CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR TOWARDS FASTRACK WATCHES

Completed at New bel road Bangalore fastrack outlet

Submitted to: Dr.Y.Poornima

Submitted by:Jitendra Pareek (PGPM-1012)

Consumer buying behavior towards purchasing the Fastrack watches

Introduction: Consumer-buying behavior according to Kotler is defined as The buying behavior consumers individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption. the term consumer can be described as a person who acquires goods and services for self satisfaction is often used to describe two different kinds of consuming entities: the personal consumers and the organizational consumers. The personal consumers buy goods and services for his/her own use. In this context the goods are bought for final use by individual, who are organizational consumers, encompasses for profit and not for profit business, government agencies, institutions, all of them must buy products, equipment and services in order to run their organization. Peter and Olson mention that interactions between the peoples emotions, moods, affection and specific feelings is called consumer behavior, in other words in Environmental events which they exchange ideas and benefits each is called consumer behavior.

COMPANY PROFILE: FASTRACK BACKGROUND OF FASTRACK Timex had entered the Indian market through a joint venture with Titan and which was their offering for the youth market. When that JV broke off in 1997 and Timex went independent, there was a gap in Titans portfolio and it only made sense to fill that need through their offering. Fastrack was launched as a range of watch ware under Titan and was called Titan Fastrack. Subsequently, it grew from a range to a subbrand, where Titan was upfront in the logo and the association was strong. They used the jazzy version of the Mozart tune, which is Titans signature tune. So, the link with Titan was very strong. When they launched, they targeted predominantly the early

jobber 23-30 year-old male executive. It was only a year or two later that they launched a line for women. RE-LAUNCH OF THE BRAND They took off and did well in the start but started stagnating in 2001-2003, and thats when they went for a reality check. Titan had simultaneously launched the steel collection, which was an attempt to contemporize for a Titan audience. But what was happening was the collection in terms of looks, price point and consumer buying behavior was very similar to Fastrack, including advertising. The parent brand needed to continue in its endeavor to keep it contemporary and hence repositioned Fastrack to younger audience in sub-25 range. Fastrack was launched with new products, a new identity, new advertising and a new logo in June 2005. The year took off so well that they ran out of stock very quickly and ended the year with a 150 per cent growth and the demand was growing continuously. Next year, they recorded another 100 per cent growth. When re-launch was started, Fastrack brand was worth about Rs 29 crore but however they have grown almost ten times of that over the last three years. Fastrack has a presence in over 6000 outlets across 800 towns, with new exclusive brand kiosks in Metro Malls and its multi-channel distribution network which covers the 228 strong World of Titan Network, 122 Large Format Chain stores viz. Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Central, Westside, Pantaloons and Multi-brand watch & optical outlets. Fastrack is actually among the few brands where people come asking for the brand. They have adopted a fashion based strategy, where they launch about 3-4 collections in a year in both categories. Collection-based strategy has helped them very well. Fastrack, in its journey to being a fashion accessories brand has expanded its portfolio to now include not just watches and sunglasses but bags, belts, wallets and wristbands too. With this, it now has enough categories to open a fashion accessories store and thats just what theyve done!

OBJECTIVE: To understand the consumer behavior, in fastrack retail shop I went to a nearby showroom which is at new bel road and I interacted with sales person and
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consumers through this process I came to know the consumer preferences, type of customers and what are the demands of the consumers, how they purchase and what is buying process of a customer and what are the factor which involve in a buying process. I gone through a simple technique in which my intension was face to face interaction with consumers and it took me two- three days to collect the data for this project report. I chose the new bel road fastrack retail showroom because there was man time constrain but it became easy for me by choosing nearby showroom. .

Consumer buying behavior: Fastrack watches

CULTURAL FACTORS In India, Titan ahead of all other brands as the Most Admired Brand in India across all product categories. It was also a fitting tribute to a brand, which had not only revolutionised the Indian watch industry, but also brought in world-class benchmarks in product design, quality and retailing into India. In 1998, it was Fastrack, the cool, trendy, funky range for the young and young-at-heart. Since Indian population has positive outlook for titan it has influenced the behavior of younger generation who are variety seeking. SOCIAL CLASS The age and stage of individual has a major influence on the buying behavior of consumer. The youth in the range of age of fifteen years to mid thirties are generally attracted to the watches. Friends and their peer group have a major influence on the purchase decisions of the youth.

ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES: Economic circumstances do not play a major role in opting for Fastrack watches because the target segment is youth and it offers an affordable range. BRAND PERSONALITY For Fastrack watches traits like Excitement and ruggedness can be attributed. Excitement includes imaginative and being up to date while ruggedness sports outdoorsy and tough. LIFESTYLE A Fastrack watch generally attracts people with affluent lifestyle who are fashionconscious. For Fastrack watches traits like Excitement and ruggedness can be attributed. Excitement includes imaginative and being up to date while ruggedness sports outdoorsy and tough.

BUYING DECISION PROCESS OF CONSUMER FOR FASTRACK WATCHES

PROBLEM RECOGNITION: The buyer first and foremost identifies the reason why he or she wants a particular product. In the case of Fastrack watches the need is triggered by both internal and external stimuli. Internal stimuli are the need to keep track of time while external stimuli are because of the peer group who are using the watch. In the survey we have conducted many of them have responded that it as either a necessity or a accessory.

 INFORMATION SEARCH: In order to reach a large audience Fastrack employs a number of advertising and promotional campaigns. Fastrack has roped in John Abraham as brand ambassador of the product at the beginning to portray the sporty nature of the brand. The company has also roped in Aamir khan for army collection. The company uses youth icons to portray the trendy looks of the watches. It also advertises aggressively in internet, print media and television. Therefore its quite easy on the part of consumers to make an informed decision regarding Fastrack watches by collecting data from various sources of mass media and from family, friends etc. In the survey we have conducted majority have responded that television and print media have major influence on their purchase decisions. EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES: A consumer then evaluates various alternatives based on the needs and information available to him. Fastrack through its variety of variants is able to satisfy a number of needs of the consumers. Fastrack which is always perceived as trendy and affordable watch has an edge over its competitors. Hence Fastrack is one of the best alternatives who are looking for a trendy yet affordable watch. PURCHASE DECISION: There is a strong preference of Fastrack brand among youth in both middle and upper. It would involve other sub decisions like timing, payment method. All the Branded stores and shopping malls would be offering flexible payments methods and flexible timings. In the survey conducted by us we have observed that consumers preferred to buy the watches majorly in branded stores and shopping malls. .

 POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOR: Since Fastrack has been able to deliver value for money and satisfy the needs of consumers, it has been able to build a brand image for itself and win the loyalty of consumers. Hence many of the respondents have responded to not only buy the Fastrack watch once again bit also to recommend the brand to their friends and colleagues. Thus above mentioned is the process which shows the different stages in consumer buying behavior TOTAL SET Fastrack Tommy Hilfigure Taghure Timex Titan Sonata AWARENESS CONSIDERATION CHOICE SET SET SET DECISION Fastrack Fastrack Fastrack ? Taghure Timex Titan Timex Titan Timex

MARKETING MIX OF FASTRACK

PRODUCT AND PRICE: There are a variety of collections of Fastrack watches specifically targeted to men and women. Each product is includes a different set of features to meet the need of specific customers. COLLECTION Sport Army Adventure Basics Grunge Aluminium Colour Play Digital Fashion Essentials Party Pairs Neon - Disc Neon XY PRICE RANGE 2000-4000 2000-3500 1000-2000 500-1500 1000-2500 500-1000 1000-2000 500-2000 1000-2500 1500-3000 3000-3500 1000-2500 500-1500 1500-3000 TARGET Men only Both men women Both men women Both men women Both men women girls only girls only Both men women Both men women Both men women Pair Men only Men only Both men women

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CONCLUSION : Based on the above study I would like to conclude that Fastrack should target the market with new variants of watches on regular basis as many of them (customers) feel the Fastrack as trendy in order to increase the market share. In addition to these Fastrack should add new features like display of date and day in more variants of analog watches. Fastrack should use television, print media and start some brand magazine for their advertisements and to keep their existing customers update of any new variants of watches as I observed with talking with customers. The image of fastrack watches in consumers mind is good as per the response collected of all the respondents. The above type of advertisements can help Fastrack to improve the loyalty customer base. As the positioning of Fastrack targeted trendy, affordable ranges in youth segment and it is been accepted by most of the people but they would like to have more and more variants and features in this segment. And last it was a great experience for me to use theoretical knowledge in practical life. I met with different types customer .so it was a opportunity for me to understand real customers mind and their perception toward a product.