A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF ADVERTISEMENT AND SALES PROMOTION OF CUSTOMER PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR AT THE CHENNAI SILKS ERODE

G. Arumugasamy, Associate Professor & Head in Management Studies, Ponjesly College of Engineering, Nagercoil-629 003, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu. Email: g.arumugasamy@ymail.com., Mobile: 9865903410.

ABSTRACT Advertising is defined as any paid form of non personal communication about an organization, product, service, or idea by an identified sponsor. This study helps to improve the effect of advertisement and sales promotion of customer purchasing behaviour at the Chennai silks erode, and to give suggestions to improve the advertisement to achieve their goals in better way. The present study with the following objectives, to study the effect of advertisement and sales promotion on purchasing behaviour of customers, to find out the qualities that the customers expect for a good advertisement in various media, to find out how advertisement and sales promotion induce the customers to buy in The Chennai Silks, to find out how far advertisement and sales promotion retains the customers. The data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The boundary of study is Erode. The simple random sampling technique was employed in the selection of the sample. The number of items selected from the population constitutes the sample size. The study covers the customers in the town of Erode. Total sample size for the study is 300. The simple random sampling technique was employed in the selection of the sample. The data has been mainly analyzed by using the following methods and tests. Chi-square Test, Correlation Analysis Cross tabulation and percentage method supplemented by appropriate charts. This study concluded that Chennai Silks has a major market share when compared to its competitors. However customers have pointed out some positive and negative points regarding the advertisement and sales promotion placed by The Chennai Silks. Greater awareness is created through the broadcast media namely TV and Radio. Most of the customers purchase in The Chennai Silks since they offer good quality products and they render good service. While considering this, the part of the advertisement seems to be low. But in reality, the advertisement and the sales promotional tools offered by them are highly worthy and useful and make the customer loyal.

INTRODUCTION Advertising is defined as any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization, product, service, or idea by an identified sponsor. The paid aspect of this definition reflects the fact that the space or time for an advertising message generally must be bought. An occasional to this is the Public Service Announcement (PSA), whose advertising space or time is donated by the media. The non-personal component means that advertising involves mass media (e.g. TV, radio, magazines, and newspapers) that can transmit a message to large groups of individuals, often at the same time. The non-personal nature of advertising means that there is generally no opportunity for immediate feedback from the message recipient (except in direct response advertising). Therefore, before the message is sent, the advertiser must consider how the audience will interpret and respond to it. Sales promotion is generally defined as those marketing activities that provide extra value or incentives to the sales force, the distributors, or the ultimate consumer and can stimulate immediate sales. Sales promotion is generally broken into two major categories: Consumer- oriented and Trade oriented activities. Consumer-oriented sales promotion is targeted to the ultimate user of a product or service and includes coupon, sampling, premiums, rebates, contests, sweepstakes, and various point-of-purchase materials. These promotional tools encourage consumers to make an immediate purchase and thus can stimulate short term sales. Trade-oriented sales promotion is targeted towards marketing intermediaries such as wholesalers, distributors, and retailers. Promotional and merchandising allowances, price deals, sales contests, and trade shows are some of the promotional tools used to encourage the trade to stock and promote a companys products.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY To study the effect of advertisement and sales promotion on purchasing behaviour of customers. To find out the qualities that the customers expect for a good advertisement in various media. To find out how advertisement and sales promotion induce the customers to buy in the Chennai Silks. To find out how far advertisement and sales promotion retains the customers .

DATA AND METHODOLOGY The simple random sampling technique was employed in the selection of the sample. Sample Size: The number of items selected from the population constitutes the sample size. The study covers the customers in the town of Erode. Total sample size for the study is 300.

Sources of Data: The data that is collected for the first time is said to be the Primary Data. For this research purpose, the researcher has employed questionnaire to collect the survey from the samples. Secondary Data are those that are collected by some other person and used by some other for other purposes. In this research the researcher has gathered secondary data from, Office Record, Workers Information, and Online Information. Magazines & News paper

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION Table - 1 Age of the Respondent Age Group Less than 20 20 - 30 31 - 40 41 & above Total Source: Primary Data Inference: Out of 300 respondents surveyed, 41% of the respondents belong to the age group of 20 31, 24.3% of the respondents belong to the age group of 31 40, 18% of the respondents belong to the age group of less than 20 years and 16.7% of the respondents belong to the age group of above 41 years. Majority of the respondents belong to age group of 20 30 years. Frequency 54 123 73 50 300 Percentage 18.0 41.0 24.3 16.7 100.0

Table - 2 Gender of the Respondent Gender Male Female Total Source: Primary Data Inference: Out of 300 respondents surveyed, 60.7% of the respondents belong to the gender of male and 39.3% of the respondents belong to the gender of female. Majority of the respondents belong to male gender. Frequency 182 118 300 Percentage 60.7 39.3 100.0

Table - 3 Marital Status of the Respondent Marital Status Married Unmarried Total Source: Primary Data Inference: Out of 300 respondents surveyed, 54.7% of the respondents belong to the married category and 45.3% of the respondents belong to the unmarried category. Majority of the respondents belong to married category. Frequency 164 136 300 Percentage 54.7 45.3 100.0

Table - 4 Occupation of the Respondent Occupation Government Employee Business Professional Private Employee Agriculture Student House Wife Others Total Missing Total Source: Primary Data Inference: Out of 300 respondents surveyed, 28% of the respondents are students, 22 are private employees, 14 % are business people, 12.7% are housewives, 10% are agriculturists, 7% are government employees, 4.7% are professional and 3% of the respondents belong to other category (retired employees).Majority of the respondents belong to student category. Frequency 21 42 14 66 30 84 38 3 298 2 300 Percentage 7.0 14.0 4.7 22.0 10.0 28.0 12.7 1.0 99.3 0.7 100.0

Table - 5 Have the respondent come across the advertisement of The Chennai Silks Respondent Yes No Total Source: Primary Data Inference: From the above table it is clear that the maximum respondents are aware of the advertisements of The Chennai Silks. i.e., 98.7% are aware and only 1.3% of the respondents are not aware of. Frequency 296 4 300 Percentage 98.7 1.3 100.0

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION The respondents feel that the Company Image with 3.96 as mean is the most important feature, then comes Reminding with 3.79 as mean, then followed by Attractiveness with 3.71 as mean values. The respondents feel that the Length of Advertisement with 2.85 as mean is the most important feature, then comes Visual & Audio with 2.42 as mean values. The respondents feel that the Detailed Information with 2.63 as mean is the most important feature, then comes Voice with 2.49 as mean values. The respondents feel that the Paper Quality with 2.78 as mean is the most important feature, then comes Layout with 2.66 as mean values. From the 300 respondents surveyed 199 respondents are regular customers of the Chennai Silks and 101 respondents are not. These regular customers inform others if new gifts and offers are given by the Chennai Silks and they also influence others to purchase in The Chennai Silks. There is close relationship between the age of the respondents and the influence of advertisement and gifts in purchasing materials in The Chennai Silks. There is no significant relationship between the gender of the respondents and the influence of advertisement and gifts in purchasing materials in The Chennai Silks. There is close relationship between the marital status of the respondents and the influence of advertisement and gifts in purchasing materials in The Chennai Silks. There is no significant relationship between the age group of the respondents and their opinion about the advertisement and sales promotion of The Chennai Silks. There is no significant relationship between the gender of the respondents and their opinion about the advertisement and sales promotion of The Chennai Silks. There is close relationship between the marital status of the respondents and their opinion about the advertisement and sales promotion of The Chennai Silks. There is no significant relationship between the age of the respondents and their opinion about the advertisement and sales promotion of The Chennai Silks when compared with the competitors. There is no significant relationship between the gender of the respondents and their opinion about the advertisement and sales promotion of The Chennai Silks when compared with the competitors.

 There is no significant relationship between the age of the respondents and their opinion about the advertisement and sales promotion of The Chennai Silks when compared with the competitors. There is no significant relationship between the age of the respondents and their influence on others to purchase in The Chennai Silks. There is close relationship between the gender of the respondents and their influence on others to purchase in The Chennai Silks. There is no significant relationship between the marital status of the respondents and their influence on others to purchase in The Chennai Silks. There is less negative correlation between the respondents awareness about the advertisement of The Chennai Silks and the years of being a regular customer of The Chennai Silks. There is less negative correlation between the influence of the advertisement and sales promotion of The Chennai Silks and the years of being a regular customer of The Chennai Silks. There is less negative correlation between the respondents opinion about the advertisement and sales promotion of The Chennai Silks and the number of years of being a regular customer of The Chennai Silks. There is less negative correlation between the influence of the advertisement and gifts of The Chennai Silks on the respondent and the purchasing method of the respondent on seeing the models of The Chennai Silks. From the above analysis the maximum respondents are regular customers of The Chennai Silks. That is because of the quality of the materials given by the company and also the advertisements and sales promotion given by them.

CONCLUSION The Chennai Silks has a major market share when compared to its competitors. However customers have pointed out some positive and negative points regarding the advertisement and sales promotion placed by The Chennai Silks. Greater awareness is created through the broadcast media namely TV and Radio. Even though the company offers more and useful gifts and cards to the customers, they may offer other special gifts to their regular customers, so that the regular customers will feel happy in purchasing there. In addition, it will induce the non-buyers of The Chennai Silks to buy there. Most of the customers

purchase in The Chennai Silks since they offer good quality products and they render good

service. While considering this, the part of the advertisement seems to be low. But in reality, the advertisement and the sales promotional tools offered by them are highly worthy and useful and make the customer loyal.

REFERENCES 1. Donald R. Cooper & Pamela S. Schindler, Business Research Methods 9th Edition. 2. George E. Belch & Michael A. Belch, Advertising and Promotion an integrated marketing communications perspective 6th Edition. 3. Richard I. Levin & David S. Rubin, Statistics for Management 7th Edition. 4. R.S.N. Pillai & Bagavathi, Modern Marketing Principles and Practices, 3 rd Revised and Enlarged Edition.

Web Reference www.chennaisilks.com