Customer's Perception Regarding Water Purifier

Hindustan Unilever Limited 1

1.1. INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC:

Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in

order to give meaning to their environment.

In short, perception is described as a person’s view of reality. Every person perceives the world

and approaches the life problem differently. The opinion about and the evaluation of a particular

event differ from person to person. Reactions of people, to different situations, are also different.

The reason is that people behave on the basis on what they perceive reality to be and not

necessarily as what reality is. Perception is one of the most important psychological factors

affecting the human behavior, because perception is the way an individual experiences the

situation. In simple word it can say that perception is the act of seeing what is there to be seen.

But what is seen is influenced by the perceiver, the object and its environment.

People’s perception is influenced by their needs. Therefore Perception is very much important in

understanding the human behavior as well as their different needs.

In a competitive marketplace where business competes for customers, customer’s perception is

seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.

Customers’ perception with a company’s product is often seen as the key to a company’s success

and long term competitiveness. With study of customers' perceptions, companies can determine

the actions required to meet the customers' needs. They can identify their own strengths and

weaknesses, where they stand in comparison to their competitors, chart out path future progress

and improvement.

Therefore the study is conducted, to know the customer’s perception in water purifier i.e. Pure-it

by Hindustan Unilever Limited, in the households, schools and various place of the region of

Lake Town, Dumdum park, Baguiati, Rajarhat and Narayanpur.


1.2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

Every research has certain objectives. This study also has done reminding certain objectives. The

objectives behind this study are discussed below –

1. To find out customer’s awareness about water born diseases i.e. how much they aware

about water born diseases which is a biggest problem in India.

2. To find out customer’s existing usage pattern of drinking water i.e. from where they get

there drinking water as well as how they purify their drinking water.

3. To find out customer’s perception regarding water purifier.

4. To find out factor’s that offering satisfaction to the customers.

5. To bring out customer’s suggestions regarding after sales service.

1.3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

a. Research Design:

A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project. It

details the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure or solve

marketing research problems. A research design lays the foundation for conducting the project.

A good research design ensures that the marketing research project is conducted effectively and

efficiently.

There are several methods of research design such as Descriptive research, Casual research and

exploratory research. Among those the descriptive research design has been followed mostly

which asks for knowing the characteristic of certain groups such as age, sex, education level,

occupation or income.

This research has been done for knowing customer’s awareness about water born diseases,

process of using drinking water, and interest level in pure-it. Therefore Descriptive research

design is used to research the above attributes.


b. Data Collection Method:

Data, which are the important part of conducting research, are divided into two parts, one is

Primary data and another one is Secondary data.

The Primary data is the first hand data or raw data that is collected by the researcher or someone

else depending on the purpose of study.

In this study primary data is collected by setting up a questionnaire that includes customer’s

name, sex, source of water, usage pattern, awareness of diseases, awareness of boiling,

awareness of candle filtration and their interest level in pure-it.

The data is collected from 70 people from the area of Lake Town, Dumdum park, Baguiati,

Narayanpur and Rajarhat by visiting 45 households and rest from visiting doctors’ chambers and

giving demonstration in schools.

The Secondary data is the second hand data which has been gathered for some other purpose but

currently using for research purpose.

In this study secondary data is collected from company websites and other websites, which

helped in understanding about company’s product and related research about the product.

c. Sampling Technique:

Sampling technique is the technique of designing the collected data into small samples. The

technique may be broadly classified as non-probability and probability.

Non-probability sampling relies on the personal judgment of the researcher rather than chance to

select sample elements. Non-probability samples may yield good estimates of the population

characteristics. Commonly used non-probability sample techniques include convenience

sampling, quota sampling and snowball sampling.

In Probability sampling units are selected by chance. It is possible to pre specify every potential

sample of a given size that could be drawn from the population, as well as the probability of

selecting each sample. Every potential sample needs to have the same probability of selecting

particular sample of given size.


In this study probability of attributes such as customer’s awareness level in water born diseases,

awareness level in candle filtration process, awareness level in boiling with their interests in

pure-it, is drawn from 70 samples. Therefore it is said that Probability sampling technique is

used for designing the collected samples.

d. Data Analysis:

Data analysis is the method of verification and analysis of collected data to make an

interpretation for bringing out correct decision.

In this study collected data is analyzed using statistical methods such as Probability, Chi-square

test and finding out the Contingency. Data is also presented in Bar graph.

Probability is the chance that particular events will occur. Now a day the theory of probability

has become the basis of inferential statistics as well as for many other fields such as quality

control and management decision analysis where quantitative analysis of chance occurrence is

required. In this study the chances of attributes such as customer’s awareness level in water born

diseases, awareness level in candle filtration process, awareness level in boiling with their

interests in pure-it, is drawn from 70 samples.

Chi-square test is a non-parametric method of hypothesis testing to test the associations of two

or more attributes. In case of this study, among several methods of testing hypothesis, Chi-square

test is done as the collected data is bivariate type.

Formula of Chi-square, χ 2=∑(O – E)²

E


1.4. LIMITATION OF METHODOLOGY:

There are so many limitations of this research methodology, these are follows –

The design or format of questionnaire has some questions that had no use to measure

customer’s perception, for that the questionnaire became lengthy. So the format of the

questionnaire was a limitation.

The sample size was seventy, which may not be a representative of the population.

The survey was conducted in a small area, which does not represent the perception of total

population of the country or the state.

Most of the respondents could not devote time at a stretch to fill the questionnaires.

Respondents were hesitant to express their views clearly. However, on convincing about the

confidentiality of the filled in questionnaires, they opened up to respond.

Some time the information given by the respondents not properly administered by the

interviewer.

The handwriting of the respondents many time created problem to understand the

information.


Literature survey is the documentation of a comprehensive review of the published and

unpublished work from secondary sources data in the areas of specific interest to the researcher.

It is necessary to discuss about previous studies on consumer behavior, consumer awareness,

purchase intentions & usage pattern either by traditional means or by virtual stores. This will

help us to assess the factors influencing consumer behavior and promote changes in their

purchase intentions.

2.1. CONSUMER’S AWARENESS OF USING DRINKING WATER:

Water is in many senses unique among consumer products and it has a number of features that

mark it out as different from other consumer goods or services. First, access to clean drinking

water is now a human right. When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was first drafted

water and air were omitted as they were regarded as necessary preconditions for all other human

rights and so were not explicitly mentioned. In November 2002 the UN Committee on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights finally affirmed that access to clean water was indeed a

fundamental human right. Second, safe water supplies are a prerequisite for stable healthy

societies.

Though adequate supply of fresh and clean drinking water is a basic requirement for all human

beings on the earth, it has been observed that millions of people worldwide are deprived of this.

Rapid industrial growth, urbanization and the increasing use of synthetic organic substances have

very serious and adverse impacts on fresh water bodies. When toxic substances enter rivers,

lakes, oceans, streams or other water bodies, they get dissolved or lie suspended in water or get

deposited on the bed. This results in the pollution of water whereby the quality of the water

deteriorates, affecting aquatic ecosystems. Pollutants can also seep down and affect the

groundwater deposits.

Water borne diseases and water caused health problems are mostly due to inadequate and

incompetent planning and management of water resources. In the urban areas water gets

contaminated in different ways, some of the most common reasons being leaky water pipe joints

in areas where the water pipe and sewage line pass close together. Sometimes the water also gets

polluted at source due to various reasons and mainly due to inflow of sewage and other industrial

and animal wastes into the source.


In India, several schemes for the supply of clean drinking water to people were implemented by

various agencies including Government. Even though the local bodies and other authorities are

supplying tap water collecting hefty sums towards water charges from the consumers, the

consumers have no means to ensure whether the water they consume is clean and safe. Different

studies reveal that several tap water samples tested were contaminated. The tap water may

contain both chemical and biological contaminants which may result in dreaded diseases like

hepatitis, jaundice, diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera, etc. It will not be possible for the consumers to

check the quality of water every time they consume it. Considering the general situation

prevailing in India, the possibility of the consumer's complaints in this regard getting resolved by

the Government or other authorities is very limited.

In view of the above mentioned facts several consumers are now shifting to bottled drinking

water. Here again the consumers are in the dark about the quality of the product, i.e., whether it

is clean and safe drinking water. Many studies show that there is no guarantee as to what is in

that bottle. In many cases contaminants were found on testing.

Given the multiple causes of contamination, experts agree that the most efficient way of ensuring

safe drinking water is to purify water at the point of use.

2.2. CONSUMER PERCEPTION AND WATER PURIFIER MARKET:

Research carried out by the UK’s Drinking Water Inspectorate also explored consumer

preferences and issues of concern about drinking water. They found that consumers prioritized

safe clean drinking water before reliability. Inspectorate’s study (DWI, 2000), concerns were

firstly related to the physical properties of water - such as taste and odor, appearance, hardness,

freshness and temperature, and secondly in relation to the composition and/or the provenance of

the water.

In the age of science and technology several companies are making water purifier to give

consumer cent percent safe drinking water. Therefore several brands of water purifiers are now

available in the market in India. Major brands available in India include Hindustan Unilever,

Eureka Forbes, Philips, Whirlpool, Kent, etc. Different companies are using various technologies

such as UV purification, reverse osmosis, activated carbon filtering, distillation, ion exchange,

electro deionization, etc. for purification of water.


It is seen from the study that among all brands of water purifier customer prefers Aqua guard

most then Pure-it, because people perceive that Aqua guard is much better than any other

purifier. It is also seen from the study that though people are much aware of water born diseases

they prefers boiled water and also uses candle filter than any technological purifier.

2.3. LITERATURE REVIEW:

Water-related diseases continue to be one of the major health problems globally. An estimated 4

billion cases of diarrhoea annually represented 5.7% of the global disease burden in the year

2000 (WHO 2002). One of the major strategies for tackling this problem is creating awareness to

the people about using technological water purifier to provide water of better quality.

Therefore people’s perception should be changed in using water purifier rather than using normal

drinking water. Every purifier company especially HUL should take initiative to make the

country as well as the world diseases free.


3.1. COMPANY PROFILE:

a. Company History:

In the summer of 1888, visitors to the Kolkata harbour noticed crates full of Sunlight soap bars,

embossed with the words "Made in England by Lever Brothers". With it began an era of

marketing branded Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). Soon after followed Lifebuoy in

1895 and other famous brands like Pears, Lux and Vim. Vanaspati was launched in 1918 and the

famous Dalda brand came to the market in 1937.

In the year 1931, Lever Brothers set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati

Manufacturing Company, followed by Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders

Limited (1935). These three companies merged to form ‘Hindustan Lever Limited’ in November

1956. In 2007, the Company name was formally changed to ‘Hindustan Unilever Limited’ after

receiving the approval of share holders during the 74th AGM on 18 May 2007. Unilever now

holds 52.10% equity in the company. The rest of the shareholding is distributed among about

360,675 individual shareholders and financial institutions. Hindustan Unilever set up its

subsidiary in Nepal named ‘Unilever Nepal Ltd’.

Hindustan Unilever Limited

Hindustan VanaspatiManufacturing Company

Lever Brothers India LimitedUnited Traders Limited


b. Acquisitions:

Hindustan Unilever enlarged its body by acquiring various multinational companies from 20 th

century to till now. It acquired foreign multinational companies like Chesebrough Pond’s USA;

Brook bond Lipton India Ltd, and USA based Kimberly Clark Corporation. It also acquired India

based multinational companies like Lakme Ltd, government undertaking company Modern Food

etc. On 17th October 2008, Hindustan Unilever completed 75 years of its corporate journey in

India.

c. Brands:

Unilever is the company of leading multinational brands. It has divided its brands in three

categories i.e.

Food brands that includes Annapurna, Kissan, Knorr, Red label tea, Kwality wall’s etc.

Home-care brands that includes Rin, Wheel, Sunlight, Vim, Comfort and so on.

Personal-care brands that includes Axe, Clinic plus, Dove, Lifebuoy, Lakme, Pepsodent and so

on.


3.2. PRODUCT PROFILE:

Pure-it is the world’s most advanced in-home water purifier. Pure-it, a breakthrough offering of

Hindustan Unilever since 2004, provides complete protection from all water-borne diseases,

unmatched convenience and affordability.

Pure-it has been developed using the technology named Sustained Chlorine Release Technology,

by a team of hundred Indian and international experts from Hindustan Unilever and Unilever

Research Center.

Pure-it as a water purifier removes visible and invisible dirts, and using chlorine release

technology kills all harmful viruses and bacteria and removes parasites and pesticide impurities

from water and gives as safe as boiled water. It assures cent percent protection of a family from

all water born diseases such as jaundice, diarrhea, typhoid and cholera. Pure-it not only renders

water micro-biologically safe, but also makes the water clear, odorless and good tasting.

a. Stages of purification:

Pure-it in-home purification system uses a four stage purification process to deliver “as safe as

boiled water” without the use of electricity and pressurized tap water. The stages that pure-it

uses are –

1. Micro-fiber Mesh – Removes visible dirt.

2. Compact Carbon Trap – Removes remaining dirt, harmful parasites & pesticide

impurities.

3. Germ-kill Processor – Using 'Chlorine release technology' kills harmful virus and

bacteria.

4. Polisher – Removes residual chlorine and all disinfectant by-products, giving clear

odorless and great tasting water.


b. Features:

It has some advanced features that make it as unique water purifier brand in India, these are –

a. Battery Life Indicator - Ensures total safety because when the germ kill power is

exhausted, the indicator turns red, warning to replace the battery.

b. Advanced Auto-Switch off - In case, the battery is not changed when it turns fully red, as

an additional assurance of safety, the advanced Auto-Switch off will automatically

switch-off the flow of water.

c. No electricity – It doesn’t need any electricity.

d. No maintenance – No day by day maintenance is required.

e. Hassles free – It is absolutely hassles free as well as saves both time and money.

The output water from pure-it meets stringent criteria for micro-biologically safe drinking water,

from one of the toughest regulatory agencies in the USA, Environment Protection Agency

(EPA). The performance of pure-it has also been tested by leading scientific and medical

institutions in India and abroad.

c. Achievements:

Pure-it has achieved many recognitions and awards as an innovative product as well as in its

performance. Some of them are UNESCO Water Digest Award, prestigious Golden Peacock

award and UK Trade and Investment India Business Award.

d. Types of the product:

In present pure-it is found in four various types in the market naming Pure-it Compact, Pure-it

Classic, Pure-it Auto-fill and recently launched Pure-it Marvella, in two attractive colors i.e.

blue and burgundy.

e. Competitors:

Among various brands of water purifier in the market Eureke Forbes, Kent, Philips, Usha are the

key competitors of Hindustan Unilever in water purifier category.


4. SWOT ANALYSIS:

A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the strategic planning

process. Environmental factors internal to the firm usually can be classified as strengths (S) or

weaknesses (W), and those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities (O) or threats

(T). Such an analysis of the strategic environment is referred to as a SWOT analysis.

The SWOT analysis provides information that is helpful in matching the firm's resources and

capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates. As such, it is instrumental in

strategy formulation and selection. The following diagram shows how a SWOT analysis fits into

an environmental scan:

HUL enjoys a formidable distribution network covering over 3400 distributors and 16 million

outlets. The new sales organization named 'One HUL' brings "Household and Personal Care"

and foods distribution networks together, thereby aligning all the units towards the common goal

of achieving success. HUL has been continuously able to grow at a rate more than growth rate

for FMCG Sector, thereby reaffirming its future stronghold in Indian market. Pure it is a

important product of HUL under water division. This product has different strength, weakness,

opportunities as well as threat in the existing market. These are as follows –

Strength

Prime strength of this product in the market is it’s price. It’s price worth Rs 2000 per

device which is believed to be low listed price than any other purifier in existing market.

It provides 4.2 liter against only one rupee which is also cheaper than any other water

purifier.

It’s not required any electricity, gas, fuel to running on which incur cost in other way.

This product has relatively low maintenance cost as it can be handled manually.

It is very user friendly with is no running flow of water.


Weakness

It conceived less amount of water which may not suitable for the big families.

Price is to some extend is responsible as its weaknesses as it is general tendency of

human being is to think that lower price lead to a lower quality product.

It introduced in the market at letter phase where others renown brands were already

existed in the market.

It’s after sales service is not up to the mark.

Opportunities

Owing to the low price its probability of market penetration is relatively high.

In India the portion of middle class family is high. They can be turned into an effective

target customer.

Threats

As new product are launching day by a day that causes hardship for pure-it for

growing.

People are still not aware about water born diseases which many time create problem.

People are still not aware about water born diseases which many time create

5.1. ANALYSIS OF THE OBSERVATIONS:


a. Analysis of consumer’s awareness level in water-born diseases and interests in pure-it:

The survey, on consumer’s perception in water purifier i.e. Pure-it, was conducted in the area of

Lake Town, Dumdum Park, Baguiati, Narayanpur and Rajarhat. It is observed that the quality of

drinking water is not well in these localities. Households in these regions are well aware of

waterborne diseases and they believe that purification of water is necessary in their locality.

Most of them depend on candle filtration. However, it is also true that some of them are using

purifier and boiling water. There are also many people who use bore well water and do nothing

to purify it because they perceive nothing is better than bore well water.

In order to prove the idea that the awareness level of people in water born diseases influences

them to use water purifier, a Chi-square test and contingency analysis has been done between

awareness level of people and their interests in pure-it.

If H0 is assumed that the attributes, Awareness level and Interest level, are independent then chi-

square (χ2) becomes 0.35 (Appendix) which is lower than the tabulated value and contingency(C)

is 0.071 (Appendix) which shows feeble associations between two attributes.

Probability Estimation Table – 1

Aware about the water born

diseases

Not Aware about the water born

diseases

Interested in pure-it 0.60 0.50

Not Interested in

pure-it

0.40 0.50

Diagrammatical Presentation


Aware in water born diseases Not Aware in water born diseases0

0.20.40.60.8

CHANCES OF CUSTOMER'S AWARENESS LEVEL ON-WATER BORN DISEASES AND INTEREST LEVEL IN

PURE-IT

Interested in pure-itNot Interested in pure-it

AWARENESS LEVEL IN WATER BORN DISEASES

INTE

REST

LEVE

L

It is seen from Probability Estimation Table-1 that the chance is 60% of the respondents having

aware in the water born diseases are interested in pure-it, where as the chance is 40% of the

respondents having aware are not interested in pure-it. The cause of their interest in pure-it is that

they are so much aware about water born diseases as well as they are influenced by our mass

communication programme. But the chance of their interest is not up to the mark, there is little

chance that they are not interested. The cause of not interest may be their believe in the

traditional method of using boil water or candle filter, may they are already using purifier or

may not economically well at that moment.

Thus giving exchange offer of the product with other purifier, selling the product through retail

market are the challenges that company should take to convert the chances of not interest into

interest in pure-it.

It is also seen from the table that the chance is 50% of the respondents having not aware in the

water born diseases are interested in pure-it, where as the chance is 50% of the respondents

having not aware are not interested in pure-it. The cause of their interest is that they are so much

influenced by our mass communication and they assume the device as a container of water and

also by its attractive colors. But there is half of the chance that they are not interested. The main

reason behind it is that they are not so much aware about water born diseases and they want to

remain in their traditional method of consuming drinking water without purify it.

Thus increase awareness about the harmful effects of water born diseases in people’s mind

through mass awareness campaign is the main challenge of the company in this case.


b. Analysis of consumer’s awareness level in boiling and interests in pure-it:

Again it is observed that people in the locality of Lake Town, Dumdum Park consume drinking

water by buying the canned water and the locality of Narayanpur and Rajarhat people consume

water of bore well, and they do boiling in time of monsoon and they also believe in boiling.

Many of them think boiling is more hassles-full and it also takes much time and money. In order

to represent the idea that the awareness level of people in hassles-full of boiling influences them

to use water purifier, a Chi-square test and contingency analysis have been done between

awareness level of people in boiling and their interests in pure-it.

If H0 is assumed that the attributes, Awareness level in boiling and Interest level, are independent

then chi-square (χ2) becomes 1.47(Appendix) which is lower than the tabulated value and

contingency(C) is 0.14 (Appendix) which shows moderate associations between two attributes.


Aware in boiling Not Aware in boiling


Not Interested in

pure-it

0.49 0.34


Aware in boiling Not Aware in boiling


Not Interested in pure-it 0.49 0.34

0.05

0.25

0.45

0.65

CHANCES OF CUSTOMER'S AWARENESS LEVEL IN BOILING AND INTEREST LEVEL IN PURE-IT

INTE

REST

LEVE

L


aware in boiling are interested in pure-it, where as the chance is 49% of the respondents having


aware are not interested in pure-it. The cause of their interest in pure-it is that they perceive the

product as both time and money savers as well as they are influenced by our mass

communication programme. But the chance of their interest is not up to the mark, there is a little

chance that they are not interested. The main cause of not interest is people’s perception in

boiling, i.e. boiling is much better to remove harmful virus and bacteria than any purifier and

also they are not aware in taking new technology.

Thus increase the perception of people through advertisement and mass communication towards

the product technology, which kills harmful virus and bacteria and saves both time and money, is

the challenge of the company to convert the chances of not interest into interest in pure-it.

It is also seen from the table that the chance is 66% of the respondents having not aware in

boiling are interested in pure-it, where as the chance is 34% of the respondents having not aware

in boiling are not interested in pure-it. The main reason of their interest is that they do not believe

in boiling as it takes much time and money and also influenced by our mass communication . But

there is small chance that they are not interested. The main reason behind it is that they want to

remain in their traditional method of consuming drinking water without purify it or may using

other purifier or may not be economically well at that moment.

Thus increase mass communication about the product’s function and selling the product through

retail market are the main challenges of the company in this case.

c. Analysis of consumer’s awareness level in candle filtration process and interests in pure-it:

Again it is observed from the survey that people in locality of Dumdum Park, Baguiati and some

areas of Rajarhat and Narayanpur consume drinking water by using candle filter as they believe

on candle filtration process. But some of them believe that consumption of water through candle

filtration process is so much risky as candle itself is a home for germs. In order to prove the idea

that the awareness level of people in risky candle filtration process influences them to use water

purifier, a Chi-square test and contingency analysis have been done between awareness level of

people in filtration process and their interests in pure-it.

If H0 is assumed that the attributes, Awareness level in candle filtration system and Interest level

in pure-it, are independent then chi-square (χ2) becomes 1.92(Appendix) which is lower than the


tabulated value and contingency(C) is 0.16(Appendix) which shows moderate associations

between two attributes.


Aware in candle filter Not Aware in candle filter


Not Interested in

pure-it

0.49 0.32


Aware in candle filtration Not Aware in candle filtration


Not Interested in pure-it

0.49 0.320000000000003

0.050.150.250.350.450.550.650.75

CHANCES OF CUSTOMER'S AWARENESS LEVEL IN CANDLE FILTRATION AND INTEREST LEVEL IN

PURE-IT

INTE

REST

LEVE

L


aware in candle filtration system are interested in pure-it, where as the chance is 49% of the

respondents having aware are not interested in pure-it. The cause of their interest in pure-it is that

they perceive the product as both time and money savers as well as they are influenced by our

mass communication programme. But the chance of their interest is not up to the mark, there is a

little chance that they are not interested. The main cause of not interest is that they perceive that

the cost of candle filter is much lower than this product and also they are not aware in taking

new technology.


Thus increase the perception of people through advertisement and mass communication towards

the product technology, which kills harmful virus and bacteria and saves both time and money, is

the challenge of the company to convert the chances of not interest into interest in pure-it.

It is also seen from the table that the chance is 68% of the respondents having not aware in

candle filtration system are interested in pure-it, where as the chance is 32% of the respondents

having not aware in candle filtration system are not interested in pure-it. The main reason of their

interest is that they do not believe in candle filtration perceiving that candle filter does not give

cent percent impurities free water which pure-it, may influenced by our mass communication and

also for its affordable cost and valuable services. But there is small chance that they are not

interested. The main reason behind it is that they want to remain in their traditional method of

consuming drinking water without purify it or may using other purifier or may not be

economically well at that moment.

Thus increase mass communication about the product’s function, selling the product through

retail market, and giving any discount offer for promotional activity are the main challenges of

the company in this case.

5.2. LIMITATIONS OF THE ANALYSIS:


There are lots of limitations of this report as this is just a primary focus on the basic sales and

consumer perception and there is a lot of scope of improvement and further enhance the research

keeping this report as a base. The basic short comings of this report is mentioned as under –

1. Time constraints – There was a time constraints and this research is done only within a

time limit of 2 months. So it is just a brief study as vivid study is not possible.

2. Single city survey – Due to lack of time the research is done considering only a very

limited area (some busy places in Kolkata and North 24parganas).

3. Small sample size – This research is done considering the response of 70 sample

respondents which is considered to be very less to predict the consumer’s perception in a

large population.

4. Methodology – This is just a descriptive research and exploratory research could be done

on it which will prove to be more fruitful.

6.1. RECOMMENDATIONS:


1. Awareness – Company should look forward to the product awareness and give

advertisement as there is lack of awareness of HUL pure-it, people know basically as a

company of food brands, personal care brands and home care brands.

2. Retail booming – Retail market is booming now a day. So company should distribute

more of its purifier product to the retail markets which will not only increase product

sales but also enhance product awareness.

3. Market segmentation – It has been found that market of pure-it is not segmented well.

Therefore company should segment the market of its product well.

4. Call centre – As per selling and research on the product we found that there are few call

centers and helpline. So company should increase its help lines to give better services and

information to its customers.

5. Service centre – While survey it is found that customers are not satisfied with the after

sales service. According to their complaint no proper service is delivered to them after

sales of the product. It is recommended that company should look forward to open a

separate section of service centre for the product as it has a wide range of variations.

6. Providing offers – Provide discounts and promotional offers.

6.2. CONCLUSIONS:

Therefore it is observed from the study that many people are using boiling water as well as

candle filtration system. Though some are using water purifier but the amount is not up to the

mark. Even in this time where there is a huge crisis of water as well as people are getting unsafe

drinking water, they are not interested in water purifier.

It is also observed that in the market very well known water purifier is Aqua guard and Kent.

Very few people know about Pure-it. Therefore it is concluded from the study that Hindustan

Unilever, which has a brand image in the world, should increase relationship with customers

through mass communication, advertisement and setting up help lines and also make people

aware of the product as well as make them aware of water born diseases to achieve the top rank

position in the competitive market of water purifier

APPENDIX – 1


Questionnaire for Survey

Name

Age

Address

Number of family members

Children

Existing drinking water source Municipal water

Bore well

Canned water

Don’t know

How do you treat your drinking water Do nothing

Boiled water

Use candle filtered water

Use water purifier

What type of purifier do you use Electrical

Non electrical

Do you know that 80% of diseases in our country is water bound

Do you know boiled water is not necessarily safe water

Do you know that candle filtration of water can’t decontaminate the water

Will you be interested to know about Pure-it

APPENDIX – 2


1. Testing of Chi-square and Contingency based on the following data:

Observed frequency (O) –

Aware of diseases Not aware of diseases Total

Interested in pure-it 36 5 41

Not interested in pure-it 24 5 29

Total 60 10 70

Expected frequency (E) = (row total x column total)/group total


Interested in pure-it 35.14 5.86 41

Not interested in pure-it 24.86 4.14 29

Total 60 10 70

H0 (null hypo): the attributes are independent to each other

H1 (alternative hypo): the attributes are not independent to each other

χ 2=∑(O – E)²

E

¿(36−35.14)2

35.14+(24−24.86)2

24.86+(5−5.86)2

5.86+(5−4.14)2

4.14

= 0.355

Therefore at 5% level of significance the calculated value (0.355) is lower than the tabulated

value. Hence we accept the null hypo and may conclude that the attributes are independent.

C = √ χ 2

( χ 2+n)

= 0.071

Therefore it is concluded from contingency test that the associations are feeble association.




Aware in boiling Not aware in boiling Total



Total 35 35 70


Aware in boiling Not aware in boiling Total



Total 35 35 70

H0 (null hypo): The attributes are independent to each other

H1 (alternative hypo): The attributes are not independent to each other

χ 2=∑(O – E)²

E

¿(18−20.50)2

20.50+(17−14.50)2

14.50+(23−20.50)2

20.50+(12−14.50)2

14.50

= 1.472



C = √ χ 2

( χ 2+n)

= 0.144

Therefore it is concluded from contingency test that the associations are moderate association.




Aware in candle filter Not aware in candle filter Total



Total 39 31 70





Total 39 31 70

H0 (null hypo): the attributes are independent to each other

H1 (alternative hypo): the attributes are not independent to each other

χ 2=∑(O – E)²

E

¿(20−22.84)2

22.84+(19−16.16)2

16.16+(21−18.16)2

18.16+(10−12.84)2

12.84

= 1.924



C = √ χ 2

( χ 2+n)

= 0.164

Therefore it is concluded from contingency test that the associations are moderate association.


8.1. REFERNCE BOOKS:

1. Philip Kotler, Kevien Lane Keller, Abraham Koshy, Mithileshwar Jha

Marketing Management – A South Asian Perspective

PEARSON Prentice Hall Publication, ISBN

2. G.C.Beri

Marketing Research

Tata McGraw-Hill, ISBN

3. Naresh K. Malhotra

Markeitng Research – An Applied Orientation

PEARSON Prentice Hall Publication, ISBN

8.2. REFERNCE WEBSITES:

1. www.google.com

2. www.hul.com

3. www.customercomplaint.in

4. www.pureit.in

5. www.golakindia.com

http://www.golakindia.com/

http://www.pureit.in/

http://www.customercomplaint.in/

http://www.hul.com/

http://www.google.com/

Documents

Customer's Perception Regarding Water Purifier