MENTORING REPORT

ON
A study on Consumer Behaviour Towards Lenskart
“Submitted in the Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement of Post
Graduate Diploma in Management”
(PGDM)

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Project Guide (Name) Student Name: Harsh Sharma
Internal Mentor – Mrs .PALAK GUPTA Roll no. 82
External Mentor-Mr. CHANDAN SINGH Batch 2017-19

Jagannath International Management School

Kalkaji, New Delhi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude towards the Director of my
college Dr. J.K. Batra and my project guide Mr. Chandan Pratap Singh (External
Mentor), for giving me due freedom of decision-making and at the same time strictly
adhering to high quality of work.

I am highly indebted to Mrs. Palak Gupta (Internal Mentor) for this support and her
timely advice and valuable suggestions. From this project work my guide had brought
the best out of me.

The completion of this project was a cumulative effect of the assistance of all the people
who have helped me directly or indirectly.

CONSUMER
BEHAVIOUR
CHAPTER PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

ABOUT LENSKART 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 1

ANALYSIS 1

CONCLUSION 3
An Executive Summary

It is a widely accepted principle of business that to be more profitable and

survive an organisation must understand and stay close to its consumers to provide
products and services consumers will purchase. Many companies today have
recognised the importance of consumers and use sophisticated approaches to
understand consumer behaviour which form the basis of marketing strategies.
Therefore an understanding of the theory of consumer behaviour and its application to
business and marketing is a vital element of a business education. The Consumer
Behaviour for marketing project aims at giving the us an understanding of factors
influencing consumer behaviour which can be used in the development of more
effective marketing strategies in the future.

Aims:

To enable us to understand and analyse the key theories, models and factors
which influence consumer behaviour and apply them to the development of
marketing strategies and the marketing mix within an international context.

Learning Outcomes:

On the successful completion of the project, we will be able to:

1. Analyse the role of consumer behaviour in marketing strategy formulation for

consumer markets in an international context.
2. Demonstrate a clear understanding of the major models of consumer and
organisational decision making processes, the key theories about constructs
and variables in the model, and their relationships which introduce variations
into the process.

3. Analyse and apply these consumer behaviour constructs to strategic and

tactical marketing decisions in an international context in the areas of
segmentation, positioning and the development of the marketing mix.

4. Have an ethical sensitivity regarding the social legitimacy of consumer

influence and consumer response to corporate activity.

5. Interact effectively within a team, recognise, support or be proactive in

leadership in a professional context and manage conflict.

6. Engage effectively in discussion and debate in small and large groups in a

professional manner and produce detailed and coherent written material.

The subject of consumer perception and behaviour is one of the most widely
studied and embraced constructs in marketing. Over the last two decades more
than 20,000 academic articles have been published on that topic. Models and views
presented in these articles are connected with positive change in consumer
perception.

All these aspects have been highlighted using case studies and many other
practical examples from day today life as well. Consumer behaviour is an ever
changing phenomenon, it is simply impossible to define it using quantative
parameters; it cannot be measured, however an attempt to comprehend the
complexities in consumer behaviour and decision making can definitely be made –
that is exactly what I‘ve done.
Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour is the study that focuses on how, what, when and why
people buy. It is a study that blends elements from psychology, sociology, anthropology,
marketing and economics. It attempts to understand the consumer‘s decision making
process, both individually and in groups based on social and economic division. It
studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, psychographics,
and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. Topics under this
study include, but are not limited to, affect, mood, and emotion; explicit and implicit
attitudes; social identity; self-concept and self-presentation; attachment, commitment,
trust, and loyalty; consumer-marketer relationships; motivation, goals, and regulatory
focus; conscious and deliberative information processing and reasoning; unconscious,
automatic, and intuitive information processing; consumption and culture; consumer
decision-making; organisational buying; technology and consumption; consumption
value; post-consumption reactions and appraisals; measuring consumption outcomes;
and design and aesthetic issues. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from
groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.

Importance of studying consumer behaviour

Perhaps the most challenging concept in marketing deals with understanding

why consumers do what they do (or don‘t do). But such knowledge is critical for
marketers since having a strong understanding of consumer behaviour will help shed
light on what is important to the consumer and also suggest the important influences on
consumer decision-making. Using this information, marketers can create marketing
programs that they believe will be of interest to consumers. The reason for studying
consumer behaviour seems very simple – to understand the consumers‘ mindset and
the factors that influence it. But, just that much is not enough; today, we
need to study consumer behaviour in detail, looking into the smallest nuances of it so as
to identify what exactly the consumer desires because in today‘s times with so much of
competition in every market segment we cannot afford to take the consumer for
granted. With a range of choices in every product, if the consumers‘ desire is not looked
after they will surely move on to any one of the competitors. According to a recent study:

Out of 11000 products introduced by 77 companies, only 56% are present 5 years
later.

Only 8% of product concepts offered by 112 leading companies reached the market.
Out of that 83% failed to meet marketing objectives.

Now, the question that comes to my mind here is – Why exactly did this happen?

The answer is the lack of understanding of consumer behaviour. Not only is

launching a new product and getting the product noticed by the consumer important but
what is more important is to make sure that the consumer is hooked on to the product
and comes back for it time and again We can sell a product to a consumer again and
again only if the consumer feels that this is the ‗best product‘ in the market to satisfy his
needs and maybe even give him some delight and in order to design the ‗best product‘,
it is necessary to understand not just the physics and chemistry of the product, but also
the psychology of consumers and the sociology of consumer groups or networks. This
is exactly why all managers must become astute analysts of consumer motivation and
behaviour. A fundamental understanding of consumer behaviour underpins all marketing
activity and is a necessary prerequisite to organisations being marketing orientated and
thus profitable.
 Problem Recognition (Motivation)

Problem recognition is that result when there is a difference between one's

desired state and one's actual/current state i.e. when consumer recognizes a problem
or a need e.g. Kathy may realize that her best suit doesn‘t look contemporary any more
or, Dan may recognize that his personal computer is not performing as well as he
thought it should. These are the kinds of problem that we as consumers encounter all
the time. When we find out a difference between the actual state and a desired state, a
problem is recognised. When we find a problem, we usually try to solve the problem.
The word motivation means "to stimulate toward action," seeing the difference in his/her
actual and desired state the consumer is ‗motivated‘ to take action i.e. consumers are
motivated to address this discrepancy and hence they commence the buying process.

Sources of problem recognition include:

An item is out of stock

Dissatisfaction with a current product or service
Consumer needs and wants
Related products/purchases
Marketer-induced

Information Search (Perception)

When a consumer discovers a problem, he/she is likely to search for information

regarding what products he/she can use to satisfy his/her need, e.g. Dan may simply
pay more attention to product information of a personal computer. He becomes more
attentive to computer ads, computers purchased by his friends, and peer conversations
about computers. Or, he may more actively seek information by visiting stores, talking to
friends, or reading computer magazines, among others. Through gathering information,
the consumer learns more about some
brands that compete in the market and their features and characteristics. Theoretically,
there is a total set of brands available to Dan, but he will become aware of only a subset
of the brands (awareness set) in the market. Some of these brands may satisfy his
initial buying criteria, such as price and processing speed (consideration set). As Dan
proceeds to more information search, only a few will remain as strong candidates
(choice set).
Once the consumer has recognised a problem, they search for information on
products and services that can solve that problem. Consumers undertake both an
internal (memory) and an external search.

Sources of information include:

Personal sources
Commercial sources
Public sources
Personal experience

The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with information

search is perception. Perception is defined as 'the process by which an individual
receives, selects, organizes, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of
the world', which in this case means the picture of the product.

Evaluation and Selection of Alternatives (Attitude Formation)

How does the consumer process competitive brand information and evaluate the
value of the brands? Unfortunately there is no single, simple evaluation process applied
by all consumers or by one consumer in all buying situations.

One dominant view, however, is to see the evaluation process as being

cognitively driven and rational. Under this view, a consumer is trying to solve the
problem and ultimately satisfying his/her need. In other words, he/she will look for
problem-solving benefits from the product. The consumer, then, looks for products with
a certain set of attributes that deliver the
benefits. Thus, the consumer sees each product as a bundle of attributes with different
levels of ability of delivering the problem solving benefits to satisfy his/her need. The
distinctions among the need, benefits, and attributes are very important. One useful way
to organize the relationships among the three is a hierarchical one (Figure 1). Although
simplified, Figure 1 is an example of how a bundle of attributes (i.e., a product or, more
specifically, personal computer) relates to the benefits and underlying needs of Dan.

Helps Me Survive
SIMSREE MBA
Underlying Needs Program

Computation
Doesn‘t Break al
Benefits Portability Economical Horse
Down

Warranty
Attribute Size CPU
s Brand Software Speed
Price
Reputation Bundle

Hard Drive Size

Globe Net
Ready

Figure 1: Hierarchical Views of Needs, Benefits, and Attributes

From this figure and the preceding discussion, one might recognize that the
product attributes are relevant and important only to the extent that they lead to a
certain set of benefits. Likewise, benefits are meaningful only if they can address the
problem and be instrumental to satisfy the underlying need – as underlying needs are
often personal, consumers differ as to their beliefs about what product benefits and
attributes are more (or less) important and relevant in satisfying their needs. Based on
their personal judgment on importance of benefits and attributes, consumers develop a
set of attitudes (or preferences) toward the various brands. One may express his/her
preferences of the brands in terms of ranking, probability of choice, and so
forth. What actually happens in this stage is; the consumer compares the brands and
products that are in their consideration set.

Now, the question that comes to my mind here is – How can the marketing
organisations increase the likelihood that their brand is part of the consumer's
consideration set?

Consumers evaluate alternatives in terms of the functional and psychological

benefits that they offer. The marketing organisation needs to understand what benefits
consumers are seeking and therefore which attributes are most important in terms of
making a decision. The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with
the alternative evaluation stage is attitude formation. Attitudes are 'learned
predispositions' towards an object. Attitudes comprise both cognitive and affective
elements - that is both what you think and how you feel about something. The multi-
attribute attitude model explains how consumers evaluate alternatives on a range of
attributes. There are a number of strategies that can be used to influence the process
(attitude change strategies). Finally, there is a range of ways that consumers apply
criteria to make decisions. The marketing organisations should know how consumers
evaluate alternatives on salient or important attributes and make their buying.

Purchase decision (Integration)

To actually implement the purchase decision, however, a consumer needs to

select both specific items (brands) and specific outlets (where to buy) to resolve the
problems. There are, in fact, three ways these decisions can be made: 1)
simultaneously; 2) item first, outlet second; or 3) outlet first, item second. In many
situations, consumers engage in a simultaneous selection process of stores and
brands. For example, in Dan‘s personal computer case, he may select a set of brands
based on both the product‘s technical features (attributes) and availability of brands in
the computer stores and mail-order catalogs he knows well. It is also possible, that he
decides where to buy (e.g., House of PC‘s in his neighborhood) and then chooses one
or two brands the store carries. Once the brand and outlet have been decided, the
consumer moves on to the transaction (―buying‖).
 Sometimes purchase intention does not result in an actual purchase. The
marketing organisation must facilitate the consumer to act on their purchase intention.
The provision of credit or payment terms may encourage purchase, or a sales
promotion such as the opportunity to receive a premium or enter a competition may
provide an incentive to buy now. The relevant internal psychological process that is
associated with purchase decision is integration.

Post-purchase evaluation (Learning)

There should be a feedback loop, importance of the post purchase evaluation

and that the post purchase evaluation is the key due to its influences on future purchase
patterns.

Post-purchase evaluation processes are directly influenced by the type of

preceding decision-making process. Directly relevant here is the level of purchase
involvement of the consumer. Purchase involvement is often referred to as ―the level of
concern for or interest in the purchase‖ situation, and it determines how extensively the
consumer searches information in making a purchase decision. Although purchase
involvement is viewed as a continuum (from low to high), it is useful to consider two
extreme cases here. Suppose one buys a certain brand of product (e.g., Diet Pepsi) as
a matter of habit (habitual purchase). For him/her, buying a cola drink is a very low
purchase involvement situation, and he/she is not likely to search and evaluate product
information extensively.

In such a case, the consumer would simply purchase, consume and/or dispose
of the product with very limited post-purchase evaluation, and generally maintain a high
level of repeat purchase motivation.

Purchas Product Simple Repeat Purchase

e Use Disposition Evaluation Motivation
Figure 2 Low Involvement Purchase

Post-purchase
Dissatisfactio
Dissonance n

Repeat
Purchas Product
Elaborate Purchase
e Use Disposition Evaluation Motivation

Figure3 Elaborate Post-purchase Evaluation

According to the research, the likelihood of experiencing this kind of dissonance and
the magnitude of it is a function of:
The degree of commitment or irrevocability of the decision,
The importance of the decision to the consumer,
The difficulty of choosing among the alternatives, and
The individual‘s tendency to experience anxiety.
Because dissonance is uncomfortable, the consumer may use one or more of the
following approaches to reduce it:

Increase the desirability of the brand purchased.

Decrease the desirability of rejected alternatives.
Decrease the importance of the purchase decision.
Reject the negative data on the brand purchased.

If the dissonance about the purchase is not reduced, the anxiety may transform into
dissatisfaction (general or specific). Certainly, this negative experience leads to new
problem recognition, and the consumer will engage in another problem solving process.
The difference, however, is that in the next round of process, memory of the previous
negative experience and dissatisfaction will be used as part of information. Therefore,
the probability for the unsatisfactory brand to be re-selected and repurchased will be
significantly lower than before.
Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour:

Internal Influences Situational Influences

Communicatio
Perception n
Motivation Situation
Learning Purchase
Attitudes Situation
Usage
Personality Situation
Age Groups Disposal
Lifestyle Situation

Social Influences
Culture
Subculture Decision Purchase
Social !!
Class Process
Group
Membership
s
Opinion
Leaders

Figure 4 Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour

As we can see there are a number of internal and external influences that can
affect a consumer‘s decision/behaviour with respect to a product. Discussing the above
in detail would give a holistic perspective on consumer behaviour.
 Internal Influences

Motivation Perception Age

Attitudes Lifestyle Personality

Figure 4 Internal Influences


Motivation:

It is an internal state that drives us to satisfy needs. Motivation is the reason

or reasons for engaging in a particular behaviour, especially human behaviour as
studied in philosophy, conflict, economics, psychology, and neuropsychology. These
reasons may include basic needs such as food or a desired object, hobbies, goal,
state of being, or ideal. What it does is, it exerts a push towards action that satisfies
a need, which in most of the cases leads to a purchase.
 The extent to which the consumer is motivated depends on the importance of
the need to him. The needs in order of their importance have been described by
Abraham Maslow in 1943in a paper called ‗A theory of Human Motivation‘ and is
commonly known as Maslow‘s Hierarchy of Needs, represented as a pyramid with
the more primitive needs at the bottom. The higher needs in this hierarchy only
come into focus when the lower needs in the
 pyramid are satisfied. Once an individual has moved upwards to the next level, the
needs in the lower level will no longer be prioritized. If a lower set of needs is no
longer being met, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs by focusing
attention on the unfulfilled needs, but will not permanently regress to the lower level.
For instance, a businessman at the esteem level who is diagnosed with cancer will
spend a great deal of time concentrating on his health (physiological needs), but will
continue to value his work performance (esteem needs) and will likely return to work
during periods of remission.

Figure 5 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs


Physiological needs:

These are the basic human needs for such things as sex, warmth,
water, and other bodily needs. If a person is hungry or thirsty or their body
is chemically unbalanced, all of their energies turn toward remedying
these deficiencies and other needs remain inactive.

Safety Needs:

With their physical needs relatively satisfied, the individual's safety

needs take over and dominate their behaviour. These needs have to do
with people's yearning for a predictable, orderly world in which injustice
and inconsistency are under control, the familiar frequent and the
unfamiliar rare. In the world of work, safety needs manifest themselves in
such things as a preference for job security, grievance procedures for
protecting the individual from unilateral authority, savings accounts,
insurance policies, and the like.


Social Needs:

After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer of
human needs is social. This psychological aspect of Maslow's hierarchy
involves emotionally-based relationships in general. Humans need to feel
a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from a large
social group, such as clubs, office culture, religious groups, professional
organisations, sports teams, gangs , or small social connections. They
need to love and be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by others. In the
absence of these elements, many people become susceptible to
loneliness, social anxiety, and clinical depression. This need for belonging
can often overcome the physiological and security needs, depending on
the strength of the peer pressure; an anorexic, for example, ignores the
need to eat and the security of health for a feeling of control and
belonging.


Esteem Needs:

All humans have a need to be respected, to have self-esteem, self-

respect, and to respect others. People need to engage themselves to gain
recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense
of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued, be it in a profession or
hobby.
 Consumer Behaviour


Self-Actualization:

When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then
are the needs for self-actualization activated. Maslow describes self-
actualization as a person's need to be and do that which the person was
"born to do." "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a
poet must write." These needs make themselves felt in signs of
restlessness. The person feels on edge, tense, lacking something, in
short, restless. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or
lacking self-esteem, it is very easy to know what the person is restless
about. It is not always clear what a person wants when there is a need for
self-actualization.


Perception:

In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of

attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. For us it is the process
by which consumers select, organize, and interpret information regarding the
product. The consumer is first exposed to the product through various mediums
used to grab his attention; the consumer then interprets what‘s been shown to
him/her about the product and forms his view or perception of the product.

Exposure Attention Interpretation


Age Groups:
 Consumer behaviour can vary on the basis of age as well; consumers from
different age groups might have different preferences. Consumers based on their
ages can be
 broadly classified as children, teens, young adults, middle aged and the elderly.
Consumers from different age groups might have different preferences even
when it comes to the same product e.g. T-shirts, a child would prefer something
with a cartoon character on it, a teenager on the other hand would prefer one
with some rock band poster on it, a young adult would prefer clever graffiti, a
middle age or older consumer would prefer something sober and plain.
Sometimes companies design products that are aimed at specific age
groups e.g. products like luxury cruises to exotic locales often target older
consumers who are retired and have the time and money for expensive travel, or
products like gaming consoles which target consumers from lower age groups.
Related to age groups, our purchases also depend on our current position in the
family life cycle – stages through which family members pass as they grow older.

Attitude:

The term attitude is used here to denote the valuation of a concept or an

object, i.e. to which extent the object or concept is judged to be good or bad in a
general global meaning i.e. attitude is the amount of affect or feeling for or
against a stimulus e.g. how good would it be for Sweden to stay as a member in
the European Union? How good is the Indian nuclear power program? Attitude in
this sense can be studied with the help of one or a few judgment scales. The
object or concept judged can be more general or specific, but usually it is rather
specific. In this way attitude is different from value which is a judgment, similar to
the one used in the measurement of attitudes, of a general or abstract concept.
Examples of such concepts are freedom and equality.


Lifestyle is a term which can have at least three different meanings:

1. The values that a person expresses with reference to a limited number of

basic dimensions (freedom, justice, equality, etc).

2. A group or cluster of attitudes, opinions, interests and activities. In this

case the investigator usually includes a theoretical mixture of very different
concepts
 which are supposed to serve as a basis for classifying or segmenting a
population. The segmentation should in its turn be possible to use in
marketing products or influencing habits.

3. Actual ‗patterns of behaviour‘, e.g., lifestyles characterized by substance

abuse or an active leisure time involving sports, work in political
organisations, etc.

A lifestyle is a pattern of living that determines how people choose to spend

their time, money, and energy and reflects their status, values, tastes, and
preferences expressed through preferences for sports activities, music interests, and
political opinions. It is obvious that lifestyle is a very important factor when it comes
to consumer behaviour and decision making. There are many products that are
based on consumers‘ lifestyle e.g. a person will pay ten to fifteen times more to have
an imported luxury sedan even though the same service can be provided by a small
car, another example, in a study of electricity consumption it was found in a family
which was extreme in its consumption of energy that the reason mainly was that two
teenage daughters spent several hours in the shower each day. It was therefore,
according to the researchers, the lifestyle which was the explanation of energy
consumption in this case.
Life values are believed to provide the motivation for buying. They are usually
characterized by a set of values, which differ in relative importance from person to
person. They tend to be abstract so their impact on consumer behaviour will be quite
indirect. The way in which consumers use product and services in a certain area to
attain their life values can also be called consumer lifestyle. What is important from a
marketing point of view is that different types of consumers have to be addressed in
different ways. Lifestyle is thus a useful tool for segmentation.

Personality:

An individual‘s personality relates to perceived personal characteristics that are

consistently exhibited, especially when one acts in the presence of others. In most, but
not all, cases the behaviour one projects in a situation is similar to the behaviour a
person exhibits in another situation. In this way personality is the sum of sensory
experiences others get from experiencing a person (i.e., how one talks, reacts, etc).
 For marketers it is important to know that consumers make purchase
decisions to support their self concept. Using research techniques to identify how
consumers view themselves may give marketers insight into products and promotion
options that are not readily apparent. For example, when examining consumers a
marketer may initially build marketing strategy around more obvious clues to
consumption behaviour, such as consumer‘s demographic indicators (e.g., age,
occupation, income, etc). However, in-depth research may yield information that
shows consumers are purchasing products to fulfill self-concept objectives that have
little to do with the demographic category they fall into e.g., senior citizen making
purchases that make them feel younger. Appealing to the consumer‘s self concept
needs could expand the market to which the product is targeted.

Situational Influences

Communication •This refers to the surrounding noise, effective

communication between the consumer and the

Situation vendor,wether the consumer is alone or with a group.

•This refers to the condition of the consumer's

Purchase environment while purchasing, is he relaxed or is it an
emergency, is he alone or with others, where is he
making the purchase, etc.
Situation
•This is defined by the kind of usage which the
product will undergo. Is it going to be used
indivisually or by a group, wether it is for pleasure or
Usage for business, etc.

Situation
•Here the consumer regards the product with respect to
trade-ins before next purchase,or after the purchare,
packaging is anather issue here as it affects the ease of
disposal and storage.
Disposal
Situation
 Social Influences

The way we think, perceive and act depends a lot upon social factors. These
factors were analysed by a number of scientists such as W. J. Stanton, M. J. Etzel and
B. J. Walker (1991). They highlighted four social factors that influence consumer
behaviour:

o Culture & Sub-Culture

o Social Class
o Group Behaviour and Reference Groups
o Opinion Leaders

According to the authors, ―social factors influence consumer behaviour directly

and indirectly―. Indirect social factors act through psychological factors. This means
that social factors do influence the formation of psychological factors (consumer
motivation, perception, attitude, etc) that in turn influence consumer behaviour.

Culture and Subcultures:

Culture generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures
that give such activities significance and importance. Cultures can be "understood as
systems of symbols and meanings that even their creators contest, that lack fixed
boundaries, that are constantly in flux, and that interact and compete with one another".
Culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a
population that is passed down from generation to generation. Culture has been called
"the way of life for an entire society." As such, it includes codes of manners, dress,
language, religion, rituals, norms of behaviour such as law and morality, and systems of
belief as well as the art.

Culture is the values, beliefs, customs, and tastes produced and valued by a
group of people, whereas a subculture is a group coexisting with other groups in a
larger culture whose members share a distinctive set of beliefs or characteristics. In
sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a
culture (whether distinct or hidden) which differentiates them from the larger culture to
which they belong.
 For marketers it is very vital to know the culture to which particular consumers
belong before he gives out the product to the consumers. Culture is an important cog in
the mechanism of consumer behaviour and has to be noticed, e.g. when Mc Donald‘s
came to India they realized that Indians do not eat beef as cow is considered holy in our
culture, also that most Indians are vegetarians, so what it did to counter these cultural
barriers was to introduced Indianised versions of burgers!

For better market penetration the subcultures of a society must be taken into
account. Acknowledging these subcultures can often be beneficial, e.g. various eateries
and food outlets offering ‗Jain Food‘.

Social Class:

Social class is the overall rank of people in a society. People in the same class
tend to have similar occupations, similar income levels, and share common tastes in
clothes, decorating styles, and leisure activities. They may share political and religious
beliefs. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between
individuals or groups in societies or cultures. Usually individuals are grouped into
classes based on their economic positions and similar political and economic interests
within the stratification system.

Group Behaviour and Reference Groups:

Group behaviour in sociology refers to the situations where people interact in

large or small groups. The field of group dynamics deals with small groups that may
reach consensus and act in a coordinated way.
A question that comes to my mind here is; how can a group behaviour affect an
individual consumers’ behaviour?
Groups of a large number of people in a given area may act simultaneously to
achieve a goal that differs from what individuals would do acting alone (herd behaviour).
A large group (a crowd or mob) is likely to show examples of group behaviour when
people gathered in a given place and time act in a similar way—for example, joining a
protest or march, participating in a fight or acting patriotically, boycotting a product or
coming out in support of a product, etc.
 Reference group is a set of people a consumer wants to please or imitate. The
―group‖ can be composed of one person, a few people, or many people. They may be
people you know or don‘t know.
– Conformity is at work when people change as a reaction to real or imagined group
pressure. E.g. in college if everyone wears Nike shoes you would also feel like wearing
shoes of the same brand so as to please your peers and group members and more
importantly yourself as the shoes
give you a feeling of being ‗in‘ the group or a feeling of being at-par with other group
members.

Opinion Leaders:

The opinion leader is an agent who is an active media user and who interprets
the meaning of media messages or content for lower-end media users. Typically the
opinion leader is held in high esteem by those that accept his or her opinions. Opinion
leadership tends to be subject specific, that is, a person that is an opinion leader in one
field may be a follower in another field.

An example of an opinion leader in the field of computer technology might be a

neighborhood computer service technician. The technician has access to far more
information on this topic than the average consumer and has the requisite background to
understand the information. An opinion leader is hence a person who influences others‘
attitudes or behaviours because they are perceived as possessing expertise about the
product. They are usually the first ones to buy a product when it enters the market.
Marketers generally target these ‗opinion leaders‘ and use them in marketing
communications. Any knowledge about the product is conveyed through these opinion
leaders as they are heavy users of a wide range of information sources; both getting and
giving marketplace information.
24 | P a g e

Case Studies
It‘s always easier to understand any management concept with a case study; here forth
we shall analyse a few cases as to how consumers behave differently under the effect of
various influential factors even when it comes to the same product.

Case I

 Individual behavioural responses to higher gasoline prices:

New numbers show that Americans drove 4.7 percent less in June 2008
than they did in June 2007, shaving off some 12.2 billion miles. For those keeping
track, that makes a total 53.2 billion fewer miles driven between November 2007
and June 2008 than in that eight-month period a year earlier. As would be
expected, gasoline and diesel use have also fallen: In the first three months of
2008, Americans burned 400 million fewer gallons of gas than they did in the first
three months of 2007, as well as 318 million fewer gallons of diesel. And easing
off the gas pedal has eased oil demand as well: In the first half of 2008, U.S.
demand for oil fell by an average 800,000 barrels per day compared to the first
half of 2007, the biggest decline since 1982. Not to be left out, sales of cars,
trucks, and vehicle parts fell 2.4 percent from June to July. This is the biggest
decline in oil demand since 1982.

This is indeed a textbook case of how response to price signals changes

consumer behaviour and ripples through our complex, interconnected global
economy, communicating valuable distributed information, reallocating resources,
and changing investment decisions along the way. What we are doing here is
making the case that as goods are appropriately priced; baking in their negative
externalities, consumers will shift spend accordingly. Not only did the consumers
spend less on gas, but the sales of cars, trucks and even vehicle parts fell – which
implies that the wear and tear of the vehicles was also less which means lesser
usage of vehicles. This recent example in gas prices is a great example of how
the economic factors affect the consumers‘ behaviour.

Case II

 Consumer Food Safety Behaviour: A Case Study in Hamburger Cooking and

Ordering:

More Americans are eating hamburgers more well-done than in the past,
according to national surveys. This change reduced the risk of E. coli O157:H7
infection by an estimated 4.6 percent and reduced associated medical costs and
productivity losses by an estimated $7.4 million annually. In a 1996 survey,
respondents who were more concerned about the risk of food borne illness cooked
and ordered hamburgers more well-done than those who were less concerned.
However, respondents who strongly preferred hamburgers less well-done cooked and
ordered them that way, even after accounting for their concern about the risk of
illness. While E. coli O157:H7 in hamburger is a small part of the burden of food
borne illness—estimated at 5,000 deaths and more than $6.9 billion in medical costs
and reduced productivity annually—these findings illustrate the potential benefits from
encouraging consumers to follow food safety recommendations as part of an overall
strategy to reduce the toll of food borne illness.

When you analyse this case what you come across is a consumer who is very
aware about the product, effects the product will have on his health and has a clear
notion of what he wants and what he doesn‘t want. Now this knowledge makes the
consumer move away from a trend i.e. it makes the consumer change his behaviour
from what it has been in the past. Consumers make their decisions on how to cook
and order foods based on several factors, including taste, palatability, and perceived
food safety risk. Consumer behaviour has changed over time, due in part to increased
awareness of the risk of food borne illness and the importance of thorough cooking in
reducing that risk.

Case III

 Mad Cow Disease:

On 21 March 1996, two British ministers made statements in the House of

Commons as to the evidence that Cruetzfelds-Jakobs Syndrome (CJS), a brain
disease among humans, might be connected to the ―mad cow disease,". The
committee recommended that all cows older than thirty months should be slaughtered
and it should be prohibited to feed the cows fodder made of certain animal
substances such as brains from sheep and others. The two ministers, however, were
not united in their statements: the Minister of Agriculture wanted between three and
five million animals slaughtered, while the Minister of Health wanted more than
eleven million cows slaughtered. This incongruent information was picked up and
published internationally by the mass media, generating global unrest among
politicians and consumers. The above incidence had a tremendous impact on the
international meat market. The very same day the British Ministers made their
statements; France immediately stopped importing any beef from Great Britain.
Within a week, thirty six other nations also prohibited importing any meat products
from Great Britain. Additionally, several countries outside the EU started cutting down
on their imports of meat from other EU countries as well. Within days, many countries
had already more or less stopped importing meats from Germany, Switzerland, and
Ireland. In spite of arguments of how each country‘s meat production differed from the
production in Great Britain, Ireland was hit the most, due to two reasons:
One, its geographic proximity to Great Britain automatically connected it with
Great Britain in the minds of the consumers, and two, Ireland exports eighty five
percent of her meat production.
Table 1 illustrates the number of dead cows caused by the disease. In
1990, the number was more than twenty-five thousand for Great Britain and it
increased every year until 1994, when it leveled off.
Countries 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Denmark 1
Germany 4
France 5 1 3 3 10
Ireland 17 18 16 19 16 35
Italy 2
Portugal 1 7 14 23
Great Britain 25023 36681 28944 28944 14062 1714
Switzerland 9 15 29 63 68 41

Table 1. Countries and Number of Dead Cows.

Ireland, Portugal, and France, however, show an increasing trend. In spite of

these facts, the incident became an affair for the media in 1996 and mainly for Great
Britain. It was then that the governments of other nations prohibited the import of
meat from Great Britain. This episode generated some form of political game in the
EU parliament. Those programs that had been drawn up the British Government
were considered inadequate, and most of the Health Ministers of nations other than
Great Britain demanded quick and drastic measures. The sentiment was that if
Great Britain were to accommodate these demands then they could work out a
strategy with a time frame to enable Great Britain to export her meat products again.
Great Britain in turn reacted negatively to such demands, and used her veto to stop
other activities and programs within the EU. In the aftermath of this episode various
other players came to the forefront. Several consumer associations around the
world published reports or recommendations relating to meat consumption. For
example, Great Britain‘s ‗Consumer Association‘ strongly recommended that
consumers should avoid eating meat to avoid or minimize the CJS risk. Other
players, such as an insurance company in Sweden, started marketing insurance
policies that offered CJS coverage.
The media in Sweden played an important role in creating and molding
opinions of the consumers. On March 19th, an evening newspaper printed an article
with the message that more than ninety Swedes had died as a consequence of CJS.
This figure had then not been verified but the article generated similar stories in
other, serious daily newspapers. They
 featured reports of their own, interviewing various experts, who more or less
contributed to spreading the news about the serious effects of ―mad cow
disease‖ upon meat consumers. The end user reacted to the media coverage:
within two weeks after the British Ministers‘ statements, the consumption of beef
in Sweden generally dropped twenty percent. Instead, the consumers started to
buy other types of meat. Most of those who continued to consume beef switched
from buying imported beef to Swedish beef. Additionally, the consumers, as a
consequence of the beef problem, started to boycott other imported meat types. A
sort of mass hysteria prevailed during a period of time following the revelation of
the ‗mad cow disease‘.

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Beef 322 408 431 576 665
Other Meat 466 512 298 456 893
Dried, Canned, 374 482 454 425 526
Salted Meat, etc.

Table 2. Import of Meat to Sweden in Swedish Crowns

Until 1996, the import of meat products from Great Britain, Ireland, and
Denmark, as illustrated in Table 2 increased every year. Table 2 shows the value
of these imports to the Swedish economy over a 5-year period.
Contrary to other studies that observe the role of media as a means to
support market activities, we will consider media and its influence on consumer
perception from a different angle. We will study how variations in intensity of
negative news released by the media influence the consumer. This is done by two
surveys conducted during two periods of time one when media discussed the
incident intensively and then again three months later, examining the permanency
of the perception change. The defined network for this study is a set of loosely
interconnected entities of the international market consumers, vendors, national
 and international media, governments, and specialists in different countries, and
public opinion. This case attempts to expand and enrich the already known set of
ideas about

consumer-environment interaction and add more knowledge about the use of

network models for consumer marketing:

When the French tested their nuclear weapons, people from several nations
boycotted French wine and cheese.

After major oil spills, people stop buying petrol from the firms responsible for the oil
catastrophes.

―Mad cow disease‖ prompted people to avoid buying beef and even other
products from Great Britain.

News about these incidents, which are spread by the media, are examples of
events which influence entities participating in the international market place.
Because of the increased globalization of our communication systems, an incident in
one country can no longer be treated as an isolated phenomenon. News of the
incident can rapidly spread to other markets and influence the behaviour of
participants in other countries. Consumers, either because of their individual or
social attachment to the subject, subsequently adapt their behaviour to the
perceived turmoil.

Internationalization of the media has changed the market conditions

drastically. Media‘s influence and ability to change perceptions and behaviours is so
strong that traditional analytical tools for studying the market are insufficient. Against
this background, this paper aims to explore the influence of media on the exchange
in a consumer-vendor relationship. It will study the process of consumer perception,
starting with when the media suddenly informed consumers about the mad cow
disease and following it up to the point when this case was no longer newsworthy.
Media‘s affect on a consumer‘s mind today is something one cannot afford to
ignore. Media can help the consumers‘ perception of a product; it can play a vital
role in getting a consumer‘s attention to the product.

The media is presented as a marketing tool for a variety of promotions aimed

at gaining success in the market. It also can serve as a means for positive change in
consumer perception. However, the media is filled with discussions about events
that will probably affect the behaviour of the consumers in a negative manner.
WHAT IS LENSKART

Lenskart is an e-commerce company

India’s leading online shopping portal for eyewear
Products range from a large selection of eyeglasses, sunglasses and contact
lenses
Founded by Peyush Bansal in 2010, with the headquarters in New Delhi, India
Valyoo Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is the parent company of Lenskart
Delivering their products to 450 cities across India
In the last 3 years, Lenskart has seen a remarkable growth with 300% increase in its
turnover.
Employee strength currently stands at 150.

Slogan – “Log on, Play on!”

The brain behind Lenskar

Peyush Bansal is the founder of
Lenskart. He obtained a degree in
Bachelor of Engineering from McGill
University in Canada, after which he
worked as a Program Manager at
Microsoft in America.
A year later, he returned to India to
pursue his Post-Graduate diploma in
Management for Executives from
IIM, Bangalore.
In 2008, he set up Valyoo Technologies
with SearchMyCampus as the first
business portal.
In 2010, Lenskart, a first of its kind online
shopping portal for eyewear came into
existence
A look back..
In 2007, Peyush Bansal saw an opportunity in the reservations of students in
India & developed searchmycampus.com. A classified site for students that went
beyond accommodation to books, part-time jobs, carpool facilities and internship
opportunities.

Although searchmycampus.com was a hit, Bansal ventured into the e-commerce world.
He launched Flyrr.com. An online shopping portal, based in the U.S, which exclusively
sold eyewear

All about Lenskart..

In November 2010, Lenskart came into existence.
Initially, Lenskart started off by selling contact lenses only.
A couple of months later, eyeglasses were included and in March 2011 sunglasses
were added.

Funding.
Lenskart has so far secured two rounds of VC funding.

Raised its first round of funding of INR 22 crore (U.S $3.6 million) from IDG Ventures
India in 2011.

In February 2013, Unilazer Ventures invested INR 30 crores in their first e-

commerce portfolio.
A Look At lenskart.com
Key features of Lenskart
After the success of searchmycampus.com & Flyrr.com, Bansal wanted to test
the waters of the Indian e-commerce scenario.
Providing a platform where people can order from a huge variety of sunglasses,
eyeglasses and contact lenses.
Lenskart.com offers over 5,000 frames & glasses, and more than 45 kinds of high-
quality lenses.
With an array of eyewear brands like Ray-Ban, Oakley, Tag Heuer, Fastrack, Johnson &
Johnson, Bausch & Lomb etc.
Lenskart introduced a home eye check-up program in December 2013. This
program is currently offered by Lenskart in 11 major cities in India.

Providing the best experience

Not age specific – Lenskart offers products that are suitable for all age groups.

Provides a large selection of eyewear to choose from.

Detailed descriptions and specifications of the products on the website.
Products are priced reasonably.

Offers discounts and attractive deals.

Convenient payment options where one can choose to pay online or opt for Cash-on-
delivery (CoD).
No questions asked return policy.

The challenges
“Who wants to buy contact lenses or glasses online?” – one of the most frequently
asked question

Lenskart’s aim is to address the knowledge gap between the customers and their
eyewear products. With that in mind, the online-offline divide will slowly disintegrate.
Moreover, the touch-and-feel segment is no longer a threat to e-commerce portals.

Mobile Marketing of LensKart Application

Online campaigns in social media has created a huge impact these days across the globe. It
has led to a large amount of sale within few hours. The most important activity in this exercise
is to create brand awareness and its existence.
The main reason for their success is hashtag campaign run in twitter. This has helped a lot
for social media marketing to target the people in social media platforms using Hashtag
campaigns based on people’s interest. One can just click on the hashtags and get to see all
the people who are tweeting or commenting under similar kind of interest. It’s a priceless tool
for interest based targeting in inbound marketing strategy.

Lenskart hit around 6000+ tweets with Hashtag marketing using their hastag lenskart
revamp. This led to a humongous increase in their sales.

Lenskart created a number of campaigns with good offers and were able to reach out to
their target customers. They used facebook for hosting a game based campaign, with the
lenskart revamp campaign.
Apart from the social media campaigns, they have also successfully implemented email
marketing campaign.
They created a buzz in the market through digital marketing campaign, they revamped their
brand image by various marketing campaigns and regained their reputation in the
ecommerce industry.
The 6000 plus tweets shows us a clear understanding of the results of using a social media
campaign for promoting brands and creating awareness.
Lenskart Business Model:-
The company has introduced a franchise model.
Innovative Feature:

 First frame free: Lenskart gives first frame to its customer for free to encourage customer
to buy goods online. Lenskart provides large variety of frames, which enables customer to
make best selection. If customer is not satisfied, then can return frame within 14 days of
delivery.
 Exchange old frame for new: Customer can exchange their old frame with new one by
register with lenskart. On registration, coupon code is generated and customer to courier their
product to lenskart (courier cost borne by customer). Product is verified for its quality, if
product meets the criteria, then coupon code is shared with customer. This code can be used
by customer to make new purchase. However, if quality check fails and customer wishes to
have its product back, then courier charges are borne by customer.

 Virtual try-on: This feature enable customer to try frames on model's photograph. Customer
can also upload their own photo, try different frames on it and can share it on social media for
friends & family to comment on it.
 Try-at-home: Customer can select upto 5 frames to try out. Selected frames are delivered
at home on payment of verification charge of Rs.1 per frame. Customer would try frames
delivered, selected those they like most. Then all frames are
returned to delivery service (selected ones with lens prescription and others return back). The
final order is then delivered with in next 3-5 days.

 Doctor locator: Company has database of ophthalmology across India. It provides

information about years of experience, consultation charges, availability time along with
address. Once, the appointment is confirmed by doctor, then confirmation is sent through email
or SMS. Further, it also encourages patients to share their experience with that doctor and
provide recommendations. This makes it easy for new customer to select doctor in their vicinity.
 Home Eye-check up: Customer can get their eye site checked at home. Once appointment
is booked with lenskart, the optical specialist will visit customers residence at determined
timings. Optical specialist will carry along with him eye check machine and 150+ frames to
choose from. So, after eye check up customer, they can try out different frames before placing
order with lenskart.
 Franchise model for optometrists: To make its presence felt across, Lenskart has expanded
into franchise model. Any entrepreneur meeting franchise criteria (related to area, investment &
location) can register with lenskart. They would receive branding support from company.

 Buying guide: To ensure that returns are minimized and customer has pleasant
experience buying glasses, lenskart provides extensive and detailed buying guide for frames
and lenses.

How do they make money

Business Model characteristics
1. Giving freebies to attract customers
2. Social Media interactions and 24X7 helpline service
3. Good blend of product (frames) and services (eye check up)
4. Effective delivery mechanism
Shipping Model
The estimated delivery time of every product is 5 - 10 working days. Although, these are the
standard shipping lead time, the actual lead time to deliver a product may differ at each SKU
level.
The other few exceptions are:-

 Toric Lenses may take upto 15 days to get delivered depending on the complexity of
power. Odd axis may take maximum 20 days to get delivered.

 Non toric lenses in PLUS POWER may take upto 15 days to get delivered.

 Cooper Vision Toric Lenses take approximately 40-50 days to get delivered.

 Cooper Vision Toric XR PLUS POWER Lenses take approximately 50-60 days to get
delivered.

 Eyeglasses with Prescription Lenses may take upto maximum 1 week to ship out
depending on the complexity of power.

 Aryan Toric Lenses may take upto 40 to 50 days to get delivered.

 Aryan spherical powers any tone maximum 3 days to get shipped.

 Biomedics, Proclear and Frequency 55 Aspheric may take maximum 40-50 days to
get delivered depending on the complexity of power.

 B&L Multifocal may take up to 10 to 15 days to get delivered depending on the

complexity of power.

Ipace Framework Lenskart

Information:-
Lenskart is India’s first online shopping eyewear website. The website has a well-defined
taxonomy structure. The homepage runs the banner for exclusives and their new range brands
launched.
The categories are:-
7. Eyeglasses
8. Sunglasses
9. Powersunglasses
10. Contact Lenses
11. Accessories
A user clicks on the desired category and lands on the landing page

Landing Page
The detailed product description page (PDP) has all the information a user should have to
make a buying decision. The PDP page comprises of:-

Product Description:- Consists of product imformation and brand information, image.


Size Details:- Consists of Frame details, size chart and size guide, style and
measurements with 3D try

Technical details:- Brand Name, Product Type, Frame details, Gender details,
Material, Color and other technical specifications.

Product reviews:- Customer reviews and expert reviews

Certificate of authenticity and call while placing an order

Select lenses details

Power feed options

Warranty Details and returns policy
Pricing:-
Price shoed in PDP page is inclusive of the shipping charges. They show shipping details as to
when a product will be delivered based on the different type of product selected. It also
supports a 14-days return policy. However, the claim is subject to the inspection of the product
if found in proper condition.
Assortment
Lenskart offers a huge range of assortment from both domestic and
international brands. Majority of its business comes from private labels. The team selects
goods, design and stock them, the same is then presented on their commerce portal and
delivered to the consumer at the best value. Products
are assorted per category i.e. eyeglasses, power glasses, lenses etc. as per brands i
.e. Oakley, Fast Track,Gucci, Ray Ban etc. Further, each of the
product/brand/category is sub-divided as per its gender,colors and available
customization.
Convenience

Unlike other e-commerce websites, Lenskart provides convenience and operates 24/7 and
365 days a year. Some of their unique value propositions in terms of convenience are:-


Try at home

Home eye checkup

Free first frame

3D virtual frame try

Buy only lenses

Doctor locator

Store locator

Offline store
Survey on Consumer Satisfaction