CB_REPORT

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

Consumer Behavior Project Report Phase III & IV on

Study of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Submitted to Prof: Neena Sondhi By Group 8: Brand Baaja Baraat *

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Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

Acknowledgement We take great privilege to avail this opportunity to express our deep gratitude to all those who helped us and guided us throughout the project.The experience that we have gained during the project will help us in our future professional life. We extend our thanks to Prof. NeenaSondhi, our mentor for inspiration, constructive suggestions and affectionate guidance in our work without which it would have been very difficult for us to complete the project. We also want to thank the store personnel at Manyavar for their hearty cooperation.

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Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

Table of Contents: PHASE III 1. Internal factors / influences on product purchase……………………………5 a. b. c. d. e.

Perception………………………………………………………………………….. Learning & Memory……………………………………………………………….. Personality.…………………………………………………………………………. Attitudes & Influences Attitudes…………………………………………………... Self-Concept & Lifestyle…………………………………………………………...

2. Consumer decision making process………………………………………..11 a. b. c. d. e.

Problem Recognition………………………………………………………………. Information Search………………………………………………………………… Evaluation of Alternatives…………………………………………………………. Outlet Selection & Purchase……………………………………………………….. Post Purchase Dissonance…………………………………………………………..

3. Marketing implications…………………………………………………….15

PHASE IV 4. Marketing Strategy…………………………………………………………20 5. Retail Strategy……………………………………………………………...23 6. Advertising & Promotion Strategies for store……………………………...24 7. Needs to be targeted………………………………………………………..25 8. External Influences…………………………………………………………26 9. Internal Influences………………………………………………………….26 10.Principles & Perception & Learning……………………………………….27 11.Appendix……………………………………………………………………... a. Appendix A……………………………………………………………. b. Appendix B……………………………………………………………. c. Appendix C……………………………………………………………. d. Appendix D……………………………………………………………. 3

Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

Assumptions: 1. In phase 2, as it was difficult to identify the respondents exactly falling in the target segment i.e. grooms, we took interviews from those respondents who got married very recently (As they remember the entire purchase process of wedding apparel since it was recent) 2. However in phase 3, with reference to faculty mentor’s advice, we have excluded those respondents who got married more than a year before and included potential customers to wedding apparel (i.e. those who are probably getting married within a period of 6 months to 8 months) 3. Questions about Brand Perception are framed with the assumption; respondents do have perception about Manyavar, if they are aware of the Brand.

Limitations: 1. We have mailed the questionnaire to respondents as most of them stay in other cities. Though most of the questions are objective, we interviewed them over telephone and asked subjective questions to understand the context behind their each objective response.

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Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

INTERNAL FACTORS PURCHASE

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INFLUENCES

ON

PRODUCT

Perception: 

Free time activities:

In their free time, most of the respondents are found browsing internet followed by watching Television and spending time with family and friends. Reading Magazines and shopping are least considered among the list of activities they do in their free time. 

Lifestyle of the respondents:

Most of the respondents are found to have a very busy schedule i.e. on an average they are working for about 60 hrs a week. An interesting observation found in this context is that those respondents who have comparatively less hectic lifestyle and busy schedule do remember watching ads in television and internet more than those who have hectic lifestyle. 

Perception about Latest trends in Apparel:

Most common Consumer perception about latest trend in the apparel is when popular celebrity endorses the brand or when product placement is done in the movies where the star cast shown wearing the brand or when most of the friends or reference group wears that style of apparel. Apparel showcased in fashion shows are not considered as the recent trend to be followed in the apparel either because they don’t watch end the fashion shows or they don’t consider the ones showcased in fashion shows as the trend they could follow in their day to day life. But, when asked specifically about wedding apparel, they believe that new designs are showcased and aspire to buy that kind of apparel. 

Perception about wedding dress:

For most of the respondents, perception about wedding dress is it’s a life time memory and the importance to tradition in the selection dress is to be given. Though they believe, wedding dress they purchase should match their social status; personally they don’t believe it as a showcasing tool of their status. 

Impact of situational factors in the purchase of wedding apparel:

To understand the impact of situational factors in the decisions like purchase of wedding dress which couldn’t be postponed, we tried to understand the gap between the way consumers planned to buy wedding dress and how they actually bought it (This is for the respondents who made their wedding dress purchases).

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Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

Inferences from the responses (Those who made wedding dress purchase) are: 1. Though respondent planned to buy a wedding dress that is custom made for his fit and fascination, he ended up buying a wedding dress in the store suggested by his friends who got recently married. 2. The other respondent planned to evaluate all the options and choose the best for his wedding, yet he had directly been to the popular store in his store and bought the dress. 3. One respondent who have very hectic schedule felt that he could go to a mall as he could complete wedding purchase for the entire family – but finally purchased wedding dress in the exclusive store as he couldn’t find many designs in the mall. 4. Though respondents are having severe time crunch, busy schedules – in most cases no compromise is made in the purchase of wedding dress. They either invested much time in the store looking for more designs or moved to many stores. Insights from the respondents regarding the way they plan to buy the wedding dress provide an opportunity to draft innovative ways in the Marketing mix: Inferences from the responses of the potential customers: 1. Some of the respondents who are in the social class of upper middle class or above aspire to visit a designer or boutique or take experts advice in choosing the wedding dress as wedding is a life time moment. 2. Some respondents felt that the first preference for the store would be the one to which they had been earlier. The life time value of the customers who purchases for the first time with the store would generally be very high. Hence retaining them is very important. 

Context behind the color of the wedding dress:

Most of the respondents believe that there are some colors like white or cream which are to be preferred according to the tradition. Other respondents believe that it should match with the dress color of the bride. Some even felt though dress should match with bride’s dress color it should look good in the photographs.

Learning and Memory: 

Media Habits of the Respondents:

Considering the media habits of the respondents, most of them watch Movies followed by Sports and News channels. Some of the respondents do watch regional/ vernacular lifestyle shows but soaps and sitcoms are least viewed by the respondents. Majority of respondents didn’t remember that they watched commercials on the wedding apparel, before they planned for wedding. 6

Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar



Exposure to stimulus and Retrieval:

Most of the respondents recollect ads on Apparel on Billboards. Ads in Newspapers, Television, and Ads in Movie Theaters are also remembered by respondents but only next to bill boards or other out of home advertisements. Pamphlets on which advertisements on apparel are printed are least remembered by the respondents. We understood that most of the times respondents don’t even bother to see the ads on pamphlets, they just ignore them. 

Influencing factors on Influencers of Purchase decision:

From our observation of customers in the Manyavar store and from the inferences in phase 2, we understood that the major influencers in the selection of wedding dress are women (Groom’s mother / sister/ bride). Hence to understand their perception about good wedding dress, we asked the respondents about the possible influencing factors on their mother/ sister / bride (Whoever accompanied or expected to accompany the groom for the purchase of wedding dress). Most of the respondents told that the major influence is the reference group – as they observe and discuss the weddings of the friends and relatives. The interesting observation here is influence of reference group is high if the woman accompanied is mother or married sister. The second influencing factor found to be “Soaps like Balika Vadhu” as they watch them more often. If the woman accompanied is younger sister or bride, then the suggestion is given to the groom is based on the very own rationality of the woman. 

Preferred Criteria for Selective Exposure to stimuli:

To understand the perception of customers regarding the Men’s wedding collection commercial, we asked the respondents how they expect an ad for Men’s wedding collection to be. Most of the respondents are of the opinion it should be lifestyle based followed by portrayal of celebration of joy with friends, family and relatives. Few respondents felt that the commercial should portray a picture of fantasy. When asked about celebrity endorsement, respondents are not willing to just follow the celebrity as wedding apparel is high involvement purchase. When we suggested what is their opinion on the commercial in which presence of celebrity is shown in the lifestyle based theme – majority of respondents showed interest in it. 

Opinion of Respondents on Innovative ways of wedding dress selection:

Regarding the way consumers wished to buy or select their wedding dress - they wish stores would provide customization of color or design as per their wish but all this under the budget they planned for. Very few respondents showed in interest in the virtual platform to specify the design and color specifications and order the dress. Respondents are of the opinion that wedding dress could be chosen only when they wear it, feel it and select it. And most of the customers are not of the opinion that expert opinion would work in the selection of wedding dress. They feel that wedding dress is very personal and it should match their personality – and only they know if that particular dress is meant for them or not. 7

Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

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Influence of past experience – Impact of Episodic/ Flashbulb Memory:

Most of the respondents had been to wedding dress purchase of their elder siblings, cousins or friends. Hence they feel they are not naïve to purchase of the wedding dress.

Personality 

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Most of the respondents consider watch to be an indulgence, which is worn as a fashion accessory and an indicator of status symbol. Only two respondents attached a functional value to the watch and even they think that smart-phones have replaced the function of watches. The motive behind wearing a watch is the need of expression of one’s identity to others. Purchase of products like watch allow consumers to express an identity to others, because these have a symbolic meaning. Watches are worn to satisfy active, external motives. Cars are socially visible products. Most of the respondents prefer to stick to well known brands to avoid any chance of making a socially incorrect purchase. It shows that the motive behind purchase of a car stems from the desire of satisfying passive, internal motive. Coffee is associated with social drinking and it is considered as a means to spend time with friends. Spending time with loved ones is generally considered to be a stress buster. This helps you to reduce tension thus it satisfies the affective preservation motives. For some of them the product is synonymous with the brand (Nescafe-Coffee). Most of the people associate cricket with sport. People follow cricket religiously and it becomes difficult to change the perception of the people who associate a brand with the product.

Most of the respondents are more conscious about their appearance in front of their relatives as compared to their friends. Wedding is a social function so people would pay even more attention to their appearance.

Attitudes & Influencing Attitudes 

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Cognitive Component Cognitive component included customer beliefs on pricing, brand recognition, convenience, ambiance, quality, customer service, fashion trends, product offering and variety. Most respondents believe Manyavar is in the high end price bracket. Product quality and Variety offered is intermediate. Also Manyavar is rated intermediate on Latest Fashion Trends. Manyavar stores are highly rated in store ambiance, customer service and convenience. Behavioural Component

Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

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Respondents have favourable response to recommending Manyavar to friends and families for wedding purchase. Affective Component Affective components include feelings/emotions towards Manyavar. Respondents feel that being a men only store Manyavar fails to offer the desired variety of Sherwanis to choose from. The limited product variety though is of higher quality at the same time respondents feel that the offerings are value for money for the once in a life time occasion. Also respondents feel that while store location and customer service is good however the store ambience is not very pleasing

Self Concept & Lifestyle Self concept is composed of the attitudes you hold towards yourself. Some products play a very important part in an individual’s life and acquire substantial meaning that indicates important moments of that person’s self to others. This is the concept of Extended Self. The questionnaire responses give some interesting insights on the Self concept and Lifestyle of a Groom on the basis of the wedding day Sherwani that he is going to wear. These are: 1. The Sherwani caters to both the Ideal self-concept as well as Social self-concept of the groom. It can be seen from the analysis that majority of respondents consider their Sherwani to represent their identity that they want to have. Moreover almost everyone agrees that it distinguishes them from others and thus it also provides a very good feeling inside them. Dimension of Self Concept Private Self

Actual Self Concept

Ideal Self Concept

How I actually see myself

How I would like to see myself

Social Self

How others actually see me

How I would like others to see me

2. The majority of our responses pointed that the respondent were high on Interdependent Self-concept as the they believe the Sherwani to be a symbol of family, cultural and social ties they have. It is also an important part of their family tradition. 3. Almost everyone agreed that Sherwani that they will wear is irreplaceable. Thus they believe this is an integral part of them and forms their self-identity. So a Sherwani is a representation of memories and feelings. It is a product that has been acquired when the respondent is going through a major life transition. It is this peak experience with the product that it becomes a part of their Extended Self.

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Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

4. Many respondents agree to the fact that they don’t buy Sherwani because it is practical i.e. high on comfort or value for money but it is to please themselves and to show off in front of others.

From the Measurement scale for Self Concept, following are the attributes for a typical person that will form Manyavar’s target audience: o o o

A simple, modest and pleasant man who perceives himself rugged and dominating in nature. He is formal in his conduct and organized in his behaviour. He deems his actions as rational and thinking as liberal. He has matured and likes to indulge for his own happiness.

If Manyavar thinks for a brand ambassador it has to think on these lines whose self concept matches with the above description.

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Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS Problem Recognition 

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Most of the respondents had suits as another option for their wedding dress. However, they still remained with their choice of sherwani. The reasons for selecting a sherwani might be the factor of tradition and views of reference groups. From the data gathered after the survey, it was found that 9 out of 14 respondents did an extensive search for their final wedding dress. These respondents looked at more than 6 sherwanis to select the final one after evaluation. This states that buying a sherwani is a high involvement product for most of the people and they want to have the best product for themselves. The respondents did a lot of information search and evaluation before selecting the final one. The top three factors that the respondents selected as the reason for buying a sherwani in order were that the Sherwani was in trend (Thus the respondent wants to be up to date with all the latest trends and wants to wear have the one in trend), Wearing a sherwani for marriage was in the tradition of the house (Thus the respondent is collectivistic and follows family traditions), It was suggested by friends and/or relatives (thus the respondents wants to follow the views suggested by his reference groups).

The mean value obtained from the data is lowest for Style while it is the highest for Price. This suggests that the respondents pay more attention and give more importance to style and trends rather than the other 3 factors. This suggests that as it is a purchase that is High involvement and it’s more related to the happiness and life time memory of the

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Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

respondent, so they want to have the best feeling during that moment. It also reflects the point that it has more to do with the self concept and self feeling of the respondent.

Information Search & Evaluation of Alternatives: 

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The maximum number of people searched for information online on internet followed by television and billboards (marketing sources). This implies that the information was majorly external information and it was actively acquired. This is done since the respondents have a bounded rationality in the initial stage; they do further research to have a better understanding and knowledge. Also some of them responded that they consult their friends and relatives for information, i.e., personal contacts It was found that most of the respondents made a decision depending upon their memory of the products of which they remembered the attributes, followed by their past purchases when they came across a decision problem. Therefore the decision was based upon the internal information which was actively acquired. The most important attribute which the respondents considered while buying the wedding apparel was attributes/ features followed by advice from friends and relatives. Least importance was given to the time required for the purchase. Some of the respondents also mentioned that color and designs also played a major role in their decision making process When asked about their feeling/perception about marriage the respondents responded in a very emotional way, like “lifetime”, “happiness”, “eternity”, “memories”, “celebration” The highest influence for the respondents in buying the wedding apparel is their reference groups/ friends (personal sources) followed by their own choice. Very few respondents would take advice for selection from their family The respondents searched for information online majorly assuming that it provides more information that any other medium (conventional mediums), it’s convenient to search for information being at a single place, although they didn’t really believe in the credibility of the online reviews It was observed that most of the respondents visited the brand websites when they wanted to search information online regarding the wedding apparel, followed by forums & facebook Respondents did a lot of information search before buying the wedding apparel, since it’s a high involvement purchase, they did extensive search before finalizing on a particular brand/store/ apparel. They searched information about a number of stores, considered a good number of alternatives. Apart from the information search online, from peers or friends; the respondents visited the stores themselves before a decision. They took advice from their reference groups, Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

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but they also visited a number of shops before finalizing on particular wedding apparel. This is primarily an affective choice. The time spent for buying the wedding apparel was found to be quite high for most of the respondents, which was more than four hours. The purchase of wedding apparel is more of an attitude based purchase versus an attribute based purchase since it’s a one-time purchase and people look for the best looking, unique and differentiated wedding apparel While buying wedding apparel, almost all of the respondents perceived social risk as the highest expected risk which was followed by physical risk and effort risk. Instrumental motives are of more importance to the respondents than consummatory motives since the social risk is the highest perceived risk by them. India is more of a collectivistic culture and hence this rationale is justified. The most influential factor for buying a sherwani was emotional characteristics and cultural norms followed by rational thinking by applying rational choice theory Though the shopping for wedding apparel required lot of information search, time and effort, most of the respondents felt that there was a special feeling while they were shopping for wedding apparel, while few of them did say that it required a lot of effort Of the respondents interviewed, half of them had manyavar as top of the mind brand when asked for the brand they associate with wedding apparel, it implies that manyavar was not only in their consideration set but also in their evoked set

Outlet Selection and Purchase: 

Opinion on Store selection:

Most of the respondents preferred visiting exclusive wedding stores for men followed by visiting malls for purchasing the wedding dress. Very few expressed their interest to visit boutiques or a whole men’s apparel showroom (which is not exclusive for wedding apparel). As there would be more variety in colors and designs they preferred exclusive store for Men’s wedding apparel. Though mall is preferred to have comfortable shopping environment for them and for their family or friends who accompany them – they purchase only if they could get the one which they intend. 

In-store Factors that influence the wedding dress purchase:

Most of the respondents told that place of purchase (i.e. brand of the store) is important for them while making a wedding dress purchase along with the wedding dress itself (i.e. the design and color of the dress). In store display is also inferred as major influence in the purchase of wedding dress. Most of the respondents felt that though service level of the staff doesn’t influence the selection of store, it has influence on the purchase. Friendly and enthusiastic staff is considered to even influence or even convince the customers in 13

Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

purchasing their wedding dress. Discounts / sale are not even considered as they feel wedding dress has no compromise and the opinion about sale is that the stock is obsoletebuying of which is not even considered as an option 

In store Behavior of a consumer:

To understand the behavior of consumers in the store when buying a wedding dress, we asked the respondents what they first do once they enter the store of their choice. Majority of the respondents said they looked / will look at displays in the store. And definitely they are attracted towards mannequins but as the price points of the sherwanis are very high they don’t consider buying the designs on mannequins. Some of the respondents are not willing to ask the sales men which design is the latest trend – instead they tried to be knowledgeable or they felt they don’t wish to follow the crowd buying the popular one. This implies consumers aspired to wear unique apparel for their wedding. 

Opinion on wedding accessories purchase (Complements to wedding dress):

Majority of respondents felt that the perfect match between the apparel and accessories should be there; hence they prefer buying all the accessories in the same store where they buy their wedding dress though variety would be less or price would be bit high.

Post Purchase Dissonance 

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If we take the midpoint as 5 on a scale of 0-11, 7 respondents were satisfied with the performance of the sherwani. The satisfaction of these customers could be more linked to the happiness that they felt during the occasion. The satisfied customers could turn into committed as well as loyal customers. They may even suggest the product or brand to their close ones. However, 4 of the 12 respondents were not satisfied with the performance of the sherwani. This may be because the value that they obtained from the product was short of their expectations. As it is a high involvement product, the expectations of the customer are high and chances of post purchase dissonance are also on the higher side. The most common response obtained from the respondents is that they need more variety from the manufacturers. As it is a high involvement product, people would surely like to have a look at many samples before selecting the final one. As difficulty of choosing among the alternatives is related to post purchase dissonance, which in turn is related to the number of alternatives considered, this might even be the reason for Post Purchase Dissonance

Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

MARKETING IMPLICATIONS  From wedding dress purchase – as they buy it from where their friends suggest – WOM or Buzz marketing would work well. Also advertising heavily on social media and showing presence through some forums and events promoting interactive or user involvement would work.  Popularity of the store is also one of the major influencing factors. Hence promote the store locally instead of promoting it centrally as a brand. Though promoting brand wholly work in long term – as short term strategy, we have to promote it locally to be recognized as one among the popular stores in the city.  Perception among many customers about the exclusive stores is they could get wide variety in them – so this could be the USP for promotion.  Creating flashbulb memory or episodic memories is important as the future consumers of our product do visit the store to help their elder brothers/cousins purchase the wedding dress.  Media habits – Advertisements on Television can be to influence both the customer and the women who accompany him. And these ads if placed between soaps could promote the factor of Proximity. Also product placement in such ads would create subtle, unobtrusive memory in the minds of women who do influence the purchase.  From the lifestyle study of the respondents, we observed that they are very busy with hectic schedules and severe time crunch. Such respondents often involve in Ad avoidance either through Zapping or muting.  As most of the respondents do search online for latest designs – technology like virtual mirrors in the sites would help them choose which suits them better before directly visiting the store. Though customers don’t buy this way, this helps them in getting better idea about the designs that suit them before directly visiting the store.  Introduction of new product category for women and putting these stores next to each other would work as most of the customers shop men and women wedding apparel together and prefer malls for that reason. But having both men and women’s wedding collection in the same store may not work as exclusivity and attention is expected by the customers. This may even drag the attention of women who came to help the purchase of sherwani towards looking for women’s apparel.  Cognitive motives focus on persons need for being adaptively oriented towards the environment and achieving a sense of meaning. Affective motive deals with the need to reach satisfying feeling states and to achieve personal goals. Most of the purchases made by the respondents are made to satisfy the preservation oriented motives that emphasize the individual as striving to maintain equilibrium. Marketing of apparels must also be done to satisfy the preservation oriented motives. Hence the advertisement for wedding apparels must be done in such a way that after wearing the products from ‘Manyavar’ you get social approval. In the advertisements we must try to create perception of 15

Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

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‘Manyavar’ as being synonymous to wedding collection for men. If we are able to achieve that then it will be beneficial for the brand in the long run. The typical respondent is highly involved in family and family traditions. Also, he is the prime decision maker in his family. He also looks at Sherwani as an expression of status symbol and exclusivity. Also the respondents believe that Manyavar is a strong brand with premium quality products so to further reinforce the belief and elicit positive emotional response towards the brand, Manyavar a high involvement purchase needs to develop ads with high emotional appeal. Also, a Celebrity can be used to attract attention to the advertisement, for meeting the aspiration of respondents, and depicting brand personality by linking it up with appropriate celebrity personality. The communication that is sent out should focus on rational and liberal nature of their target segments. The target audience must have the same self concept as that of the brand ambassador. Indulgence is a common theme that should be focussed upon. Since most of the respondents had that traditional factor while purchasing a wedding dress, the company should focus their promotion and advertisement strategy on this point. The product promotion should be build around the point that it is a high involvement product and people would have a lot of memories attached to it. The company should be least focused on the point of price as it’s the least important attribute that a groom pays attention on and rather build the strategy upon the latest styles and trends which would reflect self-happiness, life time memory. Variety is an important factor for the groom to be and he needs a large number of options from which to choose from. Lesser the number of alternatives, greater the difficulty in selecting a final wedding dress. This may have 2 consequences: The person may leave the particular outlet to move to some other one This may lead to Post Purchase dissonance as selecting a product from a smaller basket of options may increase the chances of the customer being unhappy. Since the world is moving towards digital media, internet is become an integral part of every individual’s life. For the segment we are catering to, the youth under the age bracket of “25- 35” are generally tech savvy and use internet as one of the major sources for search of any information. This was also deduced from the interviews taken from the respondents. Although we inferred that the purchase is a high involvement purchase and buyers would like to have a look & feel of the apparel before buying, they would search for information regarding the apparel / brand /store online. It was also found the respondents did an extensive research on the category of wedding apparel before buying and the major sources of information search online were found to be brand website, followed by facebook and forums. Therefore we should try to advertise most of the advertisements on brand website. Social media like the facebook and forums Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

also play an important role and shouldn’t be ignored. These modes of communication are the most important ones to build a perception / attract the customer to the store  Since the look and feel of the wedding apparel is most important for a customer, the brand should leverage on that and not much on the features advantages and benefits (since it’s a onetime purchase). Affective component plays a major role and hence it should be portrayed highlighting the look, feel and designs.  Another most important inference is that consumers rely a lot on advice from their friends /reference groups (who might have recently purchased)/ Family or relatives. Therefore word of mouth advertising by this group will have the maximum impact since its wedding apparel which the most important apparel purchase in lifetime of a consumer and no one would like to take a risk in such a purchase which involves extended decision making and is a very high involvement purchase. WOM or buzz s very essential  The highest perceived risk by most of the respondents being social risk, followed by the physical risk, the advertisements should be designed in such a way that it appeals to a larger audience (should be highlighted in the communication). This should be done by designing the advertisement/ communication such a way that people believe the brand to be of high quality, having a great value & status. This will make consumers buy this brand, which will solve their issue of social risk. If the consumers perceive the brand is a strong & reputed brand in the society then the consumers will be willing to buy the brand

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Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

PHASE IV

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Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

Perception Maps: Perception Map# 1: Exclusivity (of designs) versus Price Price is mapped on X-axis, on a scale from left to right representing a range between low prices to high prices. Similarly Y-axis represents the scale from non-exclusivity to exclusivity. Brands like Manyavar; Van Heusen, South India Shopping mall is mapped on the perceptual map depending upon the perception of users.

Perception Map# 2: Variety versus Awareness Variety is mapped on X-axis for the brands Manyavar, Van Heusen, Raymond, from left to right. The scale on X-axis ranges from low variety to high variety. Similarly, Y-axis is mapped from top to bottom based on the level of awareness the consumers have regarding the brands.

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Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

Marketing Strategy: Depending on our understanding of above Perception maps, we developed the below Marketing Mix. Product  Offerings: Ethnic wear for Men, they design terrific collections to suit and enrich every occasion.  Modification: The brand should focus on providing more variety in terms of design since the groom looks for a large number of options to select from.  The latest trends should be kept for display and the varied range of colors of the Dupatta as the grooms would like to match the color of their Dupatta with the wedding dress of the Bride. Price  Since price is not an important attribute and the purchase of wedding dress is depicted as a symbol of replicating social status, price hardly makes a difference when it comes to buying a sherwani. Though some customers do fix a slab for wedding dress’ price, in most cases they don’t make a compromise in dress due to budget constraints.  As the wedding apparel is a one-time purchase and preserved as a life time memory, price of the sherwani does not matter a lot.  Discounts/ sale doesn’t work in case of Wedding apparel as customers aspire to buy new and exclusive designs. This is the scenario in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. Considering the socio economic conditions and raising aspirations of the customers in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities, we suggest Manyavar could offer sale just before the beginning of wedding season 20

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Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

in those cities. This could increase the reach of Manyavar and may change the perception as “Expensive” brand in the minds of those customers. Place  Manyavar is not just a brand, it is the most visible men’s wear brand present in the country. They are focused on opening 500+ exclusive brand outlets by the end of the next year.  As most of the respondents do search online for latest designs – technology like virtual mirrors in the sites would help them choose which suits them better before directly visiting the store. Though customers don’t buy this way, this helps them in getting better idea about the designs that suit them before directly visiting the store.  Exclusivity Program: Provide personal selling to the customers in the likes of celebrities, high-end customers. Interests and opinions of these celebrities can be taken and customized sherwanis be provided if needed. Designs made for celebrities can even be co-branded and sold in stores with the celebrity’s approval.  Place of sale for new category - Manya’s Collection: Manyavar is launching women’s wedding collection under the brand name of Manya. From our study, we understood that men wish to complete family shopping together but buy their wedding apparel in exclusive store. Hence, we suggest Manyavar and Manyavar should not be together in the same store, but they should be like twin stores next to each other or atleast in separate floors.

Promotion:  Celebrity Endorsement: Have a credible brand ambassador who has a simple, modest and pleasant personality, one who wants to indulge in happiness – Vijender Singh and Ranbir Kapoor.  Product Placement: To overcome the challenge of ad avoidance, as the customers are young, male and have busy and hectic lifestyle - create subtle unobtrusive exposure to brand by promoting product placement within entertainment media by paying consideration (example: In movies or daily soaps)  Print Media Promotion: The pictures should show the lifestyle and happiness and the color of the print ads should reflect the regality considering the product category according to Picture Superiority effect  Advertisements surrounding lifestyle concept: 1. According to Adaptation level theory, if promotion gets familiar to customers, it loses the ability to attract customers. Hence number of interesting and unique commercials around the theme of lifestyle based wedding would grab the attention of customers not only the influencers. Here, lifestyle based theme is suggested portraying the joy of celebration of the life time moment - wedding as we believe Operand conditioning would work well for this high involvement product. This should position 21

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Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

brand as an exclusive offering with an emotional appeal. Also the elements of tradition and status should be elicited subtly in such communication. 2. As Wedding dress is high involvement product and involvement of family (especially female members) is high air ads with the theme of family relationships in between daily soaps like “Balika Vadhu” (Hindi), “Kalavari Kodallu” (Telugu) etc.

3. Pulsing: Promotion of the brand on local Television channels repeatedly as popularity of the store locally is the major criteria for store selection.  Partnership Marketing: Tie-ups with Wedding planners to increase customer base of those who are busy and have high spending power. Here partnership is to promote the wedding planners among those customers who come to store. This Tie-up can also help in identifying the high-end customers – target segments for personal selling.  Event Based Promotions: Bollywood Style Weddings is a new and emerging concept wherein a Wedding Video type of film is prepared by professionals, becoming more and more elaborate, recording new games and invented by modern wedding planners. Manayvar can sponsor entire video recording for select customers through lucky draws. Sharing the recording compilation on Manayvar Facebook Community exhibiting glamour and fun ingredients planned with immaculate attention. This can help driving traffic to the facebook page and hence promoting Manayvar on social portals.  WOM/ Buzz Marketing: As selection of store for wedding dress purchase is done majorly from the suggestions given by the friends/ relatives who got recently married – creating buzz through

advertising heavily on social media and organizing some online events over some forums would increase brand familiarity.  Local Promotion: Popularity of the store is also one of the major influencing factors. Hence promote the store locally instead of promoting it centrally as a brand. Though promoting brand wholly work in long term – as short term strategy, we have to promote it locally to be recognized as one among the popular stores in the city. This can be done by placing repeated commercials in local channels and performing events like Mall Interventions if its store is in Mall in large cities.  Online promotion: To get the attention of online viewers we need to create quality content that triggers a strong response from the emotional, cognitive or primal areas of the brain. The company must create online viral advertisements which focus on making memories together and marriage is one of the most cherished events which must be enjoyed with friends and family.

Also use Behavioral targeting strategy to display Smart Ads in matrimonial sites etc.  Off-season Promotion: Customers may shop 2-3 months prior to wedding. The brands should realize this fact and start promoting their collections 3-4 months prior to the wedding season. This way the prospective grooms would be aware of the latest trends in the market. Promotions for this would include setting up billboards, new banners and posters of the new collection at various touch points. Billboards, banners and posters of new collection at various touch points.

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Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

RETAIL STRATEGY: A shopping style that puts particular emphasis on certain activities can be said as shopping orientation. To see whether Manyavar’s customers would pick other accessories while purchasing a Sherwani we studied their orientation. To see whether spillover sales is possible for our respondents we studied questions like how many samples generally a respondent look before selecting the final one and what do they look for first when they visit a store. From our questionnaire it is evident that a groom would search extensively for a Sherwani and generally likes to get information through salesperson and displays at the stores. So it is important to focus on affective components. These affective components include the store atmosphere, style and physical facility (i.e. cleanliness, shopping ease and attractiveness). A beautiful wedding store for groom shop can inspire and encourage a groom to fantasize about his wedding. While a wedding store must carry a wide array of merchandise to suit many styles and sizes, the décor of the shop is what attracts attention from the street and makes customers feel welcome while they look and try on dresses. Through incorporating gentle color, the latest looks and making the atmosphere relaxing, groom and their guests will have no trouble spending time and money in your shop. Customers will respond more favorably to your store when it has a distinct personality and a unique style. Manyavar is trying to create an upscale royal ambiance and have used furniture which projects this type of image. But the staircase of the store looks like an aberration on the overall ambience of the store. Some posters can be added along the walls. The more time people spend in store greater are the chances of them making the purchase. Most of the grooms are accompanied by the members of family or friends. While the groom is trying different designs the people accompanying them must be kept engaged. One of the easiest methods is to use music to engage them. During the store visit we observed that no music was played in the store. The store can play soft, romantic or popular songs based on wedding. This kind of music would blend with the theme of the store. Many studies have found that the odors can have a positive impact on the shopping experience, particularly if they are consistent with other aspects of the store. Manyavar can introduce air fresheners on a trial basis and take the feedback of the customers. If they receive positive feedback then they can continue to use them.

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Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

Store Layout: Unlike the big entrances typically seen for SouthEx stores, the entrance of the store is very narrow and the store is difficult to find in South Extension market. There should be a sign board that displays where Manyavar is located. Moreover, entrance to the store should be given more aesthetically pleasing and traditional look. Also, most grooms have answered in the questionnaire that they are generally accompanied by their extended family when buying the wedding sherwani, store doesn’t have adequate seating for all the members near the table where different Sherwanis are generally showcased to the families. There are big Sofas in the middle, but it generally seems for waiting purposes to see catalogues etc. Thus, it is suggested that the salesperson should have movable display hangers to carry number of sherwanis so that it can be showcased to the customer right at their sofas.

Internet as part of Multi Channel Strategy As evident from the response of most respondents, they are multi channel shoppers i.e. consumers who browse and/or purchase in more than one channel. In our product category initial information about the latest design and trends is collected from internet and the final purchase was made from physical stores. To make sure that shoppers who follow multi channel purchasing behavior do not migrate to other brands Manyavar needs to revamp its website to improve the user experience: 

The website has limited designs which are available for purchase. They must increase the number of designs which are on display on the website. They must incorporate extensive catalogue on the website even if all the designs cannot be purchased online to give customers an idea about the varieties available in the stores.

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They have recently added the feature ‘Aaina’ which is a virtual trial-room. But using this feature is tedious. They must make it more seamless and user friendly. The ‘upload’ feature is not very clear. Registering for such trivial feature should not be made compulsory.

Advertising & Promotion Strategies: From the insights obtained from our respondents in our survey, we found that style & trend are the most important factors when it comes to purchasing wedding apparel. The other important attributes that must be considered by a marketer are the comfort of the fabric as well as the tradition of the groom. As it is a once in a life-time purchase and there are a lot of memories associated with the occasion, a brand like Manyavar should try to exploit the emotional quotient of the target audience 24

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Medium of Communication 1. Print Media: a. Newspaper Ads: New collection at the store should be brought to the attention of potential customers through newspapers. As our target segment is a representative of tier 1 city and from our survey we found out that majority of respondents do remember the ads shown in the newspapers. (Hindustan Times) b. Brochures: Having brochures in store to display the latest trends and up-coming trends so that the grooms get an idea regarding the kind of wedding apparel he is interested in buying. From our respondents we found that variety as well as trend are the most important factors which the grooms consider while making a wedding apparel purchase c. Magazines: As majority of our respondents remember the advertisements shown in magazines, this is a good way to reach out to target customer. 2. Digital Media: a. Promotion of Brand Website: i. Behavioral targeting strategy: Depending upon the previous searches done by the customer, if they are related to the wedding apparel, there should be a pop-up which clicked would direct the customer to the brand web-site. Since we found that the information search is done to a great extent on brand websites b. Matrimonial Websites: Linking with matrimonial websites. Whenever a person would login to the matrimonial website they would be provided with options where in they could visit the brand website c. Online Forums: (Word of net) since online forums are biggest sources of advertisements and brand promotion Manyavar should focus on leveraging this advantage and reaching out to more customers. Intelligent designers should also be available for consulting prospective grooms, since an advice from expert will reduce the social risk. 3. Out of Home Advertising: a. Billboards: According to the analysis of survey with our respondents, we found that billboards grabbed the maximum attention of customer. b. Outdoor: Theme based advertisement or promotion strategy, this should be prominent during and before marriage season. Tagline: 1. Every Shaadi is witness to a thousand memories, MAKE THEM SPECIAL 2. Manyavar: We make marriage More special Needs To be targeted: 25

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Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

As the store is in tier 1 city and in a highly posh area, the customers who would be visiting the store would be high net worth individual belonging to SEC-A1. Their needs for wedding apparel are more focused on a symbol of status, lifestyle and exclusivity. As this is a high involvement and once in a life-time purchase the emotional quotient is high and people are very strongly bonded to the wedding apparel. The wedding day is perceived to be the most important day in a person’s life and thus having apparel that compliments that occasion is the most important requirement for an individual. Internal Influences: Most of the respondents are more conscious about their appearance in front of their relatives as compared to their friends. Wedding is a social function so people would pay even more attention to their appearance. From the analysis, most of the respondents want a sherwani that represent their identity. It is also believed that they feel that the sherwani distinguishes them from others and provides them a good feeling regarding them. The respondents felt that the sherwani would reflect their culture, family, social ties and tradition. Sherwani would be irreplaceable and representation of the memories and feelings according to the respondents. This would be a once in life time purchase and a high involvement purchase requiring extended decision making. India being a collectivist culture, the perceived social risk would be highest; and this is the inference from the analysis of the interviews from the respondents as well.

External Influences we considered: 1. Culture – Indian culture which considers wedding as a celebration with friends and relatives which is bound by tradition and values. Hence we are replicating the traditionally / culturally accepted forms through lifestyle based theme in our communication which portrays occasion of marriage with friends and relatives. 2. Social Class – As the store is located in the posh area of New Delhi, we are targeting the high end customers and the entire in store environment and locality are planned accordingly.

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Principles of perception and learning used: From Perception, we used principles of Selective Exposure, Zapping, Muting, Ad avoidance, Product Placement, Outdoor efforts, picture superiority effect, importance of color, Situational characteristics like time pressure, proximity. From Learning, we used principles of Operant conditioning, Message involvement, pulsing, dual coding, product positioning.

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APPENDICES Appendix A: Personality Types

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Respondent 1– The respondent is individualist in nature. He is brand conscious, dominating in nature and rational. The conduct of the respondent is very formal and low on emotional quotient. He wants to show his status through the things he uses and weeding would have a stamp of displaying the social standing.

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Respondent 2– He has a very pleasant and agreeable personality. He has excitable nature and does not give much importance to brands. He doesn’t give seek the opinion of the reference groups much.

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Respondent 3- The respondent is organized with calm personality. He is emotional and submissive in nature. He is more concerned about opinion of friends as compared to relatives. He is more traditional in nature. He seeks reliability in the products which buys.

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Respondent 4– He is confident person who is well organized, rational and mature. The respondent is more concerned about his appearance in front of his relatives as compared to appearance in front of friends.

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Respondent 5– He finds comfort in company of his friends. He is brand conscious and seeks value in the purchase. He has a pleasant personality who is organized, rational person. He is influenced by his friends.

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Respondent 6- He is influenced by celebrity endorsements for some products. Not very particular about brands, and seeks comfort over brand. More concerned about his appearance in front of friends as compared to relatives. He seeks value in purchase and emotional nature.

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Respondent 7- is influenced by lifestyle based advertisements. He has a dominating yet pleasant personality. He is a simple mature and organised person. He gives equal importance to his appearance in front of friends and relatives.

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Respondent 8- He is not very brand conscious and seeks functionality in the things which he uses. Is more influenced by advertisements which portrays the lifestyle. More Group-8 Brand Baaja Baraat- Section A

Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

concerned about appearance in front of relatives as compared to appearance in front of friends. He has a simple, mature and calm personality.

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Respondent 9– He would be influenced by the advertisements which focus on the emotional aspects of using the product. He is indulgent in nature and very conscious about his appearance in front friends as well as family. He has simple, liberal and pleasant personality.

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Respondent 10– He would be influenced by the portrayal of emotional connect in the advertisement. More concerned about appearance in front of friends. He has a simple, pleasant personality and is indulgent in nature yet seeks value in the products which he purchases.

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Respondent 11– he would be influenced by the grandeur or over the top advertising. He is more concerned bout the appearance in front of relatives. He has a dominant and excitable personality which suggests that he can influence decisions of people. He is rational and formal.

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Respondent 12– he would be more influenced by celebrity endorsements. He is aspirational and strives for a lifestyle of a globetrotter. He is concerned about the appearance in front of his relatives. He is a bit unorganized in nature and indulgent therefore may succumb to impulse purchase.

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Study Of Consumer Behavior: Men’s Wedding Collection at Manyavar

APPENDIX B:

APPENDIX C:

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