International Journal of Management & Strategy,July-Dec.2010 Vol.1No.

CONSUMER PURCHASE OF CONSUMER DURABLES: A FACTORIAL

STUDY

Hitesh D. Vyas,Ph.D., Bhavnagar University,India

ABSTRACT

“Many things that were considered as luxuries till about ten years ago have become necessities
for most people today.” And in case of household goods consumption it has happened also, as
scooter were luxury at once becomes necessity now. The present study is focused on a study of
important factors and sources of information in purchase of consumer durables. This is an
exploratory study using primary data collected through purposive sampling method with an
adequate sample size of 100 household respondents of Bhavnagar city. It reveals that Company or
Brand Name, guarantee / warrantee, Price, and After Sales Service are the important factors in
purchase of durables. While, sources of important information authorized dealers’ shop, technical
expert advice, role of TV as media and influence of friends, relatives and neighbors found
important in purchase of durables by respondents.

Keywords: Consumer Behaviour, Durable Products, Important Factors, Sources of

Information, Buying Decisions.

INTRODUCTION

Marketing is seen as the whole business from the point of view of its final result, that is,
from the customer’s point of view (Peter Drucker, 1986). The consumer is king in age of
consumerism (McGuire, 2000). The term consumer behaviour defines as, state “the behaviour of
consumers in deciding to buy or use or not to buy or use or dispose or not to dispose of the
products which satisfy their needs”( Schiffman and Kanuk, 1995, Chunawalla, 2000, Solomon
and others, 2001). Moreover one of the key analyses under the heading “consumer behaviour”
refers to the interaction between price changes of products and consumer demand too
(http://www.bized.ac.uk/fme). It reflects in their search for different products of different level of
their involvement required to purchase & consume. High involvement only requires in those
products, which are of high price, complex features, large difference between options, high
perceived risk, reflect the self-concept of the buyer. Looking at this classification of products by

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the consumption patterns, buying of the durable goods needs higher attention of consumers.
While, durables goods are expected to last longer than three years
(www.wisecon.org/OnlineGuide). So, it is a product of high involvement for consumers. This
characteristics of the consumer’s behaviour for durable goods, makes it a more suitable and
appropriate behaviour to study.

The Indian scenario:

Last few years have witnessed of growing demands for different consumer products (Chunawalla,
2000). Increase in demand is a result of increase in income of the people and increase in
discretionary income too (Arora, 1995). A rise in discretionary income results usually in an
increased spending by consumer on those items that raise their living standards, Moreover, a trend
for people to utilize their income for more comforts and facilities is also developing. Intense
competition among the marketers of consumer durables (Sontaki, 1999). and the increasing
awareness of consumers about their own needs, is making a major difference in marketing of
consumer durables (Kumar, 1998). In the context of the above scenario, it is interesting to study
how the human beings i.e. consumers, satisfy their different non-basic needs. Moreover, it is
interesting to study, why they buy a particular product, how they buy it, when they buy it, from
where do they buy it, etc (Schiffman and Kanuk, 1995). A study (Radhakrishanan, 1990) has
found that “many things that were considered as luxuries till about ten years ago have become
necessities for most people today.” And in case of household goods consumption it has happened
also, as scooter were luxury at once becomes necessity.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Consumer Behavior 2009 (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/bd4b3f/) assesses how

this spending is distributed and the consumer behaviors that affect spending.Durable commodities
prices paid by consumers decreased 3.3 percent in 2002, the largest calendar-year decrease since
1938 (Wilson, 2003), further it gets reduced more afterwards. On the other hand people were
spending marginally for home appliances in 1999, in 2003 spending on technology goods/home
appliances has touched 6.6% out of total spending of the Indian consumers’(Singhal, 2005, Kotler
and others, 2007). The demand of home appliances has been increase much more in 2007-08.
Increase in demand is a result of increase in income of the people and increase in discretionary
income too (Arora Renu, 1995, Bhatty I. Z., 1989, Gupta and Pal, 2001, Sontaki, 1999).

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Although research on household technology is limited in the consumer literature, some key
studies have been reported over the past few years (Nickols and Fox 1983; Strober and Weinberg
1980). Typically, these studies have focused on the purchase decisions of families in regard to
household technologies (e.g. kitchen appliances) and/or the use of technologies primarily as time
saving devices.

Bhawaniprasad and Kumari (1987) have analysed “Impact of advertising on consumer durables
markets: A study of Refrigerator consumer”, in this study a ranking/importance of refrigerator
among other consumer durables is studied. Study of 200 owners of Allwyn refrigerator in the twin
cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and Districts of Nizamabad and Karimnagar in Andhra
Pradesh indicates that a very positive impact of advertising is found on the consumer durables
market.

Bayus (1991) studied “The consumer durable replacement buyer”, and found that replacements
account for a substantial portion of the sale of consumer durables in the U S. Results of
replacement of automobiles indicate that “early” replacement buyers are more concerned with
styling and image and less concerned with costs than “late” replacement buyers. Moreover, early
replacements have higher income but lower levels of academic achievement and occupational
status than late replacement.

Mujahid-Mukhtar E, Mukhtar H (1991) has studied role of decision making for household
durables: good measure of women's power within a household in Pakistan. It is their influence in
the purchase of new home improvement technology good (cars, appliances, etc.), who’s expense
and life-long nature makes their purchase an important decision. The study identified various
cultural and economic factors that affect women's decision making power: urban women, women
in nuclear families, educated women, and working women generally have more decision making
power than rural women, women in extended families, illiterate women, and unemployed women.
Gupta & Verma (2000) have done a study under convenience sampling of 50 household of New
Delhi by questionnaire. It indicates that husband’s influence is considerably higher that the wives.
Children also play an active role in brand selection of CTV. Moreover educated and
workingwomen influence more than non-working and less educated.

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Jain and Sharma (2000) studied 584 respondents out of 800 questionnaires of Delhi in five
professional category observed that selected products represent different product categories in
terms of both durability and frequency of purchase as required. Study shows that the levels of
consumer involvement differ across products. As against non-durables, consumer perceives
durables as more involving products.

SRI – IMRB (2000) evaluated a comparison of the education and income levels of different
clusters, and it indicated that those who give higher priority to consumer electronic products are
more educated and affluent. The study also revealed that transportation durables preceded
consumer electronic products in the acquisition hierarchy, suggesting a tactical approach.

Venkteshwar and Rao (2000) have focused on tracing and identifying the elements in consumer
decision-making; the research has studied 200 urban workingwomen belonging to different
occupation, educational and income groups. Study observed television as a major source of
information, for 65.5% consumers. While group forces affects 50% respondents. Surprisingly
45%-employed women still feel radio as a source of information. In purchase of consumer
durables, 53% would decide for brand. Price is relatively more important factor and husband and
wife take decision jointly.

Demographic Profile of Respondents:

Respondents profile consist of 54 male and female respondents of 77 are up to 40 years and 23 are
of more than that, occupationally they are of 32 service class, 36 business persons and 32 are
professionals, more than 70 holds graduation and more qualification, while, 72 of them are living
in joint family and 28 are in nuclear family, more than 50% of them having more than Rs. 30,000
monthly income and 64% of them having their own house.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To study important factors in purchase of consumer durables.
1. To analyze the important sources of information in purchase of consumer durables.

HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY

There is no significance difference in possession of consumer durables remains the same
irrespective of different groups of Occupation, Education and Income.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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This is an exploratory study using primary data collected through purposive sampling method
with an adequate sample size of 100 household respondents of Bhavnagar city. The study draws
information from two sources i.e. primary source and secondary source. Primary Data were
collected through administered structured questionnaire by trained investigators. This tool i.e.
questionnaire was developed in consultation of two experts of marketing management; they have
validated the content of scale as per the objectives and hypothesis of this study. They also have
suggested some changes, which were included. Construct Validity of the scale is found 0.649,
significant, by the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measurement. Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity for sampling
adequacy at 3910.806 Chi-Square and at 2016 degree of freedom is also found significant in the
graph of the Scree Plot. Reliability of Scale is found 84.69 as alpha in Guttman-Splithalf method.
SPSS has used for data analysis for simplified interpretation. The Collected primary data was
classified, tabulated and cross-tabulated, to study the relationships between different variables.
Mean analysis, Standard Deviation, T – test, Two-way ANOVA (F - test) etc. are used to analyze
the data.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Buying decisions making:

The study found that according to the responses decision maker’s role is played by male (76.46%)
and by female (80.51%). It also found that Female’s role is more powerful in purchasing in
consumer durable goods, this result is relevant with Dhobhar (1999). While, it differs with Gupta
and Verma (2000), and Singh and others (1999). Moreover study of Venkateswara and Rao
(2000) found that these decision is taken jointly by husbands and wives. While, “purchasing of
consumer durable goods in off-seasons”, “consumer’s purchase of consumer durable goods, only
when need arises”, “effects of festival seasons”, “the role of credit facility”, and “use of bonus
income in purchasing consumer durable goods” ranked in descending order respectively. This
clearly indicates a preference of purchasing the consumer durable goods during off-seasons and
that too with a well defined needs identification. The importance of credit facility and bonus
incomes is comparatively lower.
The important factors in purchase of consumer durables goods:
“Company or Brand Name” ranks first as the factor affecting in the purchase of CDGs by the
respondents this result is found relevant with Venkateswara and Rao (2000). At the second rank is
observed, “guarantee / warrantee” this result is relevant with Boulding and Kirmani (1993),
“Price” at third rank, this result is relevant with Mekoth (1997). “After Sales Service” obtains the

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fourth rank, result is relevant with Ravichandran and Thygaraja (1998). Fifth and Sixth positions
are obtained by “Quality” and “Durability”. While, “Attractive Looks” and “Discounts” are
ranked 7th and 8th considered as the least important factors affecting the purchase of CDGs x. This
indicates the high level of weightage or importance attached to the brand or company name. The
famous words “what is there in a name” does not hold true here. Price is also considered a very
important factor. Availability and quality after sales service are also very important factor
considered in the purchase of consumer durable goods.
The important sources of information in purchase of consumer durables goods: Analysis
indicates that purchasing of consumer durable goods from authorized dealers’ shop ranked at top,
while, “technical advice” at second is found relevant with Marmorstein and others (1995) study,
3rd rank to “importance of TV as media”, this result is relevant with Alan, Tom and Alan (2000)
and Alwitt and Prabhakar (1992), “influence of friends, relatives and neighbours”, is at fourth
ranked this is relevant with Singh and others (1999), importance of pre-budget information, of
colleagues advise, “importance of print media” is relevant with Venkataswera and Reddy (1997),
Bhavaniprasad and Kumari (1987) study, importance of direct marketing and importance of tele-
shopping and importance of influence of shop owner’s advise ranked respectively.
Testing of Hypothesis
Hypothesis 1.
Ho: Possession of consumer durables remains the same irrespective of Occupation.
Hi: Possession of consumer durables differs in respect of occupation
Result of testing of this hypothesis is analysed in table - 1 as under:
Table 1 “here”
Two -way ANOVA was applied to test the hypothesis, results of it as follows:
Table 1.1 “here”
According to results, majority of the results show an interaction of variables of Occupation like,
Service, Business and Profession found to be significant except for the results of Refrigerator,
Mixer and Tape/Music System. Therefore, we reject Ho: hypothesis and accept Hi: hypothesis,
“Possession of consumer durables differ in respect of occupation”. Also, it can be said that
Refrigerator, Mixer and Tape/Music System, are possessed by majority of respondents. Moreover,
in this research consumer behaviour was analysed in respect of their possession only, not by brand
wise or price wise possession of the consumer durable goods. So, it can be possible that people’s
possession of these durable goods may differ in brand or price context. It can become an area for
further research.
Hypothesis 2
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Ho: The Income of people does not affect the possession of consumer durables.
Hi: The Income of people does affect the possession of consumer durables.
Result testing of this hypothesis in table 2 as under: table 2 “here”

Two -way ANOVA was applied to test the hypothesis, results of it as follows:
Table 2.1 “here”
Results reveal that the possession of consumer durable goods is differing by income, except for
Refrigerator, Mixer and Color TV. It is observed that these products are available at very different
price, and quality levels. Therefore we reject Ho: Hypothesis and accept Hi: Hypothesis, “The
Income of people does affect the possession of consumer durables”. That is why different level of
incomes may not display a difference in respect of its possession of Refrigerator, Mixer and Color
TV. But the possession of these products may be differing in context of brand, price, quality,
facilities and size of the product, which can become an area of further research.
Hypothesis 3
Ho: The level of Education of people does not affect the possession of consumer durables.
Hi: The possession of consumer durables does differ with the education of people.
Result testing of this hypothesis in table 3 as under:
table 3 “here”
Two -way ANOVA was applied to test the hypothesis, Result it as under:
Table 3.1 “here”
It indicates that possession of consumer durables is differing because the results of F –Test are
found significant except is the possession of mixer and tape/music system. So, we reject Ho:
hypothesis and accept Hi: Hypothesis, “The possession of consumer durables does differ with the
education of people”. Moreover, possession of mixer and tape/music system is found in majority
of respondents, so it can be said that the possession of these item may differ in terms of their
brands, price and type also. It can become an area of further research.

FINDINGS
The study found that according to the responses decision maker’s role is played by male (76.46%)
and by female (80.51%). “Company or Brand Name” ranked first as the factor affecting in the
purchase of durables by the respondents. While, “guarantee / warrantee” ranked second, “Price”
ranked third, “After Sales Service” obtains the fourth rank. It indicates that consumers are well
aware about their choice. Also they are Purchasing of consumer durable goods mostly from
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authorized dealers’ shop, which ranked at top, while, role of TV as media also found important in
this result.
As it happens basic durables like, Mixer, Tape/Music System, Flour Mill and Refrigerator
becomes requirement than luxury. Where, in Television next generation products have still same
glitters, so in Washing Machine, Water Purifier, Vacuum Cleaner and Air conditioner consumers
of all classes are mostly untapped.
Marketers have to utilize price and product combination well to satisfy the hidden needs of these
consumers, as Tata Nano has did in the family car segment. While in upper class consumer the
same products may at the replacement level or at second/another piece demand level, where
producer can push the high priced, higher version or the latest edition of their products. It can help
them to position their brand between the different income group consumers.

MARKETING IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION

The market for consumer durables is becoming more competitive now a day. Therefore, the
producer of durable products should understand consumer interest much to find higher sale of
their products. The study concludes that the competitive market provides opportunity on one hand
and threats on the other hand to both the consumer and the producer; it is become quite important
to improving core products with value addition to enrich customer satisfaction more in the similar
price range. Not only quality improvements but improvement in after sales service can
development replacement demand or demand for second piece in the households. The same has
avail many options to the consumers to satisfy their demand of durable products, as Drucker
(1986) had remarked that marketing is seen as the whole business from the point of view of its
final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view. At present it is seen from the point of view
of its final user the consumer.

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Table – 1 of occupation and possession of consumer durable goods.

Sr. Item Service Business Profession Total
1. Refrigerator 126 84 81 291
2. Washing Machine 60 56 72 118
3. Mixer 130 86 80 296
4. Vacuum Cleaner 31 37 55 123
5. Flour Mill 96 69 72 237
6. Air conditioner 27 26 50 103
7. Water Purifier 33 25 50 108
8. Color T V 125 85 82 292
9. Tape/Music System 123 84 79 286

Table – 1.1 of Summary of ANOVA of 2x2 factorial design for both items.

Sr. No. Item F – Test

1. Refrigerator 1.052 (N.S.)
2. Washing Machine 22.245
3. Mixer 0.975 (N.S.)
4. Vacuum Cleaner 22.800
5. Flour Mill 3.569
6. Air conditioner 21.367
7. Water Purifier 17.068
8. Color T V 3.305
9. Tape / Music System 1.308 (N.S.)

Table – 2 of Income and possession of consumer durable goods.

Sr. Item Up to Rs.10,001 Rs.20,001 More than Total

Rs.10,000 toRs.20,000 toRs.30,000 Rs.30,000

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1. Refrigerator 92 97 53 50 291
2. Washing Machine 46 96 44 33 118
3. Mixer 94 32 52 51 296
4. Vacuum Cleaner 16 31 34 36 123
5. Flour Mill 67 80 45 45 237
6. Air conditioner 11 37 32 29 103
7. Water Purifier 15 99 28 33 108
8. Color T V 92 65 53 51 292
9. Tape/Music System 87 97 52 50 286

Table – 2.1 of Summary of ANOVA of 2x2 factorial design for both items.

Sr. No. Item F – Test

1. Refrigerator 1.123 (N.S.)
2. Washing Machine 6.854
3. Mixer 1.480 (N.S.)
4. Vacuum Cleaner 22.060
5. Flour Mill 3.295
6. Air conditioner 20.006
7. Water Purifier 16.550
8. Color T V 1.745 (N.S.)
9. Tape / Music System 3.494

Table – 3 of Education and possession of consumer durable goods.

Sr. Item S.S.C. NonGraduate Graduate PostGraduate Other Total

1. Refrigerator 27 37 115 99 13 291
2. Washing Machine 09 21 75 74 09 118
3. Mixer 28 S37 115 98 18 296
4. Vacuum Cleaner 03 15 44 56 05 123
5. Flour Mill 19 31 90 87 10 237
6. Air conditioner 04 08 30 57 04 103
7. Water Purifier 05 10 34 52 07 108

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8. Color T V 26 36 115 100 15 292

9. Tape / Music System 27 35 109 97 18 286

Table – 3.1 of Summary of ANOVA of 2x2 factorial design for both items.

Sr. No. Item F – Test

1. Refrigerator 12.618
2. Washing Machine 5.233
3. Mixer 0.566 (N.S.)
4. Vacuum Cleaner 5.929
5. Flour Mill 3.515
6. Air conditioner 9.971
7. Water Purifier 5.029
8. Color T V 6.522
9. Tape / Music System 0.585 (N.S.)

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