
executives in this organization who markets their product on field. These executive
interact directly with the customer. Executives have been given target. In the beginning of
every month the executive prepares their weekly sales plan in the register called as Vital 9
register. In which they mention events that they are going to conduct for their customer. In
this register they make the records like New Prospectus Customer Card, and post warranty
customer card. Sales manager maintain sales satisfaction index and post purchase
contacts. In this questionnaire they ask the customer whether they have been informed
about the tractors feature, functions of the tractor by the sales executive. When the
executive get new enquiry about the tractor, and who is ready to buy the tractor, this kind
of customer are called as hot customer up to 30 days, and within 30 to 60 days they are
called warm customer and after 60 days this customer are being called as cold customer.
Within this period the executive has to contact them and convince them to buy the tractor.
This customers contact details are recorded in New Prospectus Customer card. When the
delivery of the tractor is made the mechanic of the dealer visits the customers place and
gives them farmer toolkit to the customer and provide training of maintenance of the
tractor. And if the customer has any doubt that is solved by the mechanic. The company is
using Push strategy where as dealers are using Pull and Push, both the strategies. In Push
Strategy Company encourage the dealer to achieve the target and in the pull strategy the
customers are attracted by various offers and promotional activities. Company gives
yearly target to the dealer, last year the Belgaum motors are given target 110 tractors and
the last years sales of Belgaum motors was 118 tractors. And for this year they have been
given target of 200 tractors. Whereas dealer are using pull and push both the strategies,
where they are trying to attract more and more customer through various offers like; with
the tractor they offer free two wheeler, festival offers, discount offers and try to increase
the productivity of the executives. Dealers design these kinds of promotional activities to
achieve the target. Even they motivate their executive by offering commission on sales
and facilities like transportation, hospitality, and communication facility. Company does
the advertisement of their products. They sell 605 DLX Arjun, 575 DI Sirpanch
aggressively. They use software called as Mahindra Dealer Management Software. In
which the dealer get all the information about their hot customer, who has purchase

competitive brand, the name of that brand, date and so on. They get continuous updates
through this software. And also provide information to the company about the sales of the
dealer. The executive has been given the mobile phones in which this MDMS software is
being updated. This mobile system is called as Instant Digital Enquiry Access (IDEA).
Through this IDEA the executive can send the prospectus of enquiry via a single sms and
the information is automatically been updated in the MDMS software. Through this, the
executive will come to know about the competitive brand with which the customers are
comparing the Mahindra tractor and the model. Also the sales manager will come to know
the status of the customer, whether the customer is hot, cold, or warm. It also discloses the
financial resources of the customer. So that the executive can updates all the information
about the NPCC from any place through a single sms. Around 162 dealers are accessing
this technology. This IDEA implementation helps the dealer to reduce the cost and shows
the performance of the executive. This IDEA implementation helps to increase the morale
and productivity of the executive. This year company has sold 100000 tractors within 10
months during the financial year 2009-10, and the punch line was Zyaada Ka Irada 1
Lakh 50 Hazar Ka Vada and the growth was 32%. Now the company also wants to
market their products in white villages, white villages are those where there is no industry
is situated. But these villages have facilities like hospital, electricity; schools etc. there are
more than 24000 white villages in India. Apart from the sales Mahindra has also taken
initiative in prosperity of the farmer.

Retail dept
In the retail dept there is one retail manager. Retail manager deals undue bills
which are yet to be received. He also deals with providing information and act as mediator
between the customer and banker to provide loan to the customer. If the customer fails to
pay the unpaid bill retail manager take initiative and make the loan adjustment between
the banker and Mahindras customer. He plays important role in collection of bill faster
from the customer. There are retailing agencies like Mahindra finance, commercial banks,
Gramin bank and so on.
Spare dept
In this dept they store all the spare parts of the tractor. This they provide not only
to their customer but also to the outsiders which is called as counter sales. And this kind of
customer is called as walking customers. And some of the spares are only for their
customers which are called as workshop customer. For this dept they maintain separate
books of accounts, and all the activities are managed by Spare Incharge. If there is
shortage of spares then they buy from the local dealers. For the workshop customers they
use spare parts from the spare department. The Spare Incharge maintains the stock and
order according to the requirement. They maintain the stock of oil, lubricants, hydrolic oil,
gear oil, gear box parts engine parts and various spars requires for the tractor on the
regular basis. The Spars Incharge record all the details of spars used in the workshop and
record it in the job card. They get the order of spare from Pune within 15 days.
Stock management
Stock of the tractor is taken from Dharwad, they estimate the requirement of
tractors and then they order to the company. They estimate requirement through the
advance booking made by customer on this basis they order for fresh stock. After getting

the order they inspect the tractors, and record in their PDI (Pre-delivery inspection). In
which they mention the engine number, tier size etc. and in the job card they maintain the
details like meter reading, date of servicing, and the detail of the spares used from the
spares department etc. Dealer makes the order for the fresh stock of the tractor, and for
that he follows the estimation made by the sales manager. Dealer sent this order through
mail. 50%of the payment is made at the time of order. There is some fix deposit is kept
with the company by the dealer at the time of starting of dealership. They maintain
History file to record transactions, which contain PDI and JOBCARD. If there is any
damage of tractor during deliver from the company to dealer then the company replaces
the damaged tractors. If there is immediate requirement of the tractor of particular model
then they get it from the other dealer nearby.
Promotional Activities
They promote their tractors with various offers like free servicing Campaign,
discount offers ,offers bikes with every tractors , exchange offers , festivals offer etc. each
executive has to plan one activity every month , which they record in their vital 9 register.
The executive has to inform his customer about this campaign and maintain the records
and has to take the feedback of the benefited customer. They had also organized activity
like free medical checkup for the farmers with the free servicing of the tractor. They have
also organized promotional activity Samriddhi in which they guide their member about
the problems of farming and techniques. The company has taken initiative and provides
guidance to the farmers with the help of experts. Even Mahindra provide employment to
the agricultural graduates and research on new techniques of farming with the help of
these students. Samriddhi is the backbone of the Mahindra. Through Samriddhi the
company is focusing on the prosperity of the farmers. They mainly deal with soil testing,
agri institute visit, agri counseling and they also demonstrate the key crop of that
particular area. And through this activity the productivity has been increased from 16 to
32%. They also provide driving training to their customer. They have organized padayatra
in which the mechanics of the dealer visit their old customers place and provide free
servicing. Through which they are advertising Mahindra indirectly and also one of the
common promotional activity which they conduct. Here in this promotional strategy they
are mainly concentrating word of mouth advertising, which can be more effective for the
advertisement and creating a good image in the minds of future customers. In the festival
time they offer cash discounts to the customers. Recently they have offered free twowheeler splendor plus with the tractors. There is no tie-up with the two wheelers dealer.
The company promotes its products by sponsoring various programs. Even Mahindra has
sponsor TV programs named as Amachi Mati Amachi Manas on TV channel. This
program is, to aware the farmers about the new technology in the field of agriculture and
various problems of the farmers and the solutions in the guidance of experts.
Human resource department:
There is no individual HR dept. as such. Account manager maintain all the records of the
employees. As performance appraisal they give incentives to the employees. They also
provide facilities like hotel expenses, transportation expenses, and communication
facilities to their executives who are on the field. The firm is undertaking their business
under the partnership act. For the recruitment of the employees they first give
advertisement in the newspaper with the job description and profile of the vacancy. Then
they takes personal interview of the candidate as there is no such HR manager, the manger
of that particular dept. in which the vacancy is available, take the interview of the
candidate. Then they select the suitable candidate, they place the candidate and provide

training. They provide yearly increment and bonus to their employees. To motivate the
executive they give them commission on the basis of their monthly sales. The company
has provided the internal management sheet to the dealer, in this document they have
mention how many employees should be there in each department. Total they have 17
employees and all are trained.

Introduction of the topic


Influences in the purchase decision
These basic psychological process play an important role in the understanding how
consumer actually makes their buying decision.
Marketing scholars have developed a stage model of the buying-decisionprocess. The consumer passes through five stages: problem recognition, information
search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, post purchase decision. Clearly, the
buying process starts long before the actual purchase and has consequences long
afterword.
Consumers dont always pass through all five stages in buying a product. They
may skip or reverse some. When you buy your regular brand of toothpaste, you directly go
from the need for toothpaste to the purchase decision, skipping information search and
evaluation.
Stage model of the consumer buying process

Problem
Recognition
Information Search
Evaluation of
Alternative

Purchase
Decision
Post purchase
Decision
Problem recognition :
The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem or need triggered by
internal or external stimuli. With an internal stimulus, one of the persons normal needhunger, thirstrises to a threshold level and become a drive; or a need can be aroused by
an external stimulus. A person may admire a neighbors new car or see a television ad for
a Hawaiian vacation, which trigger thoughts about the possibility of making a purchase.
Marketer need to identify the circumstances that trigger a particular need by
gathering the information from a number of consumers. They can then develop marketing
strategies that consumer interest. Particularly for discretionary purchases such as luxury
goods, vacation packages, and entertainment options, marketers may need to increase
consumer motivates so a potential purchase gets serious consideration.
Information search :
Surprisingly, consumers often search for limited amount of information. Surveyed
have shown that for durables, half of all consumers look at only one store and only 30%
look more than one brand of appliances. We can distinguish between two levels of
involvement with search. The milder search state is called as heightened attention. At this
level a person simply becomes more receptive to information about a product. At this
level, the person may enter an active information search: looking for reading material,
phoning friends, going online and visiting stores to learn about the product.
Information sources- Major information sources to which consumer will turn fall into four
groups;
Personal : Family , friends , neighbors , acquaintances
Commercial : advertising , websites , salesperson , dealers , packaging, display
Public : Mass media, consumer rating organization
Experiential : Handling , examining , using the product
The relative amount and influence of these sources vary with the product category
and the buyers characteristics. Generally speaking, the consumer receives the most
information about a product from commercial marketers-dominated sources. However, the
most effective information often comes from personal sources or public sources that are
independent authority.
Each information source performs different functions in influencing the buying
decisions. Commercial sources normally perform an information function, whereas
personal sources perform a legitimizing or evaluation function. For example, physician
often learn of new drugs from commercial sources but turn to other doctors for
evaluations.

Search Dynamics
Through gathering information, the consumer learns about competing brands and
their features, Marketers need to identify the hierarchy of attribute that guide consumer
decision making in order to understand different competitive forces and how these various
set like; Awareness set, consideration set, choice set , which is selected from the total set.
This process of identifying the hierarchy is called as market partitioning. Year ago most
car buyer first decided on the manufacturer and then on one of its car division (branddominant hierarchy). Today buyer first decides on the nation from which they want to buy
a car (nation-dominated hierarchy).
The hierarchy of attributes also can reveal customer segment. Buyer who first
decide on price are price dominated; those who first decide on the car brand are type
dominated; those who first decide on the car brand are brand dominated; Type/price/brand
dominated consumer make up a segment; quality/service/type buyer make up another.
Each segment may have distinct demographics, psychographic, and media graphic and
different awareness, consideration and choice sets.
The company must also identify the other brands in the consumers choice set so
that it can plan the appropriate competitive appeals. In the addition the company should
identify the consumers information sources and evaluate their relative importance.
Asking consumer how they first heard about the brand, what information came later and
the relative importance of the different sources will help the company prepare effective
communication for the target market.
Evaluation of Alternatives:
How does the consumer process competitive brand information and make a final
value judgment? No single process is used by all consumers or by one consumer in all
buying situation. There are several processes and the most current models see the
consumer forming judgment largely on a conscious and rational basis.
Some basic concept will help us understand consumer evaluation processes: first
the consumer is trying to satisfy a need. Second, the consumer is looking for certain
benefits from the product solution. Third, the consumer sees each product as a bundle of
attributes of interest to buyer vary by product- for example
1) Hotels location , cleanliness , atmosphere , price
2) Mouthwash color , effectiveness , germ-killing capacity , taste/flavor ,
price
3) Tires safety , tread life , ride quality , price
Consumer will pay more attention to attributes that deliver the sought after
benefits. We can often segment the market for a product according to attributes important
to different consumer groups.
Beliefs and attitudes
Through experience and learning, people acquired beliefs and attitude. These in
turn influence buying behavior. A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about
something. Just as important are attitudes, a persons enduring favorable or unfavorable
evaluations, emotional feeling and action tendencies towards some object or idea. People
have attitude toward almost everything; religion, politics, cloths, music, food.
Attitude put us into a frame of mind: liking or disliking of object, moving towards
or away from it. They lead us to behave in a fairly consistent way towards similar object.
Because attitude economize on energy and thought, they can be very difficult to change. A

company is well advised to fit its product in to existing attitudes rather to try to change
attitudes.
Expectancy value model
The consumer arrives at attitude towards various brands through an attitude
evaluation procedure. He or she develops a set of beliefs about where each brand stands
on each attribute. The expectancy- value model of attitude formation posits that consumer
evaluate products and services by combining their brand beliefs-the positives and
negatives-according to importance. An expectancy models formulation predict that
costumer will favor that particular brand on the basis of attributes through which one
product can dominate other brand.
Product class
All brands
Known brands
Evoked set
Acceptable brands

Unknown brands
Inept set
Unacceptable brands

Inert set
Indifferent brands

Overlooked brands

Purchase brands
Not purchased
Evoked Set
brands
Within the context of consumer decision making, the evoked set refers to the
specific brands (or model) a consumer considers in making a purchase within a particular
product category. (The evoke set is called as consideration set.) A consumers evoke set is
distinguished from his or her inept set, which consist of brands the consumer excludes
from purchase consideration because they are felt to be unacceptable (or they are seen as
inferior) and from the inert set, which consist of brands the consumer is indifferent
towards because they are perceived as not having any particular advantages. Regardless of
the total number of the brands in a product category, a consumers evoked set tends to be
quite small on average, often consisting of only three to five brands.
The evoke set consist of the small number of brands the consumer is familiar with
remembers, and finds acceptable. The above figure depicts the evoked set as a subset of
all available brands in a product category. As its necessary that the product is part of a
consumers evoked set if it is to be considered at all. The five terminals position in the
model that does not end in purchase would appear to have perceptual problems. For
example, (1) brands may be unknown because of the consumers selective exposure to
advertising media and selective perception of advertising stimuli; (2) brands may be
unacceptable because of poor qualities or attributes or inappropriate positioning in either
advertising or product characteristics; (3) brands may be perceived as not having any
special benefits and are regarded indifferent by the consumer; (4) brands may be
overlooked because they have not been clearly positioned or sharply targeted at the
consumer market segment under study; and (5) brands may not be selected because they
are perceived by consumers as unable to satisfy perceived needs as fully as the brands that
is chosen.
In each of these instances, the implications for marketers is that promotional
technique should be designed to impart a more favorable, perhaps more relevant, product
image to the target consumer. This may also require a change in product features or
attributes (more or better features). An alternative strategy is to invite consumer in a
particular target segment to consider a specific offerings and possibly put it in their evoke
set.

Research also suggests that the use of white space and choice of typeface in
advertisement may influence the consumers image of the product. For example, quality,
prestige, conveyed by white space and typeface that were perceived as being attractive,
warm and liked when they were simple, more natural and include a type font with serifs.
It has been suggested that consumer may not, all at once, reduce down the number
of possible choices into their evoke set, but instead may make several decisions within
single decision process. These screening decisions or decision waves are used to eliminate
unsuitable alternatives before gathering information or comparing options, and help
reduce decision complexity to a more manageable level.
Criteria used for evaluating brands
The criteria consumer uses to evaluate the alternative product that constitute their
evoked sets usually are expressed in terms of important product attributes. Example of
product attribute that consumer have used as criteria in evaluating products category.
When a company knows that consumer will be evaluating alternatives, it sometimes
advertises in a way that recommends the criteria that consumers should use in assessing
product or service options.
We have probably all had the experience of comparing or evaluating different brands or
model of a product and findings the one that just feels, looks, and/or performs right.
Interestingly, research shows that when consumer discuss such right product there is
little or no mention of price; brand names are not often uppermost in consumers minds;
items often reflect personality characteristics or childhood experiences; and it is often
love at first site.
Research has explored the role of brand credibility (which consist of trustworthiness
and expertise) on brand choice and has found that credibility improves the chances that a
brand will be included in the consideration set, three factors that impact brands credibility
are; the perceived risk association with the brand and the information costs saved with that
brand (due to the time and efforts saved by not having to shop around). Still further, the
study indicates that trust worthiness is more important than expertise when it comes to
making a choice.
Purchase decision :
In the evaluation stage, the consumer forms preferences among the brand in the
choice set. The consumer may also form an intention to buy the most preferred brand. In
executing a purchase intention, the consumer may make up to five sub decisions: brand,
dealer, quantity, timing and payment method.
Non compensatory model of consumer choice
The expectancy-value model is a compensatory model, in that perceived good
things for a product can help to overcome perceived bad things. But consumer often takes
mental shortcut using simplifying choice heuristics. Heuristics are the rules of thumb or
mental shortcut in the decision process.
With non compensatory model of consumer choice, positive and negative attribute
consideration dont necessarily net out. Evaluating attributes in isolation make decision
making easier for the consumers, but it also increases the likelihood that she should have
made different choice if she had deliberated in greater detail. We highlight three such
choice heuristic here.

I.

With the conjunction heuristic, the consumer sets minimum acceptable


cutoff level for each attribute and chooses the first alternatives that meets
minimum standard for all attributes.

II.

With the lexicography heuristic, the consumer chooses the best brand on
the basis of its perceived most importance most important attribute.

III.

With the elimination-by-aspects heuristic, the customer compare brand


on an attribute select probabilistically-where the probability of choosing an
attribute is positively related to its importance- and eliminated brands that
do not meet minimum acceptable cutoff.

Our brand or product knowledge, the number and similarity of brand choice and
time pressure involved and the social context all may affect whether and how we use
choice heuristic.
Consumers dont necessarily use only one type of choice rule. Sometimes they
adopt a phased decision strategy that combine two or more. For example they might use a
no compensatory decision rules such as conjunction heuristic to reduce the number of
brand choices to a more manageable number and then evaluate the remaining brands. One
reason for the runway success of the Intel Inside Campaign in the 1990s was that it made
brand the first cutoff for many consumers- they would buy only personal computer that
had an Intel microprocessor. Personal computer makers, such as IBM, DELL, and
Gateway, had no choice but to support Intels marketing efforts.
Intervening factors
Even if consumers from brand evaluations, two general factors can intervene
between the purchase intention and the purchase decision, the first is the attitude of others.
Extent to which another persons attitude reduces our preferences for an alternative
depends on two things:
The intensity of other persons negative attitude towards our preferred alternative
and
Our motivation to comply with other persons wishes
The more intense the other persons negativism and closer the other person is to us,
the more we will adjust our purchase intention. The converse is also true.
Related to the attitude of others is the role played by infomediaries who use
various media channels to disseminate their evaluations. Examples include product-testing
reports published in consumer magazines such as insight, review of books, movies, music
DVDs and CDs, letters to editors and discussion in e-forums and various chat rooms.
Consumers are undoubtedly influence by these evaluations.
The second factor is unanticipated situational factors that may erupt to change the
purchase intention. Even some other purchase might become more urgent or a store
salesperson may turn the customer off. Preferences and even purchase intention are not
completely reliable predictors of purchase behavior.
A consumers decision to modify, postpone or avoid a purchase decision is heavily
influenced by perceived risk. Consumer may perceive many types of risk in buying and
consuming the product:
i.
Functional risk- The product does not perform up to expectation.

ii.

Physical risk - The product poses a threat to the physical well-being or health
of the user of other

iii.

Financial risk -The product is not worth the price paid.

iv.

Social risk

v.

Psychological risk The product affect the mental well-being of the user

vi.

- The product result in embarrassment from others.

Time risk The failure of the product result in an opportunity cost of finding
another satisfactory products.

The amount of perceived risk varies with the amount of money at stack the
amount of attribute uncertainty and the amount of consumer self confidence. Consumer
develops routine for reducing the uncertainty and negative constituencies of risk, such as
decision avoidance, information gathering from friends and preferences for national brand
name and warranties. Marketer must understand the factors that provoke a feeling of risk
in consumer and provide information and support to reduce perceived risk.
Postpurchase behavior:
After the purchase, the consumer might experience dissonance that stems from
noticing certain disquieting features or hearing favorable things about other brands and
will be alert to information that support his or her decision. Marketing communication
should supply belief and evaluation that reinforce the consumers choice and help him feel
good about the brand. The marketers job there for does not end with the purchase.
Marketers must monitor postpurchase decision satisfaction, postpurchase action and
postpurchase product uses.
Postpurchase satisfaction
Satisfaction is a function of the closeness between expectation and the product
perceived performance. If performance falls short of expectation, the consumer is
disappointed: if it meets expectation, the consumer is satisfied: if it exceeds the
expectation, the consumer is delighted. These feeling make difference in whether the
customer buys the product again and talks favorable or unfavorable about it to others.
The greater the gap between expectation and performance, the greater will be the
dissatisfaction. Here the consumers coping style comes into play. Some consumer
magnifies the gap when the product is not perfect, and highly dissatisfied; other minimizes
it and is less dissatisfied.
Postpurchase Action
If the consumer is satisfied, she is more likely to purchase the product again. The
satisfied customer will also tend to say good things about the brand to others. On the other
brand, dissatisfied consumer may abandon or return the product. They may seek
information that confirms its high value. They may take public action by complaining to
the company, going to the lawyer or complaining to other group. Private action includes
deciding to stop buying product or warning friends.
Postpurchase communication to buyer has been shown to result in fever product
returns and order cancellation. Computer companies, for example, can send letter to new
owners congratulating them on having selected a fine computer. They can place ads
showing satisfied brand owners. They can solicit customer suggestion for improvement
and list the location of available services. They can write intangible instruction booklets.

They can send owner a magazine containing articles describing new computer
applications. In addition they can provide good channels for speedy redress of costumer
grievances.
Postpurchase Use and Disposal
Marketer should also monitor how buyer se and dispose of the product. A key
driver of sales frequency is product consumption rate-the more quickly buyer consume a
product, the sooner they may be back in the market to repurchase it.
One opportunity to increase the frequency of product use occur when consumer
perceptions of their usage differs from reality. Consumer fail to replace product with
relative short life spans soon enough because they overestimate its product life. One
strategy to speed up replacement is to tie the act of replacing the product to a certain
holiday, event, or time of the year.
For example Oral B has run toothbrush promotion in tied in with the spring time
switch to daylight saving time another strategy is to provide consumer with better
information about either
(a) When they first used the product or need to
replace it
(b) Its current level of performance.
Batteries have built in gauges that show how much power they have left;
toothbrushes have color indicator to indicate when the bristles are worn; and so on.
Perhaps the simplest way to increase usage is to learn when actual usage is less than
recommended and persuade customer of the merits of more regular usage, overcoming
potential hurdles. If the consumer throws the product away; the marketer needs to know
how they dispose of it, especially if like batteries, beverage containers, electronic
equipment, and disposable diapers it can damage the environment. Marketing memo:
Rural consumer behavior highlights some typicality of consumer situation and behavior
in the rural context.

Other theories of consumer decision making:


The consumer decision making process may not always develop in a carefully
planned fashion. Here are some other theories and approaches to explaining it.
Level of consumer involvement
The expectancy-value model assumes a high level of involvement on the part of
the consumer. We can define consumer involvement in terms of the level of engagement
and action processing the consumer undertakes in responding to a marketing stimulus.
Elaboration Likelihood Mode:
Richard Petty and John Cacioppos elaboration like-lihood model, an influential
model of attitude formation and change, describes how consumer make evaluation in both
low-and high-involvement circumstances. There are two means of persuasion in their
model: the central route, where attitude formation or change stimulus much thought and is
based on diligent, rational consideration of the most important product information; and
the peripheral route, where attitude formation or change provokes much less thought and
result from the association of a brand with either positive or negative peripheral cues.
Peripheral cues for consumer includes a celebrity endorsement a credible source or any
object that generates positive feeling.
Consumer follow the central route only if they posses sufficient motivation, ability
and opportunity. In other words, consumer must want to evaluate a brand in detail, have
the necessary brand and product or services knowledge in memory and have sufficient
time and the proper setting. If any of those factors is lacking, consumer tend to follow the
peripheral route and consider less central, more extrinsic factor in their decisions.
Low -Involvement Marketing Strategies

Many products are brought under condition of low involvement and the absence of
significance brand differences. Consider salt, consumer have little involvement in this
product category. If they keep reaching for the same brand, its out of habit, not strong
brand loyalty. Evidence suggestion consumers have low involvement with most low-cost,
frequently purchase product.
Marketers use four techniques to try to convert a low-involvement product in to
one of higher involvement. First, they can link the product to some involving issue, as
when Crest linked its toothpaste to avoiding cavity. Second, the can link the product to
some involving personal situation- for example, fruit juice maker began to include
vitamins such as calcium to fruity their drinks. Third, they might design advertising to
trigger strong emotions related to personal values or ego defense, as when cereal maker
began to advertise to adults heart-healthy nature of cereal and the importance of living a
long time to enjoy family life. Fourth they might add an important feature- for example,
when GE light bulb introduce soft white version. These strategies at best raise consumer
involvement from low to a moderate level; they do not necessarily propel the consumer
into highly involved buying behavior.
If regardless of what the marketer can do, consumer will have low involvement
with a purchase decision, they are likely to follow the peripheral route. Marketer must pay
special attention to giving consumer one or more positive cues to justify their brand
choice. For instance, frequent ad repetition, visible sponsorship, and vigorous PR are all
ways to enhance brand familiarity. Other peripheral cues that can tip the balance in favor
of the brand include a beloved celebrity endorser, attractive packaging and an appealing
promotion.
Variety Seeking Buying Behavior
Some buying behavior situations are characterized by low involvement but
significant brand differences. Here consumers often do a lot of brand switching. Think
about the cookies. The consumer has some belief about cookies, choose a brand without
much evaluation and evaluate the product during the consumption. Next time the
consumer may reach for another brand out of a wish for a different taste. Brand switching
is occurs for the sake of variety, rather than dissatisfaction.
The market leader and the minor brand in this product category have different
marketing strategy. The market leader will try to encourage habitual buying behavior by
dominating the shelf space with a variety of related but different product version, avoiding
out-of-stock condition and sponsoring frequent reminder advertising. Challenger firms
will encourage variety seeking by offering lower prices, deals, coupons, free samples, and
advertisement that tries to break the consumers purchase and consumption cycle and
presents reasons for trying something new.
Decision Heuristics and Biases
We have seen that consumer dont always process information or make decision in
a deliberate, rational manner. Marketing Insight: how consumer really make decision
highlight some recent advances from the thriving academic study of how consumer make
decisions.
Behavioral decision theories have identified many different heuristics and biases in
everyday consumer decision making. They come into play when consumer forecast the
likelihood of future outcomes or events.
1. The availability heuristics- consumer base their prediction on the quickness and
ease with which a particular example of an out come to the mind. If an example
comes to mind too easily, consumer might overestimate the likelihood of its
happening. For example, a recent product failure may lead consumer to inflate

the likelihood of a future product failure and make him more inclined to
purchase to product warranty.
2. The representativeness heuristics-consumer bases their prediction on how
representativeness r similar the outcome is to other example. One reason that
package appearances may be so similar for different brand in the same product
category is that wants to be seen as representation of the category as whole.
3. The anchoring and adjustment heuristics-consumer arrive at an initial judgment
and then adjust it based on additional information. For services marketers, it is
critical to make a strong first impression to establish a favorable anchor, so that
subsequent experiences are interpreted in a more favorable light.
Mental Accounting
Researcher has found that consumer use mental accounting when they handle their
money. Mental accounting refers to the way consumer code, categorize and evaluate
financial outcomes of choice. Formally, it is the tendency to categorize funds or items of
value even though there is no logical basis for the categorization, for example, individuals
often segregate their saving into separate account to meet different goals even though
funds from any of the account can be applied to any of the goals.
According to Chicagos Richard Thaler, metal accounting is based on a set of key core
principles:
1. Consumers tend to segregate gain. When a seller has a product with more than
one positive dimension, its desirable to have the consumer evaluate each
dimension separately. Listing multiple benefit of a large industrial product, for
example, can make the some of the parts seem greater than the whole.
2. Consumers tend to integrate losses. Marketers have distinct advantages in
selling something if its cost can be added to another large purchase. House
buyers are more inclined to view additional expenditure favorably given the
high price of buying a house.
3. Consumers tend to integrate smaller losses with larger gains. The cancellation
principle might explain why withholding taxes from monthly paychecks is
less aversive then large , lump-sum tax payment the smaller withholding are
more likely to be absorbed by the larger pay amount.
4. Consumer tend to segregate small gain from large losses- The silver lining
principle might explain the popularity on big ticket purchase such as car.
The principles of mental accounting are derived in part from prospect theory.
Prospect theory maintains that consumers frame their decision alternatives in terms of
gain and losses according to a value function. Consumers are generally loss averse. They
tend to overweight very low probability and underweight can very high probabilities.
Profiling the costumer buying decision process
How can marketers learn about the stages in the buying process for their
product? They can think about how they themselves would act in the introspective
method. They can interview a small number of recent purchasers, asking them to recall the

events leading to their purchase in the retrospective method. They can use the prospective
method to locate consumer who plan to buy the product and ask them to think out loud
about going through the buying process, or they can ask consumer to describe the ideal
way to buy the product, in the perspective method. Each method yields a picture of the
steps in the process.
Trying to understand the customers behavior in connection with a product has
been called mapping the consumers consumption system, Consumers activity cycle or
customer scenario. Marketers can do this for such activity clusters as doing laundry,
preparing for a wedding or buying a car. For example, includes a whole cluster of
activities choosing the car, financing the purchase, buying insurance, buying accessories
and so on.

Design of the study


The research process involves identifying major factors which affect the purchase decision
of Farmer.
Major Objective of the study
Factors influencing purchase decision to buy Mahindra Tractors by the farmers.
Sub-objectives:

To know the effective mode of information

To know the satisfaction level of the customer of Belgaum Motors.

To know the customers behavior in evaluation of alternative.

Data sources

: Primary Data

Research approach

: Survey method

Research instrument :

Questionnaire
Dichotomous Question
Multiple choice questions
Open ended question

Sampling unite

: Customer of Mahindra Tractors

Sample size

: Taken 60 customers of Belgaum Motors as sample size for


the
survey.

Sampling procedures

: Probability Sampling
Simple random sampling

Contact method

: Personal Interview

Sample frame

: Customers of Belgaum Motors

Findings and Analyses


Que. No. 1: Which model of Mahindra Tractor do you have?
After the survey we got the following information that:

Model number

Percent (%)

Customer preference

275DI

11.67

575DI

56.67

34

605DI

11.67

555DI

585DI

6.67

595DI

3.33

475DI

Total

60

275DI
575DI
605DI
555DI
585DI
595DI
475DI

From the above graphical representation we can conclude that 56% of the people prefer to
buy the 575 DI model.
Que. No. 2: For what purpose do you use the tractor? (Select the following)
For farming purpose
For transportation purpose
For lend on rent basis
As per the survey we got the following information that:
Usage of the tractor

Percentage (%)

Number of respondent

Farming

63.33

38

Transportation

Commercial

6.67

Farming and commercial

25

15

Total

60

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

From the above graphical representation we can conclude that 63% of the farmers use the
tractors in their own farm for agricultural purpose.
Que. No.3: How do you come to know about this brand?
Advertisement
From others
Holdings
Sales promotion
If any specify
As per the survey we got the following information that:
Information source

Percentage (%)

Number of respondent

Advertisement

23.33

14

Word of mouth

46.67

28

Both

Holdings

Sales promotion

Others

20

12

Total

60

Others; 20%

Adverisement; 23%

Sales promotion; 5%
Both ; 5%

Word of mouth ; 47%

From the above graphical representation we can conclude that the 47% of the farmers get
the information through word of mouth advertisement. And 23% of them have got the
information from the advertisement. 20% of them are from the other category which
revealed that they got information from executive and 11 of them have Mahindra tractor
before buying the new.

Que. No. 4: Have you consulted anyone before buying the same?
Yes
No
(If yes, who is that person from the below options)
Friends
Tractor owner
Any family member

Others (please specify)


Consultation

Percentage (%)

Number of respondent

Consulted

71.67

43

Not consulted

28.33

17

Total

60

not consulted; 28%

consulted; 72%

From the above analyses we concluded that 72% of the customers consult to others. And
we also can conclude that the word of mouth advertisement plays a very important role in
the rural marketing. And all of the buyers consulted to the old customer who has Mahindra
tractor. That tractor owner can be friend or neighbor. As most of them do not have
technical knowledge they believe on what others says.
Que. No.5: Have you collected information of other brand before purchasing Mahindra
tractor?
Yes
No
(If yes then specify name)
After the above analyses we found the following information about the customers
evaluation procedure is as follows:
Number of
Information search
Percentage (%)
respondents
Information searched

23.33

14

Information not
searched

76.67

46

Total

60

Information searched; 23%

Information not search ; 77%

From the above graphical representation we can conclude that only 23% of the customers
collect information of the other brand. And 77 % of the customers do not make the
evaluation between the two brands. Directly they decide to purchase Mahindra tractor.
Some customer collect information of more than 2 to 3 brands like JOHN DEERE
,TAFE+EICHER, ESCORTS, SONALIKA, HMT.

Que. No.6: Rank the following factor according to your preferences?


(1-most important, 6- least important)
Brand name
Price
Services
Offers
Model
Easy finance
Here we are finding the most important factor for the customers decision to purchase the
Mahindra tractor.
Rank given by the
respondent

Parameters

Percentage (%) (%)

Number of respondent

Model

90

54

Brand

75

45

Price

36.67

22

Finance

26.67

16

Services

43.33

26

Offers

38.33

23

Total

60

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1-model

2-brand

3-price

4-finance

5-services

6-offers

From the above graphical presentation we can conclude that 90 % people gives more
importance to the model that is its capacity, features, horse power, engines capacity,
whereas 75% of the people has given 2nd rank to the brand name. and 36.67% of the
people has given 3rd rank to price, where as 26.67% of the people has given 4th rank to the
easy finance, and 43.33% of the people has given 5 th rank to the services, and 38.33% of
the people has given least importance to the offers.
Financial sources preferred by the customer to buy the tractor,
Retail agency

Percentage (%)

Number of tractors

Mahindra finance

39.02

16

Others

29.28

12

Commercial bank

19.51

Gramin bank

12.19

Total

41

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

From the above graph we can interpret that the most of the respondent have taken loan
from the Mahindra finance. In the other category includes credit societies or local lenders.

Que. No. 7: How did you make the payment?


Full payment
Through bank loan
1/4th payment
3/4th payment
Payment mode

Percentage (%)

Number of respondent

Full payment

31.67

19

Through bank loan

10

1/4th payment

48.33

29

3/4th payment

10

Total

60

3/4th payment; 10%


full payment; 32%

1/4th payment; 48%

through bank loan; 10%

From the above graphical representation we can conclude that 48% of the people make the
payment at the time of purchase where as 32% of the people make the full payment at
the time of purchase. Here we can conclude that whether customers are potential enough
to make the payment. Most of them have done the payment from their side and taken
loan for purchasing tractor. They take loan from the government bank as well as private
credit societies as per their choice.
Que. No.8: Which brand did you have before purchasing Mahindra?
Mahindra
Other brand
Did not have
(If other brand please specifies the name)
From this survey we got the following information regarding above data.
Percentage

Number of
respondents

Mahindra

18.33

11

Other

3.33

Did not have

78.34

47

Total

60

Mahindra; 18%
Other; 3%

Did not have; 78%

From the above graph we can analyze that 78% of the respondents are purchasing
Mahindra tractor for the first time whereas 18% are purchasing Mahindra tractor for the
second time and 3% of them were having other brand but they switched that brand and
purchased Mahindra tractor. Before they had SONALIKA, EICHER later they purchase
Mahindra tractor.
Que. No. 9: Are you satisfied with your purchase decision? (Select anyone of the
following)
1
2
3
(If 3, why?)
Satisfaction level

Percentage (%)

Number of respondents

Satisfied

96.67

58

Neither/Nor

1.67

Dissatisfied

1.67

Total

60

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
satisfied

neigther/nor

dissatisfied

From the above presentation we can conclude that almost 96.76% of the customers are
satisfied with their purchase decision. There is only one customer who is dissatisfied with
the performance of the tractor because there is a technical problem in the tractor.

Que. No. 10: Yearly income


Income group

Percentage (%)

Number of respondent

10000-100000

15

100000-200000

31.67

19

More than 200000

53.33

32

Total

60

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
10000-100000

100000-200000

more than 200000

From the above graphical representation we can conclude that most of the customers are
from the income group of more than 200000 Rs per year. More than 50% of the customer
can afford the tractors.

Summary:
From the above analyses we can summarize the following:
56% of the people prefer to buy the 575 DI model.
63% of the farmers use the tractors in their own farm for agricultural purpose.
47% of the farmers get the information through word of mouth advertisement
72% of the customers consult to others before purchasing tractor.
77 % of the customers do not make the evaluation between the two brands.
Directly they decide to purchase Mahindra tractor. 23% of the customer collect
information of more than 2 to 3 brands like JOHN DEERE ,TAFE+EICHER,
ESCORTS, SONALIKA, HMT.
90 % people gives more importance to the model that is its capacity, features,
horse power, engines capacity, whereas 75% of the people has given 2 nd rank to
the brand name. and 36.67% of the people has given 3rd rank to price, where as
26.67% of the people has given 4th rank to the easy finance, and 43.33% of the

people has given 5th rank to the services, and 38.33% of the people has given least
importance to the offers.
39% of the respondents have taken loan from the Mahindra finance.

48% of the people make the payment at the time of purchase where as 32% of
the people make the full payment at the time of purchase.

79% of the respondents are purchasing Mahindra tractor for the first time, whereas
18% of the respondents are repurchasing the Mahindra tractor and 3% of the
respondents sold their tractors of other brand and bought a Mahindra tractor.
96.76% of the customers are satisfied with their purchase decision.
53% of the respondents yearly income is more than 200000.

Suggestions:
Dealer should try to solve the technical problems of their old customers. If they
ignore this, the dissatisfied customer can divert the potential customer by giving
them wrong information.
They should do the road shows for the promotion of their product.
They should give all the technical information to their customer so that they can
compare the Mahindra tractor with the other tractor.
They should give some additional offers and services to the white village people.
As the word of mouth is the main source of advertisement in the rural marketing so
customer satisfaction should be the first priority for the dealer.
From the above analyses we have seen that 27% of the people need more
information to buy the tractor so that dealer should give more information about
the benefits that they will get from the use of Mahindra tractor. These kinds of

customers are inner directed and need more information so the company should
convey their message through media advertisement.
As the most of the customer are illiterate so the message should be straight
forward and easy to understand and simple language should be use.
Dealer should understand the need and expectation of the customer and suggest
them to buy that particular model which will be more suitable to their
requirements.
As from the above analyses we can conclude that 39% of the customers take loan
from the Mahindra finance so company should form strategies which can help the
customer to pay back the loan as early as possible, as the income of the farmer is
not continuous.
As word of mouth plays a very important role in this segment, the dealer should
maintain good relationship with the customers.
They should provide the instruction manuals in the regional language.

Conclusion
From the survey we can conclude that the word of mouth plays a very important role in
the advertisement and awareness of the tractor. And also we have concluded that the 90%
of the people are product dominated and then brand dominated. Opinion leader also plays
a very important role in influences. Whereas services, offers, and finance do not influence
the purchase decision of the farmer.
As 32% people have made the full payment so the price is the 3 rd important factor which
influences the purchase decision of the customer.
As from the above findings we can conclude that 96% of the people are satisfied with
their purchase decision. There are 18% of customers have bought another Mahindra
tractor which shows the brand loyalty of the customers towards Mahindra tractor.

Bibliography:
Books preferred

: Philip Kotler (Marketing Management)


Leon G. Schiffman (Consumer Behavior)

Web sites

: www.kisanmitra.com
www.mahindaworld.co.in

Internal reports

: Manuals send by the company


Previous report
Dealer directs CD, provided by the Avinash Patankar, VP of
Mahindra.

Annexure
Questionnaire No:
Dear Sir
I am the student of Institute of Management Education and Research. I am in
MBA first year. I am doing survey on factors influencing customer decision making for
buying tractor. Kindly answer the following question correctly.
1) Which model of Mahindra Tractor do you have?
2) For what purpose do you use the tractor? (select the following )
For farming purpose
For transportation purpose
For lend on rent basis
3) How do you come to know about this brand?
Advertisement
From others
Holdings
Sales promotion
If any specify
4) Have you consulted anyone before buying the same?
Yes
No
(If yes, who is that person from the below options)
Friends
tractor owner
any family member
Others (please specify)
5) Have you collected information of other brand before purchasing Mahindra tractor?
Yes
No
(If yes then specify name)
6) Rank the following factor according to your preferences?
(1-most important, 6- least important)
Brand name
Price
Services
Offers
Model
Easy finance
(Please specify name of the financial institutions)

7) How did you make the payment?

Full payment
Through bank loan
1/4th payment
3/4th payment
8) Which brand did you have before purchasing Mahindra?
Mahindra
Other brand
Did not have
(If other brand please specifies the name)
9) Are you satisfied with your purchase decision?(select anyone of the following)
1

(If 3, then continue with question number 10)


10) Why? -

Personal details:
Your name:
Address:

Yearly income

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1:

Executive summary

Objectives of the Study

About the Industry

3-4

About the Company

5-11

About the Product

12-13

Dealers profile

14-19

Introduction of the topic


CHAPTER 2:

20-32

Design of the Study


Data collection Method

33

Data collection Techniques


CHAPTER 3:

Data presentation & Analysis


Summary of Findings

46

Suggestions

47

Conclusion
CHAPTER 4:

34-45

Bibliography
Annexure
Weekly report

48
49
50-52
53

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