Product and Brand Management

An Empirical Assessment of Factors Influencing

Consumer Purchase Decisions through Brand
Image in the Indian Toothpaste Market

DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Submitted By –
Ansh Srivastava (2K22/DMBA/18)
MANVI GOSWAMI (2K22/DMBA/72)
Md. Adil (2K22/DMBA/74)

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 ABSTRACT
“Consumer is king” – the statement carries profound truth in
it. Today the success of any firm depends upon the
satisfaction of consumers. In these circumstances
understanding the consumer is a very difficult task because
of the changing technology, innovation and changes in the
life style of people. As per the ideas given by the researchers,
there are two factors influencing the consumers such as
intrinsic and extrinsic factors. It is difficult to classify the
consumers by demographic conventional factors and unless
their thought process and buying behaviour are fully
understood, decisions on product designs and packaging,
branding and distributing channels are likely to be misplaced.
This study mainly focuses on understanding the external
factors such as demographic, social, cultural, price, quality
product attributes etc, which influence the consumer buying
behaviour of toothpaste. Following study is done by us to
find out the behaviour of the consumers, to analyse the
preference of the customers and consumer awareness.
Descriptive research design was adopted and the data is
collected through primary and secondary sources. The
method for conducting survey is questionnaire; simple
random sampling technique was adopted for selecting the
consumers.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our very great appreciation to
Professor Mrs Deepshree for her valuable and constructive
suggestions during the planning and development of this
project work. Her willingness to give her time so generously
has been very much appreciated. It has been a great
experience working on ‘An Empirical Assessment of Factors
Influencing Consumer Purchase Decisions through Brand
Image in the Indian Toothpaste Market’’. It gives us
complete insight of this concept of purchasing decision and
buying behaviour of the people.
We would also like to extend our thanks to the TOOTHPASTE
INDUSTRY for enabling us in collecting the data from various
sites.
Finally, we wish to thank our parents for their support and
encouragement throughout our stud

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Serial no. Title Page no.
1. Introduction 6-18
2. Review of 19-22
Literature
3. Data analysis and 23-34
Interpretation
4. Limitation 35
5. References 36

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 List of tables
Serial no. Title Page no.
1. Demographic 24
variables
2. Brand awareness 27
variables
3. Purchase decision 32
variables

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 INTRODUCTION
Consumer behaviour is stated as the behaviour the consumer
display in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluation, and
disposing of products, services and ideas that they expect will
satisfy their needs. The study of the consumer behaviour is
not only concerned with what consumers buy, but with why
they buy it, when and how they buy it, and how often they
buy it. It is concerned with learning the specific meaning that
product holds for consumers. Consumer research takes place
at every phase of consumption process, before the purchase,
during the purchase and after the purchase.
According to the Philip kotler defined consumer behaviour
as, ‘’ all psychological, physical and social behaviour of
potential customers as they become as they become aware of
evaluate, purchase, consume and tell others about the
product and services.’’
A decision is the selection of an action from two or more
alternative choices. Consumer decision to purchase the
goods from the available alternatives is known as “consumer
purchase decision”. The participants in the buying decisions
may be classified as the initiator, influencer, decider, buyer,
and users.

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The scope of consumer behaviour includes not only the
actual buyer and his act of buying but also various roles
played by different individuals and the influence they exert
on the final purchase decision. Individual consumer
behaviour is influenced by economic, social, cultural,
psychological and personal factors. The participants in the
buying decisions may be classified as the initiator, influencer,
decider, buyer, and users. Consumer preferences are
changing and becoming highly diversified. Hence there is a
need to identify those factors that are influencing their
purchase decision.

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 INDIAN ORAL CARE INDUSTRY
Many people in India still clean their teeth with traditional
products like Neem twigs, salt, ash, tobacco and other herbal
ingredients. Average all India per capita consumption of
tooth paste is a dismal 8.2gms. Earlier the consumers were
negligent towards oral hygiene and even did not care to see a
dentist for their oral health problems. However, the trend is
changing, and nowadays dental advice is also considered an
important factor while making a purchase decision of the
toothpaste brand, at least in urban markets. The dentist to
population ratio is critically low 1:35000 in the country. This
results in low oral hygiene consciousness and widespread
dental diseases. Less than 15% of the Indian toothpaste users
brush twice a day.
India’s oral hygiene market is one of the most dynamic,
fastest growing, and competitive sectors of the FMCG
industry. Today's consumer has a wide variety of choice in
terms of toothpaste brands. Toothpastes from paste form, to
gel and powder form are present in the market catering to
needs of all the segments. Also, a lot of herbal and medicated
toothpastes having natural and anti –sensitivity properties
are being offered to the consumers in the market space.
Colgate and Hindustan lever together account for over 85%
of the organized toothpaste market. Red and black tooth
powder still account for the 35% of the toothpowder market.

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In toothpowder Colgate and Dabur are the leading players
sharing between 75% of the market.
Oral care market is fragmented into the 5 broad categories:

• Toothpaste Pastes Gels Powders

• Toothbrushes & accessories Manual Toothbrushes
Electric Toothbrushes Battery-powered Toothbrushes
• Mouthwashes/Rinses Non-medicated Mouthwashes
Medicated Mouthwashes
• Dental Accessories Dental Flosses Breath Fresheners
Cosmetic Dental Whitening Products
• Denture Products Fixatives Dental Prosthesis Cleaning
Solution

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TOOTHPASTE:
The toothpaste market is characterized by the presence
of few large multinational companies like Colgate
Palmolive India ltd, Hindustan Unilever ltd, Procter &
Gamble, Smithkline Beecham. Consumer healthcare and
handful of Indian companies such as Dabur, Anchor
health and Beauty products, Vicco laboratories, etc.
Traditionally, Colgate and HUL were the main players in
the toothpaste market of white and gel form. The
Procter & Gamble joined the market. Domestic Indian
companies like Balcara and Vicco used to produce the
Ayurvedic range of toothpaste along with their other
Ayurvedic products. Anchor company that was fampous
for its switching products made a successful foray in
thos sector by launching toothpaste and positioning
itself as First 100% vegetarian toothpaste companies
such as Dabur and Baidyanath operated in the
toothpaste market.

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BRANDS IN THE INDIAN MARKET & THEIR OFFERINGS

COLGATE
Marketed by Colgate-Palmolive, Colgate deep cleans the
teeth, gums, and gives fresher and healthier breath
• Colgate Cibaca Toothpaste
• Colgate Active Salt Toothpaste
• Colgate Active Salt Neem Toothpaste
• Colgate Active Salt Healthy White Toothpaste
• Colgate Barbie Toothpaste
• Colgate Cibaca Vedshakti Toothpaste
• Colgate Herbal Toothpaste
• Colgate MaxFresh Spicy Fresh Toothpaste
• Colgate MaxFresh Peppermint Ice Toothpaste
• Colgate Sensitive Clove
• Colgate Sensitive Original Toothpaste
• Colgate Sensitive Plus Toothpaste
• Colgate Strong Teeth Toothpaste
• Colgate Swarna Vedshakti Toothpaste
• Colgate Total Advanced Health Toothpaste
• Colgate Charcoal Clean Toothpaste
• Colgate Visible White Toothpaste

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UNILEVER
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast-
Moving Consumer Goods company with a heritage of over 80
years in India. Almost all Indian households are touched by its
products to feel good, look good and get more out of life.
Pepsodent and Close up both are part of HUL.
PEPSODENT
Pepsodent is a leading oral care brand with a wide range of
products, benefitting from Unilever’s long tradition of R&D in
this field.
• Pepsodent Whitening
• Pepsodent Super Salt
• Pepsodent Lavang & Salt
• Pepsodent Germicheck
• Pepsodent Germicheck 2 in 1
• Pepsodent Expert Protection Gumcare

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CLOSE UP
For years, Closeup has been synonymous with fresh breath
and confidence. India’s first gel toothpaste (1967)
•Closeup triple fresh formula anti-germ gel toothpaste red
hot
•Closeup white attraction natural glow toothpaste
•Closeup white attraction natural smile toothpaste
SENSODYNE
Sensodyne is a popular brand of toothpaste and mouthwash
founded in the year 1961. It is owned by GlaxoSmithKline and
targets sensitive teeth.
• Sensodyne Herbal Multi Care with extracts of Eucalyptus &
Fennel
• Sensodyne Deep Clean Toothpaste
• Sensodyne Whitening Toothpaste
• Sensodyne Fresh Gel
• Sensodyne repair and protect
• Sensodyne rapid relief
• Sensodyne fresh mint

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PATANJALI DANT KANTI
An Indian consumer goods company, Patanjali ayurvedic
limited manufactures this product.
• Patanjali Dant Kanti
• Patanjali Dant Kanti Advance
• Patanjali Dant Kanti Medicated
• Dant Kanti Fresh active gel

DABUR
• Dabur Red & Dabur Red gel
Dabur Red Toothpaste is a unique blend of traditional Indian
Medicine and modern pharmaceutical technology. Dabur Red
Toothpaste is a combination of 11 ingredients which are
described in Ayurveda for their effectiveness against various
oral problems
• Dabur Meswak Dabur
Meswak is scientifically formulated herbal toothpaste with
pure extract of the Miswak plant 'Salvadore Persica', the
famous 'Toothbrush Tree' used for centuries. The astringent
and anti-bacterial properties of Meswak helps reduce tooth
decay, fight plaque, and prevent gum diseases.

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• Dabur Babool
Toothpaste is natural toothpaste packed with the benefits of
Babool extract 'Acacia Arabica'. The Babul herbal extract in
Dabur's Babool Toothpaste helps keep your gums healthy
and teeth strong. The toothpaste has the Natural T3 Power
which has a unique 1-23 action that gives the teeth effective
protection. T1, its antibacterial power fights against germs,
T2, forms a protective layer over gums and protects it against
Germs & T3, its astringent action tightens the gums.

VICCO
Vicco Group of Companies (Vishnu Industrial Chemical
Company) was founded by late Shri K.V. Pendharkar in 1952.
Under the umbrella of Vicco Group, it has a range of products
from Ayurvedic herbal hygiene, healthcare and other
products like herbal toothpastes, herbal tooth powders,
natural turmeric, and sandalwood oil-based skin cream etc

• Vicco Vajradanti Sugar free Paste

• Vicco Vajradanti Paste
• Vicco Vajradanti Dalchini Flavour
• Vicco Vajradanti Saunf Flavour

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HIMALAYA
Himalaya is a global herbal health and personal care
organization
• Complete Care Toothpaste: Himalaya Complete Care
Toothpaste is an advanced herbal formulation that not only
protects from germs but also has antioxidants that help
protect teeth against free radicals and help maintain gums in
good health.
• Sparkling White Toothpaste: Himalaya's Sparkling White
Toothpaste is a breakthrough herbal formulation based on
plant enzyme technology that gently removes surface stains
on your teeth
• Active Fresh Gel: Himalaya's Active Fresh Gel is packed with
the goodness of herbal ingredients that ensure long-lasting
fresh breath.
• Stain Removal Toothpaste
• Sensitive Toothpaste
• Sparkling White Fresh Gel

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MARKET SHARE

Increasing dental problems among children and adults,

due to poor eating habits, and the rise in popularity for
herbal oral care products are the factors primarily
driving the toothpaste market. Moreover, rising
premiumization and consumers seeking more targeted
solutions are accelerating the growth of the market
studied. The data shown below is given by Nielsen India
that brings insight to the business. It is a leading global
and measurement company that provides market
research, insights, and data.

Oral care accounted for about 16 percent of the fast-

moving consumer goods market in India. Colgate
Palmolive’s volume share fell from 55.1 percent to 53.4
percent during the period whereas Patanjali’s share
doubled to 7.4 percent.

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PROBLEM DEFINITION
The purpose of the study is:

• To examine the external factors influencing purchase

decision.
• To examine the consumer awareness of toothpaste
• To find out how potential schemes are influencing the
customers
• To examine how the product attributes influencing the
consumer buying toothpaste.

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 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Consumer Behaviour has been always of great interest to
marketers. The knowledge of consumer behaviour helps the
marketer to understand how consumers think, feel and select
from alternatives like products, brands and the like and how
the consumers are influenced by their environment, the
reference groups, family, and salespersons and so on. A
consumer’s buying behaviour is influenced by cultural, social,
personal and psychological factors. Most of these factors are
uncontrollable and beyond the hands of marketers but they
have to be considered while trying to understand the
complex behaviour of the consumers. In this study, the
researcher emphasizes the importance of lifestyle and its
impact on the buyer behaviour.
There are two factors mainly influencing the consumers for
decision making: Risk aversion and innovativeness. Risk
aversion is a measure of how much consumers need to be
certain and sure of what they are purchasing (Donthu and
Gilliland, 1996).Highly risk adverse consumers need to be
very certain about what they are buying. Whereas less risk
adverse consumers can tolerate some risk and uncertainty in
their purchases. The second variable, innovativeness, is a
global measure which captures the degree to which
consumers are willing to take chances and experiment with
new ways of doing things (Donthu and Gilliand, 1996).The
shopping motivation literature is abound with various
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measures of individual characteristics (e.g., innovative,
venturesome, cosmopolitan, variety seeking), therefore,
innovativeness and risk aversion were included in this study
to capture several of these traits. Measures by Donthu and
Gilliland (1996) were used to measure innovativeness and
risk aversion.
Dr. Vinit Dani (2013)
Toothpaste industry is a big market in India. Toothpastes
form an important item in the monthly grocery shopping of
most of the urban households. Dr. Vinit Dani (2013)
performed a study to analyse the buying behaviour of
toothpaste in Urban India -Pune city. According to the survey
conducted the most important factors that the buyers
considered while purchasing a particular brand was the
brand image, advertising, and the sales promotion. The study
also mentions about the drastic changes happened, the
moment from traditional products like Neem twigs, salt, ash,
tobacco or other traditional substances to branded
toothpastes which was the result of increasing oral hygiene
concern and awareness among the public.
Consumers switched from one toothpaste brand to another
product based on advertisement, brand name, packaging
availability, and price changes, etc. Moreover, Indian
consumers have high degree of family orientation, which
extends to even extended family and friends. Brands with

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 identities which support family values tend to be popular and
accepted easily in Indian market.
Dr. S. Sriram & Dr. S. Pugalanthi (2013)
The study on Purchasing Behaviour of Consumers towards
Toothpaste with Special Reference to Madurai District, Tamil
Nadu ( Dr. S. Sriram & Dr. S. Pugalanthi (2013) was addressed
by correlational analysis to spot the important factors
considered by the consumers for taking decision towards
purchasing of Toothpaste and therefore the study concluded
that the merchandise Related factors like Colour, Ingredients,
name , taste, flavour etc, plays a crucial role in purchasing
toothpaste. So, the businesses should analyse of these
factors and determine the simplest suitable tools for
promoting their toothpastes in India.

QUESTIONNAIRE
https://forms.gle/Y6XSPfeGQy8NfS2K7

RESPONSES:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XocvaQrNzspHhljPhRlkN85rf
CBPEdG2/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=103752557284990161510&rtpof=true
&sd=true

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HYPOTHESES:
H0: Null Hypotheses
H1: Alternate Hypotheses
H0: A significant relationship does not exist between age and
brand switching decision
H1: A significant relationship exists between age and brand
switching decision
H0: A significant relationship does not exist between gender
and type of product they will prefer
H1: A significant relationship exists between gender and type
of product they will prefer
We have taken 50 samples randomly from the total
population.
Primary source of data is collected through Questionnaire.
Secondary source of data is collected through magazines,
journals and websites.

SAMPLING PLAN:
Sample size- 50
Sampling unit- Buyers of toothpaste
Extent- Delhi

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DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
The data has been collected with the help of e-questionnaire.
A total of 50 responses have been recorded over the period
of 10 days starting from 17th April 2021 to 27th April 2021.
The prime objective of the study is to understand the
Purchase Decision in choosing toothpaste. It has been
analysed and interpreted with the help of tables along with
relevant descriptions.

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TABLE 1:
DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE
Demographic Variable No. Of Respondents Percentage
Gender

Male 25 50%
Female 23 46%
Prefer not to say 2 4%

Age

<20 Years 13 26%

21-30 Years 16 32%
31-40 Years 12 24%
>40 Years 9 18%

Occupation

Student 16 32%
Homemaker 6 12%
Selfemployed/business 13 26%
Service 14 28%
Retired 1 2%

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The responses were collected as per convenience sampling
(randomly). The main reason for choosing these variables
was to get overall representation of the population.
Table 1 indicates that out the 50 respondents, 50% were
Male, 46% were female, and the rest 4% preferred not to say.
The age level of 32% respondents is between 21-30 years,
and there was a total of 26% who were below 20 Years of
age. 32% respondents were students, 28% were service, 26%
belonged to self-employed/Business, 2.9% were homemaker
and the rest 2% were retired.

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TABLE 2:
BRAND AWARENESS
Brand No. of Respondents Percentage

Colgate 50 100%
Closeup 43 86%
Pepsodent 50 100%
Sensodyne 50 100%
Patanjali Dant Kanti 50 100%
Dabur Red 42 84%
Dabur Meswak 27 54%
Dabur Babool 39 78%
Vicco 23 46%
Himalaya 32 64%

Medium

TV Advertisement 47 94%
Print Ads 22 44%
Newspaper 37 74%
Family/Friends 43 86%
Internet 31 62%
Others NIL NIL

Function

2 in 1 product 47 94%
Individual Function 3 6%

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With a view to find that awareness of toothpaste brand, the
data pertaining to this is presented in Table 2.
An examination of the table reveals that most of the people
are aware of Colgate, Pepsodent, Patanjali D
ant kanti and Sensodyne (100%) followed by Closeup which
was 86% and Dabur red (84%). An examination of the table
reveals that, the people are influenced more by TV
advertisements- 94% followed by Family/friends- 86%.
Advertisement creates attention and stimulates the
consumer to buy a particular brand. In recent circumstances
technology plays an important role in decision making.
Television advertisement can induce the consumer mind for
decision making. Other kinds of advertisement (Print Ads) in
magazine, newspaper also influence the people. Advertising
is a strong base for consumer to select toothpaste.
Advertising may directly influence a consumer’s brand
evaluation through such cues as celebrity endorsements and
music, even without providing any explicit information. Also,
advertising can influence how consumers experience and
evaluate the quality of the product from subsequent
consumption.
Most of the respondents preferred 2 in 1 product (94%)
rather than individual function product.

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The survey shows that people are very satisfied with their
current toothpaste brand (58%). This accounts slightly more
than 50% of the total responses, which means that there is a
scope for improvement in current usage brand.

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With a view to find the extent to which the source of
information influences the purchase decision, it can be
concluded that when it comes to TV advertisement, 30
respondents find it extremely important and none finds it
unimportant when making a purchase decision.
When it comes to print ads, 29 respondents felt important
about it and 7 respondents finds it neural when making a
purchase decision.
Now, coming to the Memory of previous purchased
toothpaste, it was observed that 46 respondents felt
extremely important to consider the memory of previous
bought toothpaste. And from the professional
recommendation point of view for purchasing the toothpaste
it was revealed that 20 respondents find it extremely
important. Respondents may be accepting the advice of
professionals to avoid dental problem.

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TABLE 3:
PURCHASE DECISION
Brand No. of respondents Percentage
Attribute

Availability 44 88%
Brand 41 82%
Cost 34 68%
Country of origin 24 48%
Packaging 25 50%
Taste/Variant/Flavour 46 92%
Herbal ingredients 39 78%
Other NIL NIL

Mode

Supermarkets 41 82%
Retail Shop 44 88%
Ecommerce platform 22 44%
Others 3 6%

Retail Shops (88%) are the most preferred place to buy

toothpaste by the respondents followed by supermarkets
(82%). With a view to find the factor respondents considers
the most when buying a toothpaste, the data pertaining to
this is presented in table 3.

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 An examination of the table reveals that, 46 respondents are
influenced by the Taste/variant/flavour (92%), followed by
availability and Brand which amounts to 88% & 82%
respectively. Thus, it can be said that Taste/variant/flavour
played a vital role in selection of toothpaste.

Based on this study switching of one brand to other brand is

not a practice that is often adopted by respondents. They
usually switch within a span of 11-12 months. With a view to
find the reasons for switching to other brand, the data
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pertaining to this is presented in graph above. An
examination of the graph reveals that, most of the
consumers switch to other brand due to value added
features (40%); next factor was recommendation of the
product (24%).

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 LIMITATIONS
Our study suffers from some limitations, which could be
avenues for further research. This study failed to talk about
about the psychographics of the consumer. Understanding
psychographics of the consumer is an important tool to
understand the inner feelings, and attitude of the consumer.
The changing demographic profile of the population in terms
of education, income, size of family and so on, are important
by what will be more substantive in days to come will be the
Psychographics of customers that is how they feel, think or
behave. Marketers will have to constantly monitor and
understand the underlying Psychographics to map their
respective industries are moving and decide what needs to
be done, by way of adding value that motivates customers to
buy the company’s products and influence the future
industry structure. One more problem in this study was
questionnaire. Most of the questions are closed ended it
limits the respondents answer.

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