ANAMIKA

Customer Perception Towards Selected Tours and Travels, Special reference to Tumkur City.
CHAPTER-I
INTRODUCTION
MARKET
It is the place where goods are bought and sold. Negotiation for such exchanges
happen face-to-face or through medium or through channel of communication market
DEFINITION
According to Philip kotler a market is an area for potential exchange.
According to American marketing association a market is an aggregate demand of
the potential buyers for product service.
MARKETING
Marketing is an important in daily life of human activity. It sets the economy strong
and stable now it is recognized as important function of management and termed as
marketing management. Marketing facilitates the movement of goods from the place of
production to the place of consumption. It is an important activity production of goods and
services has no meaning without marketing. Marketing is an complex activity, it involves
innumerable activities like buying, selling, transporting, warehousing, insurance, trading,
financing etc.
Marketing is all around as our existence our entire economic life a wide range of
marketing activities continuously affects our life style. The food we eat the clothes we wear,
the housing that shelter us the comfort luxuries and amenities we enjoy, all these are affected
each day by the marketing system, marketing is considered to be the soul of modern business
and society.
Marketing converted yesterdays luxuries into todays necessaries. Most of the

nations world wide regardless of their degree of economic development of their political
SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 1

philosophy are recognizing the importance of marketing activities. The importance of

marketing activities is business world might be more easily understood in quantitative
activities. This includes all employees in retailing, whole selling, warehousing and
communication industries. Further more over the past discovery, jobs in marketing activities
have increased at a much rapid a rate than jobs in production. The great increase in the
number of marketing executives is a reflection of marketings expanded sole in the economy
and the increased demand for marketing services.
Thus considering these important reasons a study was undertaken with a view to
study marketing strategies of LIC policies.
Meaning
The word Marketing is derived from latin word Marchatus which means
merchandise ware traffic, trade or a place where goods are bought and sold.
Definitions
By the output of the sales the reward of the industry can be best judged in any
company.
Peter F. Drucker
Human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange process
absolutely modern marketing involves in those programs of satisfying needs and wants of
the people by over coming are competition from raival people or competing with them.
Philip Kotler
Marketing consists of all activities by which a company adopts itself to its

environment.

Ray Corey
Marketing Strategy is a series of integrated actions leading to a sustainable
competitive advantage
2. IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING
1. Insurance National Income As Marketing activities multiply the economic activities

it finally ends with generation of more and more wealth and increase in National
Income.
2. It raises the Standard of living.
3. Marketing provides gainful employment opportunities.
3. ADVANTAGES OR CHARACTERISTICS OF MARKETING

1. It widens the market selling is one of the marketing activity which involves
discovering new customers and their needs and wants. It helps in widening the
market.
2. Market helps in transfer, exchange and movement of goods and services.
3. It creates time place and possession utilities and help both the consumer and
producers.
4. Market helps in optimum utilization of resources- market accelerates the growth and
development of other activities such as marketing, marketing insurance, banking
warehousing, transporting.
Marketing for Intangible
The concepts that are relevant to tangible products like vehicles refrigerators and
music systems etc, are not entering an applicable to the intangible products i.e. the services
like health care finance banking and life insurance. This is because;
1. Every services is different from the other.

2. Ever services caters to a different kind of the need.

3. Every services is different in the methodology of making it available to the

customers.
Distribution Channel
Distribution channel concerned with the activities involved in transferring the
products leading up to the final sale to the customer simply put it bridges the distance
between the producer end customer. In the case of life Insurance.
1. Marketing force comprising of gets and development officers forms the distribution
channel.
2. The agents canvas various products of the insurance to the clients and on completion
of the insurance contract they are paid concussion.
3. It is primary the agent who contracts the client and the does the presentation work in
regard to the setting of an insurance policy according to the needs of the client.
Types of Distribution Channels
Types or Classification of Distribution Channels are :
Manufacturers Consumers
Manufacturers Wholesalers Consumers
Manufacturers Wholesalers Retailers Consumers
Manufacturers Agents Wholesalers Retailers Consumers
We are using one of the distribution channels in the LIC are as under ;
LIC Development Officers Agents Customers
Function of an Agent
A life Insurance agent has the unique role of such a person who enjoys the trust of
two parties the prospects and insurer simultaneously in the same transaction.
Exception from an Agent

A life Insurance agent is expected to procure life insurance business in a manner

consistent with the interest of the policyholders and of the Insurance Company.
Keeping customer Happy
The factors that make customer happy are:
1. Recognition and respect: the customer feels recognition when his feelings and
requirements are understood and are not ignored.
2. It happens when the customer finds that the service provider is willing to help
him.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
PERCEPTION
Perception is the way in which the individual sees, organizes and interpret objects events and
person.
DEFINITION
According to Stephen P Robbins A process by which individuals organize and interpret
their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their Environment.
According to Udai Pareek and Others Perception can be Defined as the process of
receiving, selecting, organizing, interpreting ,cheeking and reacting to sensory Stimuli of
data.
PERCEPTUAL PROCESS
Perceptual process that involves Receiving, Selecting Interpreting , cheeking and Reacting to
stimuli it is like an
Input Through output process the Stimuli or instinct can be considered as input i,e.
selection ,organization and interpretation as throughputs and the ultimate behavior or
response as output .
PROCESS IS:

1. RECEIVING STIMULI :
The perception process starts with reception of stimuli .Stimuli are things that Evoke activity
in living beings the Stimuli are received from various source through our sensory organs we
see , hear , smell , taste and touch things . In this way stimuli is physiological aspect of
perception process stimuli may be external use.
2. SELECTIVE STIMULI:
Individual in their everyday life are bombarded by various stimuli . they can not assimilate
all what they observed or receive from environment or a time . hence they select some
stimuli .
3. ORGANIZING STIMULI:
After selecting the stimuli they need to be Organized in some from to assign meanings to
them . This organizing bits of information into meaningful whole is called organization.
4. INTERPRETATTION:
The data collected and organized , remain meaningless to the perceiver till meanings are
assigned to them . assigning meanings to data is called interpretation .
SELECTING FACTORS INFLUCING PERCEPTION:

The factors are two types : a) Internal Factors
b) External Factors
a) Internal Factors
1. Learning:
Cognitive factor has considerable influence on perception it creates expectancy in
People. People tend to perceive what they want perceive. In organization managers and
employees past experience, and learning strongly influence to this perception.

2.MOTIVATION:
The concept of motivation includes Maslows hierarchy of needs include physiological
needs , security needs , social needs ,esteem needs , and slef actualization needs .
3.PERCEPTUAL SET IN WORKPLACE:
Normally , different employees perceive either differently or on the same line from the same
set of real things or the workplace.
b) EXTERNAL FACTORS:
1. SIZE:
The bigger the size of stimulus the higher is the probability that it is perceived . Size
always attracts the attention because it establishes dominance catch attention as compared to
few lines in the classified section.
2. REPETITION:
The Repetition principle states that a repeated external stimulus drawing than asingle
one.
3. MOVEMENT:
The principle of motion states that a moving object receives more attention than an
object which is standing still . Moving car among the parked car catch our attention.
4. LOCATION:
The best location of visual stimulus for attracting attention is directly in the front of
the eyes and center of the page.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Consumer is the king this is all the more accept for todays business environment
everywhere all other factors remaining more or less constant it is the value addition to the
customer that is making all the difference. Consumer is one who buys goods and services for
ultimate consumption. The aim of the consumer is to satisfy his needs through product or
services. Consumer may decide or may not decide to buy the product the marketers aim is to
attract the consumer to go for the products.

Behavior is a mirror in which everyone shows his or her image. Behavior is the
process of responding to stimuli. Consumer behavior is to do with the activities of
individuals in obtaining and using the goods and services, it compasses the decision making
process that precedes and determines purchases. Consumer behavior is all the psychological,
social and physical behavior of potential customers as they become aware of evaluate
purchase consume and tell others about the products or services
DEFINITIONS
According C.G. Walter consumer behavior is the process whereby individual decides
whether what, where, when and how and from when to purchase goods and services.
According to Philip kotler consumer behavior refers to the buying behaviors of the
final consumers, individuals and households who buy goods services for personal
consumption .all of these consumers combined to make up the consumer market.
According to F.Engel consumer behavior refers to the actions and decision process of
people who purchase goods and services for personal consumption.
NATURE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Consumer behavior is the process of consumer decision which is nothing but what
how where whether whom why to purchase the goods and services.
In consumer behavior we consider not only why how and what people buy but also
other factor such and where how after and under what condition the purchase is made .the
understanding of consumer behavior is essential in marketing planning and program.
To match the varying consumers tastes and behavior marketers have adopted
strategies take stressing on value pricing high quality at a reason low price and relationship
marketing.
Marketers are showing significant concern for the consumer who has become the
primary force and the ultimate target of all the marketers the company that really understands
how consumer will respond to different products features prices and adverting appeals has a
great advantage over its competitors. One cant easily study the behavior of the consumer but

it can be observed that the consumers differ widely in terms of space time perception value
and ownership.
Consumer behavior is very wide term but nomadic period it had not and important
mater to marketer but now it has become important and to know the behavior of an individual
about how he acts his tastes preferences habits fashions price desires etc.
Now a day the population is increasing very fast so it has made difficult to observe
consumer behavior. So the process of marketing segmentation will help the marketer in
understanding the wide dimensions of the market then he can make a decision to match the
needs of the consumer groups through price promotion sales promotion etc.
Actually one individual behavior is different from another so the ultimate decision of
whether or not to purchase a product or services depends mainly by a buyers behavior .
Behavior is not a permanent one it may vary from time to time. Thus marketing begins with
changing at an incredible pace. In addition to globalization and technological change we are
witnessing a power acceptance of store brands new retailer forms, a diminishing role for
mass marketing and advertising these changes are throwing companies in to a state of
confusion regarding strategy.
Profit from customer relationship are lifeblood of business so that fundamental goal
of every business is to achieve the full profit potential of each customer relationship for
which the target customers needs and wants to meet and satisfies, nut is never to understand
consumer, will all the diversity that surrounds the consumers form confusion of goods and
services offer to then and the freedom of choice available to them the talk of individual
marketers to make their specified marketing messages reach the customers is formidable.
They have to know which people top target where to reach them and what messages
are most perceiver to the audience. A consumer may not beware of his need and wants and
get may act otherwise he may not be aware of his deeper of his motivation may change his
mind at the spur of the moment responding to mains influences.
In spite of such diversity among customers these is similar ness also among them. to
find them the study of target customer wants perception, preferences, shopping and buying
behavior will be helpful as it will be provide the information necessary for developing new

products ,product features, prices , channels, messages and other marketing mix elements.
This has been conceptualizing as consumer behavior goals that marketing managers seek to
achieve consumer behavior can also help in implementing of strategy tactical goods.
ROLE OF CONSUMER
Initiator who first suggest the idea of buying
Influencer whose views carry some weight in the final decision
Decider he is the final decision maker
Buyer is the person who makes the actual purchase.
User it may have may often many players
CONSUMER PROFILE
Consumer profile is the biographical sketch of a person. To be very exact, consumer
profile stands for the details of a consumer as photographed from different angles of a
strategic camera of a marketer. It has economic, social, psychological and cultural
dimensions with specific reference to his consumption pattern. Consumer profile speaks of
his life style or quality of life or the standard of living. It is an individual file or a cases paper
as maintained by a doctor or a lawyer that helps the marker to understand the consumer from
nearest point or a close up photograph where details are clear that go a long way in preparing
marketing plans, programs and strategies and finally developing a matching marketing mix
as per his or her specifications.
PROBLEMS OF INDIAN CONSUMERS

As consumer is the king, he is to be treated like a king or monarch and understand
the outer and inner man so that the marketing mix can be designed to keep the customer
satisfied and delighted. To analyses the consumer problems or expectations that remain
uncared turn into bubbling problems which need immediate extension and redressed, they are
classified as urban, rural and international.

THE PROBLEMS OF URBAN CONSUMERS

The urban consumers being more knowledgeable, understandable, better organized
and mostly belonging to higher socio-economic group, their problems are
They expect listening to them
They expect quick response and empathy and not sympathy.
They expect an assurance of quality
They expect real value for money
They want to move from the stage of consumer satisfaction "to that of consumer
delight
They prefer tele-marketing
They want protection of their interests.
THE PROBLEMS OF RURAL CONSUMERS

The rural consumers who are ignorant, illiterate, vast majority of them are poor and
unorganized, have their own expectations. These are:
They demand serving of original products
They believe in value for money with compromise on quality
They want successful retail support by the manufacturers
They demand low price products
They demand credit facilities
They prefer direct selling
THE PROBLEMS OFINTERNATIONAL CONSUMERS

The international consumers are having altogether different settings is term of social,
economic, cultural and psychological forces. Hence their expectations do differ. These are:
They insist on internal quality standards
They expect broad-based after-sale services

They expect product adaptability facilities

They insist on ready and adequate supply of products
They demand environmental friendly goods and services
They expect the organizations to growing needs of consumerism
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR MODELS

Broadly one can classify consumer behavior models into four broad categories namely
Economic model
Learning model
Psychoanalytical model
Sociological model
THE ECONOMIC MODEL

According to these economic models of buying behavior, the buyer is a rational animal
and his buying decisions are totally governed by the concept of utility. Stated briefly, if he
has certain amount of purchasing power, a set of needs to be met and a set of products to
choose from, he will allocate the amount over the set of products in a very rational manner
with a very clear intention of maximizing the utility of the benefits he is going to derive.
LEARNING MODEL
All theories of buyer behavior have been basically based on a learning model namely,
stimulation-response or more popularly known as SRmodel.SR learning theory is very useful
to modern marketing and marketers. Learning is the centrifugal point in the entire study of
human behavior. Learning, as noted earlier, refers to a change in the behavior which occurs
as a result of practice. it is a change in the behavior that results from previous experience and
behavior in similar situations. What is important, learning is the product of reasoning.

Thinking, information processing and, of course, perception. Therefore behavior is deeply

affected by the learning experiences of the buyers.
THE PSYCHOANALYTICAL MODEL

The psychoanalytical model draws from Freudian psychology. According to this
model, the individual consumer has a complex set of deep seated motives which drive him
towards certain buying decisions. The buyer has a private world with all his hidden fears,
suppressed desires and totally subjective longings. His buying action can be influenced by
appealing to these desires and longings.
SOCIOLOGICAL MODEL
According the sociological model, the individual buyer behavior is influenced by
society-by intimate groups as well as social classes. That is, his buying decisions are not
totally determined by the concept of utility. That is his buying decisions are governed by
social compulsions.
USE OF MODELS
Models are devised for a variety of reasons but the purposes for developing most
consumer models are
To assist in constructing a theory that guides research on consumer behavior
To facilitate learning what is presently known about consumer behavior. In both
cases the model serves to structure systematic and logical thinking about
consumers. This entails
o Identifying the relevant variables
o Indicating their characteristics
o Specifying their interrelationships, that is how they influence each other
THE CONCEPT OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

All over the world every human community develops a system by which it produces
and distributes goods and service with the world developing at a faster rate the system has
become complex and its available range of economic goods becoming wider sot the fall
understanding of the consumption decisions might require investigation of the total of mans
experience in a life time.
Broadly considered therefore consumer behavior and human behavior would be rarely
synonymous fields of study since the human beings are involved a few decades back
consumer behavior received only very little emphasis in the basic marketing causes today it
has its own distinct area for scholarly investigation.
The main reason consumer behavior coming to the spotlight is the change that taken
places in the demand supply relationships; the modern consumer is better place. Then his
counterpart half a century ago. Now the consumer is free to choose from many options
making him the king in the modern market. Thus the business firms are now compelled to
design and sell products that confirm to the consumer desires.
WHY STUDY THE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The study of any subject is made easier by examining it in an organized fashion.
Therefore we should determine the general classes of variables influencing consumer's
behavior understand the nature of these variables and learn how to make inferences based on
this knowledge.
Three classes of variables are involved in understanding consumer behavior stimulus

response and intervening variables stimulus variables such as advertisements, products and
hunger pangs, exist in both the individuals external and internal environment.
As consumer we benefit from insight into own consumption related decisions
what we buy, why we buy, and the promotional influences that persuade us to buy .the study
of consumer behavior enables us to become better that is wiser consumers.

As marketers and future marketers it is important for us recognize why and how
individuals make their consumption decision, so that we can make better strategies marketing
decisions. It marketers understand consumer behavior they are able to predict the consumers
are likely to react to various. Informational and environment cues and are able to shape
doubt, marketers who understand consumer behavior have great competitive advantages in
the market place.
The initial trust of consumer research was from a managerial perspective marketing
managers, wanted to know how people receive, store and use consumption related
information so that they could design marketing strategies.
WHY THE FIELD OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR DEVELOPED

There are a number of reasons why the study of consumer behavior developed as a
separate marketing discipline. Marketer had long noted that consumers suggest the size of the
consumer market in this country was vast and constantly, expanding, billions of dollars were
being spent on goods and services by tens of millions of people consumer preferences were
changing and becoming highly diversified. Even in industrial market where needs for goods
and services were always more homogeneous than in consumer markets, buyers were
exhibiting diversified preferences and less predictable purchase behaviors.
The better meet the needs of specific growth of consumers, most marketers adopted a
policy of market segmentation which called for the division of their total potential markets
into smaller homogeneous segments for which they could design specific products and or
promotional campaigns.
As marketing researchers began to study the buying behavior of consumers. They soon
realized that despite a sometimes "me too approach to feed and fashions, many consumers
rebelled at used instead they preferred differentiated products that they felt reflected their
own special needs personalities and life styles.

They also used promotional techniques to vary the image of their products so that they
would be perceived as better fulfilling the specific needs of certain targets segments-a
process now known as positioning. Other reasons for the developing interest in consumer
behavior included the rate of new product development growth of the consumer movement
public included the rate or new product development growth of the consumer movement
public policy concerns environmental concerns and the growth of both non-profit marketing
and international marketing.
FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Cultural Factors
Cultural factor divided into three sub factors (i) Culture (ii) Sub Culture (iii) Social
Class.
Culture
Basically, culture is the part of every society and is the important cause of person
wants and behavior. The influence of culture on buying behavior varies from country
to country therefore marketers have to be very careful in analyzing the culture of
different groups, regions or even countries.
Subculture
Each culture contains different subcultures such as religions, nationalities, geographic
regions, racial groups etc. Marketers can use these groups by segmenting the market
into various small portions. For example marketers can design products according to
the needs of a particular geographic group.
Social Class

Every society possesses some form of social class which is important to the marketers
because the buying behavior of people in a given social class is similar. In this way
marketing activities could be tailored according to different social classes. Here we
should note that social class is not only determined by income but there are various
other factors as well such as: wealth, education, occupation etc.
Social Factors
A consumers behavior also is influenced by social factors, such as the (i) Groups (ii)
Family (iii) Roles and status
Reference Groups
Reference groups have potential in forming a person attitude or behavior. The impact
of reference groups varies across products and brands. For example if the product is visible
such as dress, shoes, car etc. then the influence of reference groups will be high. Reference
groups also include opinion leader (a person who influences other because of his special
skill, knowledge or other characteristics).
Family
Buyer behavior is strongly influenced by the member of a family. Therefore marketers are
trying to find the roles and influence of the husband, wife and children. If the buying decision
of a particular product is influenced by wife then the marketers will try to target the women
in their advertisement. Here we should note that buying roles change with change in
consumer lifestyles.
Roles and Status

Each person possesses different roles and status in the society depending upon the
groups, clubs, family, organization etc. to which he belongs. For example a woman is
working in an organization as finance manager. Now she is playing two roles, one of finance

manager and other of mother. Therefore her buying decisions will be influenced by her role
and status.
Personal Factors
Personal factors can also affect the consumer behavior. Some of the important
personal factors that influence the buying behavior are: lifestyle, economic situation,
occupation, age, personality and self-concept.
Age
Age and life-cycle have potential impact on the consumer buying behavior. It is
obvious that the consumers change the purchase of goods and services with the passage of
time. Family life-cycle consists of different stages such young singles, married couples,
unmarried couples etc which help marketers to develop appropriate products for each stage.
Occupation
The occupation of a person has significant impact on his buying behavior. For
example a marketing manager of an organization will try to purchase business suits, whereas
a low level worker in the same organization will purchase rugged work clothes.
Economic Situation
Consumer economic situation has great influence on his buying behavior. If the
income and savings of a customer is high then he will purchase more expensive products. On
the other hand, a person with low income and savings will purchase inexpensive products.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle of customers is another import factor affecting the consumer buying

behavior. Lifestyle refers to the way a person lives in a society and is expressed by the things

in his/her surroundings. It is determined by customer interests, opinions, activities etc and

shapes his whole pattern of acting and interacting in the world.
Personality
Personality changes from person to person, time to time and place to place. Therefore
it can greatly influence the buying behavior of customers. Actually, Personality is not what
one wears; rather it is the totality of behavior of a man in different circumstances. It has
different characteristics such as: dominance, aggressiveness, self-confidence etc which can
be useful to determine the consumer behavior for particular product or service.
Psychological Factors
There are four important psychological factors affecting the consumer buying
behavior. These are: perception, motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes.
Motivation
The level of motivation also affects the buying behavior of customers. Every person
has different needs such as physiological needs, biological needs, social needs etc. The nature
of the needs is that, some of them are most pressing while others are least pressing. Therefore
a need becomes a motive when it is more pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction.
Perception
Selecting, organizing and interpreting information in a way to produce a meaningful
experience of the world is called perception. There are three different perceptual processes
which are selective attention, selective distortion and selective retention. In case of selective
attention, marketers try to attract the customer attention. Whereas, in case of selective

distortion, customers try to interpret the information in a way that will support what the
customers already believe. Similarly, in case of selective retention, marketers try to retain
information that supports their beliefs.
Beliefs and Attitudes

Customer possesses specific belief and attitude towards various products. Since such
beliefs and attitudes make up brand image and affect consumer buying behavior therefore
marketers are interested in them. Marketers can change the beliefs and attitudes of customers
by launching special campaigns in this r
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services

supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance
indicator within business and is part of the four of a Balanced Scorecard.
In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer

satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of
business strategy.
However, the importance of customer satisfaction diminishes when a firm has

increased bargaining power. For example, cell phone plan providers, such as AT&T and
Verizon, participate in an industry that is an oligopoly, where only a few suppliers of a
certain product or service exist. As such, many cell phone plan contracts have a lot of fine
print with provisions that they would never get away if there were, say, a hundred cell phone
plan providers, because customer satisfaction would be way too low, and customers would
easily have the option of leaving for a better contract offer.
There is a substantial body of empirical literature that establishes the benefits of

customer satisfaction for firms.

MEASURING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers.

Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is
at providing products and/or services to the marketplace.
Customer satisfaction is an abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state
of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The
state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which
correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of
satisfaction can also vary depending on other factors the customer, such as other products
against which the customer can compare the organization's products.
Work done by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (Leonard L) between 1985 and 1988
delivered SERVQUAL which provides the basis for the measurement of customer
satisfaction with a service by using the gap between the customer's expectation of
performance and their perceived experience of performance. This provides the researcher
with a satisfaction "gap" which is semi-quantitative in nature. Cronin and Taylor extended the
disconfirmation theory by combining the "gap" described by Parasuraman, Zenithal and
Berry as two different measures (perception and expectation) into a single measurement of
performance relative to expectation.
The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a survey with a set of statements
using a Likert Technique or scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement in terms
of their perception and expectation of performance of the service being measured. Arguably,
consumers are less complex than some of these surveys tend to portend. They are basically in
two simple states satisfied or not satisfied. On or off, just like a switch. A business can
measure its customer satisfaction index by relating the aggregates of satisfied customers
versus dissatisfied customers.

LEVELS OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
By Brian Tracy If sales are the engine that drives your business, then customer
satisfaction is the fuel. Your ability to satisfy your customers is the critical determinant of
your success in driving sales and growing your business. There are four levels of customer
satisfaction, all based on the degree to which you meet customer expectations. The higher the
level you achieve, the more you will build customer loyalty and the greater will be your
success.
Customer expectations
The minimum requirement to simply stay in businessto surviveis to meet the
expectations of your customers. At this level, your customers have no complaints. They are
satisfied for the moment. But they are not loyal. If a competitor demonstrates that it can and
will do more than merely meet their expectations, your customer will very quickly become
ex-customers. Moreover, if you fail to meet their expectations, perhaps only one time, they
will leave and find someone else who will. It can be instructive to observe your local
merchantstrue entrepreneurs.
Exceed Customer Expectations

This higher level of customer satisfaction is reached by surprising your customers,
going beyond what they expected. Fast, friendly service, followed up by a phone call to make
sure everything is all right, might put you into this category. So does a product or service that
is a cut above that of your competitors. The second level of customer service moves you
beyond mere survival, building a measure of customer loyalty and giving you an edge over
your competitors. It can also increase your profitability. Customers who experience the kind
of service that exceeds their expectations are often willing to pay for it, enabling the supplier
to raise prices and thus improve profit margins.

Delight Your Customers

Have you ever experienced a level of service that not only exceeded your
expectations, but actually brought a smile to your face? A customer served at this level is
truly delighted. Not only have the customers basic needs been met, or even exceeded, but
they have truly been touched on an emotional level. And once customers have enjoyed this
experience, it will be very difficult for a competitor to pry them away. When you delight your
customers, you are on the way to creating an exceptional and highly profitable business.
There are countless cost effective ways to delight your customers. Consider the difference
between first-class and coach service on most airlines. To delight your customer is to show
that you care-about them. No wonder it brings a smile to their face! The greater your success
in delighting your customers, the greater success you will enjoy in your business.
Amaze You are Customers
This fourth level of customer satisfaction is what will propel your business into the
stratosphere. It requires you to, not just meet or exceed your customers expectations, nor to
simply delight them, but to truly amaze them. When you are able to accomplish this on a
regular basis, you will be in a position to dominate the marketplace and achieve remarkable
rates of revenue growth and profitability. Examine your business. How might you amaze
your customers? The only limit is your own imagination.
Customer value
It is defined as the difference between what a customer gets from a product, and what
he or she has to give in order to get it. It helps people and companies unlock their inner
creative power and achieve amazing results. Relative performance identifies how the product
or service gives customer value relative to what competitors offer. In order to generate more
thought about customer value, and to reach out to a customer base, a business might promote
a customer value proposition. The customer value proposition is basically a promise of
benefits from a vendor to customers.

Purpose of Studying Consumer Value

Using information about consumer value and the way consumers perceive a business
and its products, marketers can try to increase sales and encourage repeat business. Further,
consumer value may be of use for business managers in determining the market structure.
With more detailed knowledge of the characteristics of the market, businesses can work to
expand product-market boundaries or manipulate prices to increase profits
BUYING DECISION PROCESS

Buyer decision processes are the decision making processes undertaken by consumers
in regard to a potential market transaction before, during, and after the purchase of a product
or service.
More generally, decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of

action from among multiple alternatives. Common examples include shopping and deciding
what to eat. Decision making is said to be a psychological construct. This means that
although we can never "see" a decision, we can infer from observable behavior that a
decision has been made. Therefore we conclude that a psychological event that we call
"decision making" has occurred. It is a construction that imputes commitment to action. That
is, based on observable actions, we assume that people have made a commitment to effect the
action.
In general there are three ways of analyzing consumer buying decisions. They are:
Economic models
These models are largely quantitative and are based on the assumptions of rationality
and near perfect knowledge. The consumer is seen to maximize their utility. See consumer
theory. Game theory can also be used in some circumstances.
Psychological model

These models concentrate on psychological and cognitive processes such as

motivation and need recognition. They are qualitative rather than quantitative and build on
sociological factors like cultural influences and family influences.
Consumer behavior models

These are practical models used by marketers. They typically blend both economic
and psychological models.
What was horrible about our outsourcing relationship in the beginning is that our
expectations were unclear. Thats a horrible formula for success. The person stating this
assessment described a troubled but remediated and turned-around relationship that
Outsourcing Center studied in its annual Outsourcing Excellence and Sourcing Awards
program.
Like the relationship just described, industry analysts and consulting advisors called
in to remediate relationships on the brink of failure often find the root cause of both parties
frustration lies in the buyers unclear expectations of the service providers performance.
Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon situation at the beginning of relationships.
Regrettably its also not uncommon for this to occur later in a relationship that is
successful until the point when the buyers vision for its business or for the outsourcing
relationship changes due to new needs. When organizations alter their business vision or
needs, change management comes into play; and expectation-setting is a top priority in
change management. In outsourcing, the more clearly a buyer sets expectations, the greater
chance there is for achieving the desired outcome.
Outsourcing Center spoke with more than 60 clients in the nominated relationships in
its 2010 awards program to identify their lessons learned and best practices in
communicating their expectations to their service providers. Twenty responded with
information about their best practices in setting expectations around their future vision and

changing needs so that their own internal teams as well as the providers team embrace
change and new ideas.
CUSTOMER AWARENESS
The process of development along with the expanding globalization and liberalization
process has increased the number of consumer related issues. Consumer protection has
earned an important place in the political, economic and social agendas of many nations. In
India, the Government has taken many steps including legislative, to protect consumers.
Education is a lifelong process of constantly acquiring relevant information,

knowledge and skills. Consumer education is an important part of this process and is a basic
consumer right that must be introduced at the school level. Consumers by definition include
all citizens who are, by and large the biggest group, who are affected by almost all
government, public or private decisions. The most important step in consumer education is
awareness of consumer rights. However, consumer education is incomplete without the
responsibilities and duties of consumers, and this influences individual behavior to a great
extent.
According to the Longman Business English Dictionary, consumer awareness is a

term used to describe the awareness of a potential or current buyer about a particular product
or company. Consumer awareness can be as simple as a shopper remembering a television
commercial or as specific as a customer delving into the manufacturing origins of a specific
product.
Need of Consumer Awareness

It has been observed that the people for, whom various schemes have been taken up
by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), in fact, do not get benefit as expected. This is mainly
because they are not fully aware of these schemes and their benefits.

Also, only knowledgeable and alert consumers aware of their rights and
responsibilities can protect themselves effectively. The need of the hour is, therefore, to
educate the common consumers particularly those in rural areas who are more susceptible to
exploitation. Once they are educated and made aware of the schemes that have been drawn
up for their benefit and also the redressed forum that is available, the benefit of various
schemes, in true sense, will reach the common consumers of the country.
It is, therefore, our bounden duty to play our part jointly and effectively in
disseminating various schemes to the common consumers of the country. In this regard, the
role of the voluntary consumer organizations, consumer activists, non-governmental
organizations, educational institutions and media cannot be ignored.
Making existing and potential customers knowledgeable about products/services,

consumer awareness programs create more informed buying decisions. Consumers cannot
purchase products and services if they do not know they exist. A lack of consumer awareness
in any industry can harm sales. If specific products and services are better known, those
products and services will remain on the front line in sales. Therefore, it is important to
implement consumer awareness programs that will introduce and make the target audience
aware of the products and services a company offers. Consumer awareness programs can be
initiated through the utilization of flyers, brochures, television, radio, guides, fact sheets,
information posted to a Web site, school programs, and other sources depending upon the
topic and the message delivered.
CONSUMER RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES
The Right to Safety - to be protected against the marketing of goods which are
hazardous to health or life.
The Right to Choose - to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of

products and services at competitive prices: and in those industries where competition

is not workable and Government regulation is substituted, an assurance of satisfactory

quality and service at fair prices.
The Right to Information - to be protected against fraudulent, deceitful or grossly

misleading information, advertising, labeling, or other practices and to be given the
facts s/he needs to make an informed choice.
The Right to be heard - to be assured that consumer interests will receive full and
sympathetic consideration in the formulation of Government policy, and fair and
expeditious treatment in its administrative tribunals.
Responsibilities
Consumer responsibility can be divided into three phases. Initially, the consumer was
supposed to be concerned only with value for money, information and production of
consumer goods.
In the second phase, the aware consumer challenged the large corporations and their
Marketing strategies and advocated consumer cause.
In the third and the current phase, the consumer is expected to be aware of the
Environmental implications of each product on the market shelf and be aware of his/her
Duties and responsibilities as a consumer and as a citizen. Currently, the crucial area of
concern is the question of consumer priority. In other Words, this means what the consumer
should look for: Whether to purchase cheaper and More easily available products or to look
out for fair trade practices, environmental costs.
And public health. The ethical and ecological facts of consumer behavior have helped
to evolve the Concept of consumer responsibility. A responsible consumer is a person who
exercises his/her discretion with the full Awareness of the implication of his/her right to

choice, and is accountable or answerable to other consumers and to the environment for
his/her purchase decisions.
CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT AND PUBLIC UTILITY

The Consumer Protection Act has brought out a remarkable change in the field of
consumer movement. Todays consumers are more aware and conscious of their rights and
also know about the protection of their interests.
This paper starts with highlighting the distinct role of Consumer Protection Act in
case of services as compared to the tangible products. There is more number of complaints
filed against services that too in particular public utilities than products. The services of
financial institutions, educational institutions and professionals are very rarely challenged
under this Act.
The main grounds for grievances are deficiency in service, excessive billing/pricing,
deceptive or misleading advertisements, inferior quality etc.
Consumer education is the most important factor which will create awareness
among the consumers. They should be made aware of their rights, duties and responsibilities.
The success of implementation of Consumer Protection Act, in letter and spirit, depends
largely on the active participation of the consumers, voluntary consumer organizations and
the commitment of government for consumer issues.
The industrial revolution and the development in the international trade and
commerce has led to the vast expansion of business and trade, as a result of which variety of
consumer goods have appeared in the market to cater to the needs of the consumers and a
host of services have been made available to the consumers like insurance, transport,
electricity, housing, entertainment, finance and banking. A well-organized sector of
manufacturers and traders with better knowledge of markets has come into existence, thereby
affecting the relationship between the traders and the consumers making the principle of
consumer sovereignty almost inapplicable. The advertisements of goods and services in the
television, newspapers and magazines influence the demand for the same by the consumers
although there may be manufacturing defect or imperfection or short coming in the quality,

quantity and the purity of the goods or there may be deficiency in the services rendered. In
addition, the production of the same item by many firms has led the consumers, who have
little time to make selection, to think before they can purchase the best. For the welfare of the
public, the glut of adulterated and sub-standard articles in the market has to be checked by
the Government. In spite of various provisions providing protection to the consumer and
providing for stringent action against adulterated and sub-standard articles in the different
enactments like code of Civil Procedure, 1908, the Indian Contract Act, 1872, the Sale of
Goods Act, 1930, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Standards of Weights and Measures Act,
1976 and the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, very little could be achieved in the field of
Consumer Protection. Though the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 and
the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 have provided relief to the consumer yet it
became necessary to protect the consumers from the exploitation and to save them from
adulterated and sub-standard goods and services and to safeguard the interest of the
consumers. In order to provide for better protection of the interests of the consumer the
Consumer Protection Bill, 1986 was introduced in the Loksabha on 5th December, 1986.
Importance of the Consumer Protection Act

The enactment of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, which came into force with
effect from 1st July, 1987 in whole of India, is regarded as magna carta in the field of
consumer protection for checking the unfair trade practices and deficiency in goods and
services. Consumer protection is the off-shoot of the industrial revolution because the
development in the field of trade and commerce generated profit motive leading to a race for
earning wealth by all means- whether fair or foul. The business community is well-organized
and has powerful organizations to secure their interests against the unorganized and mostly
illiterate and poor consumers in India. So the worst sufferers of the industrial growth and
development are the consumers in India. In early days the demands were limited and simple
with adequate information about goods and services readily available in the market.
However, the population explosion coupled with advancement in society and the industrial
revolution has increased the needs of the consumers.

The availability of many goods of the same type and the publicity in the television,
newspapers and magazines have made it difficult for the consumers to choose the best
available in the market. It may not be wrong to point out here that most of the problems
being faced in India today are the result of our failure to inculcate the nationalist and patriotic
feelings in the younger generations after the independence. The glut of substandard,
misbranded and adulterated goods in the market by a few unscrupulous traders, with the
ulterior motive to make easy money, the misleading advertisements regarding goods and
services and ever- increasing prices of goods led to the demand for better protection of
consumers through special legislation.
CHAPTER-II
RESEARCH DESIGN
Review of Literature:

(Olmeda and Sheldon, 2001).: A lot of tourism researchers have put ample emphasis on the
use of the Internet in travel and tourism industry. Not only the buyers but suppliers too can
get benefitted by the use of Internet. They can promote their offers on their portals and in
turn, can sell the products at any time to any customer globally. They can also control the
servers to display information on their services/products at an electronic speed (Inkpen,
1998; Law, 2000). A supplier see the benefits of using the Internet for selling his services in
many ways as he experiences a significant drop in distribution costs, an increase in revenues,
and an increased market share. In the same way, use of the Internet allows travelers to
interact freely with the tourism suppliers for the necessary information, and to make
themselves ultra-comfortable in order to purchase products/services at any time and any
place
(Ma, Buhalis and Song, 2003): the introduction of information technology to the tourism
industry has not only brought the opportunities but challenges too to it. If the tourism
industry wants to achieve exponential growth and competitive advantage, they can use the
tools and techniques of IT but if they are going to shun the use of IT, their identity could be
lost forever as there are several other players in the industry who will try to cash in such a
precarious situation (Buhalis, 1998). Further, tourism industry needs to show a sense of
urgency in maintaining and improving the tourist information Wei (2011). There are several
advanced tools in the market like New Field Communication (NFC) technology through
which they maintain their database. Travellers also use modern technologies like Geographic
Information System (GIS) to update themselves and for tracing important locations across the
popular tourist destinations. These extraordinary measures have been possible only because
of the rapid advancement in the field of technology and this in turn suggest practising ITs
across all the business units in an organization, particularly if it is a tours and travellers
company for its sustenance in the market (Wei, 2011).
Philip Kotler 2012:

Conducted a study on Consumer satisfaction defined on, personal feeling of pleasure

resulting from comparing a products pursued performance in relation to his or her
expectations. Consumer attitude measurements are taken on either potential buries or
existing clients buries in order to identify their characteristics. Consumers survey can
provide the researcher with a wealth of information, valuable of the marketing function.
(Meyer and Westerbarkey, 1996): Tourists may have difficulty in distinguishing between
expectations and perceived performances during or after the holiday. This is mainly because
of heterogeneity of tourism products. Whereas expectations are assumed to differ from one
person to another as these are driven by their socio-economic and cultural background
(Miller, 1977).
Preference is the positive attitude of a customer towards a particular service, mainly

the choice of the tourists for a particular service whereas customer perception is certain
beliefs about service that function as standards or reference points against which performance
is judged. Because, customers tend to compare their perceptions of performance with these
reference points.
(Zeitaml and Bitner, 2000): when evaluating service quality Thus, customer preference and
perceptions are the first and possibly, most critical step in delivering quality services. Quality
services can lead to customer satisfaction, and satisfied customers can be retained and only
retained customers can become loyal to the service providers
During the service delivery, customers overall experience are affected by various potential
interactions such as interactions with service personnel, interactions with internal and
external physical surroundings (including equipments), and interactions with other
customers. On the other hand, consumers make their decisions based upon their perceptions
regardless of their accuracy or inaccuracy. It is around these perceptions that marketers must
build their competitive strategies.

(Recklies, 2006): Customer preference analysis is really a call to action. By understanding

the preference or expectations of customers, the organisation or resort can design strategies
that are truly responsive to vital customer expectations that can differentiate in the market
place
Youn and Uysal (2005): As suggested by, tourists compare their experiences at a travel
destination with other alternative destinations or places as they have visited in the past. As a
result, tourists are likely to use past experiences at the new destinations to determine whether
their new experience was a satisfactory experience or not. The primary determinant of
customer satisfaction should be the perceived performance. Assessing customers satisfaction
with actual performance should indicate whether they are satisfied or not.
(Neal and Gursay, 2008): Customer satisfaction is one of the most frequently examined
topics in the hospitality and tourism field. Because, it plays an important role in survival and
future of any tourism products and services (Gursoy et al., 2008). Chon (1989) examined
tourist satisfaction by comparing travelers previous images of the destination and what they
actually see, feel, and achieve at the destination. Tourist satisfaction is the result of the
relationship between tourists expectations about the destination based on their previous
images of the destination and their evaluation of the outcome of their experience at the
destination area.
(Jacob et al., 2007): The combination of health and tourism seems to be a promising and
relatively new type of paradigm in India. However, it is facing embedded in Western
countries. A notable trend in global tourism has been the popularity of health care holidays.
The business potential of health holidays is indicated in the survey by the French Accord
group, it shows that at least 20 per cent of Europeans look for more active for health oriented
holidays and they would like to find some kind of health and fitness facilities integrated in
their holiday resorts or even take their holidays in a dedicated health resort.

Title of the Study:
A STUDY ON CUSTOMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS SELECTED TOURS AND

TRAVELS SPECIAL REFFERENCE TO TUMKUR CITY.
Statement of the problem:

Travel and tourism is the largest service industry in India. It provides heritage, culture,
medical, business and sports tourism. Today customer travel for various propose like for
education, for business and for refreshment.
Here the study has been under taken to analyze the customer perception towards selected
travelling agencies in Tumkur city with respect to price, availability of package comfort etc.
Scope of the study;

The scope of the study is to understand the needs of the travelers and make travel houses
competent with world class services.
Objectives of study:
1. To understand the quality of the services maintained by selected tours & travels
agencies in Tumkur city.
2. To study the factors influencing choice of opting tour packages.
3. To determined the effectiveness of promotional campaigns.
4. To evaluate the overall performance of selected tours & travels agencies in
Tumkur city.
5. To study the perception of customer towards the services provided by travelling
agencies.
6. To analyze the satisfaction level of customers towards quality, price & service
provided by travelling agencies.
7. To offer suggestions for the better performance of selected travel agencies in
Tumkur city.

Need of the study:

Travel and tourism industry provides employment and generate revenue for many
economics across the world India is in the initial stage in this industry, with competition in
mind there is always a race to attract more customer. This study was initiated to explore the
various dimensions of the market and identify new areas where selected tours can effectively
positions its various based on customer perception and needs.
Research methodology;
Research methodology is a careful investigation for inquiring in a systematic method and
finding solution of a problem.
It comprises the defining and redefining of problem formulation, collecting & evaluating
data.
Data collection method:

Primary data: The researcher has used structured questionnaire to
conducted the survey of despondence.
Secondary data: Secondary sources of information is websites of travelling agencies,
published data from journal, articles of tourism and hospitality management.
Sampling;
A sample is a representative part of the population.
Sample size:
Sample size denotes the number of elements selected for the study for the present study 100
respondents were selected at random who are the customer of selected tours & travels
agencies in Tumkur city.
Sample techniques:
A random sampling techniques was used to collect data from the respondents. A random
sampan is sample selected from a population in such a way that every number of the

population has an equal chance of being selected and the selection of any individual does not
influence the selection of any other.
Sampling unit:
The survey has been conducted to study the customer perception towards selected travelling
agencies, customer survey has conducted through questionnaire in tumkur city.
Types of research;
The researcher has taken up the descriptive design for this research study. Descriptive
studies, as the name suggests, descriptive as accurately as possible characteristics of a group
of people or a community. The major goal of descriptive research is to describe events,
phenomena (facts) & situations, since description is made in the basis of scientific
observation .In this study the researcher has adopted descriptive method for finding the fact
and investigation with adequate interpretation.
Period of study;
The study was conducted from 15th January to May
Limitations;
1. Area was restricted to tumkur only and the respondents may not be true
representative of the universe.
2. Sample size was restricted to 100 respondents.
3. Another aspect may be inferred on the shortage of times.
4. Due to there busy schedules respondents has not given accurate
information.


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Customer Perception Towards Selected Tours and Travels, Special reference to Tumkur City.

Marketing converted yesterdays luxuries into todays necessaries. Most of the

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 1

philosophy are recognizing the importance of marketing activities. The importance of

Marketing consists of all activities by which a company adopts itself to its

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 2

1. Insurance National Income As Marketing activities multiply the economic activities

3. ADVANTAGES OR CHARACTERISTICS OF MARKETING

1. Every services is different from the other.

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 3

3. Every services is different in the methodology of making it available to the

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 4

A life Insurance agent is expected to procure life insurance business in a manner

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 5

SELECTING FACTORS INFLUCING PERCEPTION:

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 6

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 7

NATURE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

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SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 9

PROBLEMS OF INDIAN CONSUMERS

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THE PROBLEMS OF URBAN CONSUMERS

THE PROBLEMS OF RURAL CONSUMERS

THE PROBLEMS OFINTERNATIONAL CONSUMERS

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 11

They expect product adaptability facilities

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR MODELS

THE ECONOMIC MODEL

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Thinking, information processing and, of course, perception. Therefore behavior is deeply

THE PSYCHOANALYTICAL MODEL

THE CONCEPT OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

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WHY STUDY THE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Three classes of variables are involved in understanding consumer behavior stimulus

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 14

WHY THE FIELD OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR DEVELOPED

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FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

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Roles and Status

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Lifestyle of customers is another import factor affecting the consumer buying

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 18

in his/her surroundings. It is determined by customer interests, opinions, activities etc and

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 19

Beliefs and Attitudes

Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services

In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer

However, the importance of customer satisfaction diminishes when a firm has

There is a substantial body of empirical literature that establishes the benefits of

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 20

MEASURING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers.

SSIBM, Maralur, Tumkur. 21

LEVELS OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Exceed Customer Expectations

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Delight Your Customers

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Purpose of Studying Consumer Value

BUYING DECISION PROCESS

More generally, decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of