A Study on Consumer Preferences towards Edible Oil in Tirunelveli District

Consumer behaviour is comparatively a new field of study which evolved just after the Second World War. The sellers’ market has disappeared and buyers’ market has come up. This has led to paradigm shift of the manufacturer's attention from product to consumer and specially focused on the consumer behaviour. The evaluation of marketing concept from mere selling concept to consumer-oriented marketing has resulted in buyer behaviour becoming an independent discipline. The growth of consumerism and consumer legislation emphasizes the importance that is given to the consumer. Consumer behaviour is a study of how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources (time, money and effort) or consumption related aspects (What they buy? When they buy? How they buy? whey they buy?where they buy? from whom they buy? Etc.). The present study is intended to enquire into the factors that influence the choice of edible oil users. The study tries to probe the behavior of consumers in selecting edible oil. Preferences vary on the basis of cost, fat content, brand, taste, seed and source of oil, advertisement and peer influence. This article also seeks to ascertain the degree to which consumer preferences vary with age, education, occupation and other factors. An interview schedule was constructed to elicit the opinions of consumers about edible oils. The primary data for analysis are collected from the sample respondents. 200 sample respondents are chosenby convenience sampling method. Edible oil companies would concentrate on certain age group of people for consuming their products, promotional activities, offers and other competitive consuming environment of the edible oil. The highly influential factors are good quality, price, health, and effective package, discount, less fat, agmark product and free gifts. Though the price is not an important factor while purchasing the products consumers are also conscious of the quality, availability and health aspects.