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7 A Comparative Study of Various Washing Machine Brands in the Context of Customer Awareness and Preference Lopamudra Ghosh* and Samta Jain* A Comparative Study of Various Washing Machine Brands in the Context of Customer Awareness and Preference The business world today is ruled by the customer. With the electronic tsunami, the modern day customer is more exposed to a plethora of brands and so are the retailers. In this world of prosumerism, a blend of producers and customers has become a must to capture the profits and remain competitive in the market. The study, thus, emphasizes the need to understand the parameters of customer awareness and preferences and their close relation with the preference of retailers to deal with brands in retail outlets. *Faculty Member, IBS, Hiranandani Knowledge Park, Powai, Mumbai 400076, India; and is the corresponding author. E-mail: g.lopamudra * Faculty Member, IBS, Hiranandani Knowledge Park, Powai, Mumbai 400076, India. E-mail: success_ensured Introduction Walmartization has led to the growth of consumerism. In todays world of experience economy, we see a massive revolution in the choices and preferences of Indian consumers. An increasing purchasing capacity of Indian consumers is the primary reason behind this change, but the craving need for authenticity of brands, also cannot be underestimated. Today, we are in an age of brand wars and customers awareness and preference have a major role to play in understanding the market and competitors. For many years, customers accepted what the company offered, but the time has come when companies must analyze what customers offer them. The new customer sensibility has given a new business imperative. Organizations must step in to learn, to understand, manage and excel in the production of goods and services based on the customers awareness and preference. We have to understand the concept of prosumersthe producing consumersand at the same time, understand the consumer controlled market-capture of a commodity or service. It is not an exaggeration to say that consumer is more than a king and is ruling innovation, invention and imagineering of plethora of goods and services present in the market. Companies are investing hard on getting into the minds 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved. The IUP Journal of Management Research, Vol. VIII, No. 8, 20098 of the consumers right from the point of creating awareness for the product to that of converting it to brand awareness. The research and development department is constructing its foundation of innovation management on consumers likes and dislikes and so are the retailers who are vigilant about the consumer awareness and preferences and are only selling those brands that perform high in terms of customer expectations. Purpose An organic system, in which the company works, must understand the decision sciences of the individual customer. An individual might not devise complete market potential, but he has influence to have it coded. We have come a long way to understand how place-making has replaced marketing and the retailers are being influenced to keep brands based on customer analysis. On reviewing literature in the area of retail, it is observed that although there have been a lot of studies dealing with customer awareness and preference, no substantial work has been done to find the impact of customer awareness and preference of an individual brand on the preference of retailers to deal with the respective brands in retail outlets. Keeping this in mind, the objective of this study is to analyze the impact of customer awareness and preference for the individual brand on the preference of a retailer to deal with the respective brands of washing machines in their outlets. In this study, a zonal analysis of customer awareness, customer preference and preference of retailers to keep different washing machine brands in their outlets has been conducted. The findings from this study can be used by washing machines manufacturing companies, as it will help them identify the relationship and importance of customer awareness and preference in determining the preference of outlets for their respective brands of washing machines. The study also benefits academia in terms of opening more directions in future research in this area. Literature Review In the past, there had been studies focusing on the relationship between channel members, which incorporates the manufacturer, wholesaler, dealer and the retailer. Gassenhimer et al. (1996) had focused on dealer manufacturer relationships and shown that the performance of manufacturer in terms of important marketing services has significant impact on the dealer manufacturer relationship. Innovative manufacturer performance in terms of competitive pricing, ordering methods, flexibility in terms of credit policies and continuity of products influence the dealer-manufacturer relationships. The other factors that influence the dealer-manufacturer relationship are logistic performance and boundary personnel. By reviewing literature, it is seen that trust among channel members plays an important role in maintaining good channel relationships. Ganeshan (1994) opined trust as an important aspect in retailer vendor framework. He depicted that trust has two components: credibility and benevolence. While credibility 9 A Comparative Study of Various Washing Machine Brands in the Context of Customer Awareness and Preference depends on the retailers belief in the vendors expertise to effectively and reliably execute the latters job, benevolence depends on the retailers belief in the vendors intentions and motives favorable to the retailer in situations where no commitment has been made. Ganesan (1994) had further added that in case of retailer vendor-relationship, trust has the quality to lessen the perceived risk attributed in the mind of a retailer towards the vendors opportunistic behavior. Zineldin and Jonnson (2000) cited Ellram (1991) and Zineldin (1998), by emphasizing on the importance of a long-term collaborative relationship. The authors stated a number of benefits of long-term collaborative relationships. One of the benefits elaborated was that the long-term suppliers give importance to the final customer needs. Thus, it is observed from literature that although a lot of studies focused on the importance of relationship between channel members and what influences a retailer to hold a particular manufacturers product, no substantial attention in literature has been given to other factors like customer awareness and preference that also have a significant influence on the choice of the retailer to stock a different brand. Hence, the objective of this study is to look into the relationship of preference of retailers to keep different brands in their outlets in terms of customer awareness and preference for the respective brands. Another objective of this study is to see whether the customer awareness, preference and preference of retailers to deal with respective brands is same in different zones that have been taken into consideration in this study. Hence, the following hypotheses are formulated: H1: Customer awareness of the brands is same across all zones. H2: Customer preference of the brands is same across all zones. H3: Preference of retailer to keep different brands in their respective outlets is same across all zones. Research Methodology The primary data is collected to conduct the study by means of a structured questionnaire. The data is collected via one-to-one interaction with respondents visiting retail outlets selling washing machines and the managers of the showrooms of five major cities in India. The cities are Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore. Delhi is considered zone 1, Mumbai zone 2, Hyderabad zone 3, Kolkata zone 4 and Bangalore as zone 5. A survey using structured questionnaire was administered on 160 showroom managers and 700 customers. In order to conduct the survey, two sets of questionnaires were prepared. One set was administered to customers that had questions related to customer awareness and preference and the other was administered to retailers that had questions related to retailer preference. The questionnaire also had demographic questions such as age, gender and regional information to check whether there was any demographic bias. The collected data was analyzed using Regression The IUP Journal of Management Research, Vol. VIII, No. 8, 200910 and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) module in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 13.0 version. Details of the analysis are given in the tables. In the first phase of the research paper, Regression Analysis gave the impact of customer awareness and preference on the preference of retailers to deal with the respective brands of washing machines in the retail outlets. In this study, we assume that outlets dealing with different brands are dependent on customer awareness and preference, and hence, we tried to predict the preference of retailers to deal with the respective brands in the retail outlets in terms of the values of independent variables (predictors), i.e., customer awareness and preference. In the second part of the research paper, ANOVA has been used to make a zonal analysis in terms of customer awareness, customer preference and preference of retailers for different brands of washing machines. Findings The data collected from different zones was run through a Regression Analysis. As customer awareness and preference are considered as independent variables and the preference of retailers to deal with respective brands in the retail outlets is considered as the dependent variable, we have tried to fit in a linear multiple regression equation for each zone that has been taken into consideration in the study. In the study, customer awareness, customer preference and outlets dealing in different zones are denoted by different variables. Table 1 depicts the variables in respective zones. Table 2: Regression Analysis of Zone 1Model Summary ModelRR2Adjusted R2 Std. Error of the Estimate 10.937a0.8770.7553.36387 Note: a Predictors: (Constant), CAP1, CAZ1. Table 1: Customer Awareness, Customer Preference and Outlets Dealing in Different Zones CustomerCustomerPreference of AwarenessPreferenceRetailers Zone 1CAZ1CAP1ODZ1 Zone 2CAZ2CAP2ODZ2 Zone 3CAZ3CAP3ODZ3 Zone 4CAZ4CAP4ODZ4 Zone 5CAZ5CAP5ODZ5 Zones Regression Analysis was initially done on the data collected from zone 1. Tables 2 and 3 present the results of Regression Analysis of zone 1. 11 A Comparative Study of Various Washing Machine Brands in the Context of Customer Awareness and Preference Table 3: Regression Analysis of Zone 1Coefficients PredictorsCoefficientsStandard Error (Constant)8.4408.082 CAZ10.1170.134 CAP10.6320.167 Here, the independent variables are customer awareness and customer preference and the dependent variable is preference of retailers to deal with the respective brand in retail outlets. Based on the above assumption, a linear regression equation was fitted in zone 1. In a regression analysis, the value of R-Square (R2) determines the power to predict a value of a dependent variable through two independent variables. In case of zone 1, the value of R2 was 0.871; which implied that 87.1% of the dependent variables could be predicted through the independent variables. In Regression Analysis, if the value of R2 is greater than or equal to 0.8, then that particular regression model is good for future values of dependent variables. In the case of zone 1, as the value of R2 is 0.871, which is greater than 0.8, the regression model for zone 1 is good for future prediction of dependent variables. If an equation is considered a straight line Y = A + BX1 + CX2, the term A will be called as the intercept term or simply the constant of the equation. Hence, the linear multiple regression of zone 1 would be like: Y = 8.440 + 0.117X1 + 0.632X2.(1) In the same manner, Regression Analysis was conducted on the other four zones. In the case of zone 2, Tables 4 and 5 depict the results of the Regression Analysis. Table 4: Regression Analysis of Zone 2Model Summary ModelRR2Adjusted R2 Std. Error of the Estimate 10.984a0.9680.9363.99055 Note: a Predictors: (Constant), CAP2, CAZ2. Table 5: Regression Analysis of Zone 2Coefficients PredictorsCoefficientsStandard Error (Constant)3.3293.557 CAZ20.6470.341 CAP20.2150.421 In the case of zone 2, the R2 was 0.968, which is greater than 0.8. Hence, the regression model for zone 2 is good for future prediction of dependent variables. As the value of R2 was 0.968, 96.8% of the dependent variables can be predicted through independent variables. The linear multiple regression of zone 2 would be: The IUP Journal of Management Research, Vol. VIII, No. 8, 200912 Table 6: Regression Analysis of Zone 3Model Summary ModelRR2Adjusted R2 Std. Error of the Estimate 10.943a0.8890.7786.73277 Note: a Predictors: (Constant), CAP3, CAZ3. Table 7: Regression Analysis of Zone 3Coefficients PredictorsCoefficientsStandard Error (Constant)4.3476.316 CAZ30.5750.990 CAP30.2211.317 Y = 3.329 + 0.647X1 + 0.215X2.(2) In the case of zone 3, Tables 6 and 7 show results of Regression Analysis. Here, R2 was 0.889, which is greater than 0.8. Hence, the regression model for zone 3 is good for future prediction of dependent variables. As the value of R2 was 0.889, 88.9% of the dependent variables could be predicted through independent variables. The linear multiple regression of zone 3 would be: Y = 4.347+ 0.575X1 + 0.221X2.(3) Table 9: Regression Analysis of Zone 4Coefficients PredictorsCoefficientsStandard Error (Constant)8.7525.254 CAZ40.5190.233 CAP40.2210.348 Table 8: Regression Analysis of Zone 4Model Summary ModelRR2Adjusted R2 Std. Error of the Estimate 10.960a0.9210.8414.38592 Note: a Predictors: (Constant), CAP4, CAZ4. In the case of zone 4, Tables 8 and 9 depict the results of the regression analysis. Here, R2 was 0.921, which is greater than 0.8. Hence, the regression model for zone 4 is good for future prediction of dependent variables. As the value of R2 was 0.921, 92.1% of the dependent variables could be predicted through the independent variables. The linear multiple regression of zone 4 would be: Y = 8.752+ 0.519X1 + 0.211X2.(4) In the case of zone 5, Tables 10 and 11 present the results of the regression analysis. Here, R2 was 0.891, which is greater than 0.8. Hence, the regression 13 A Comparative Study of Various Washing Machine Brands in the Context of Customer Awareness and Preference model for zone 5 is good for future prediction of dependent variables. As the value of R2 was 0.891, 89.1% of the dependent variables could be predicted through the independent variables. The linear multiple regression of zone 5 would be: Y = 0.545 + 0.991X1 + 0.070X2.(5) Table 10: Regression Analysis of Zone 5Model Summary ModelRR2Adjusted R2 Std. Error of the Estimate 10.944a0.8910.7825.65499 Note: a Predictors: (Constant), CAP5, CAZ5. In order to know whether the customer awareness, preference and preference of retailers for different brands are identical in the different zones, we proceeded with ANOVA. The analysis showed that customer awareness for the brand did not differ significantly among different zones, as the F-value was not significant both at 5% and 1% level. Hence, H1 was accepted. Table 12 shows the results of ANOVA conducted on customer awareness. Table 11: Regression Analysis of Zone 5Coefficients PredictorsCoefficientsStandard Error (Constant)0.5457.236 CAZ50.9910.550 CAP50.0700.415 Table 12: Customer Awareness Sum of SquaresdfMean SquareFSig. Between Groups1447.0144361.7541.4530.254 Within Groups4979.02620248.951 Total6426.04024 The analysis showed that customer preference for the brand did not differ significantly among the different zones, as the F-value was not significant both at 5% and 1% level. Hence, H2 was accepted. Table 13 shows the results of ANOVA conducted on customer preference. Table 13: Customer Preference Sum of SquaresdfMean SquareFSig. Between Groups21.35245.3380.0310.998 Within Groups3399.91920169.996 Total3421.27124 The analysis showed that the preference of retailers to deal with the respective brand in the retail outlets for the brand did not differ significantly among the different The IUP Journal of Management Research, Vol. VIII, No. 8, 200914 zones, as the F-value was not significant both at 5% and 1% level. Hence, H3 was accepted. Table 14 shows the results of ANOVA conducted on preference of retailers to deal with the respective brand in the retail outlets in different zones. On completion of Regression Analysis, it was observed that in the case of all the zones, the value of R2 was greater than 0.8. Hence, it was concluded that in all the zones the dependent variable which is the preference of retailers for different brands could be predicted through the independent variables customer awareness and customer preference. On completion of ANOVA, it was concluded that customer awareness, customer preference and outlets dealing with the brands of washing machines did not differ significantly from each other in different zones. So, it could be stated that customer awareness, preference and preference of retailers for different brands were identical in different zones. Areas of Future Research The study conducted has touched upon factors of customer preference and awareness, but it has not taken into consideration a holistic impact of other functional factors like dealer margins provided by manufacturers, ease of supply, location factors, timely payments, good after sale service and other such facilities to dealers. The study has laid a foundation to understand the existing relation between customer preference and different brands and the relationship between customer awareness and different brands the outlets