MARKETING of FAST-FOOD PRODUCTS (A Study on Students’ Perception of Pizza in Chennai)

Svādhyāya - International Journal of Transdisciplinary Research and Development (SIJTRD)

VOLUME-1 ISSUE-1 MAY 2021

MARKETING OF FAST-FOOD PRODUCTS (A Study on Students’ Perception of Pizza in Chennai)

S. AKSHAYA1, Dr.R.SAVITHRI2 Research Scholar1, Associate Professor2 1,2 Research Department of Commerce, Srimathi DevkunvarNanalal Bhatt Vaishnav College for Women [email protected]

ABSTRACT

India’s growing middle-class and their changing food habits are giving magnificent entrance to fast-food industries.The main objective of this research paper is to study onstudent’s perception of pizza in Chennai district. For this study, data was collected from 100 respondents. Descriptive and analytical research design was used. The studygave a useful insight on the improvement of Pizza Centers in future because the upcoming new economy is morecustomer oriented.

Keywords: Fast foods, Pizza,Marketing, Price.

INTRODUCTION

Food diversity in India is an implicit characteristic of India’s diversified culture consisting of different regions and states within. Traditionally, Indians like to have home-cooked meals. However, with times, due to increasing awareness and influence of western culture, there is a slight shift in food consumption patterns. It started with eating outside and moved on to accepting a wide variety of delicacies from world-over. Liberalization of the Indian economy and the subsequent entry of new players set a significant change in lifestyles and the food tastes of Indians. Fast foods are quick, reasonably priced, and readily available alternatives to home cooked food. On the other side fast foods are high in calories, fat, saturated fats, sugar and salt. Urban Indians are amongst the top ten regular consumers of fast food across the sphere.

Pizza is an emerging fast food in Indian urban areas. With the arrival of branded pizza such as Pizza Hut in early to mid-1990s, it has reached almost all major cities in India by 2010. International giants such as Dominos, Pizza Corner and Pizza Hut bombarded the Indian food market. Pizzas available in India range from localized basic variants available in neighborhood bakeries to gourmet pizzas with exotic and imported ingredients available at specialty Italian restaurants Pizza products have occupied a predominant position today. These products are used by all categories of people, children, young and old, male and female. Pizza is oven-baked flat bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese, and various toppings. The modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy. An

Svādhyāya - International Journal of Transdisciplinary Research and Development (SIJTRD)

VOLUME-1 ISSUE-1 MAY 2021 establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria". Many varieties of pizza exist worldwide. Some of the Pizza outlets are Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Pizza Corner.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Methi S.M. and Tarun Gupta (2013) in the study of consumption pattern and health awareness as regards the effects of fast foods among 291 universities hostellers in Inverts university used Chi-Square analysis and found that respondents were not aware about the nutritional information and ingredients content in fast food. They do not bother about diseases that will result due to consumption of frequent consumption of fast food and it may cause obesity. Majority of respondents chose fast foods on the basis of name of the producer and Mc Donalds was the most preferred outlet. Majority ate Pizza and fruit juices and majority consumed fast foods one to two times a week and they took fast food for taste.

Anita Goyal, SinghN.P. (2007) in their study seeks to estimate importance of various factors affecting the choice of fast food outlets by Indian young consumers and applied multivariate statistical tools to estimate importance of various factors affecting the choice of fast food outlets by Indian young consumers. The consumption patterns, impact of hygiene and nutritional values, and rating of various attributes of McDonald's and Nirula's. result indicate that the young Indian consumer has passion for visiting fast food outlets for fun and change but home food is their first choice. They felt that homemade food was better than food served at fast food outlets. They have the highest value for taste and quality (nutritional values) followed by ambience and hygiene. Three dimensions (service and delivery dimension, product dimension, and quality dimension) of fast food outlets' attributes are identified based on factor analysis results. The two fast food outlets' rating differ significantly on the seven attributes. McDonald's scores are high on all attributes except “variety”. Further, consumers feel that fast food outlets must provide additional information on nutritional values and hygiene conditions inside kitchen.

Prakash Tiwari and Hemraj Verma(2008) in their study on Consumer perception about fast food in India: An empirical study of Dehradun city among 150 respondents used t-test and found that consumers of fast food visited fast food outlets in a week for taking snacks or lunch. McDonald is the most favored fast food outlet followed by Pizza Hut, Countdown and Dominos and people mostly visit restaurants for a change and for fun. T-test results show that there is significant difference between Pizza Hut and McDonalds on factors like price, hygiene and seating space. A large number of consumers feel that fast food outlets must provide the information which will increase the frequency of visit to fast food outlets.

The current study is a preliminary investigation of perceptions that consumers in Botswana hold about fast-food restaurants in terms of health, convenience, price and service among 185 respondents used ANOVA and t-test. findings indicate that consumers in Botswana hold negative perceptions about fast-food restaurants with respect to health, price and the service they offer and positive perceptions about their convenience. Females also held © 2021, SIJTRD, ShrimathiDevkunvarNanalal Bhatt College for women, All right reserved http://www.sdnbvc.edu.in/sijtrd

Svādhyāya - International Journal of Transdisciplinary Research and Development (SIJTRD)

VOLUME-1 ISSUE-1 MAY 2021 stronger negative perceptions about the nutritional value of fast foods than males. Additionally, young and middle- aged consumers perceived fast-food restaurants as providing more convenience than older consumers. These results suggest that the managers of fast-food restaurants in Botswana need to amend consumers' negative perceptions of health, service, and price, while consistently reinforcing positive perceptions of convenience.

Elena-Nicoleta Untaru and Ana Ispas(2013) in their study as to why young people prefer fast food restaurants analysed views of 13 students from Transilvania University in Brasov, used quantitative marketing research i.e focus group method and found that the respondents like the taste of the products, their freshness and consistency, the physical environment and employees.

Hossein Nezakati, Yen Lee Kuan, Omid Asgari(2011)in their study on factors influencing customer loyalty towards fast food restaurants among 230 respondents used Pearson correlation and found that all the nine independent variables (Product quality, product attribute, brand name, store environment, service quality, promotion, price, brand trust and customer satisfaction) have a positive relationship with customer loyalty. Product quality (0.586) has a strong positive relationship with customer loyalty while promotion (0.285) and brand name (0.219) has a weak positive relationship with customer loyalty. Other variables such as product attribute (0.407); store environment (0.326), service quality (0.300), price (0.361), and brand trust (0.455) and customer satisfaction (0.385) has a moderate positive relationship with customer loyalty. By using multiple regression, three variables namely product quality, customer satisfaction and brand trust have contributed to a significant positive influence on customer loyalty towards preferred fast food restaurants and findings indicate that Malaysian consumers are more concerned about product quality of a fast food restaurant.

Kanimozhi N.and Jayakumar A.(2010) in their study on brand loyalty about oats users with special reference to Salem town, Tamil Nadu among 100 respondents used Garett’s Ranking Techniques and inferred that all the respondents in the Salem town purchase oats because of high vitamin content. I Rank is assigned for reduction of obesity, II rank is assigned for making a person energetic. Oats are sugar free, low priced, easily available, packaged attractively, easy to prepare, have a brand image, free gifts/ attractive offers place have been assigned later ranks.

Feeley A, Pettitor JM, Norris SA (2009) in their study on Fast-food consumption among 17 year olds 655 respondents used Chi-Square test and inferred that the male consume more fast food in a week than a female, t- test results show that KFC is the most frequent fast-food outlet.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Svādhyāya - International Journal of Transdisciplinary Research and Development (SIJTRD)

VOLUME-1 ISSUE-1 MAY 2021

➢ To study the student’s perception as regards towards Pizza ➢ To find out the major factors influencing the purchase of Pizza ➢ To suggest some measures that will be helpful to fast food outlets and Pizza centres and the society at large.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This is a descriptive and analytical study based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected from various students studying in Chennai city colleges. The primary data was collected from 100 college students through structured questionnaire. The secondary data was collected from the information published from journals, books, and research articles.Factor analysis was applied to investigate the underlying structure of the variables that influence the Students perception as regards Pizza. The Principal Component Analysis by Factor Extraction Method and Varimax Rotation Method was used.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Percentage analysis revealed that nearly 40% were male and 60% were female employees. 39% were in the group of 20 years. 44% of respondents belong to the family income group Rs. 30000- 40000. 42% of the respondent’s study III Year. 52% of the respondents eat pizza once a month. 41% of the respondents expect good taste. 35% of the respondents consider cheese as an important aspect while ordering pizza. 59% of the respondents like medium size pizza. 34% of the respondents like cheese and tomato toppings. 42% of the respondents ordered in Dominos. 42% of the respondents expect good qualityfrom the pizza Centre. 29% of the respondents considered hot pizza while ordering. 56% of the respondents regularly order from the same pizza center because they like their food. Majority of the respondents considered cheese as an important aspect in ordering pizza, and most of them like medium size pizza with cheese and tomato toppings and like to order or go to dominos outlet to have Pizza. Most of the customers expect good quality from pizza center and order hot pizza.

TABLE 1 Demographic Profile and purchasing pattern of Pizza. Variable Dominant Group Percentage

Gender Female 60

Age (in years) 20-30 39

Educational Qualification III Year Undergraduate 42

Family Income Group Rs.30000-40000 44

Time period of consumption Once a month 52

Expectation of respondents Good Taste 41

Svādhyāya - International Journal of Transdisciplinary Research and Development (SIJTRD)

VOLUME-1 ISSUE-1 MAY 2021

Expectation about Pizza while ordering Cheese 35

Size of Pizza Medium Size Pizza 59

Toppings of Pizza Cheese and tomato 34 toppings Pizza Center Dominos 42

Respondent expectation from Pizza Center Good quality 42

Important factors while ordering pizza Hot pizza 29

Reason for ordering from same pizza Respondent like their 56 center food Source: Questionnaire

FACTOR ANALYSIS

Factor analysis has been applied to investigate the underlying structure of the variables that influence Students’ perception as regards Pizza. KMO measure of sampling adequacy is 0.770 and Bartlett’s test shows a significance of 0.000, therefore factor analysis can be applied to 19 variables measuring perception of students as regards Pizza.The anti-image matrices of variables measuring perception of students as regards Pizza was calculated and it is observed that all measures of sampling adequacy (MSA) being more than 0.5, all the 19 variables can be subjected to factor analysis. The factor analysis concluded that five factors have accounted for a total variance of 63.743%.

TABLE2Factor Extraction Perception of Students as regards Pizza

Initial Eigen values and extraction Rotation Sums of Squared sum of squares loadings Loadings % of % of Varianc Cumulativ Varianc Cumulati Variables Eigen value e e % Total e ve % I feel that the price charged is reasonable 5.364 28.232 28.232 3.281 17.270 17.270 The price of the pizza matches with the 2.730 14.369 42.601 3.003 15.807 33.077 quality I will buy pizza irrespective of its price 1.661 8.744 51.344 2.739 14.418 47.496 It is offered with discounts & offers 1.278 6.724 58.069 1.779 9.363 56.859 Eating pizza is very good for health 1.078 5.674 63.743 1.308 6.884 63.743 The taste of pizza is very good. 0.983 5.174 68.917 It consists of nutritional ingredients 0.832 4.380 73.297 Regular consumption of pizza increases weight of the body 0.788 4.147 77.445

Svādhyāya - International Journal of Transdisciplinary Research and Development (SIJTRD)

VOLUME-1 ISSUE-1 MAY 2021

Home delivery of pizza is made on time. 0.743 3.913 81.358 I feel that it is packed properly when it is ordered online or when home delivery is 0.629 3.310 84.667 made. It satisfies my hunger 0.543 2.856 87.523 The size of pizza served matches with the 0.439 2.313 89.836 requirements I buy pizza for its brand name. 0.385 2.026 91.862 It tastes good even in restaurants 0.348 1.831 93.693 Frequent consumption of pizza does not 0.316 1.665 95.358 harm my health I like the toppings of pizza 0.270 1.419 96.777 I like the various varieties of starters 0.242 1.273 98.050 It proves to be a very good fast food item. 0.227 1.193 99.244 I will recommend my friends to consume 0.144 0.756 100.00 pizza regularly Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

TABLE -3Students’ Perception Variables in respective Factors

Factors Variables Factor loadings

Factor 1 I feel that the price charged is reasonable 0.855

Price The price of the pizza matcheswith the quality 0.893

I willbuy pizzairrespective of its price 0.575 It is offered with discounts and offers 0.506 Factor 2 Eating pizza is particularly goodfor health 0.767 It satisfies my hunger Customer 0.643 satisfaction It tastes good even in Restaurants. 0.790 Factor 3 It proves to be a very good fast-food item. 0.657.

Quality The taste of pizza is particularly good 0.613

It consists of nutritional ingredients 0.837

Frequent consumption of pizza does not harm my health 0.650

Svādhyāya - International Journal of Transdisciplinary Research and Development (SIJTRD)

VOLUME-1 ISSUE-1 MAY 2021

Factor 4 I buy pizza for its brand name 0.655

Product I will recommend the product to my friends .0.620

The size of pizza served matches with the requirements 0.729

I like the toppings of pizza 0.508. I like the various varieties of starters 0.498 Regular consumption of pizza increases weight of the body 0.803 Factor 5 Home delivery of pizza is made on time. 0.708

Distribution I feel that it is packed properlywhen home delivery is made 0.632

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

The Principal Component Method of Factor Analysis and the Varimax Rotation Method has been used to group the 19 variables into 5 factors. The most dominant factor is ‘Price’ and it includes 4 variables viz, reasonable price, price matches with the quantity, offers and discounted price and it explains 17.270% of the variance. The next factor is ‘Customer satisfaction’, which comprises 3 variables viz, good for health, hunger satisfaction and good even in restaurants. This explains 15.807% of the variance. The third factor is ‘Quality’ which consists of 4 variables viz, good taste, nutritional ingredients and good fast food item. This explains 14.418% of variance. The fourth factor is ‘Product’ comprising of 6 variables viz, size matches with the requirement, toppings and starters, buy pizza for its brand name and will recommend the product to my friends. This factor explains 9.363% of the variance. The fifth factor is ‘Distribution’ which comprising of 2 variables viz, home delivery and packaging. This factor explains 6.884% of the variance.

SUGGESTIONS

• Fast food marketers should focus on the food contents. • The information about hygiene and nutritional value of the fast food must be communicated to the customers. • Pizza centres should provide low-calorie toppings for customers who are weight conscious. • 'Make to order' option can be offered in fast food outlets, where restrictions on the use of ingredients that are not healthy can be suggested. • Vegetables and fruits can be increased in fast food. • Fast food being rich in salt, adversely affects the heart health hence use of more salt can be avoided.

Svādhyāya - International Journal of Transdisciplinary Research and Development (SIJTRD)

VOLUME-1 ISSUE-1 MAY 2021

CONCLUSION

Fast food outlets operate in a harsh and fast-changing environment, which offers threats as well as opportunities. Consumer demographics, lifestyles, and shopping patterns are changing rapidly, as are retailing technologies. Moreover, quickly rising costs make more efficient operation and smarter buying essential.The use of a marketing plan alone cannot attract today’s smart consumers.Hence the organization must also strengthen their brands by advertising so that the business will be more successful. In the long run, product quality and services offered by dealers always stand ahead of the selling power for the company. Customer retention strategy is the order of the day. Commitment, trust, value, satisfaction and loyalty are the key words to success. It is necessary to build long term loyal relationships as the new economy is becoming more customer centric.

REFERENCE

Anita Goyal ,N.P. Singh, “A study on Customer perception about fast food in India” , British food journal, Vol 109,No 2, 2007, Page No:182-195, Emerald group publishing ltd Elena-Nicoleta UNTARU, Ana ISPAS, Transilvania University in Brasov, Journal of tourism ,“Why do young people prefer fast food restaurants? An Exploratory study”, (Issue 15) Pg no: 27-34. Feeley A,Pettifor JM, Norris SA,”A study on Fast food consumption among 17 year olds in the birth of Twenty Cohort” Volume No:22 , Sep 2009. Hossein Nezakati,Yen Lee Kuan, Omid Asgari “ A study on factors influencing customer loyalty towards fast food restaurants” 2011 International conference on sociality and economics development IPEDR Vol.10 (2011) Kanimozhi N., Dr. A. Jayakumar,” A study on brand loyalty about oats, users with special reference to salem town, Tamil nadu”, Indian journal of Marketing ,pg no:38-46.

Mehdi S.M., Tarun Gupta, Asst.Professor, “A Study of consumption pattern and health awareness as regard the effects of fast food among university hostellers” IJRCM ,Volume No.4(2013), Issue no:11 (November) Pg no:71-75. Prakash Tiwari and Hemraj Verma, “A study on consumer perception about fast food in India”,

WEBSITES

1. www.kfc.com

2.www.pizzahut.com

3.www.pizzarepublic.com