CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Consumer behaviour studies in the Salon

service sector
Term 4
2015-2017

Group
Banala Sai Siva Prasad (15F513)
Debpratim Sarkar (15F516)
Poulomi Roy (15F534)
Praveen Kumar Singh Balendra(15F536)
Sushmitha Shankar (15F555)

Background
The beauty and wellness industry has come a long way and gained acceptance
among the masses which earlier catered to a niche segment. Consumers today want
to take control of how they look and feel, and this is driving purchase decisions
across categories such as food, beverages, personal care products and services. In
response to this, marketers have launched products and services that today
constitute the 590 billion INR wellness market in India. Apart from this organised
segment, there also exists a huge unorganised sector which comprises the local
players. The local players continue to thrive in the market despite the change in
aspirations and behaviour of the consumers.
Given this market situation, and considering the advanced lifestyle changes, increase
in disposable income of consumers and the time poverty faced by them, it is still a
matter of study as to why and how consumers choose to avail the services of
branded and/or unbranded salons.

Objective
To analyse consumer behaviour while availing salon services in both organised and
unorganised sectors.

Approach to the problem

The analysis would be focused on 2 segmentsI.
II.

Key players in the organised market, and

Local players in the unorganised market

The theoretical model used to capture consumer behaviour is schematically

represented below:

Need Arousal and Recognition

Consumer Information processing
Brand evaluation
Purchase Decision
Post Purchase evaluation
The parameters that would be covered in each of the above mentioned phases
follow:
Phase 1: Need arousal and recognition

What are the internal and external factors that motivate and drive a consumer
to a particular salon?
What are the core (driven by utilitarian needs), accessory and psychological
benefits (driven by hedonic needs) sought by a consumer while availing salon
services?
How are the benefits sought associated with the brand attitudes of the key
players?

Phase 2: Consumer information processing

What are the stimuli that draw the consumers attention with respect to the
salon services sector?
How involved is the customer during the whole process of choosing and
availing a salon service?
What are the differences in consumer perceptions of the services offered by
the branded and local salons?
What information do the consumers seek and how do they access such
information before choosing a salon service?

Phase 3: Brand evaluation

What are the criteria on which a particular salon service brand is evaluated?
Is the brand evaluation done before or after the consumption of service?

Phase 4: Purchase

What are the probable reasons that would encourage or prevent a consumer
from availing a particular service from a particular salon?

Phase 5: Post-purchase evaluation

What are the most important factors that contribute to customer satisfaction in
the salon service availed?
What are the expectations of a consumer from a salon visit and are there any
gaps in meeting such expectations?

Research Design

Secondary research:
An industry analysis would be carried out to identify the key players in
the orgnaised sector. Next, local players from the unorganised market
would be identified across Manipal and Udupi.
A literature review will be done for the Indian geography to understand
the consumer behaviour trends in the salon service sector.

Primary research:
The exploratory research would begin with two FGDs involving
respondents from relevant demographies.

 Observation and in-depth interviews of customers availing grooming

services in both branded and local salons.

Scope and Limitations

Due to logistics and geographical constraints, the scope of this project is limited to
Mangalore, Manipal and Udupi.