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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR : LADDERING STUDY ASSIGNMENT

Interview Place: Central Bank of India, Cantonment Branch, Tiruchirappalli.

Respondent: Mr. P. Jayashankar, Senior Manager, Trichy Cantonment Branch.
Profile of the Respondent: The Profile of the respondent is stated below
Demographics:

1) Age: 45-50 Years

2) Gender: Male
3) Income Group: High Income Group.

Psychographics:

1) Very calm and polite persona.

2) Gets recommendations from friend circle, family and
online platforms.
3) Family centric person.
4) Likes to get a good deal while purchasing a product.

Buying Habits:

1) Not a fast moving buyer.

2) Spends lot of time discussing with friends and family
and checking online reviews before buying a product.
3) Uses mobile phone for communications and latest
apps.

Products:

(1) Apple iPhone 6, (2) Raymonds Apparel

Interview:
Interview on Apple iPhone 6:
Me:

What do you like most about your Apple iPhone 6?

Respondent:

Its design, great call quality, outstanding display, superb camera quality
and last but not the least Apples app store.

Me:

Why these factors are important for you?

Respondent:

To communicate with my friends, family members and other branches of

the bank hassle-free, be aware of the news about Indian banking industry
and other news which are happening around the world.

Me:

What purposes do these serve for you?

Respondent:

To call or message my friends and family in the time of need. To tell the
latest banking news to my staffs and colleagues and connect socially with
my friends.

Me:

What will be the purpose of telling your staffs and colleagues and socially
connecting with your friends will serve for you?

Respondent:

Telling to my staffs and colleagues about the banking worlds news and
facts will bring respect in their eyes and it will also help me to be ahead of
my competitors in case of promotions in the bank. And to be on the social
platforms nowadays has become a necessity of life. All of my friends are

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR : LADDERING STUDY ASSIGNMENT

on social network platforms so being on these platforms and staying

updated about this makes me more socially accepted in my friend circle.

Means End Value Chain for the Interview on Apple iPhone 6:

Attribute

Superbly stylish
design.
Crystal clear
call quality.
Great camera
quality.
Diverse Apple
app store.

Functional
Consequences

Psychosocial
Consequences

Communicate

with family
members and
friends.
Get the news of
banking sector
and other news.

Telling the

interesting news
in the friend
circle.

Telling the
banking sector
related news to
staffs and
colleagues.
Connect
socially with
friend circle.

Value

To feel confident.
To be ahead of
the competitors.
To be more
socially
acceptable in the
friend circle.

Interview on Raymonds office apparel:

Me:

Do you always use Raymonds office apparel? What are the primary
reasons for it.?

Respondent:

Yes, most of the time. Mostly because it is a well-known brand and it is of

excellent quality, loads of colour and fabric options, customised tailoring.

Me:

Why these aspects are important for you to buy Raymonds office
apparel?

Respondent:

Being the branch manager, I should look perfect and unique in office
apparel. Besides that, the fabrics are very comfortable to wear for even 1012 hours.

Me:

Why do looking perfect and unique is important for you?

Respondent:

Because in my branch, I am the main person who brings the new

business which is new investments for our branch. So, it is very important
for me to look sharp in front of my clients.

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR : LADDERING STUDY ASSIGNMENT

Me:

Ok. So are there any farfetched consequences of looking sharp and

formal in office apparel?

Respondent:

Yes obviously. It makes me feel comfortable and confident as well as it

indirectly brings respect among my colleagues and my clients.

Means End Value Chain for the Interview on Raymonds Office Apparel:

Functional
Consequences

Attribute

Well Known
brand.
Excellent fabric
quality and
comfort.
Lot of choices
to pick from.
Customised
tailoring.

To look good

and smart in
office apparel.
Feel
comfortable in
wearing the
apparels in long
office hours.

Psychosocial
Consequences

To face clients
and bring new
investments for
the branch.

Value

To feel confident
at the same time
comfortable.
To get the respect
from colleagues
as well as clients.

My Insights and Experiences about doing the laddering studies:

My insights and experiences about doing the laddering study are listed below:
1) It is a very important technique to gauge the reasons for certain preferences and
behaviours of consumers towards a particular product or brand.
2) It brings out broad explorations about a product or a particular brand without the bias
of predefined notion.
3) It step by step reveals the ultimate value a product or a brand provides to a customer
starting from the product or brands attributes to finally revealing its value.
4) In my personal view, laddering technique may sometimes be a bit boring for the
participant as the interviewer repeatedly asks why questions and sometimes
participants may not know the actual answer for a why question. This has happened
for the interview of the second product which was recorded by me.
5) Conducting a formal laddering exercise is quite weird and difficult. As for my case, I
did not formally arrange the interview. When I went to the Central Bank of India,
Cantonment Branch to submit some documents regarding my educational loan to the
branch manager, I tactically asked him laddering questions about his Apple iPhone 6
and his worn Raymonds Colour-Plus apparel.
6) I feel that laddering technique is perfect for some products or some brands but for
some other products or brands, the answers of the layering questions may overlap

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with each other. So, for some products or brands the distinctiveness of the answers
for each of the laddering questions may not be possible.