VOLTAS 1.

5 TONNE SPLIT AC
CONSUMER INSIGHTS
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED TO- SUBMITTED BY-

OM KUMAR KRISHNAN GROUP NO. 04

AKASHDEEP PGP04007
ADITYA TIWARI PGP04004
ANKIT PUNIA PGP04012
ASHISH NAGRALE PGP04017
HARSHIT SHISHODIA PGP04032
 ABSTRACT
At present companies and their respective products or services are facing a lot of contextual changes, such as
rapid changes in the modern consumer desires, inflation in the world economics, growing consumer
awareness and consumer protection movements. The changes require proper solutions, which care for
consumer needs and the public interest while achieving the business aim of profit making.
Understanding behaviour of consumers is a key to the success of business organizations. Marketing
personnel are constantly analysing the patterns of buying behaviour and purchase decisions to predict the
future trends. Consumer behaviour can be explained as the analysis of how, when, what and why people
buy. Consumer behaviour can be understood as: "The decision process and physical activity individuals
engage in when evaluating, acquiring, using, or disposing of goods and services.
A study suggests that the purchase preference is primarily determined by price than quality during pre-
purchase evaluation. Given explicit quality information, price had no effect on pre-purchase or post
consumption quality perceptions. Instead, post consumption quality evaluations had a favourable impact on
price evaluations.
Another study analyses the effect of common features on brand choice and the moderating role of attribute
importance. It is argued that when brand attributes differ in importance, with the best value on the most
important attribute, thus further polarizing brands‟ choice shares. In contrast, when attributes are similar in
their importance, common features are likely to have an opposite effect, equalizing brands share.
The purpose of this study is to investigate internal and external influences on consumers purchasing
decisions on Air conditioners in Paonta Sahib, HP. For this purpose, we first prepared a set of
questionnaires. Then we tried to find such a customer using the suggested model. We finally found such a
customer who was already using it near Vishwakarma Chowk. He is the owner of a small restaurant named
Little Bites using the Voltas AC 1.5 tonne since last May in the front room where they use to serve
customers.
 INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 COMPANY BACKGROUND
1.2 PERSUASION
1.3 CENTRAL ROUTE
1.4 PERIPHERAL ROUTE
1.5 ATTITUDE

2. PRODUCT CATEGORY
2.1 NEED
2.2 USAGE
2.3 BENEFITS
2.4 MOTIVATION

3. BRAND COMMUNICATION
3.1 NEWSPAPER ADVERTISMENTS
3.2 MAGAZINE ADVERTISMENTS
3.3 TELEVISION ADVERTISMENTS

4. CONSUMER LEVEL DATA

4.1 IDENTIFICATION OF NEED
4.2 INFORMATION SEARCH
4.3 EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES
4.4 PURCHASE PROCESS
4.5 POST PURCHASE EVALUATION

5. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
5.1 PRODUCT CATEGORY ASPECTS
5.2 BRAND COMMUNICATION
5.3 GAP IN COMMUNICATION AND PERCEPTION
5.4 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL INFLUENCES

6. REFERENCES
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 COMPANY BACKGROUND
Voltas is an Indian company which works in the area of air conditioning and cooling technology. It
was incorporated in Mumbai on 6th September 1954. The company was a collaboration between Tata
Sons and Volkart Brothers. The projects business is divided into-
A. Domestic Projects Group (DPG)
B. International Operations Business Group (IOBG)

The products business is classified into-

A. Unitary Products Business Group (UPBG)
B. Mining & Construction Equipment Division (MCED)
C. Textile Machinery Division. (TMD)

The Unitary Products business group (UPBG) manufacture products in categories including air
coolers, air conditioners, water coolers, commercial refrigerators and water dispensers. It is the
largest air-conditioning brand in India. Voltas produced India’s first window air conditioner with
DC-inverter-based variable-speed motors. The firm is also a major producer of evaporative
coolers, which are widely used for comfort cooling in arid and semi-arid climates.
Voltas won the 1st prize in the category ‘Manufacturers of BEE Star Labelled Appliances (Air
Conditioner)’, as part of the National Energy Conservation Awards 2013. The company won the
same award again 2013. The company also won the Silver APAC Effie Award in the Sustained
Success category in 2015 for its “Humanizing technology in India” entry. Apart from Effie, Voltas
also won the Gold at the Asia Awards of the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC). In 2014,
it was ranked 39th among India's most trusted brands according to the Brand Trust Report, a study
conducted by Trust Research Advisory. Voltas has provided air conditioning in the world's tallest
building, the Burj Khalifa.
1.2 PERSUASION
An overarching theme in psychology over the past few decades has been that people do not always
operate at their full processing capacity. That is, people sometimes think carefully about things, but
they can’t possibly think carefully about every piece of information or message that they encounter.
Instead, people often rely on heuristics, or decision-making shortcuts. These varying levels of
thought, or elaboration, have consequences for how information is received and its persuasive
impact.
Basically, there are two types of persuasion based on elaboration likelihood model (ELM) which
impacts the consumer behaviour. Persuasion based on relatively high degrees of thinking is called
the central route to persuasion, whereas persuasion that occurs with relatively little thinking is called
the peripheral route to persuasion. These different routes mean that different people can respond to
the same information quite differently or the same people can respond differently to the same
information under different circumstances. Importantly, whether persuasion results from relatively
high or low amounts of thinking will result in very different consequences.

1.3 CENTRAL ROUTE

The central route to persuasion is directed at highly involved consumers, where persuasion will
likely occur from a person’s careful thoughts and consideration of the product. During highly
involved situations, the central route involves high levels of elaboration where cognitive thought
processes and rational thought processing help shape a consumer’s attitude towards a brand. The
central route therefore, shapes attitudes towards brands when the purchase require the use of
cognitive resources to carefully analyse and aid a purchase, this route is based around logic and is
mainly used when making important purchases.
 1.4 PERIPHERAL ROUTE
The peripheral route is directed at consumers that are uninvolved with presented stimuli, as it is more
effective to focus on attracting these low involvement consumers through peripheral advertising
cues, which allows recipients to conserve their cognitive resources. Therefore, for trivial purchases
that require low involvement, such as buying a chocolate bar, peripheral cues would be more
attractive in attracting customers to buy their products. Cues such as setting of the advertisement or
the use of attractive celebrity models to persuade consumers, have been shown to greatly impact
persuasion during periods of low involvement.
In conclusion, it is very important for companies to carefully select which persuasion route would be
best to influence depending on what product they are offering. The central processing route is
activated when high cognitive involvement is required in a purchase, where methods explaining
specifics will be most effective, whereas peripheral processing is more emotion based where clever
use of cues can be used in order to help persuade a person to buy a product.
1.5 ATTITUDE
The concept ‘Attitude’ is defined as follows: An attitude is a negative or positive evaluation of an object
which influences human’s behaviour towards that object’. – Michael Hogg. An attitude is a learned
predisposition to respond in a favourable or unfavourable manner towards people, an object, an idea or a
situation’. – Martin Fishbein
Psychologists such as Rosenber, Eagley and Hovland have given a three components model of Attitude.
According to this model, an attitude has following three components:
1. Cognitive Component
2. Affective Component
3. Behavioural Component
Cognitive response is evaluation technique, cognitively of the entity which help in forming an attitude. This
component consists of a set of beliefs about a topic. People acquire most beliefs about a particular topic quite
directly: They hear or read a fact or an opinion, or other people reinforcing or manipulating their statements
expresses a particular attitude. It is formed through direct instructions, reinforcement, imitation and/or
exposure. Children form attitudes by imitating the behaviour of people who play important roles in their lives.
They usually repeat opinions expressed by their parents. Most attitudes in individuals are a result of "social
learning" from their nearby environment. Psychologists use the expression "mere exposure" effect to denote
the formation of a positive attitude toward a person, place, or thing based solely on repeated exposure to that
person, place, or thing.
Affective components of attitudes are believed to be very strong and influential. For example, a bigot feels
uneasy and uncomfortable in the presence of people from a certain religious, racial, or ethnic group; the nature
lover feels exhilarated and amused from a pleasant walk through the woods and mountains. Similar to other
emotional reactions, these feelings are strongly influenced by direct or vicarious conditioning.
The affective components consist of different kind of feelings that a particular topic arouses. The affective
response is a physiological response that expresses an individual's preference for an entity. It is a conditioned
emotional response, which has been linked to a previously non-emotional stimulus. The affective component
of an attitude grows into a reflex that is intertwined with new emotional responses.
2. PRODUCT CATEGORY
2.1 NEED
The lifestyle of the Indian people is changing as the country is moving towards service sector
from manufacturing and agriculture sector. The income of the middle class in increasing and so is
the standard of living which makes them habituated to comfort and AC is one of the products
which fits the standard of living. The hot and humid weather of the country is also making AC a
necessity instead of a luxury product. Due to high population and industries within the cities the
temperature is increasing day by day making it uncomfortable for people to live because of
 which the need of AC is increasing. The Indian consumer is very much concern about his social
status so when someone known buys something expensive or luxurious, they will also buy that
creating a chain reaction.
2.2 USAGE
Mostly the ACs are used in the commercial sectors because of the use of computers and other
electronic devices in large number. Now every shopping mall, corporate offices, showrooms and
almost every hospital have AC installed for the comfort of the people.
Ruler market doesn’t have significant number of sales of AC because of the low income but most
of the metro cities the number is high. AC is mostly used during summer season and the sales of
the product is mostly during this season. As most of the Indians are cost driven so they use AC
only when required to save high electricity bills.
2.3 BENEFITS
Social benefit- The middle class buys AC as a social status symbol to improve their reputation in
the society.
Clean air- The air quality of the house improves by using AC as the air is filtered by the air filters
in the AC and the family can breathe clean air.
Weather benefits- The outside weather doesn’t affect the house’s inside temperature or the
humidity.
The SEC category which includes middle class people consist of major chunk of people and they
give more importance to social benefits than the functional benefits.
2.4 MOTIVATION
The main motivational factor is ‘need’, as AC can be brought for social status or safety. In case
of AC, social status or esteem is the main motivational factor mainly for middle class people but
for most of the upper-class people safety is the main motivational factor for buying an AC. The
motivational factors can be both positive and negative. Some of the positive motivational factor
can be the reducing cost and more innovative technologies. Respiratory diseases like asthma
because of the polluted air, suffocating environment and foul smell because of the industries and
high population, low social status in society, are the negative motivational factors.
3. BRAND COMMUNICATION
3.1 NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENTS

NEWSPAPER AD 01 NEWSPAPER AD 02

ABOUT THE AD The new inverter split AC from The new split AC from Voltas
Voltas with saving up to Rs 21000 with 5D DC motor technology
and exchange benefits. Detailed with lifetime compressor
and informative advertisement. warranty. Detailed and
informative advertisement.

CENTRAL The financial benefits of buying Detailed information regarding

ROUTE TO this new split ac are clearly stated offers given for new variants of
PERSUASION in the advertisement, Detailed ac with description of benefits
breakup of MRP, the exchange like 5% cashback and
offer and details, and 0% finance installation at Rs 499, which
through NBFCs has been shown. consumers can logically process
Customer care numbers are also and evaluate while considering
given in case further clarifications purchase. Customer care
are required. numbers are also given in case
further clarifications are
required.
PERIPHERAL The ad has a Diwali festival The ad has a phrase “Peace of
theme featuring a couple wearing Mind Lifetime”, which me the
ethnic dress emphasising on consumer doesn’t have to
married couples and connecting worry about the AC as the
with Indian sentiments that company is providing lifetime
Indians mostly buys expensive warranty on compressor.
items like AC on auspicious days
like during Diwali.

COGNITIVE Informative about new offers on Informative about the new 5D

ELEMENTS savings, exchange, free installation, DC motor technology, high
warranty, use of copper and also ambient cooling, super silent
cashback offer on Citibank card is operation, lifetime warranty of
mentioned. compressor, installation at Rs
499.

AFFECTIVE Clear use of affective elements of Use of phrase “Peace of Mind

ELEMENTS Indian sentiments using Diwali Lifetime” shows that the
festival theme and featuring customer need not to worry
married young couples wearing about the AC after buying it
ethnic dress. which can be understood by
the happy couple featured in
the advertisement.

3.2 MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS

MAGAZINE AD 01 MAGAZINE AD 02
ABOUT THE AD The new Voltas all weather air The new Voltas all weather
conditioners is shown. It is a simple smart AC with Wi-Fi controls.
ad which conveys 4 features of the Shows only one feature i.e.,
ac and shows a happy couple with Wi-Fi control featuring a man
next door neighbours’ image controlling the AC using his
without much clutter. smartphone.
CENTRAL The emphasis is on the term “all The emphasis is on the term
ROUTE TO weather”. The 4 features specified “Smart AC”.
PERSUASION next to the picture of AC.
PERIPHERAL The advertisement features a happy The advertisement features a
middle-aged couple sitting in the happy middle-aged man
living room. Celebrity is not used controlling the AC using his
which emphasises that the product smartphone which focuses on
is for masses. the main features of the
product.
COGNITIVE The 4 features of the AC are The phrase “Smart AC for
ELEMENTS mentioned i.e., Insta cool smart people”, is used to show
compressor, Active dehumidifier, the latest feature which shows
Super dust guard, Intelligent that it is a Wi-Fi controlled
heating. AC.
AFFECTIVE The happy couple relaxing in their The happy man who don’t
ELEMENTS living room. have to use remote to control
AC.
3.3 TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENTS

TELEVISION AD 01
THEME Voltas all weather AC
CHARACTERS Middle-aged couple and father-in-law of the man.
PERSONALITIES OF The father-in-law always tries to find faults in his son-in-law.
CENTRAL
CHARACTERS
SETTING The advertisement shows how well the AC works in 50℃
temperature of Delhi and son-n-law impresses his father-in-
law using the Voltas all weather AC.
INFERRED The middle-class families
CONSUMER
SEGMENT
INFERRED That no matter how humid or dry the weather is, the AC
CONSUMER works in all sort of weather
BENEFITS
CENTRAL ROUTE The son-in-law which is the central character says that the
Voltas all weather AC works well at all temperature created
by god and in both humid and dry weather
PERIPHERAL ROUTE It is not easy to impress the in-laws so it makes a deal that
the son-in-law impresses his father-in-law by his AC, giving
him break from Delhi’s hot weather and the all the benefits
of the AC are conveyed indirectly by the son-in-law.
COGNITIVE The advertisement shows middle class family which shows
ELEMENTS its affordability and the core value of Voltas AC of being an
all-weather AC is conveyed by the lead character (son-in-
law)
AFFECTIVE It shows the plight that how all in-laws try to find faults in
ELEMENT their child’s spouse and favours their own child.
The father-in law blames the son in law for hot weather of
Delhi but the son in law is saved by the Voltas all weather
AC and it helps in gaining respect in eyes of his father in
law.
LINK OF AD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Fk-pmxtvc

TELEVISION AD 02
THEME Voltas adjustable AC
CHARACTERS Old-aged couple and their son
PERSONALITIES OF Husband taunts wife regarding her family members and how
CENTRAL Indian middle-class people acts when any family member
CHARACTERS from abroad visits them.
SETTING The advertisement shows how the AC adjusts according to the
number of people in the room and how the family in the
advertisement & mother’s family can enjoy the air of AC
together
INFERRED The middle-class families
CONSUMER
SEGMENT
 INFERRED The AC can adjust its capacity according to the number of
CONSUMER people in the room
BENEFITS
CENTRAL ROUTE The father says that the guests from abroad can relax under
the AC and they will adjust and the son says that the AC can
adjust its capacity according to the number of people in the
room and they don’t need to adjust as the AC will adjust itself.
PERIPHERAL The Indian families tries to impress their NRI family members
ROUTE by making them comfortable even when they have to adjust
but the Voltas adjustable AC saves them as the core function
of the product is conveyed directly by the son.
COGNITIVE The advertisement shows middle class family which shows its
ELEMENTS affordability and the core value of Voltas adjustable AC of
being able to adjust its capacity according to the number of
people in the room is conveyed by the lead character (son)
AFFECTIVE It shows the plight that how all husbands taunt their wives
ELEMENT about her family.
It shows how all middle-class families in India tries to impress
their NRI family members and how they adjust for them.
The father asks the family to adjust so that the NRI family
members can relax under AC but the son conveys that Voltas
adjustable AC adjusts its capacity according to the number of
people in the room
LINK OF AD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiMghM2rNvE

4. CONSUMER LEVEL DATA

The data was collected from the owner of a small café “Little Bite” in Paonta Sahib which has one
sitting room in which the Voltas 1.5 Tonne AC is installed and the room has capacity for maximum 8
people. The owner has been using this product from past one year.

4.1 IDENTIFICATION OF NEED

A. The cafe has a lot of customers so AC was required for their comfort
B. Due to hot weather the temperature in the room also rises so AC is a necessity

4.2 INFORMATION SEARCH

A. Family member’s opinion- Positive reviews was obtained from the family members as they
have been using the same brand’s AC.
B. Friends opinion- Positive reviews was obtained from the friends about the low electricity
consumption of the AC.

4.3 EVALUATIONS OF ALTERNATIVES

Voltas, L.G and Samsung were taken in consideration and low electricity consumption
alternative was preferred. The room is small so AC with 1.5 Tonne capacity with low electricity
consumption was the preference.

4.4 PURCHASE PROCESS

The brand was offering special discounts during the festival season when the purchase was made
and the product was new with a special feature in which AC can be controlled using a
smartphone.
Purchase was made from a local dealer and the dealer recommended that particular AC.

4.5 POST PURCHASE EVALUATION

 The product had the complaint of low cooling which was rectified within a day.
The consumer is satisfied with the service and highly recommend the AC.

5. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
5.1 PRODUCT CATEGORY ASPECTS
A. Voltas AC with 1.5 Tonne capacity
B. Wall mounted rotatory compressor
C. Anti-bacterial filter
D. Cross air flow vane which reduces the noise
E. Self-grooved copper tubes
F. Hydrophilic aluminium fin
G. Remote control, Sleep mode, Led display and Auto restart features.

5.2 BRAND COMMUNICATION

A. Aimed to middle-class to show its affordability
B. They are focusing on changing the perception of AC as a necessity with affordable electricity
bill
C. It works in all weather conditions i.e., in both humid and dry weather
D. Portrays as India’s no. 01 AC and focuses on being an all-weather AC

5.3 GAPS IN COMMUNICATION AND PERCEPTION

A. Despite the fact that Voltas is showing itself as an all-weather AC which can work well in
both humid and dry weather, the people still have a perception that an AC can’t control the
humidity or dryness.
B. Voltas shows itself as economical in the overall process of purchase and use, since it claims
to have better energy ratings. But the consumer focused only the low-cost feature and didn’t
include the incentive due to electricity bills

5.4 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL INFLUENCES

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES INTERNAL INFLUENCES

Culture: Voltas places itself as a Emotions: Relaxation and Happiness
necessity and a problem solver
Demographics: Mostly the young get Personality: Voltas ACs are ‘Smart AC’
to decide on AC brand by doing with fast cooling, low electricity bills and
research by either talking or going clean air
through feedback on the net
Social status: Voltas showcases itself Perception: People perceives it to be an
as an affordable and a necessity at energy efficient, fast cooling and stylish
minimum cost product
Marketing activities: Voltas markets Motives: The main motive of purchasing
itself as “India’s no. 01 AC” and “All this AC is cooling during high
weather AC”, suitable for all types of temperature during summers and clean air
weather with minimum electricity bills in spite of pollution and also maintain low
electricity bills
 REFERENCE
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5. India to Become a Competitive Hot Spot in Air Conditioners- Euromonitor
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltas
7. indiainfoline.com. "Voltas wins National Energy Conservation Award 2015". Retrieved 23 January
2018.
8. Tata.com. "Voltas all-weather ACs win yet another international gold via @tatacompanies".
tata.com. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
9. https://www.myvoltas.com/air-conditioners