INTRODUCTION

Our project report is based on the consumer behavior towards toothpaste. In which we select the brand Close up that is the product of Unilever. Unilever is one of the world's greatest consumer goods companies. Unilever Pakistan Limited was established some fifty years ago in the then newly created Pakistan. The town of Rahim Yar Khan was the site chosen for setting up a vegetable oil factory in 1958 and that is where the first manufacturing facility was developed. Today, Unilever Pakistan is a force to reckon with. Its contribution to Pakistan's economic development cannot be overestimated. Now operating five factories at different locations around the country, the company contributes a significant proportion of the country's taxes. It employs a large number of local managers and workers. It provides a pool of well-trained and highly motivated manpower to other segments of the company and has introduced new and innovative technologies into the country. It is dedicated to great brands that help people look good, feel good and get more out of life. At the same time it's a company that tries to act responsibly towards its communities and the environment. The aim is to add vitality to life. It's a big ambition, but it's always been right at the heart of our business. Close-Up debuted in 1967 as a clear red gel with a spicy cinnamon taste and mouthwash right in the toothpaste. A unique brand identity was developed, with Close-Up positioned as the toothpaste that gives people confidence in those very up close and personal"situations.It strongly appealed to who consumers liked the idea of toothpaste that could give them fresh breath, white teeth and, subsequently, a little extra selfconfidence. Close-up is the first to combine toothpaste and mouthwash in one and not only freshens breath and whitens teeth, it also contains fluoride to help prevent cavities. That's the Close-Up feeling, the feeling of being your best!

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR:
Consumer behavior has been always of great interest to marketers. The knowledge of consumer behavior helps the marketer to understand how consumers think, feel and select from alternatives like products, brands and the like and how the consumers are influenced by their environment, the reference groups, family, and salespersons and so on. A consumers buying behavior is influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. Most of these factors are uncontrollable and beyond the hands of marketers but they have to be considered while trying to understand the complex behavior of the consumers. In this study, the researcher emphasizes the importance of lifestyle and its impact on the buyer behavior.

CONSUMER PERSONALITY FACTOR:

There are two factors mainly influencing the consumers for decision making: Risk aversion and innovativeness. Risk aversion is a measure of how much consumers need to be certain and sure of what they are purchasing (Donthu and Gilliland, 1996).Highly risk adverse consumers need to be very certain about what they are buying. Whereas less risk adverse consumers can tolerate some risk and uncertainty in their purchases. The second variable, innovativeness, is a global measure which captures the degree to which consumers are willing to take chances and experiment with new ways of doing things (Donthu and Gilliand, 1996).The shopping motivation literature is abound with various measures of individual characteristics (e.g., innovative, venturesome, cosmopolitan, variety seeking), therefore, innovativeness and risk aversion were included in this study to capture

several of these traits. Measures by Donthu and Gilliland (1996) were used to measure innovativeness and risk aversion.

PERCEPTION:
Perception is a mental process, whereby an individual selects data or information from the environment, organizes it and then draws significance or meaning from it.

PERCIEVED FIT:
Perceived fit is an attitudinal measure of how appropriate a certain channel of distribution is for a specific product .Morrison and Roberts (1998) found that consumers perception of the fit between a service/product and a channel is very influential in determining whether they will consider using that channel for a specific service. In fact, perceived fit was found to be more important than consumers preferences for the distribution method or service.

PRODUCT CLASS KNOWLEDGE:

Product class knowledge is a measure of consumers perceptions of how much they know about a specific class of products (eg.,cars)This type of measure is consistent with what Brucks(1985) called subjective knowledge, that is, consumers self-perceptions of knowledge levels. This is often contrasted with objective knowledge, which is what consumers actually know. Park and Lessing (1981) proposed that subjective knowledge provides a better understanding of consumers decision making processes because consumers level of confidence in their search and decision making behavior, independent of their objective knowledge.

PRODUCT TYPE:
Past research indicates that consumers purchase and channel decisions might be influenced by the type of product being investigated (Cox and Rich 1964:Lumpkin and Hawes 1985;Morrison and Roberts 1998:Papadopoulos 1980:Prasad 1975:Sheth 1983: Thompson 1971).In particular ,these authors state 29that certain products might be more

appropriate for one channel or another, which ultimately influences consumers channel preference and choice

QUALITY:
It is our aim to provide the best product for the consumer and we believe that if the products have quality the consumer will pay the price, says Amal pramanic, regional business director .Oral-B

PACKAGING:
Packaging establishes a direct link with the consumers at the point of purchase as it can very well change the perceptions they have for a particular brand. A product has to draw the attention of the consumers through an outstanding packaging design. Earlier packaging was considered only a container to put a product in, but today, research in to the right packaging is beginning at the product development stage itself. Packaging innovation has been at the heart of Daburs attempt to rap with the urban consumers. It spends large sums annually on packaging research.-We have been laying emphasis on aesthetics, shelf appeal and convenience for consumer says Deepak Manchandra, manager packaging development

PROMOTION:
The greatest challenge faced by companies today is holding and increasing their market share and value. This is always a strenuous exercise and one of the tools for the same is marketing. There is no specific game rule available for using these marketing tools .The reason is: each promotional tool has its own characteristics.

FAMILIARITY WITH CHANNEL:

Consumers familiarity with a channel is a measure of the general experience they have with purchasing products through specific channels (i.e.. catalog, internet, and bricks-and-mortar retailer). Through frequent use consumers should become accustomed to using the channel, which reduces their apprehension and anxiety in purchasing products through the channel.

BRAND AWARENESS:
According to Rossiter and Prey (1987), brand awareness precedes all other steps in the buying process. A brand attitude cannot be performed, unless a consumer is aware of the brand. In memory theory, brand awareness is positioned as a vital first step in building the bundle of associations which are attached to the brand in memory (Stokes, 1985).

FAMILY INFLUENCE:
A family exerts a complex influence on the behaviors of its members. Prior family influence research has focused on intergenerational rather than intergenerational influence in consumer renationalization. As has been compellingly demonstrated, parents influence children (Moore, Wilkie, and Lutz2002; Moschis1987).Yet, consumption domains clearly exist where sibling efforts may also be exerted.

SHOPPING MOTIVES:
Shopping motives are defined as consumers wants and needs as they relate to outlets at which to shop. Two groups of motives, functional and nonfunctional, have been proposed by Sheth (1983). Functional motives are associated with time, place, and possession needs and refer to rational aspects of channel choice. Whereas nonfunctional motives relate to social and emotional reasons for patronage. The functional motives included:

convenience, price comparison, merchandise assortment. The nonfunctional motives entail: recreation. The purpose of the study is:To examine the external factors influencing purchase decisions. To examine the consumer awareness of toothpaste. To find out how promotional schemes are influencing the consumers. To examine how the product attributes influencing the consumer buying toothpaste.

SCOPE OF STUDY
Identification of gaps in positioning stances. Identification of consumer perception and attitudes regarding oral hygiene.

OBJECTIVES
To study consumer buying habits in toothpastes. To study the various factor and identify important parameters for consumer acceptance. To plot popular toothpaste brands on the perceptual maps.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The responses can be biased, as some of the respondent may not have revealed the true pictures. The company officials also too tend to give biased answer, as they always wants to give arose picture of their company. The managers were reluctant to give information about the product. The sample was restricted to the some areas of Indore city only, I will have to rely upon the information given by respondents, which may not be fully true It is only for short period of time.

Lack of professional approach since researcher is a student.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research Design is the arrangement for conditioned for data collection & analysis of data in a manner that aims to combined relevance to research purpose with economy in procedure. A research design is a master plan or model for the conduct of formal investigation. It is blue print that is followed in completing study. The research conducted by me is a descriptive research. This is descriptive in nature because study is focused on fact finding investigation in a well structured form and is based on primary data.

SAMPLING:
Sample size for the research will be about 60 peoples of Indore City. Sample Size = 60 Peoples Sample Area = Customers of CLOSE UP, other peoples of Indore Duration = one (1) Month For hypothesis Z test will be used.

SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION

PRIMARY:
For my survey primary data data. have been used as a questionnaire to collect the

SECONDARY
The secondary date has been collected from the following modes:
Magazines Data through internet sources

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

Pie Diagrams Graphs

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The conclusion drawn on the basis of data analysis shall be presented along with the recommendations and suggestions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The sources of data collection will be: Books Company manual Website

QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: ______________________________

Gender: (a) Male (b) Female

(1)Age: (a) 15-25 (b) 25-35 (c) 35-45

(d) 45-55

(e) 55 above

(2)Occupation:

(a) Student

(b) housewife

(c) employee

(d) Other (specify) _____________

(3)Your living Location (Area)________________

(4)Your monthly income lies between:

(a) Below 5000

(b) 5000-10000

(c)10,000-15,000

(d) 15000-20000

(e) above 20,000

(5)Which toothpaste you use?

(a) Close up

(b) Colgate

(c) MacLeans

(d) Other (specify) _____________

(6)Are you brand conscious?

(a) Yes

(b) No

(7)You use it because of:

(a) Quality

(b) Price

(c) media attraction

(d) I am brand conscious

(8)Are you satisfied with the use of it?

(a) Yes

(b) No

(9)If no, why?

(a) High price

(b) quality dose not meet your standard

(c) Not easily available

(10)What makes you to buy and consume it?

(a) Quality

(b) Price

(c) Taste

(d) Availability

(e) Promotional offers

(11)Based on the quality what do you think of price?

(a) Expensive

(b) Fair and reasonable (c) Cheap

(12)Based on the price what do you think of quality?

(a) Good

(b) satisfactory

(c) not satisfactory

(13)Since how long you are using this brand?

(a) Less then a year

(b) 2 years

(c) More then 2 years

(14)How you get attracted towards it?

(a) T.V Advertisement

(b) Newspaper

(c) word of mouth

(d) Own experience

SYNOPSIS ON
BRAND PREFERENCE-CLOSE UP TOOTHPASTE

to be submitted by
PRATEEK PARSAI

under the guidance of

Prof. Arnav chowdhury

for the award of the degree of PGDM(2010-2012)

INDORE MANAGEMENT INSTITUE & RESEARCH CENTRE, INDORE(M.P)