EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION The middle class people are only class of people who fall socio-economically in between working class and upper class. Many times middle class people prefer to buy unbranded goods because of the cost factor. They can offer to buy a branded product then a weal brand but they take many factors into consideration such as price, quantity. They are not bothered about the quality of the product. To put it more specific the middle class people as an option to buy a national b randed products in time of food items but due to personal income, wealth, occupa tion, education, and family background. They transfer their interest to local br ands. It has been found that social class people are shortly influenced by certa in product, but why? Can be the only question.

OBJECTIVES 1. To investigate consumer brand preference for national versus local brand s in Food & Grocery category

2. To study the influence of Quality, taste, price sensitivity, packaging o n brand preference for national versus local brands in food & grocery category 3. To study the relationship of income, age, and gender between brand prefe rence for national brands versus local brands 4. 5. To learn about the customer attitudes To know the impacts of national brand on local brand

6. To identify the customer preference in different products like cool drin k, snacks, fast food etc[National vs. local brand] 7. To find out customer friendly[National and local brand in terms of serv ices, availability, durability]

HYPOTHESIS H0.1 There is no relationship between income level and brand preference for nati onal versus store brands in food and grocery category. H1.1There is a relationship between income level and brand preference for nation al versus store brands in food and grocery category. H0.2 There is no relationship between age and brand preference for national vers us store brands in food and grocery category. H1.2There is a relationship between age and brand preference for national versus store brands in food and grocery category H0.3 There is no relationship between gender and brand preference for national v ersus store brands in food and grocery category. H1.3There is a relationship between gender and brand preference for national ver sus store brands in food and grocery category.

LITERATURE REVIEW K. Suhir, and Debabrata Talukdar, (2004), developed two sets of measures of stor e patronage; to study does store brand patronage improve store patronage. Based on store revenues and store profits from a household and the other on share of s tore revenue and store profits due to a household. They found that revenue falls when store brand share increased, but profit rise under sets of measures. They

found that greater breadth of store brand purchases leads to greater revenue and profits. This conclude that store brand contribute to greater store differentia tion rather than increased price sensitivity in the market. Aaker (2000) regarded brand awareness as a remarkably durable and sustainable asset. It provided a sense of familiarity (especially in low- involvement produc ts such as soaps), a sense of presence or commitment and substance and it was very importan t to recall at the time of purchasing process. Apart from the conventional mass media, there were other effective means to create awareness viz., event promotions, publicity, sampling and other attention-getting approaches. Nandagopal and Chinnaiyan (2003) concluded that the level of awareness among the rural consumers about the brand of soft drinks was high which was indicated by t he mode of purchase of the soft drinks by Brand Name . The major source of brand awaren ess was word of mouth followed by advertisements, family members, relatives and friends. Ramasamy (2005) indicated that, the buying behavior is vastly influenced by awareness and attitude towards the product. Commercial advertisements over telev ision was said to be the most important source of information, followed by displays in ret ail outlets. Consumers do build opinion about a brand on the basis of which various product f eatures play an important role in decision making process. A large number of respondents laid emphasis on quality and felt that price is an important factor while the others attached importance to image of manufacturer. Kumar et al. examined the factors influencing the buying decision making of 200 respondents for various food products. Country of origin and brand of the pr oducts were cross-tabulated against age, gender and income. Results revealed that the consid ered factors were independent of age, education and income. The brand image seemed to be more important than the origin of the product, since the consumers were attracted by the brands. Sabeson in his study stated that, high quality, price and taste of the product were the major criteria based on which the consumers selected a brand. The study undertaken by Sheeja in Coimbatore district considered the quality aspects like aroma, taste, freshness and purity as the major factors deciding th e preference for a particular brand of processed spices.

METHODOLOGY

The study is based on descriptive research design. Products like pulses, rice, c ool drink, snacks, fast food, ready to eat packaged food in the category of food & grocery were taken. Mall intercept interview were conducted to collect the da ta for the study by using questionnaire as the research instrument PRIMARY DATA: The primary data is collected by using qualitative method. This was collected fr om the middle class people who are residing in two different districts, by takin g them to fall the unstructured format of questionnaire SECONDARY DATA: It was collected from magazines and websites. SAMPLING UNIT: The sampling unit for the study could be all men and women, who are residing in south Canara and Udupi district only one term from the family, could be affected . GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: The steady would be undertaken the south canara as well as Udupi district. SAMPLE SIZE: The sample size taken for this survey is 100 respondents who are frequently resi ding in south canara and Udupi districts. .