Whats for dinner?

How
are these decisions
taken?
Submitted by:
Group 8
Aarsha Nandakumar(FT173001) | Abhinav Bhatnagar (FT173003) | Amar
Karam Chandani (FT173011) | Anjali Chandra (FT173012) | Sahil Verma
(FT173076) | Ujjwal Gupta (FT172096)
Consumer Behaviour

Jan 10, 2017

Group Assignment - II

Table of Contents
1. Introduction....................................................................................................... 2
2. Methodology Adopted...................................................................................... 2
3. Analysis of the Interviews...............................................................................3
4. Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 4
5. Appendix............................................................................................................ 5
5.1

Questionnaire.............................................................................................. 5

5.2

Questionnaire Responses.........................................................................6

5.2.1

Respondent 1.............................................................................................. 6

5.2.2

Respondent 2.............................................................................................. 6

5.2.3

Respondent 3.............................................................................................. 7

5.2.4

Respondent 4.............................................................................................. 7

5.2.5

Respondent 5.............................................................................................. 8

5.2.6

Respondent 6.............................................................................................. 8

1.Introduction
In the study of consumer behavior, family is always considered as an important unit of
decision making. Decision-making within families today is almost entirely collaborative and
as every individual become more influential, they all impact purchasing decisions. As the
adage goes, you are what you eat. This is especially true when it comes to the food choices
people make, which are influenced by a wide variety of external and internal factors that
may have little to do with the food itself. Consciously or unconsciously, individuals choose
particular foods over others. According to research six factors significantly influence these
choices- taste, family size, marketing & advertising, culture, health & economic status.
Earlier the bread earner or the head of the family usually made decisions in every type of
consumptions. But due to considerable increase in disposable income and education,
increase in media reach, heavy consumerism, overall globalization impact, the trend of
decision making by head of the family has seen a shift. The paradigm shifts lead to shift in
the beliefs, values and behaviors of the consumers.
Therefore, it has become very important for the advertising and marketing personnel to not
only target the elderly and women but also the kids in selling its products and services. This
is not only because of the influence they have on their parents spending, but also because
they are going to be adult consumers of the future. Their childhood consumption pattern can
lead to determine their purchasing behavior in future. The traditions started during
childhood continue into adulthood. Buying behavior of consumer can be dependent on
various factors such as the typical life cycle of traditional and non-traditional household. The
consumption in a whole life cycle of a household changes with time.

2.Methodology Adopted
For purpose of the study of determining the behavior of people of making decisions for
dinner and other related activities, we conducted interviews of people belonging to various
different families. For this study, the people whose interviews were taken belonged to 3-6
people in the family.
During the interview, we asked them questions like how the decision is taken for what to
cook in dinner, what are the different aspects that are taken into consideration while taking
this decision, who are the major influencers while taking this decision. We, also, asked them
question like how often they go out and have food or order food from restaurant, what is the
frequency of such outings, who decided when and which place to go. For the purpose of this
study, we, also, asked them questions to determine past behavior regarding such decisions,
for example, how is the current process different from one adopted 10-15 years back. This is
to determine how a family lifecycle have influence over making these decisions.
Thus, overall, we can classify the questions under following different categories:

D iff e re n t Ty p e s o f Q u e stio n s

Nature of Influences

About the Decision

Considered Factors

Decision's Life Cycle

The questionnaire along with their responses from every respondent have been recorded
and are attached in the appendix. Please refer Appendix (A) for the questionnaire and
Appendix (B) for individual responses from different respondents.

3.Analysis of the Interviews

Based on the interviews it was found that it is the mother who made the decision of what
had to be made for dinner while keeping in mind the preferences the kids and other family
members wanted to have. It was also found that childrens preference played an important
role in families in that particular family lifecycle stage. The time at which the family had
dinner was based on the working hours of either the father or the mother or sleeping time of
the kids. The families had different opinions on how decisions of dinner were made in other
households, excerpts of which can be found in the Appendix (B) of individual responses. The
factors that most of mothers took into consideration while deciding on the dinner were the
health aspects of the dishes such as high fibre,nutritional content, light on the stomach etc.
RTE was also generally avoided in most families where the mothers were not working.

4.Conclusion

The marketing managers can analyze the above results and segment the families based on
the stage in their lifecycle and who are the decision makers, influencers in the family.
In the Indian context, it is the mother in the family who plays the critical role of deciding
what to cook for the family and hence she should be the primary target that the marketers
should focus on. Looking at the families in terms of age group composition, the marketers
can target young mothers who would want to provide variety and healthy food at the dinner
table for the kids. Advertising campaigns should focus on the nutritional aspect as well as
the taste factor when trying to promote a product aimed at this segment of young mothers.
When the family is composed of slightly elder kids the focus would be on providing the kids
variety in terms of taste preferences so the RTE foods of foreign dishes would be a good
product that the marketers could target the mother as well as these elder kids.
In terms of families that have working couples the ease of cooking dinner plays a major role
wherein time spent in the kitchen would be a key focus. Products such as frozen vegetables,
ready to eat/cook food items, convenience appliances could be targeted at this segment
with emphasis on saving time for cooking etc. The health food range could also be targeted
at this segment where staying fit plays an important role in their lifestyle. A household
having only adults wherein the kids have moved out could be a potential segment for food
product low on cholesterol sodium etc where the key focus of these households would be
on staying healthy. The marketers could market their products as being healthy in terms of
low cholesterol, fat free etc... at the same time focus on the price of these products. At this
stage the family would be focused on the price aspect as well as they wouldnt want to
spend an exorbitant amount on health foods.
Finally, the timing and placement of these advertisements also places an important role. As
per our interviews there was a mixture of response when they have dinner. For TV dinner
families airing advertisements of products during prime time would get their attention.
Health foods and ready to eat foods could be marketed during afternoon or evening time
slots for focusing on young mothers or families with empty nest. Health magazines or social
media campaigns could help promote health food items among young adults in the family.

5.Appendix
5.1 Questionnaire(Appendix A)
Questions
No of members in the family
Who makes the decision
Who cooks at home?
Who has the most influence over such decisions
and what is this influence based on?
How much influence do other family members
have on this decision?
Where and when do they have dinner (for
example, is it a sit down formal dinner or is it a TV
dinner)?
What are some of the factors that influence this
decision?
How do they think other families manage this
process?
How often do they order from outside for dinner?
Who chooses?
What factors do you look into while planning for
dinner?
Do you use ready to eat foods?

Response

5.2 Questionnaire Responses (Appendix B)

5.2.1 Respondent 1
Questions

Response

No of members in the family

Who makes the decision

Mother

Who cooks at home?

House maid

Who has the most influence over such decisions

and what is this influence based on?

Mother
Eldest in the family and the kids. They both
have special needs. Eldest preference for high
fiber foods
Mostly when the office goers reach back from
office around 8:30 before news. Eldest at the
dining table. Kids eat in front of the TV

How much influence do other family members have

on this decision?
Where and when do they have dinner (for example,
is it a sit down formal dinner or is it a TV dinner)?
What are some of the factors that influence this
decision?

Timings of mother and the father

How do they think other families manage this

process?

they feel all working households function the

same way mostly as they feel it is difficult to
wait for someone to come back from office
and they are hungry

How often do they order from outside for dinner?

Who chooses?

Every week once. Kids mostly

What factors do you look into while planning for

dinner?

Something that doesnt go stale if made in the

afternoon. High fiber .Healthy
Yes. They are good when the maid is on leave
or when the kids want something else other
than what is there for dinner

Do you use ready to eat foods?

5.2.2 Respondent 2
Questions

Response

No of members in the family

Who makes the decision

Mother

Who cooks at home?

Mother

Who has the most influence over such decisions

and what is this influence based on?

Father and Mother

How much influence do other family members

have on this decision?
Where and when do they have dinner (for
example, is it a sit down formal dinner or is it a TV
dinner)?
What are some of the factors that influence this
decision?
How do they think other families manage this
process?
How often do they order from outside for dinner?
Who chooses?
What factors do you look into while planning for
dinner?
Do you use ready to eat foods?

Father has specific preference

two have together at 8:15 3rd one late at
night due to work schedules
Depends on availability of people at home.
Convenience.
N.A.
once a month
ease of cooking
rarely

5.2.3 Respondent 3
Questions

Response

No of members in the family

Who makes the decision

Mother

Who cooks at home?

Mother

Who has the most influence over such decisions

and what is this influence based on?

Father

How much influence do other family members

have on this decision?

Child has different taste preference

Where and when do they have dinner (for

example, is it a sit down formal dinner or is it a TV
dinner)?
What are some of the factors that influence this
decision?
How do they think other families manage this
process?
How often do they order from outside for dinner?
Who chooses?

two have together at 8:15 3rd one late at

night due to work schedules
Availability of Vegetables and other grocery
items
they feel that mother and father decide in
cohesion
twice a month; Child

What factors do you look into while planning for

dinner?

Food must contains all the necessary

nutrients. Ease of Cooking

Do you use ready to eat foods?

Rarely

5.2.4 Respondent 4
Questions
No of members in the family
Who makes the decision
Who cooks at home?
Who has the most influence over such decisions
and what is this influence based on?
How much influence do other family members
have on this decision?
Where and when do they have dinner (for
example, is it a sit down formal dinner or is it a TV
dinner)?
What are some of the factors that influence this
decision?
How do they think other families manage this
process?
How often do they order from outside for dinner?
Who chooses?
What factors do you look into while planning for
dinner?
Do you use ready to eat foods?

Response
4
Father
Mother
Children
Both the children have different taste
preference
When father gets home at night; then, all
together sits together
Availability of Vegetables and other grocery
items
father and mother are the sole decision
makes and Children makes unnecessary fuss
twice a month; Child
Meets all the nutrients needs and is healthy.
Also, the food gives variety of tastes.
No

5.2.5 Respondent 5
Questions

Response

No of members in the family

Who makes the decision

Mother

Who cooks at home?

Mother

Who has the most influence over such decisions

and what is this influence based on?

Mother

How much influence do other family members

have on this decision?

Kids have more preference on what to be

cooked.

Where and when do they have dinner (for

example, is it a sit down formal dinner or is it a TV
dinner)?
What are some of the factors that influence this
decision?

Generally its a TV dinner. Kids tend to have

dinner early as compared to mother and
father

How do they think other families manage this

process?

Families with small kids are generally

manage the process in the same way.

How often do they order from outside for dinner?

Who chooses?
What factors do you look into while planning for
dinner?
Do you use ready to eat foods?

sleeping time of kids and parents

once a week, kids

healthy and variety of food
preferably avoided

5.2.6 Respondent 6
Questions

Response

No of members in the family

Who makes the decision

Mother

Who cooks at home?

Cook

Who has the most influence over such decisions

and what is this influence based on?

Mother

How much influence do other family members

have on this decision?
Where and when do they have dinner (for
example, is it a sit down formal dinner or is it a TV
dinner)?
What are some of the factors that influence this
decision?
How do they think other families manage this
process?

Father has preference for dinner items which

needs to be cooked
Its sit down dinner for the whole family
Time to come home from office work.
it depends on the working culture of all the
families member

How often do they order from outside for dinner?

Who chooses?

Twice a week, all members has equal say.

What factors do you look into while planning for

dinner?

healthy and light meals

Do you use ready to eat foods?

sometimes