TA study on Customers Decision Making Process for Buying a Four Wheeler Passenger Vehicle, with inputs from 63 respondents.

2. The study on the Decision making process for buying a four
wheeler passenger vehicle.
Objective
The automobile industry today is the most lucrative industry. For most of the people,
purchasing a car is the second most important and expensive decision, next to
purchase of a house.
Consumer behaviour while purchasing a car will vary from person to person based on
different factors which would be explored during this study an recommendations
would be made accordingly.

3. Research Methodology
Identifying Variables
Dependent Variable : Consumer Preference
Independent Variables : Price, Brand, Mileage, Comfort, After sales service,
Durability, Influencing Factors, Type.
Area of the study
Type of Research
Data Collection
Sample Universe
Sample Size
The study was concentrated in Delhi/NCR.
This is an Exploratory research.
Research Design
To study the existing market potential, willingness to buy the new product, both
primary and secondary influencing factors.
This study is based on the data collected through primary sources which was made via
questionnaire survey and secondary source via literature review and market news.
All the four wheeler vehicle users were taken as the sample universe.
From the sample universe, sample size of 63 respondents were selected for the purpose
of this study.
Sample Frame
Questionnaire survey was circulated amongst friends, relatives and peers out of which
Random sample of 63 respondents were selected on the basis of convenience.
Sampling Method Convenience sampling was applied on the basis of availability of the car users.

4. Survey on Passenger car buying behaviour
Gender *
Male
Female
Which age range do you belong to? *
16-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
Do you own a car? *
Yes
No
If you consider to buy a car, which will you prefer? *
Brand New Car
Used Car
Which of these type of car would you consider buying? *
SUV MUV Jeep Luxury
How much will you invest for buying a car? *
1 Lakhs - 5 Lakhs
6 Lakhs - 10 Lakhs
11 Lakhs - 15 Lakhs
16 Lakhs - 20 Lakhs
More than 20 Lakhs
Scale the factors which would influence your purchasing decision.
(1-Least, 5-Highest) *
Brand
Price
Performance
Technology
Safety
Color
Size
Exterior design
Interior design
Service
Resale Value
Sedan Hatchback
Which brand will you prefer? (Give your preference) *
Maruti Suzuki / Hyundai / Tata / Mahindra & Mahindra
Ford / Chevrolet / Fiat / Nissan / Renault
Toyota / Audi / Mercedes / BMW / Jaguar & Land
Other :
Who will influence you when you buy or want
to buy a car? *
Friends/ Family
Advertisement (TVC, Print, Banners,
Magazines etc.)
Online car portals/ review sites
Show room sales executive
Make your own choice
Brand Ambassador (Celebrity)

5. Consumer Decision Making Process
Need at
threshold point
Information
Search
Evaluation of
Alternatives
Test Drive
Decision on one
suitable alternative
Purchase
Use
Feedback
Price, Brand, After sales-service, Quality, Mileage, Design, Discounts
Handling, ride comfort, maneuverability, Smoothness, etc.
Comparison of feature, resale value, price etc. with other alternate.
Ease of payment, Financing option, freebies- additional accessories
Free from defects, unwanted brake-downs, on road service,
warranty
Customer assist & immediate response to problems
Travelling, Status, Safety, Comfort, Convenience
Word of mouth, Online Forum, media, Visit to show room, Ad’s

6. Factors affecting each step of the process
Factors affecting
Customers Decision
making process
SOCIAL FACTORS
1. Reference Groups – Friends,
Distance relatives
2. Family – Close Relatives
3. Roles and Status - Premium cars
for prestige in society
4. Demography – Different terrains
Hilly area, plains, costal
PERSONAL FACTORS
1. Age – Youngster, Adult, Old
2. Occupation - Employee,
Business man, Executives
3. Economic Situation – Self
sustained, dependent
4. Life Style – Urban, Rural
5. Personality – Citizen, Politician,
Celebrity
PHYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
1. Motivation – Desire to
experience the luxury of a car
2. Perception – Example Japanese
cars are no.1 for quality
3. Belief & Attitudes
4. Learning – Knowledge about
different cars, technology, benefits
5. Memory – Past experience from
the cars which was used &
experienced
CLUTURAL FACTORS
1. Culture – Indian customers from
different religion give more
Preference to color of car
1. Sub-culture
2. Social Class – Lower class,
Middle class & Upper class

7. SEGMENTATION
Geographic
• on the basis of
concentration of
industries in
different regions
• Luxury car
makers would
definitely target
the metropolitan
regions
Demographic
• Manufactures of
small cars focus
on middle class
• luxury car
manufacturers
would focus
more on the high
income segment.
Psychological
• Luxury cars like
Ferrari, Porsche,
etc target the
section of the
society with a
large disposable
income and high
status
Behavioral
• It is on the basis
of the benefits
sought, loyalty
status.
• customization
the cars
according to the
needs and
requirements of
the customer
Watson Analytics
Watson Analytics
Connection between Gender
and Type of Car they would
like to purchase
factors which
would influence
your purchasing
decision and
brands
purchased as
per gender
63 respondent’s
brand preferring

8. Steps to Influence the customers
 First Time Buyer-Family, friends and relatives
 Repeat Buyers-Magazines, advertisements and online review sites
 Dealership positive reviews on vehicle
 Involving social media to spread awareness
 Identification of target market and building customer profiles
 Using endorsers for the brand
 Try to reduce grumblers by offering better feature
 As per the data collected from 63 respondents, most prefer to ask the opinion from their
friends and family. But the companies can concentrate on Online forum which is 3rd most
preferred option by potential customers
The influencers
which plays major
role in customer
purchase decision

9. Mechanism the company is following to collect Post-Purchase feedback
Automobile companies follow different mechanism to collect the Post-
purchase feedback from Customer, some of them are :
 After 5-10 days of purchase, the sales executive from dealership will call the customer to collect feed back.
 Automobile manufacturer’s customer care executive will call the customer after post purchase to get
feedback about the purchasing experience
 Consumer satisfaction survey sheet with 8 to 10 questions is given to customer during first service of
their vehicle and asked to fill
 Customer can also post their feedback in feedback page in car manufacturers website.
After-sales Service feed backs :
Periodic Survey: After each after-sales service in authorized service center feedback about the service is
collected by service center’s customer relationship executives

10. Conclusion
From this research followed by interpretation we
found that consumer buying behavior of passenger car
is influenced by Brand, influencer, price and gender
1. Majority of the male like to buy a luxury cars,
where as females are more interested in sedans
2. Females are not interested in buying SUV’s and Jeep’s
3. Hyundai seems like captured mind share of most of the
respondents(23.8%) compared to market leader maruti
Suzuki(12.7%) and luxury brand BMW(12.7%)
4. Both male and female prefer to buy sedan(31.7%) compare
to Others type of vehicles
5. According to survey the 63 respondents most preferred
options which they look before buying a car are;
Rank 1 - Safety (34 respondents)
Rank 2 - Brand (32 respondents)
Rank 3 - Price & Performance (27 respondents)
Rank 4 - After-sales service (24 respondents)
Rank 5 – Technology & resale value (19 respondents)
6. The car manufacturers should concentrate less on 2nd hand car
market as only7.9% are interested to buy used cars THANK YOU
Investment ready to
be made for
purchasing cars by 63
respondents
Respondents
interested in
buying new
vs. used cars