The document summarizes a research project conducted by a group of college students on the preference of brands among college-going students. The group conducted surveys of 50 students from 5 Mumbai colleges. They analyzed the data collected based on gender and other factors. The analysis showed that while social status and family influence branding preferences, most students consider quality and value for money over showcasing brands. The research partially disproved the hypothesis that social status drives brand preference but confirmed the hypothesis that students consider financial prudence.

1. V I D YA L A N K A R S C H O O L O F
I N F O R M AT I O N T E C H N O L O G Y
S . Y. B . M . S - C
RESEARCH PROJECT
TEACHER INCHARGE
: M R S . S WAT I V I S P U T E

2. Introduction
Literature review
Problem statement
Research method
• Questionaire
• Sample
• Method of analysis
Conclusion
Overview of the
project 2

3. Members part of the Research
Group members:
Name Roll no
MonitChauhan 11B906
BhaveshChhajed 11B908
Vikas Jain 11B916
Stewart Serrao 11B940
SorabhShandilya 11B942
Bhavani Singh Shekhawat 11B943
KaveshnaShete 11B944
Mohd.ArifShaikh 11B953
3

4. Declaration
We hereby declare that we have made this project to the
best of our capability and the information provided
in the report is true to best knowledge.
of
4

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We are thankful to our professor Mrs.
SwatiVisputefor her guidance throughout our project
work.
We are grateful to all our respondents who made
time to give us the information.
5

6. Introduction
We had a group discussion regarding which topic to
choose. We wanted to choose such a topic on which
research is possible.The first step we did is that, we told
our group members to suggest us some topics for
research. Our members suggested around 3 to 4 topics,
but we came to a conclusion to choose the above
mentioned topic. This innovative topic was suggested by
our Group member Mohd. ArifShaikh.The reasons why
we chose this topic is because of the following reasons:
1.We are teenagers and in this 21st century every
single student prefers buying branded products.
2.We want to study the Human Psychology behind
this
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7. Aim
The main Aim behind doing this survey was study
the Human Psychology behind brands.
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8. Literature review
Teens and brands the preponderance of rather limited
literature on teen brand attitudes has focused on the
influence of socialization agents.
In 1977early research showed that parents influence
children's clothing brand choices by acting as role models
as per the research conducted by Ward and Wackman. In
1990 according to a research done by Bearden and
Randall ,Adolescents frequently communicate with their
peers prior to making purchases in order to maintain
group identity.In 1997, Shim and Koh found that teens
that interact more with peers about consumer matters
exhibit a more brand-oriented decision making style.In
1999,Darley said that Clothing offers teens a means of
self-expression or a way of coping with social situations.
In 2000, McLaughlin argues that echo-boomers are
skeptical of advertising because they have been
inundated with it.In 2001, Auty and Elliott seem to hold
similar views as they contend that conforming to the
fashion that is accepted by the group is more important
than choosing brands that express one's own identity.In
2002, Taylor and Cosenza argue that self-expression is
especially
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9. important to the echo-boomers and found that clothing
style, look and fit were the three most important clothing
selection criteria used by 16 to 19 year-old females. They
also found that this age group was preoccupied with
social acceptance, social affiliation and "coolness"
attached to make the "right" clothing choices.
Interestingly, brand/label received the lowest ranking in
the study by them. However, as noted by Weiss in
2003,echo-boomers tend to not be brand loyal.Indeed,
the average American 21 year old has been exposed to
3,000 marketing messages a day throughout their
lifetime.In 2005,Dotson and Hyatt examined the impact
of gender on peer group influence and found that girls
report being more influenced by peers than do boys in
terms of their preference for certain clothing brands.
United States American teens have a healthy appetite
for apparel. According to the Packaged Facts (2007)
"Teen Market in the U.S. Report," the 26 million
American 12- to 17-year olds earn an aggregate income
of $80 billion. Spending on and by U.S. teenagers is
forecast to exceed $208 billion by 2011, an increase from
$189.7 billion in 2006.
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10. Hypothesis
As mentioned in the above literature
review,there is limited information about about any
research conducted in India. There is also no
research conducted on preference of college
students.
The research we are conducting is going to be a
unique in its nature and it will be one in its kind.
Therefore we are going to test the following
hypothesis in our project.
H1: College students prefer brands for social
status
H2: College students value money and buy
quality brands
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11. Problem
Statement:-
Preference of Brands For College
Going Students
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12. Sample for research:-
As our topic emphasizes on college going
students,we have decided to interview
students from 5 colleges in Mumbai.
The colleges we have chosen is given
below:-
 Vidyalankar school of information
technology(VSIT),Wadala
 South Indian Education
Society(SIES),Sion
 PoddarCollege,Matunga
 Guru Nanak KhaslaCollege,Matunga
 RamnarainRuiaCollege,Matunga
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13. Method of Data collection
As we are college going students and we don’t have
the funds to interview a large number of people so we
decided to interview a maximum of at least 50 people.
We decided to collect 5 samples from each college.
We divided our work equally among all our
members. We decided to save paper as well as our
funds. To perform the above function we decided to
use technology. We used Google docs to prepare our
questionnaire online.
After designing the questionnaire we used Samsung
Galaxy tab to conduct the research. We used three
techniquesto collect the data for further analysis.
1.Interview
2.E-mail
3.Social networks.
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14. Number of daily
responses:-
As soon as our proposal was ready we decided to
start our research as soon as possible. To proceed with
our research ,we kept an ultimatum of completing the
Data collection. We kept an ultimatum of completing it in
7 days. But we finished it well in advance before time
because of our group coordination.
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15. Analysis of data collected
Gender :
We did not want to have a bias study of our research
for that reason we decide to collect samples in the ratio
65:35.
In total samples collected of are:
Gender No of samples Percentage
collected
Male 32 64
Female 18 36
Other Nil Nil
.
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16. Reputation factor
Yes No
Male 18 14
Female 7 11
Total 25 25
The second question asked by us was whether
the respondent uses brands for social status.
In totality including male and female the
responses resulted in a tie, but a major of male
participants said Yes as compared to the female
participants and vice versa.
Therefore we came to conclusion that most
males prefer brands for their social status.
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17. The graphical representation of the above data:-
18
16
14
12
10
8 Yes
6 No
4 No
2
0
Yes
Male
Female
The pie chart of the above data:-
17

18. Brand preference by Family Members
Yes No
Male 19 13
Female 12 6
Total 31 19
The third question we asked was whether their
family members prefer brands.
In this question there was a difference in our
samples collected,wherein majority of their
families prefer brands. In gender wise both males
and female said that their family also prefers
brands.
Therefore we came to a conclusion that if there
might be a possibility that, the preference for
brands may be inculcated by them through their
family genes.
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19. The graphical representation of the above data:-
20
18
16
14
12 Yes
10 No
8
6
4
2
0
Male Female
The pie chart of the above data:-
19

20. Brands as an item of Show-off
Yes No
Male 9 23
Female 7 11
Total 16 34
The fourth question we asked was do you use
brands as an item of show-off.
The answers were giving majority No, as per we
expected while framing this particular question.
But it was surprising as some females use brands
for show-off.
Therefore we came to conclusion that most
people don’t use brands as an item of show-off.
20

21. The graphical representation of the above data:-
25
20
15 Yes
No
10
5
0
Male Female
The pie chart of the above data:-
21

22. Impression
o
Yes No
Male 11 21
Female 3 15
Total 14 36
The next question we asked was whether they
wear brands to impress others.
The answers were giving majority No, as per we
expected while framing this particular question. In
the male samples some part fo them said yes while
the majority said No.The female samples also gave
a majority to the No.
Therefore we came to conclusion that most
people don’t use brands to impress others.
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23. The graphical representation of the above data:-
35
30
25
No
20
Yes
15
10
5
0
Male Female
The pie chart of the above data:-
23

24. Imitate other(with respect to brands)
Yes No
Male 8 24
Female 4 14
Total 12 38
The next question we asked was whether they
imitate others by the brands they wear.
In this question again we received a majority
No.the answers by both were supporting the
majority.
Therefore,we came to a conclusion that most of
them don’t imitate others by the brands they wear.
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25. The graphical representation of the above data:-
25
20
15 Yes
10 No
5
0
Male Female
The pie chart of the above data:-
Yes
24%
no
76%
25

26. Financial Status
Yes No
Male 23 9
Female 14 4
Total 37 13
The next question we asked was whether they keep
their Financial status in mind before buying brands.
In this Question the majority answers were Yes.Even
while checking the gender wise the majority was Yes.The
few yes we have recieved may be from the higher class
people.
Therefore we came to a conclusion that most people
keep their Financial status in Mind before purchasing
brands.
26

27. The graphical representation of the above data:-
Female
Yes
No
Male
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
The pie chart of the above data:-
No
26%
Yes
74%
27

28. Brand Loyalty
Yes No
Male 17 15
Female 8 10
Total 25 25
The next question we asked was based on brand
Loyalty.
The majority was leveled wherein half of them said
Yes and half said No.In this question majority of the
Males said Yes,and the majority of the females said No.
Therefore we came to a conclusion that some people
are brand loyal whereas some prefer switching brands.
28

29. The graphical representation of the above data:-
Female
No
Yes
Male
0 5 10 15 20
The pie chart of the above data:-
No Yes
50% 50%
29

30. Brand Loyalty
We asked our respondents to answer
describe their answer; someof the words
used by them are given below.
I am not brand loyal i buy the best that
suits me. I like to stick to a particular
brand. Brands are for people who are
conscious of their outer appearance
We derived a conclusion after reading
the responses is that people who are
brand loyal stick to a particular brand.
People who switch brands buy the best
what suits them.
30

31. Preference of brands
Some of their answers were:-
o Quality
o Reputation
o Cool factor
o Pleasure
o Value for money
o Impression
o Reliable
o Comfort
o Social status
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32. Conclusion
After doing this entire project we can conclude that
most of the teenagers of this generation prefer brands.
But there are also some factors that affect it.
Teenagers in today’s world have started thinking
before doing anything. They prefer being their selves
rather than imitating others. They prefer to select the
best for them.
They are also become smart and have value for their
money and keep quality as their motto.
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33. Findings
From the research conducted by us we have found
out that teenagers prefer brands.
We also proved our first Hypothesis to be partially
wrong,wherein we the majority was levelled.
Our second Hypothesis was successfully proved
right,wherein teenagers have become smart and have a
value for money and quality.
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34. Questionaire
We formed a 9 question in the questionaire required for
the research.
1.Do you use brands for your social status?
o Yes
o No
o Other
2. Does ur family prefers branded items?
o Yes
o No
3. Do you use brands as an item of show off?
o Yes
o No
4. Do you wear brands to impress others?
o Yes
o No
5.Do you Imitate others by the brands they wear?
o Yes
o No
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35. 6. Do you keep Your financial status in mind before buying
brands?
o Yes
o No
7.Are you brand loyal or you switch brands?
o Yes
o No
8. On The Above Question Asked About Brand Loyalty
Please Answer In Two To Three Lines (For Eg. If Yes Then
Why Yes & If No Then Why No)
o Answer
9.Why do you prefer brands?
o Answer
35