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July-December, 2012 Business Perspect ives and Research

An Empirical Research on Consumer Behaviour towards

Small Car Segment in Indian Market

Gunjan Malhotra 1

Abhishek Nandi 2

Amitava Mukherjee 3

Abstract

India's automobile industry has undergone a remarkable transformation in the last decade. Thesmall car segment (A1 and A2 segment compact cars) remains at the forefront of this growthstory. The automotive industry in India grew at a Computed Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of11.5 % over the past five years, and the growth rate in last FY2010-11 was impressive at morethan 26% (Maruti Suzuki Ltd, Annual Report 2009-2010). This research paper focuses on cus-tomer perception towards various features of existing cars and tries to find the degree of con-sumer preferences about different automobile features which influences their buying behavior.

The increasing disposable income of common people evolution of a sophisticated well off middleclass and affordability of high quality cars fuels the growth of the Indian automobile sector. Theresearch analyses 161 complete responses from northern region of India and suggests certainproduct aspects that the existing players should focus on more closely to allure the customers

with better services and at the same time to retain the existing customers.

Key Words

Automobile manufacturer, consumer behaviour, customer satisfaction, NCR, small car

1. Introduction

The last decade has seen a major transformation of the Indian car industry, from a protectedbusiness with only one world-class manufacturer to a landscape that includes most of the world's

major players as well as some emerging domestic firms vying for a significant piece of an expand-

ing market. In the process, the automobile industry has also leaped forward technologically, driven

by a confluence of factors such as intense competition, demanding consumer preferences, gov-

ernment policies and the global strategies of the various players. India will lead way in global

small car upswing. India is the second fastest growing automobile market in the world (Gopalan,

2010) and emerged as Asia's fourth largest exporter of passenger cars, behind Japan, South Ko-

rea, and Thailand (Ohnsman, 2011). Passenger car segment, particularly small car segment, is

mainly driving this growth momentum, buoyant with growth in economy, higher purchasing power

of the people and favourable policies. With the growth in auto industry consumers are getting

innumerable options to choose from in almost every segment of the Indian auto industry. The

high degree of rivalry in the industry with the launch of new product almost in each month and

routine new entry of foreign players has made the market hyper competitive. Hence to maintain

higher profitability as well as to grow the business, the insight into consumer psyche to under-

stand their need and satisfaction level is of utmost importance for the manufacturer of automo-

biles. The paper attempts to study the needs and requirements of the customers towards purchas-

ing new small cars and their perception towards current products. For manufacturers, the pursuit

of right product features is essential for being competitive as well as exploring new business

opportunities.

1 Prof. Gunjan Malhotra, Assistant Professor - Operations Area, IMT Ghaziabad; [email protected]; [email protected]

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2. Review of Literature

Constant changes in customer demands lead manufactures to produce new and improved de-

signs. Automation of manufacturing technologies allows this (Hoffhian, l984). Recently the pro-

duction life cycle has become shorter. For example, General Motors in the USA is leading the

industry in developing groundbreaking technologies to improve the driving experience and to

meet the changing needs and life styles of modem drivers. They are making efforts to lower the

cost of the technology to a level that will make advanced cars an attractive purchase. As theautomobile market becomes more competitive, the industry has no choice but to adopt innova-

tion that brings better customer service.

Aggarwal and McGill (2007) found that people interpreted an upturned grille on a car not simply

as a mouth but more specifically as a smile. Windhager, et al (2008) study reported seeing emo-

tional expressions such as aggression and anger in cars. Furthermore, other research has found

that design elements corresponding to facial features affect product liking (Aggarwal et al 2007;

Windhager et al. 2008). Indeed, Windhager et al.'s (2008) recent study of car designs confirmed

the widespread tendency for people to see faces on products. People decode emotional facial

expressions from product shapes and this affects liking of the design of cars and cellular phones.

The consumers prefer the combination of an upturned (friendly) grille with slanted (aggressive)

headlights. This explained a process level by showing that this combination triggers a positive

affective state of both high pleasure and arousal (Landwehr, McGill & Herrmann, 2011).

Peterse, Muelle, Haan and Scholz (2008) determined that the effect of a product's country of

origin on buyer perceptions and evaluations has been one of the most widely studied phenomena

in the international business, marketing, and consumer behaviour literatures. Indeed, Brady and

Cronin (2001) concluded that the potential impact of the country of origin of a product is the

most researched international aspect of consumer behaviour. Bucklin, and Silva-Risso (2008)developed a new method to assess how changes in the intensity of mature distribution networks-

specifically, those in the U.S. automotive industry might affect consumer choice. They captureddistribution intensity by car make (e.g., Honda, Toyota) at the disaggregated level using the exact

geographic locations of individual buyers and new car dealers. Buyers were more likely to select

cars whose dealer networks had shorter distances to the closest outlet (accessibility), more deal-

ers within a given radius from the buyer (concentration), and locations that skewed toward the

buyer (spread).

Contracts are particularly common in the automobile market, in which a majority of sales involve

either finance or lease contracts, making it an ideal setting to understand consumers' contract

choice behaviour. Moreover, automobile manufacturers are increasingly competing for consum-

ers using the terms and conditions of these contracts (e.g., General Motors offers 0% financing to

keep America rolling). However, most market-level studies on automobile choice (Berry,Levinsohn, & Pakes 1995, 2004; Goldberg 1995; Petrin 2002; Sudhir 2001) ignore the choice of

contract and simply use the manufacturer's suggested retail price to estimate demand. Previous

research on consumer choice of contracts in the automobile market (Aizcorbe & Starr-McCluer

1997; Johnson 2000) has examined how demographic factors, such as income and age, affect a

consumer's decision to lease or finance a vehicle, but it has overlooked nonfinancial factors

related to contract choice, such as the cost of maintaining and operating the vehicle, and has also

ignored the link between vehicle and contract choice, a critically important input into a

manufacturer's promotional planning process.

A substantial body of literature shows the theoretical and empirical appeal of incorporating

product, price, advertising, and promotion-related attributes into an individual utility function.Conjoint studies incorporate product attributes into utility, and choice models based on universal

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product code scanner panel data have also included product attributes (Fader & Hardie 1996).

Many studies have incorporated price and promotion variables (e.g., feature, display) as attributes

in choice model utilities (e.g., Guadagni & Little 1983). Advertising has also been successfully

incorporated (e.g., Pedrick & Zufryden 1991). We now consider how to conceptualize distribu-

tion intensity as an attribute, or attributes, in utility.

Another challenge in the study of distribution intensity involves the classification of goods (i.e.,

convenience, shopping, or specialty goods). For convenience goods, in general, higher levels ofdistribution intensity are assumed to always boost sales (Coughlan, Anne, Anderson, Stern & El-

Ansary, 2006). The Indian automobile industry is one of the largest in the world and one of the

fastest growing automobile industries globally. The low penetration level of cars in India along

with shooting disposable income of its working population has catapulted it as a lucrative market

for global automobile manufacturers (SIAM, 1999). The industry actually gets its shape in two

clear phases - the Maruti era (1983) and the post liberalization era (1993) (Mehra, 2005).The

Maruti era makes the Indian auto sector a competitive market and auto sector de-licensing in

1993 infused it with large investment and higher capacity. As a result, Indian consumers are

flooded with tremendous choices available almost in every segments of auto industry and be-

come value consccious and informed buyers. The customer consciousness and high degree ofrivalry in the market leads the manufacturer to analyse customer perception and bridge the gap

between customers' inherent need and their product. To retain existing relationships as well as to

develop new customers, having an insight in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction has be-

come very vital (Verma & Kaur, 2001; Pearson ,1976).

Verma and Kaur (2001) emphasized that significance of 3 types of justices necessary for cus-

tomer satisfaction are procedural justice (response time taken by company to address complaints),

distributive justice (company's perceived fairness in dealing with customer complaints) and inter-

actional justice (human behaviour in dealing with complaints). According to Indian consumers,

technology, comfort and convenience are important considerations for car purchase. Though in

the developed world, technology has always played an important consideration for vehicle manu-facturers as customers have always embraced state of the art cars, the study by Ealey and Mercer

(1999) stated that different countries accept technology at different rates. Ealey and Mercer

(2000) suggested that auto companies must build on their long term relationships with custom-

ers.

Saxena (2000) analyzed the satisfaction level amongst customers of premium cars - Opel Astra,

Ford Escort, Maruti Esteem and Daewoo Cielo- in Indore. For measuring brand satisfaction level

amongst the four manufacturers, eight attributes (service, spare parts availability, safety, leg space,

boot space, price, style, resale) were listed in the questionnaire. To evaluate satisfaction with

dealer service, 13 attributes were evaluated (location, ease of appointment, facilities, proper

diagnosis, labour cost, spare cost, spares availability, promptness in service, correct service, staffbehaviour, warranty service, post service follow up, reception handling). The null hypothesis

(there is no difference in satisfaction level towards dealer service between different brands of

cars) was found to be false at 5 % significant level that is, there is significant difference between

the dealer services in respect of the 4 cars.

Like many other industries, the scenario in domestic Indian Automobile Industry is quite differ-

ent from the Global Automobile Industry. Compared to the global automobile sector, where

substantial research has been done, very little empirical research has been conducted on the

Indian automobile industry. This research attempts to study the consumer perception towards

various features of small cars that motivates them to buy new cars and consumer expectation

from the car makers in small car segments. For car manufacturers, the pursuit of new features and

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insight to consumer perception is essential for being competitive as well as to explore new busi-ness opportunities.

3. Objective

The Indian auto industry is in a growth path and the small car segment with the highest cumula-tive annual growth rate is its main growth driver. However, not much research literature is avail-

able linking consumer perception and their expectation towards automobiles in India. This studyis an effort to fill that gap in the literature in the context of Delhi and other nearby cities likeNoida, Ghaziabad , Gurgaon ,Faridabad etc , together known as National Capital region (NCR)

in North India. The aim of this research is to analyse the consumer expectations for potentialattributes of small cars and customer perception towards existing cars in present small car indus-try.

4. Research Methodology

4.1 Research Problem

The research problem is to understand consumers' perception towards various automobile

features and their preferences towards a particular brand of small car. The research would deter-mine what are the primary automobile features that most influence the consumers' buying behaviour

and consumer expectation for new product developments in this sector..The research also wouldlocate the primary source of information on which consumers depend on before buying a car.

4.2 Survey Technique

The survey uses an online questionnaire and it was conducted among residents of Delhi andnearby cities like Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Faridabad etc, together known as National Capi-tal Territory (NCT) in North India between 10th and 24th March 2011. The respondents were

selected at random. The respondents either owned or were considering the purchase of a small

car as their next car. The online questionnaire was sent to 280 people and finally 161 completeand valid responses were taken for further analysis with a response rate of 58%.

4.3 Questionnaire Design

The online questionnaire comprising of 12 questions was prepared keeping in mind the objectiveof the research. It consists of questions on consumers' choice of cars, consumers perception on

the various features/attributes which influence the respondents to choose a particular brand,source of information for various automobile brands and related to their demography. It usesLikert scale on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 signifies least significant and 5 signify most significant.

5. Data Analysis

5.1. Demographic Profile of the Respondents

The results of the demographic profile of the consumers buying small cars are presented in table1. The respondents represented an array of age groups and had a median age of 20-30 years. Only27 % of the respondents were female and just 2% were students. The majority of the

respondents were businessmen having an annual salary of more than Rs. 6 lacs (43%). Therespondents had an extensive experience of small car segments in Indian markets. These respon-dents prefer to buy cars in the price range between Rs. 3.5 lacs to Rs5 lacs. The respondents alsoindicated a strong likelihood to buy small cars in the near future.

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Table 1 : Demographics Characteristics of Respondents

Age in Years Gender Occupation Income Level Price level

of Cars

20-30 89% Male 73% Business 5

> 40 9% Student 2% lacs 43% lacs 33%

Retired 0%

Others 2%

5.2 Results

In order to understand the diversity of consumers' from different states in India when purchasing

a small car by the respondents, we have evaluated each attribute on a 1-5 scale, where '1' indi-

cated 'least significant' and '5' indicated 'most significant'. We have used factor analysis to find

the major factors that impacts the decision of the respondents when they choose a particular

small car in India. Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among ob-

served variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors.

In other words, it is possible, for example, that variations in three or four observed variables

mainly reflect the variations in fewer such unobserved variables. Factor analysis searches for

such joint variations in response to unobserved latent variables. The observed variables are mod-

elled as linear combinations of the potential factors, plus error terms. The information gained

about the interdependencies between observed variables can be used later to reduce the set of

variables in a dataset.

In order to obtain a clearer picture of groupings of the attributes that the respondent keeps in

mind before purchasing a small car of his choice, a factor analysis have been conducted.

The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was as high as 0.708 and the

Bartlett test of Sphericity rejected the null hypothesis that the correlation matrix was an identity

matrix. The resulting eigen values for only three common factors were greater than unity. We

reached the same conclusion using the Scree Plot (not reported but available from the authors

upon request) as a criterion to determine the number of common factors. The proportion (per

cent) of variance explained by each factor indicates that these four factors altogether account for

about 59.2 % of the total variance using the Principal Component Method.We then rotate the resulting factors by the varimax method to facilitate the interpretation of the

results presented in table 2. As can be seen the first factor includes exterior looks, brand, environ-

ment friendliness, technology models and colours available, interior design that interest consumer's

choice behaviour. Therefore we can name this factor as Aesthetics. The second factor includes

price, fuel efficiency, after sales service, safety features, maintenance cost, warranty and promise

of free service and thus can be named as Cost factor. While the third factor possesses leg space,

engine capacity, seating capacity, ground clearance, thus can be named as Spacious factor. The

fourth factor possesses public perception, audio system, sturdiness of vehicle, promotional schemes

available, thus can be named as Trust and Reliability. Thus we can say that there are four factors

that affect decision making of customers for purchase of small cars aesthetics, cost, space andtrust and reliability. The results are shown in table 2.

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Table 2 : Division of Selection Factors into Broad Factors

Aesthetics Cost Spacious Trust and Reliability

(component 1) (component 2) (component 3) (component 4)

Exterior looks (3) Price (1) Leg Space (12) Public perception (4)

Brand(5) Fuel efficiency (2) Engine Capacity(13) Audio System (16)

Environment After sales service(6) Seating Capacity (14) Sturdiness of

Friendliness (7) vehicle(17)

Technology (8) Safety Features (9) Ground Clearance (15) Promotional

Models and Colours Maintenance Cost Schemes

Available (10) (11) Available(18)

Interior design (20) Warranty and Promise

of free service (19)

We have also checked the reliability of the data gathered through the respondents. We find the

cronbach's alpha value is .913, which shows that the data is reliable (table 3). Cronbach's alpha

is a measure of how well each individual item in a scale correlates with the sum of the remain-

ing items. It measures consistency among individual items in a scale.

Table 3 : Test for Reliability

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

.913 20

For all the factors which were used to understand the satisfaction of the customers, we have

assigned the ratings in a closed format in the form of a grid. For scoring purposes we took every

parameter as synonymous with a likert's scale of 1-5, with 1: Not at all satisfied, 2: Not verysatisfied, 3: Neutral, 4: Fairly satisfied, 5: very satisfied. The scores are then subjected to a two

one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). A significance level of 5% is used to conduct the

analysis. The following hypothesis has been formulated:

H0 = The mean values () for all selection parameters is the same.

H1= The mean values () for all selection parameters is not the same.

Table 4 : One Way- Analysis of Variance

Source of Variation SS df Mean sum

of squaresMS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 236.76 19.00 12.46 12.13 0.00 1.59

Within Groups 3286.48 3200.00 1.03

Total 3523.24 3219.00

Here, F>Fcritical, therefore, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the mean values of

the selection factors are not the same. Hence, it can be concluded that consumers do not rate

different factors similarly and hence, the target population in this survey are smart consumers.

This also shows that customers rate different factors while making buying decisions and only

those which according to them provide the highest value for money are bought.

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6. Discussion

6.1 Effect of Features on Car Purchase

Table 5 lists the mean values for all the factors considered for car purchase by customers. It is

evident from the data that after sales service, fuel efficiency, safety features and maintenance

cost are the most important factors for consideration in car purchase for Indian customers. Price,

technology and engine capacity are the next most important factors for consideration. The leastsignificant features for purchasing a small car that came up in the research are embedded audio

system, public perception, promotional schemes available and brand. These findings are listed in

Table 6, which shows the most prominent and least significant features for car purchase by con-

sumers. We see that environment friendliness is one of the least significant factors which show

that Indian consumers are not yet environmentally conscious unlike their western counterparts

where the environment is of utmost importance.

Table 5 : Data Statistics

Parameter Mean Standard Standard Sample

Error Deviation Variance

Price 3.975 0.084 1.06 1.124

Fuel efficiency 4.193 0.073 0.932 0.869

Exterior looks 3.882 0.089 1.126 1.267

Public perception 3.286 0.083 1.051 1.105

Brand 3.565 0.088 1.111 1.235

After sales 4.373 0.067 0.85 0.723

Environment friendly 3.615 0.085 1.084 1.176Technology 3.652 0.105 1.334 1.778

Safety features 4.062 0.076 0.966 0.934

Models & colors 3.683 0.086 1.086 1.18

Maintenance cost 4.019 0.069 0.877 0.768

Leg space 3.733 0.073 0.927 0.859

Engine capacity 3.944 0.078 0.995 0.991

Seating capacity 3.901 0.078 0.989 0.978Ground clearance 3.615 0.069 0.881 0.776

Audio system 3.323 0.079 0.998 0.995

Sturdiness of vehicle 3.795 0.065 0.822 0.676

Promotional schemes available 3.46 0.085 1.084 1.175

Warranty and promise of free service 3.975 0.083 1.049 1.099

Interior design 3.739 0.072 0.912 0.832

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Table 6: Significance of Various Features in Purchasing of Small Car by the Respondents

Prominent Significant Features

Features After sale Fuel Safety Promise of

service efficiency features Price free service

Mean

significance 4.35 4.17 4.04 3.95 3.95score

Least Significant Features

Features Audio Public Promotional Environment

system perception schemes friendly

available Brand

Mean

significance

score 3.3 3.27 3.44 3.56 3.61

6.2 Effect of Source of Information on Car Purchase

Table 7: Impact of Source of Information on Small Car Purchase by Respondents

Newspaper Car Online Television Brand Word of

advertisement magazine automobile advertisement ambassador mouth

Review sources and Review and

programmes feedback

2.3765 3.1296 3.0061 3.3148 2.1049 4.0926

Hence, it is seen that word of mouth and feedback is the most important source of information

for customers and they rely on it the most. Brand ambassadors are the least effective source ofinformation. Television advertisements continue to play an important role in spreading the word

as most people in India still rely on primary sources on information. Newspaper advertisements

carry a very low level of significance for the consumers. But, we interpret that special offers from

dealers are still important for customers when communicated through newspapers.

7. Study Limitation and Future Work

The study is limited to the NCR of Delhi, India. But the sentiments of customers towards the

small Indian car industry are assumed to be same all over India. With the ongoing work of various

companies towards the development of small cars in India we expect to see a variety of new

models entering the market viz introduction of Honda Jazz, ongoing research on electric cars,Ford's 8 new models and continuously increasing competition among the present players in the

market. So, we expect to see the presence of a large number of new advanced models in the

future. This will bring in newer technology leading to better customer satisfaction. All small cars

of the future shall be expected to be fuel efficient and hence all differentiation occurring due to

fuel efficiency shall be eliminated. Factors such as safety and environment friendliness shall play

important roles in consumer buying behaviour. We shall also see marketing techniques such as

buzz marketing and word of mouth playing a much important role in the future. With the ad-

vancements in technology there are no limitations to our potentials.

8. Conclusions and Recommendations

It is seen that there are four broad factors which affect customers when buying small cars. They

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are aesthetics of the car, the overall cost to customer, space and trust and reliability of the brand.These broad factors have various sub factors which have been mentioned in table 2. By usinganalysis of variance, we see that all these factors have different means. This means that a cus-tomer gives different importance to different points while selecting a car. From table 5, it is seen

that after sales service is the most important factor followed by fuel efficiency and maintenancecost while selecting a small car. This shows that the cost component which includes this factor is

most important for Indian small car consumers. It is also seen that public perception and extrafeatures (like audio systems) are the least thought of factors while purchasing a car. Hence, thedata shows that trust and reliability is not sought after. This shows that Indian consumers have anequal amount of trust for all brands of small cars available. This is the reason why marketersshall not be able to create product differentiation based on brand value or brand trust, which they

might possess in foreign markets. This also shows that Maruti, which was one of the most trustedIndian brands has lost its advantage, and this is seen from their lowering sales. Another interest-ing fact observed is high value given to safety features. It shows as to how Indian customers arebecoming more and more safety oriented in their decision making.

It is also seen from table 6 that word of mouth influences the customers the most while buying a

car. Feedback from friends is thus the most important source of information for customers. Hence,companies have to maintain a high level of after sales service to ensure consumer loyalty and agood word of mouth. A brand ambassador least affects decision making. Thus, companies shouldstop advertising using brand ambassadors (e.g. Shah Rukh Khan advertising Hyundai i10 does

not effect its sales). Promise of free service also scores low in this case, which again shows thatconsumers perceive a free service as a given after purchase.

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